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Page 32
In the second place, the would-be citizen must have fairly sound
judgments on questions of raising and spending necessary revenue. What
are the effects of direct and indirect taxation? Would a heavy tax on
land force unused lands, including mines and waterways, into use? Should
a man with a cash income of $50,000 a year pay more to support
government than one with a cash income of $500? What are the objections
to an income tax? How does it work in England, where it has been fairly
tried? Should a great corporation pay taxes in proportion to its wealth,
and in places where the wealth is protected by the law? If so, how can
it be reached? Should churches, museums, libraries and schools be taxed;
if not, why not? Should taxes be laid on flour, meat and eggs, on woolen
cloth, on silks, velvets, ostrich plumes and diamonds? Should taxes be
laid on whiskey, wines, tobacco, cigars and race-tracks? Should taxes be
devised, or continued, to protect such infant industries as now handle
our kerosene oil, meat, sugar and steel? Surely no one who cannot form
independent judgments on these matters should presume to direct them
through voting.
But not only must a nation raise revenue in the wisest and most
equitable manner possible, and spend it effectively and economically,
but it must also care for its present possessions. So the would-be
citizen must know about the wealth in which he wants to share. What do
the national, State and municipal governments own? How should the vast
domains of land, the onetime inexhaustible forests, the mines of coal
and metal, the waterways and water-powers, the special privileges and
franchises belonging to the people be used? Should they be thrown away,
gambled away, given away as favors, rented, sold, or handled directly by
the people? On what terms or under what guarantees should they be turned
over to individuals or companies, if this is to be done? Those who
cannot form judgments on these matters should not be entrusted with such
vast responsibility, be they men or women.
Questions of our foreign relations must also occupy the thought of the
citizen. Are foreign entanglements necessary or desirable? If so, with
what European or Asiatic nations should we seek to strengthen our
friendship? Are our interests nearly identical with those of England? If
we formed a close defensive alliance with her should we be thereby
aiding universal peace as much as we might by maintaining more generally
friendly relations with all European powers? Would an alliance with
England probably draw us into her troubles, if she has any, in Egypt or
India? How would such an alliance affect our relation with England's
present ally, Japan? Are we fitted by the genius of our institutions
and by our experience to handle a foreign empire? If not, what should
we do with the Philippines?
So, too, those who are to direct the destinies of the country must think
out what our relations are to be with Latin America. In the past some
statesman, a Richelieu or a Bismarck, had a policy and led his nation to
it by devious paths of indirection. But now that each citizen is a king,
he must have a policy for his realm. Are our republican neighbors to the
south to be increasingly recognized as under our protection and
direction? If so, how are we to maintain the peace and secure payment of
their foreign debts? All these problems are bound up with the management
of the Panama Canal. They confront us in different forms in connection
with immigration, especially of Asiatics.
Our institutional life must also be regulated by the citizens, and so
they must have judgments about each of its details. They must know what
they think about the family, forms of legal marriage and divorce, and
the care of children when the family fails. The Church must be
considered and protected; possibly it should be encouraged; and
possibly its unwarranted assumption should sometimes be checked. Schools
must be founded, supported, directed. Art galleries, museums and clubs
must be chartered, and then controlled; and so must all the other
institutions of our modern society. The would-be citizen must be able to
think about all this work.
Industries, on which our individual and collective well-being depend,
must be encouraged by special favors, limited to the public good,
protected from violence, inspected in the interest of employees. Hours
must be regulated, disputes settled, conditions of labor and safety
secured. Children should be protected against employers' greed; and
working women must receive special consideration, if the race of strong
men is to continue. Here again the citizen must have judgments, or the
power to make judgments, as new needs arise.
Then, too, there is a tradition of government, established by the
fathers and modified by experience, which should be understood by the
citizens. It recognizes certain rights as being reserved by the
individual States, and others as belonging to the national government.
The would-be citizen should be acquainted with this tradition so that he
can determine how far it is desirable to adopt a new nationalism. He
will have to pass judgment on the control of interstate commerce,
national or State control of public lands, national divorce and liquor
laws, national food inspection, and other practical subjects which may
destroy the older balance of power so jealously guarded by our earlier
statesmen. The citizen must make up his mind if this is desirable.
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