CONCLUSION
Here, in the last chapter, seems to be an appropriate place to
anticipate and reply to a few prospective objections.
_Objection that the project is undemocratic._ This assumes that
universal suffrage is a democratic institution; but in practise it
operates to the contrary as has already been shown. The prospect
practically offered by the property qualification project, is the
democratic one of the door of political opportunity opened to that
honest ability which is now by the machines and rings excluded from a
public career. So much for the practical test. Looking at the project in
the abstract, it is satisfying to the democratic mind, whether viewed in
the light of high principle, of idealism, of nature’s law, or of
democratic policy. It recognizes and rewards merit, it puts a premium on
industry and capacity, and thus satisfies a principle. Its ideal is
noble; it is that of the creation of a high grade of citizenship, the
establishment of a democracy of virtue and talent. It conforms to
nature’s law by preferring the fittest; by creating order in the ranks
of citizenship; by putting government into the hands of those whom
nature herself has selected as competent. It accords with democratic
policy because it will give democracy more strength and more wisdom;
because it is progressive, and calculated to encourage progress; because
it glorifies citizenship by making it a token of distinction; because it
at once makes its active citizenship select by excluding the unworthy,
and at the same time, open and free to all, by inviting all to qualify
to exercise it. It will create a true majority rule; for the new
electorate will undoubtedly constitute a great majority in numbers of
the men of the country; and will represent practically all its
civilization, education, talent, energy and ability. It will give the
humble his due which is opportunity to rise; he is entitled to no more.
To the poor man of capacity the door to the voting booth will be as wide
open as the free high school door is to his son; the entrance in either
case is for those who can qualify and the terms are the same for all. To
admit the unqualified would not benefit them, while it would harm those
who are properly inside. Only the shiftless and worthless poor are
permanently excluded. The industrious thrifty poor man is only
postponed; and he will know that when he does enter by virtue of
achievement, he will possess something worth while, something of value;
he will be an active citizen, and his suffrage will not be offset and
nullified by the purchased vote of a worthless loafer.
_Objection that the proposal is oppressive._ It would be oppressive if
it were arbitrary, or unreasonable, or personal; but it is none of
these. It is a greater hardship to be discharged from a job than to be
prevented from voting at a public election; and if a man can properly be
discharged for incompetency, he can certainly be deprived of his vote
for incapacity, under a rule which applies to all under similar
circumstances.
_The objection that the project will be barren of results_ is sure to be
made. But good results will surely issue from it unless the whole
conception of this volume is a mistake. It was within the purpose of
some of the master-minds of the republic’s early days to direct the
nation in the paths of true and scientific Federal achievement. The
far-reaching plans of Washington and John Quincy Adams for the
development of mutually interacting national systems of industrial,
transportational and educational development were finally defeated by
the ignorant and tiger-like rapacity of the Jacksonian manhood suffrage
bands. (_Degradation of the Democratic Dogma_; Brooks Adams, p. 13-62.)
But those noble though aborted schemes at least serve to indicate the
great possibilities belonging to pure and scientific government. In
Federal affairs we may confidently expect a return to the pure and
noble traditions of the old Federal government of the second Adams and
his predecessors, when the democratic principle was infused with the
aristocratic passion for excellence; and our representatives will then
be qualified to consider and deal with national questions with ability
and intelligence, and a patriotism such as has not been in political
operation in this country for ninety years. Some of the direct benefits
of the reform may be expected to appear in the most striking and
satisfactory possible manner, in the complete reconstruction of our
state legislatures, and our municipal governments. The change will seem
almost magical. The creation of the new and purified electorate will at
one stroke smash the machines, and dislodge the political oligarchies;
the standard of public conscience will be immediately elevated, and
bribery at elections will almost disappear. We will then be justified in
expecting to elect legislators who can be trusted to legislate, and
worthy and competent municipal officials. We will be relieved from the
burden of maintaining watch dog societies and they will disappear
together with the daily political scandals which brought them into
being. In a word, we will be able to do for the body politic that which
is done in every decent business corporation in the land; find and
employ men, honest and competent, for the work assigned to them. The
prospect is alluring; one is tempted to dwell on the fine possibilities
were each of our forty-eight state legislatures composed of the first
men in each state in probity, experience and political intelligence.
