adapted to social needs. Civilization in its highest sense means much more than the mere mastery of mind over inanimate nature; it implies a more or less effective social control over individual conduct. Certain impulses, instincts and tendencies must be repressed; others must be encouraged, strengthened, and developed.
It is a mistake to suppose that the unrestrained play of mere natural forces ensures progress. Occasional advance is the outcome, but so also is frequent retrogression. There is no scientific basis for the belief in a natural order that everywhere and always makes for progress. Competition or the struggle for existence ensures at most merely the survival of the fittest; but survival of the fittest does not always mean survival of the best. Competition is nature's means of adapting life to its environment. If the environment is such as to give the more highly organized individuals the advantage, progress is the result. But if it is such as to place them at a disadvantage, retrogression, not progress, is the outcome. higher types of character, no less than the higher organic forms, presuppose external conditions favorable to their development. Competition is merely the means through which conformity to these external conditions is enforced. It eliminates alike that which is better than the environment and that which is worse. It is indifferent to good or bad, to high or low. It
simply picks out, preserves and perpetuates those types best suited to environing conditions. progress and retrogression are a process of adaptation, and their cause must be sought, not in the principle of competition itself, but in the general external conditions to which it enforces conformity. Success, then, is a matter of adaptation to the environment, or the power to use it for individual ends-not the power to improve and enrich it. The power to take from, is nature's sole test of fitness to live; but the power to enrich is a higher test, and one which society must enforce through appropriate legislation.
Laws, institutions and methods of trade which make it possible for the individual to take from more than he adds to the general resources of society tend inevitably toward general social deterioration. Competition is wholesome only when all our social arrangements are such as to discourage and repress all individual activities not in harmony with the general interests of society. This is the point of view from which all social and industrial questions must be studied. The problem which democracy has to solve is the problem of so organizing the environment as to assure progress through the success and survival of the best.
ratification of the last three
amendments, 54; on the com-
mittee system, 196.
Budget. See House of Repre-
sentatives.
Burgess, John W., on the diffi
culty of amending the Consti-
tution, 47; on the veto power
of the Supreme Court, 90; on
the desire of the framers to
avoid popular choice of Presi
dential electors, 134 note; on
the protection of private prop-
erty by the Supreme Court, 299.
Butler, C. H., on the attitude of
the Supreme Court toward
treaties, 119.
Calhoun, John C., on popular
government, 132; on state
rights, 178.
Channing, Edward, on removal of
judges, 71.
Checks and balances, American
system of artificial, 130;
archism an extreme application
of, 132; belief of framers in,
125; in early state constitu-
tions, 21; in English govern-
ment, 8; limitation of power of
the people under, 129; origin
of, 126; Poland an example of,
131; practical limit to exten-
sion of, 130; relation of, to
laissez faire, 131; subordination
of House of Representatives not
in accord with, 147. See Con-
stitution of the United States.
Chinese exclusion act, 315.
Common law, influence of the
ruling class upon, II.
Constitutional convention of 1787.
See Constitution of the United
States.
Constitutional government, origin
of, 3; relation to democracy, 3.
Constitution of the United States,
of 18th
century
thought, 28; change in the atti-
tude of the people toward, 184;
germs of national government
in, 161; influence of the Fed-
eralists upon the development
of, 164; limitation of the taxing
power in, 318; no provision for
political parties in, 205; numer-
ical majority not recognized in,
176; power of minority
modify, 167; protection
property in, 298; purpose of,
misrepresented by the framers,
77; relation of, to individual
liberty, 297; relation of, to the
doctrine of nullification, 169;
responsible for the state rights
controversy, 163; significance
of, economic, 299; states not
expressly subordinated in, 161;
substitutes for monarchy and
aristocracy in, 132; vote in the
conventions ratifying, 53 note;
an insignificant minority may
prevent amendment of, 46;
Patrick Henry's objection to
the amendment feature of, 44;
number of amendments pro-
posed, 47; power of two-thirds
of the states to call a constitu-
tional convention, 346; impor-
tance of this provision, 346;
difficulty of securing the co-
operation of the smaller states,
347; the first ten amendments,
53; the eleventh amendment,
53; the twelfth amendment, 53;
the last three amendments, 54.
See House of Representatives,
President, Senate, Supreme
Court.
Contracts, laws impairing the ob-
ligation of, 320-325.
Cooley, T. M., on the difference
between judicial and political
power, 107; on the attitude of
the fathers toward publicity,
156; on the evils of legislative
interference in municipal af-
fairs, 284; on the influence of
the Dartmouth College decision
upon the growth of corporate
power, 325; on government cen-
sorship of printing, 381 note.
Coxe, Brinton, on the judicial veto
in England, 85; on the judicial
veto in the early state govern-
ments, 88, 89.
Dartmouth College case, 325.
Declaration of Independence, 14,
33, 219.
Democracy, immediate aim of,
political, 388; influence of
economic progress on, 384; in-
fluence of printing on growth
of, 380; reaction against, 27;
relation of, to reform, 380.
Direct primary, 350; adoption of,
in Oregon, 357 note.
Electoral college, influence of
democracy on, 332. See Presi-
dent.
English Bill of Rights, 152; abuse
of, by Parliament, 153.
Federal elections, 188.
Federalists, 165.
Federal judiciary. See Supreme
Court.
Fiske, John, on the conservatism
of the framers, 29; on the se-
crecy of the debates on the
Constitution, 34 note; on the
election of Presidential electors
by state legislatures, 134 note.
Ford, Paul L., on the protection
of the minority by the Supreme
Court, 299; on the rigidity of
the Constitution, 331 note.
Framers of the Constitution, at-
titude of, toward criticism of
public officials, 152-159; char-
acter of, 32; deliberations of,
secret, 34.
Free land, influence of, on wages,
314.
Free speech, in American colonies,
155.
Goodnow, F. J., on the freedom
of New York City from legis-
lative interference in the early
years of our history, 253; on
the abuses of legislative inter-
ference in municipal affairs,
Governor, limited powers of, un-
der early state constitutions, 19;
small executive power of, 244;
veto power of, 19, 244. See
Impeachment, State constitutions
after 1787.
Government, but two functions of,
344; distinction between na-
tional and federal, 159; in-
fluence of the minority upon,
370; kinds of, 128; ultimate
source of authority in, 296.
Government of England, control
of, by the landlord class in the
18th century, 204; change in
the character of, 207.
Government by injunction, 116-
Great Charter, the political sig
nificance of, 4.
Great Council, 4; separation of,
into lords and commons, 6.
Greene, E. B., on free speech in
the colonies, 155.
Hamilton, Alexander, on life ten-
ure of judges, 66; on the right
of the courts to declare legis-
lative acts null and void, 73-
75; his effort to mislead the
public, 77; his defense of poll
taxes, 319; his policy as Sec-
retary of the Treasury, 164;
his reasons for supporting the
Constitution, 82; kind of gov-
ernment favored by, 79.
Henry Patrick, on amending the
Constitution, 44; on the right
of judges to oppose acts of the
legislature, 96; offer of the
Chief Justiceship to, 95.
Hoar, George F., on law-making
in the House of Representa-
tives, 197, 198, 200.
House of Commons, character of,
in the 18th century, 10, 153,
204.
House of Representatives, an irre.
sponsible body during the sec-
ond regular session, 189; a sub-
ordinate branch of the govern-
ment, 136; influence of the
committee system on, 192; rela-
tion of, to taxation and ex-
penditure, 148. See President,
Senate, Speaker of the House.
Immigration, decline in the quality
of, 314.
Impeachment, by a majority of
the legislature, 142; changes in
state constitutions relating to,
231; of judges, 20; reason for
making difficult, 142; relation
of, to executive and judicial
veto, 143. See Judges, Presi
dent, Senate.
Income Tax decision, 114, 222,
320.
Industry, control of, by the few,
Initiative and referendum, 352.
Iredell, James, judicial veto de-
fended by, as a means of limit-
ing the power of the majority,
89.
|