There has not in our day been much really good government in the world.
One would like to see our first-rate American men, of the type and class
who have developed our industrial and transportation systems, get a fair
opportunity to show the world what can be done, not only in progressive
and enlightened domestic legislation, but also in pure and efficient
administration of public affairs. Dignified and purified elections;
advanced and just legislation; improved and honest administration; a
justified and scientific democracy; such if not fully within the
promise of the proposed reform are within the possibilities for which by
appeal to the new electorate we will be encouraged to work with a fair
hope of success.
_Objection that the new system will not accomplish this or that
desirable thing._ Of course, no one will claim that it will bring about
everything humanly possible in the way of political improvement. No one
can doubt that even after a purification of the electorate there will
remain many evils in politics and much still to be done to improve our
governmental system. There will remain, for instance, the problem of
furnishing the electorate with the facts concerning public measures, or
the means of getting them; a problem heretofore generally ignored.
Walter Lippman in a very able article in a recent number of the
_Atlantic Monthly_ has pointed out the great importance of providing the
public with real political information, to take the place of the mess of
misinformation now daily served up to us by the daily press. There is an
entirely new field to be covered lying in that direction. Then there is
the question of how, in great cities especially, the voter is to be made
acquainted with the personality and qualifications of the respective
candidates. But why attempt to specify, when the fact is that the whole
region of scientific domestic legislation remains almost unexplored and
uncultivated. Under our machine system of politics, the science of
legislation has been absolutely neglected for generations, and the whole
administrative and judicial system in every state in the Union needs
revision. But the primary, the essential reform is that of the
electorate. We must begin there, because by so doing we cleanse and put
in good working order the machinery which will itself undertake what
else remains to be done. We cannot expect wise measures to be furthered
or even understood by an ignorant and corrupt electorate; nor can we
expect a sordid political oligarchy to enforce them, even though
enacted. The electorate is the Alpha and Omega; the key to everything in
politics and government.
For example, the proposed elevation of the franchise would have the
effect of making practicable municipal home rule. We are all familiar
with the evils of state control of our large cities; and yet the
mischiefs of civic home rule under manhood suffrage are even greater. At
present, the voters of the great cities are necessarily deprived of all
share in many departments of municipal management; which are put in the
hands of state boards and commissions because the voters cannot be
trusted. The establishment of a competent and conservative electorate in
cities, would at once prepare the way for the granting to cities of
local self-government; thus advancing the cause of practical democracy,
and effecting a result for which civic reformers have labored
ineffectually for years.
Another good effect will be the elevation of the political tone of the
country. This can never be done while the electorate remains degraded.
It is inspiring to think of the healthful stimulus which the politics of
the nation will receive when our men come to realize more and more the
honor and responsibility attached to the office of active citizen of the
republic. To be enrolled on the list of voters will be a distinction
which will be valued by those who possess it, and coveted by those who
do not; by the youth just entering his career; by the man born poor who
is saving to establish a home; by the reformed spendthrift; by every
American who turns from a career of folly to the path of wisdom and
prudence. Men of substance, education and judgment, who have not visited
the polls for years will find it worth their while to vote. And every
voter will attend with a feeling that his vote is intended to be
effective for good; and will act with a sense of responsibility entirely
inappropriate now, when the only real responsibility for an election
rests with the boss and the machine.
And yet, beneficial as the above specified effects of the proposed
measure seem likely to be, still in the mind of the writer its greatest,
its transcendent value lies not in any of them nor in their totality so
much as in the expectation that it will be a decided step towards the
solution of the world’s problem of the creation of a wise, politic and
progressive democracy. The elevation of the electorate; the purification
of elections; the destruction of the machines and the rings; the
abolition of the political oligarchies; the better government of cities;
the heightening of the political tone; an increased efficiency in public
affairs; all these are of immense consequence; but beyond and over all
is the importance to America and to the world of putting the democratic
movement firm on its feet; on the right road; facing the better day and
prepared to do its part in carrying on the world’s politics. This it is
at present quite unable to do because it has failed to widen its
conceptions with the enlargement of its power and opportunities. The
ultimate, the supreme power in the state, should possess capacity and
understanding. Democracy has undertaken to make of the electorate that
supreme power. To do this successfully it had to see to it that the
electorate is suffused with intelligence, and it has failed so to do.
Its duty in that regard was partially admitted and attempted by means of
school education of the young, but the recognition of the principle has
not been full or satisfying; nor have the means adopted been adequate.
The world is unable to give its full confidence to the democracy of
to-day, because of its failure to fulfil its implied undertaking to
produce a competent electorate. The great objection to democracy in the
minds of modern thinkers is, that originally created and idealized as
the champion of individual rights, it has gone no further; it has failed
to provide for capacity and efficiency, or to recognize its duty in that
direction. On the contrary, its declared policy for the last century has
been in the direction of degrading the quality of the voting mass by the
process of increasing its volume from below. If democracy is to be the
future governing force, it must absolutely and unreservedly commit
itself to the principle of a thoroughly competent electorate; to be
established not merely by preparation of the fit, but by rigorous
exclusion of the unfit. The chief value therefore of the proposed
electoral reform consists in its inaugurating a complete change of
policy in this vital matter; and in the fact that it will signify that
the American democracy has awakened to the understanding of this
necessity, and has in good faith undertaken the duty of carrying out the
task of making its foundation sure and eternal.
Politics is a progressive science and it may be that the doctrine of a
qualified, that is to say, a competent electorate once accepted for
general purposes, will receive hereafter extended application. We cannot
put a limit to the possibilities of democratic efficiency to be attained
through the further selection and elevation of the voters. While the
plan of property qualification is apparently the only one at present
practicable and efficacious, it would be foolish to suppose that our
successors may not extend the application of the principle in directions
now unthought of. For instance, in addition to the establishment of
means for furnishing the electorate with reliable information as Mr.
Lippman has so sagaciously suggested, measures may in time be adopted
for recourse to an instructed opinion on proposals for official action,
by submitting them to that part of the electorate whose tastes and
occupations have given them special light on the subject to be passed
upon. Just as there is an instructed minority in musical matters, so
there are always minorities with special knowledge of educational
affairs, charities, sanitation, public schools, transportation,
finances, etc. In the great cities these groups may each amount to tens
of thousands of individuals, each group constituting a true and
enlightened democracy of opinion on the special subjects in which its
members have interested themselves. In a great city like New York, for
instance: one can imagine a set of voters qualified on banking and
currency; another on constitutional questions; another on public health,
and so on; each of them containing perhaps ten thousand highly qualified
persons, experts on the subject referred to; whose opinions or decisions
might be given as called for, and each carry with it a certain weight,
or have a certain political or merely informative effect, as might be
provided; and so as new circumstances or situations arise, as changes
occur, as experiences accumulate, the principle of qualified voting, of
an appeal to a competent and responsible array of selected public
opinion may be applied in many new ways, to the advantage of the
community.
_Objection that the requirement of a qualification may be evaded._ One
of the criticisms of the property qualification rule when it was the law
of the land, was that it was frequently evaded by sham property
transfers. Every statute or regulation is likely to be the subject of
schemes of evasion which have to be encountered as they develop. It is
hardly worth while at this point to discuss imaginary difficulties which
may occur in exceptional cases in carrying out the reform. It will
certainly never be adopted until it has conquered public opinion; in
which case means will readily be found to enforce it. Sham transfers are
not unknown in the business world; but though sometimes troublesome,
they do not practically interfere with the volume of business
transactions.
_Objections founded on certain standards of qualification._ The writer
has omitted to discuss the exact amount, character or measure of
property to be named in the qualification standard. It is said that the
enforcement of a rate-paying qualification in the City of London, by
excluding from the polls paupers, dependents on others, idle and
inefficient working men, and the semi-criminal and criminal classes,
effects a reduction of about twenty-five per cent from a full manhood
suffrage poll list. An equivalent purging here, would completely purify
our voting system. But here in this country, the standard would have to
vary according to local conditions, and to the judgment of the different
legislative bodies having jurisdiction.
* * * * *
As to the possibility of the success of a movement to obtain the
enactment of a proper qualification for voters, there can be no doubt.
The proposition is new and it will have to be carefully explained and
earnestly advocated; but it will be adopted and put in force just as
soon as the people become convinced of its justice and expediency; and
not before. This means a lot of preparatory and educational work, and
therein lies perhaps a chief value of the project. Before it can be
adopted, it will have to be thoroughly understood and believed in; the
electorate will have to be made to know its own present weakness and
corruption, and its own great possibilities, in future power and purity.
In short, the proper consideration of a proposal for an elevation of the
electorate, will of itself involve such self-examination and bracing up
of standards, as will purify the political atmosphere even before its
acceptance by the legislatures and the people.
There is no legal difficulty to be overcome, no Federal constitutional
provision in the way; and the reform can go into effect in any state,
upon a vote of its people changing its constitution. This vote can be
obtained. The majority of the voters in every state are property
holders; it is in their power to assume control at their pleasure. If
this project is right, it will be possible to convince them of that
fact. There is no reason why the working classes should oppose it; it is
in their interest; most of them are family men, property owners and
intelligent. It is they who have suffered most by the depredations of
politicians. They would be dull and stupid beyond all that has ever been
supposed, to fail to see that misgovernment and want of efficiency are
their greatest enemies; that excessive taxation eats up year by year a
large part of their surplus product; and when convinced of the justice
and expediency of the measure, these serious workers will find means to
silence the senseless clamor for the vote, should there be such on the
part of the inferior and worthless in the ranks of labor. Among the
politicians themselves, no doubt there are men who will break away from
machine tyranny and favor the reform; men of real ability, who realize
that working in a purer atmosphere they would achieve more real
distinction than they now obtain; men who inwardly despise the things
they are compelled to countenance and perform. Much formless prejudice
there will be also to be overcome no doubt; but that will yield to
explanation and to reason.
Thoughtful men everywhere are beginning to realize the humbug and menace
of manhood suffrage. Writing in the _North American Review for March_,
1920, Hanford Henderson says of universal suffrage that “it harms even
those whom it is supposed to benefit. To give every man and woman a vote
and to declare these votes equally important and significant is both
unsound and mischievous.... Universal suffrage is a characteristic
example of the democratic failure in discrimination.... An electorate
not properly qualified is an ever present public danger.” There is such
a prevalent disgust for present political methods that any well-planned
scheme of relief will be welcomed. We need only consider whether the
measure is right; that once made clear it can be carried. To doubt that
is to doubt the possibility of a reasonable democracy.
Just how far the American public is mentally prepared to seriously
consider the dominant theories of this work; just how soon, if ever,
these theories will become familiar and popular among us, it is
impossible to judge. It may be that some proofs of their acceptance will
speedily follow the publication of this volume; it may be that years or
even generations will pass before the principles herein advocated will
get a hearing. But to those of his readers be they ever so few, who
believe that the things here written down are true, the author would say
in the words with which this volume is begun, written by Washington on
the eve of a great and doubtful enterprise: “Let us raise a standard to
which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of
God.”
* * * * *
BRIEF SKETCH OF WRITERS REFERRED TO
ADAMS, BROOKS, American lawyer and publicist; author of “The Law of
Civilization and Decay,” and other works.
ADAMS, HENRY, historian; author of “History of the United States”;
“Life of Albert Gallatin,” and other works.
ALLEN, WILLIAM H., is a prominent social worker and author, and is
director of the Bureau of Municipal Research and National Training
School for the study and Administration of Public Business, Author
of “Woman’s Part in Government,” referred to in this volume.
ALGER, RUSSELL A., Major General of Volunteers in the American
Civil War; Governor of Michigan and Secretary of War under
President McKinley.
BAGEHOT, WALTER, distinguished English publicist and economist;
member of the English Bar; banker; editor of the _Economist_, and
active for many years in business and politics. Author of “The
English Constitution,” “Lombard Street,” “Physics and Politics,”
“Literary Studies,” and “Economic Studies,” in the two former of
which he describes the practical workings of the British
governmental machine and the London money market respectively. The
extracts herein given are from magazine articles written by him.
BENTON, THOMAS H., U. S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1820 to 1850;
afterwards Member of the House of Representatives. Author of
“History of American Government for Thirty Years.”
BLUNTSCHLI, JOHANN K., (1808-1881), Swiss jurist and politician;
professor of constitutional law in Munich; author of a number of
standard works on Constitutional and International Law.
BREEN, MATTHEW, was a New York lawyer, state senator and municipal
justice. Author of “Thirty Years of New York Politics,” referred to
in this volume.
BRYCE, JAMES, VISCOUNT, English historian and diplomat, was elected
member of Parliament in 1880. Afterwards Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs and President of the Board of Trade. He was one
of the British members of the International Tribunal at the Hague;
Chief Secretary for Ireland and Ambassador to the United States.
His book, the “American Commonwealth,” is the result of a long and
careful study of American politics made on the spot, is much used
as a source and text-book, and is referred to and freely quoted in
this volume.
BURKE, EDMUND, illustrious British statesman, orator,
parliamentarian and writer.
CLARK, CHARLES P., American author of “The Machine Abolished,”
referred to in this volume.
COMMONS, JOHN R., whose work entitled “Proportional Representation”
is quoted herein, is Director of the American Bureau of Industrial
Research and Professor of Political Economy at the University of
Wisconsin. He was a member of the Federal Commission on Industrial
Relations in 1913-1915. He is the author of a number of books
dealing with the industrial problems of the United States.
CARTER, JAMES C., New York lawyer; counsel for the U. S. Government
in the Alaska arbitration at Paris; author of “Law, Its Origin,
Growth and Function.”
CALHOUN, JOHN C., American lawyer and statesman; Secretary of War;
Vice President United States; Secretary of State; United States
Senator 1832-1843 and 1845-1850; author of two posthumous works,
“Disquisition on Government” and “Discourse on the Constitution and
Government of the United States.”
CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM, New York editor, public speaker, civil
service reformer and man of letters.
DANA, CHARLES L., noted New York physician, lecturer and author.
DAWSON, EDGAR, is Professor of History and Political Science at
Hunter College. He is a joint editor of “The Practical History of
the World.”
EATON, DORMAN B., New York lawyer and Civil Service Reformer;
Chairman of the Civil Service Commission 1873-1875, and member
1883-1885.
ESTABROOK, HENRY D., noted American lawyer.
FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY, New York lawyer; prominent legal reformer;
principal author of New York Code of Civil Procedure of 1848, and
of other proposed Codes of Law.
FULLER, ROBERT H., American newspaper writer.
FARRAND, MAX, Professor of History at Yale, is a frequent
contributor to American Historical Reviews. He is the author of
“Development of the United States” quoted from in this volume; and
also “Legislation of Congress for the Government of the Organized
Territories of the United States (1789-1895)”; “Framing of the
Constitution”; and “Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.”
FAGUET, M., member of the French Academy; author of “La Culte
d’Incompetence,” referred to in this volume and other works.
GARNER, JAMES W., is Professor of Political Science at the
University of Illinois. He is American collaborator for the “French
Revue Politique et Parlementaire” and contributor of more than two
hundred articles on political and legal subjects to the New
International Encyclopedia, and various articles in the
Encyclopedia of American Government and the Encyclopedie
Americaine. He is a frequent contributor to various magazines.
GILMAN, CHARLOTTE P., author, lecturer, magazine writer. Author of
“Women and Economics,” herein referred to.
GODKIN, EDWIN L., was one of the most prominent journalists of the
United States. He established the _Nation_ in 1865 and was editor
of the New York _Evening Post_ up to the year of his death in 1902.
He was the author of a “History of Hungary,” “Reflections and
Comments,” “Problems of Democracy,” and “Unforeseen Tendencies of
Democracy.” The latter work, quoted herein, is a keen analysis and
study of the forces in the American political system.
HART, ALBERT B., may be said to be the dean of living American
historians. He is Professor of Government at Harvard University. He
has written many books and his contribution to the study and
interpretation of American History assumes almost monumental
proportions. He was president of the American Historical
Association in 1909, and was appointed Exchange Professor, Harvard
to Berlin, in 1915.
HYSLOP, PROF. JAMES H., has been connected with Columbia University
as an instructor and professor of logic, philosophy, ethics and
psychology. He organized the American Institute for Scientific
Research and became editor of the Proceedings and Journal of the
American Society for Psychical Research. His book on “Democracy,”
published in 1899, is extensively quoted in this volume. He there
favors a qualification for voters based upon the payment of an
income tax.
HUNT, HENRY T., is a prominent lawyer and public man. He was a
member of the Ohio Legislature from 1906-1907 and Mayor of
Cincinnati from 1912-1914. He is a trustee of the Cincinnati
Southern Railroad which is owned by the city of Cincinnati.
IRELAND, ALLEYNE, British and American traveler, editor and
essayist; American university lecturer.
IVINS, WILLIAM M., prominent New York lawyer and politician.
KAHN, OTTO H., banker and publicist, is a member of the banking
firm of Kuhn, Loeb and Company, a director of the Union Pacific
Railroad, and the Morristown Trust Company. He is a profound
student of and writer upon financial affairs.
LECKY, WILLIAM E. H., an Irish historian and publicist who died in
1903, became famous at the age of twenty-seven with the publication
of his “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of
Rationalism.” He was a member of Parliament for Dublin in 1895 and
re-elected in 1900. He declined the offer of Regius professorship
of History at Oxford in order to devote himself to public life.
“Democracy and Liberty,” published in 1896, and here quoted from,
is used as a reference book in all the large universities in the
United States.
LEWIS, SIR GEORGE CORNWALL, British lawyer, editor and statesman;
Chancellor of the Exchecquer; celebrated author; wrote (1849)
“Influence of Authority on Matters of Opinion” here quoted, and
other learned works.
LEWIS, LAWRENCE, American newspaper and magazine writer.
LIPPMAN, WALTER, American author and publicist; associate editor of
_New Republic_, and frequent contributor to magazines.
LOW, A. MAURICE, British and American author and journalist.
MOSS, FRANK, New York lawyer; former president Board of Police, New
York City; author.
MORSE, JOHN T., lawyer, editor and author of several biographies,
including “Life of John Quincy Adams,” quoted in this volume.
MILL, JOHN STUART, was an English philosopher and economist and one
of the greatest English prose writers of the nineteenth century.
Author of works on Logic, Political Economy and Utilitarianism;
wrote “Representative Government,” quoted in this volume;
“Liberty,” “Subjection of Woman,” etc. He served in Parliament for
several years. From 1835 to 1840 he was editor and part owner of
the London _Westminster Review_.
MILLER, J. BLEECKER, New York lawyer, political student and writer;
author of “Trade Organizations in Politics.”
MACCUNN, JOHN, is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the
University of Liverpool, where he taught for many years. He is
author of “The Making of Character,” “Six Radical Thinkers,”
“Ethics of Social Work,” “The Political Philosophy of Burke,” and
“Ethics of Citizenship.” The latter work is quoted in this volume.
MYERS, GUSTAVUS, author of “History of Tammany Hall,” herein
referred to and several other works on political subjects.
OSTROGORSKI, MOISEI IKOVOLEVITCH, a Russian political scientist
educated in France, has a profound knowledge and understanding of
the British and American political systems. Ostrogorski was a
member of the First Russian Duma or Parliament. Quotations in this
volume are from his “Democracy and The Party System in the United
States.”
REINSCH, PAUL S., whose well-known work on “American Legislatures
and Legislative Methods,” is extensively quoted in this volume, is
one of the most widely read of American political scientists and
historians. He is the author of many books which have been
translated into Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and German, and a
frequent contributor to reviews, historical and economic
periodicals. He was Professor of Political Science in the
University of Wisconsin for over twelve years. He was Roosevelt
Professor at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig in 1911-1912.
He is an honorary member of the Faculty of the University of Chile,
and a member of the National Academy of Venezuela. He was United
States delegate to the Third Pan-American Conference at Rio de
Janeiro in 1904 and the Fourth Conference at Buenos Aires in 1910,
and United States minister to China.
RHODES, JAMES F., is a prominent historian and lecturer. He was
president of the American Historical Association, and was awarded a
gold medal by the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1910
for his contributions to historical literature. In 1913 he
delivered lectures on the American Civil War at Oxford University.
Is author of a “History of the United States,” herein quoted.
ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, twice President of the United States,
publicist, politician, statesman and author of “Life of Benton,”
from which this book quotes, and other works.
ROOT, ELIHU, distinguished New York lawyer, politician and
publicist; has been United States Senator, United States Secretary
of War, and United States Secretary of State.
RUSKIN, JOHN, English author, art critic and reformer; made a great
impression on the literature and thought of the latter part of the
nineteenth century. His writings, devoted mainly to art, have a
strong ethical tendency.
REEMELIN, CHARLES, writer and lawyer; former member of the Ohio
Legislature; student of political subjects; newspaper editor and
writer; author of several works on politics, including “American
Politics” (1881), from which extracts are here taken.
STICKNEY, ALBERT, prominent New York lawyer.
STEFFENS, LINCOLN, American editor, writer and lecturer. Author of
the “Shame of the Cities,” and other works and frequent contributor
to magazines.
SIEYES, EMMANUEL JOSEPH, French Abbé and statesman of the
Revolutionary and Napoleonic era; member of the States General and
the Convention; member of the Directorate of 1799 and Senator of
France.
SCHURZ, CARL, distinguished German American; came to America in
early youth and became an American writer, soldier, orator and
statesman; was United States Minister to Spain; United States
Senator from Missouri and Secretary of the Interior. Author of
“Life of Henry Clay,” from which quotations are here made.
SEAWELL, MOLLY E., American journalist and novelist; author of “The
Ladies’ Battle,” a work written in opposition to female suffrage.
SHAW, ALBERT, is editor of the _American Review of Reviews_, and
author of several widely read works on Municipal Government, for
which he was awarded the John Marshall prize by Johns Hopkins
University in 1895. He has also written many books dealing with
different phases of American life and government, and has lectured
at many universities and colleges. He was appointed professor of
Political Institutions and International Law at Cornell University
in 1890, but declined. He is a trustee of the General Education
Board and a member of the Bureau of Municipal Research. Is the
author of “Political Problems,” quoted from in this volume.
STIMSON, HENRY L., American lawyer, was Secretary of War under
President Taft for two years.
SUMNER, HELEN L., Assistant Chief of the Children’s Bureau of the
Department of Labor at Washington. Was special investigator of
woman suffrage in Colorado for the New York Collegiate Equal
Suffrage League in 1916-1917. She is the author of many books
dealing with industrial problems, and is a frequent contributor to
economic and other publications. She published a book “Equal
Suffrage,” from which a quotation is made in this volume.
TOCQUEVILLE, ALEXIS HENRI CHARLES DE, was a French statesman and
political philosopher of the first half of the nineteenth century.
Visited America in 1831 and wrote his monumental work “De la
democratie in Amerique,” which is one of the world’s classics.
TARBELL, IDA M., is a prominent sociologist and publicist, and an
associate editor of the _American Magazine_. She is author of “A
Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte,” a “Life of Lincoln,” a “History
of the Standard Oil Company,” and “The Business of Being a Woman,”
the latter quoted in this book.
VON TREITSCHKE, HEINRICH (1834-1896), publicist, political
essayist; German university lecturer; member of the German
Reichstag; the most brilliant historian of the Prussian school.
WEBSTER, DANIEL, orator and statesman; was member of United States
Senate and Secretary of State of the United States.
WHITE, ANDREW D., was an American educator, scholar and diplomat.
He was president of Cornell University from 1868 to 1885, minister
to Germany from 1879-1881 and to Russia in 1892-4. From 1897 to
1902 he was Ambassador to Germany. He was chairman of the American
delegation to the Hague Peace Conference. He is the author of
several books dealing with historical studies.
WOODBURN, JAMES A., is Professor of American History at Indiana
University. Has contributed articles to the American Year Book, the
American History Review, Indiana Magazine of History, Encyclopedia
Americanae, and the Encyclopedia of American Government, and is the
author of several political works, including “Political Parties and
Party Problems,” from which are the quotations made in this volume.