HOI THE PHILOSOPHY OF CITIZENSHIP THE PHILOSOPHY OF CITIZENSHIP AN INTRODUCTION TO CIVICS FOR ADULTS BT E. M. WHITE Lecturer in Civics, London County Council NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 =-' /:?.*: .- . ...'.. . . CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAOK INTRODUCTORY 7 CHAPTER II WHAT IS CIVILISATION? 17 CHAPTER III THE CONTENT OF CIVICS 34 A. GENERAL REMARKS B. A SYLLABUS OF STUDY FOR ADULTS CHAPTER IV THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CITIZENSHIP . . 66 CHAPTER V SOCIAL IDEAS 83 CHAPTER VI SPHERES OF REORGANISATION . . . .102 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . .121 491193 Much of the matter contained in Chapter III has appeared in the weekly journal Education, and is here reproduced by kind permission of the Editor. The Author states that this book is not in any way an official publi- cation. THE PHILOSOPHY OF CITIZENSHIP CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Civics is the subject that deals with everything appertaining to citizenship ; past, present, and future ; local, national, and human. A citizen's life is full and many-sided, connected with many and various aspects of the world, so the study of Civics and the practice of citizenship require an education, definite, wide, and inspiring. Civics pays due respect to a catholic culture, but it gives small regard to the specialisms that are little more than book-knowledge. The more widely educated a citizen is, the better he can play his part in the community ; but mere examination- knowledge is not education nor culture, and the citizen-student must learn from the street as well as the study. Book-knowledge is indeed 7 The Philosophy of Citizenship indispensable, but one of the most insidious forms cf narrowness may be engendered by mere book- knowledge ; and therefore a practical knowledge of environment and conditions, of problems and ideals, is also indispensable. The illustrious Turgot once said that " the study of the duty of citizenship ought to be the foundation of all other studies " ; and we might say that Civics is the connecting link between other studies, binding them also to life and reality. It is essentially a subject of connections : it links all times and periods as part of the long chain of achievement beaten out by civilisation ; it connects all subjects as part of the life-story of mankind, and reveals them as aspects of its manifold activity ; it carries everyday life into the school and study ; and it joins the needs of to-day to the results of yesterday and the hopes of to-morrow. As the electric spark causes the junction of oxygen and hydrogen to form cleansing water, so the spirit of Civics joins the study and the street to form an element of purification for the city and country. No student of Civics in its full sense can separate any one aspect of life or civilisation from the others. He may be interested in parish councils, or municipal trading, or local history, or imperial federation ; and that is well, so long as he re- 8 Introductory members that his interest lies in a small part of a great whole wherein all parts overlap and mingle. The algebraical formulae of Europe are connected with the visions of Mohammed, for, had not the Prophet dreamt and brooded, the faith of Islam would not have evolved, and the Arabians would not have overrun the Mediterranean shores nor brought their learning and mathematics into Europe ; the discovery made by Columbus is connected with the spice trade of the East, for had not the Turks closed the entrances to the riches of the Orient, no passage to India would have been searched for across the Atlantic. Far more are these interactions evident in the present, for all citizenship is now more self-conscious, and therefore more clear-eyed, and it can discern that all spheres coalesce to some extent with other spheres : that town-planning is a part of art, and that art-institutions should give their aid to the home of the workman ; that sanitation is con- nected with education for all young citizens should have the threefold training of body, mind, and character and therefore public health is an important aspect of education ; that economics merges into ethics ; that poetry may be akin to politics, as the dreams of such statesmen as Mazzini and Lincoln testify, as well as the lines of William Blake : 9 The Philosophy of Citizenship Bring me my bow of burning gold ! Bring me my arrows of desire ! Bring me my spear ! O clouds unfold t Bring me my chariot of fire ! I will not cease from mental fight. Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land. The wide survey which it is necessary to take to see connections, and to keep evaluations in due proportion, results in a synthesis in the citizen's mind of all conditions as part of a vast whole, indivisible. No one can spend his energies on every part, but everyone should remember the rest of the field while working in his own furrow, and should occasionally climb up to look around. Unless the citizen abides by this principle he will not obtain a grasp of the unity of life and progress, and of the action of citizenship upon both. In the realm of Civics realities take the place of words, and a philosophy of Citizenship the most modern of subjects growing from the most ancient of roots should essentially be characterised by the features of the most evolved form of philosophy. For, like all else, the " love of wisdom " has developed in its content and method since the days of antiquity, 1 Between Aristotle * See Comte's Law of the Three Stages of human ideas : the theological or anthropomorphic, the metaphysical or hypothetical, and the positive or real and relative. 10 Introductory and Bergson a long span of civilisation stretches, which means not only that the face of the world and the life thereon have changed, but also that the Mind of Man has enlarged and deepened, become keener and richer. For our purpose we may speak of philosophy as the conclusions of this mind when applied to a complete view of human evolution, or, in other words, philosophy is common sense and synthesis. With the applica- tion of common sense to a synthetic view of life and the world, there necessarily arises the relative method of judgment, which forms all conceptions and statements with due regard to circumstances and times, which does not lay down the law of science or ethics, "as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be," but which recognises that, with change of environment, knowledge, and capacity, there will come change of ideas and moral issues. This means bringing the notion of evolution into the sphere, not only of biology, but of all aspects of human life. Human evolution means Civilisation, the two aspects of which deeply concern the citizen, for to some extent he is its agent. It is always misleading to use mechanical terms in reference to life, which in its essence is non-mechanical, but if we bear in mind that there is always some- thing more than mechanics involved in the analogy, ii The Philosophy of Citizenship we may speak of the two aspects of civilisation as static and dynamic. By the first is meant all the great customs, traditions, institutions, laws, governments, religions, moral sanctions, etc., developed by mankind from the earliest ages. Without this foundation society could not exist, and all this accumulated result of the collective experience and experiment of the human race represents the Order or achievement of civilisation. Many superficial reformers do not sufficiently appreciate this aspect ; the writer has more than once heard the exclamation, " I should like to smash up the whole world and build it anew ! " The colossal conceit of such remarks is not detected by the speakers ; but let them consider that for thousands of years our civilisation has been in the making, and millions of human beings have taken part in the process. One enlightened pioneer imagines that he, in his puny life, can improve upon the accumulated result of all the mistakes, strivings, and ideals, of all the myriad complexities of beauty and tragedy produced by countless generations throughout the centuries ! It is the realisation of the slow evolution of mankind during the ages that will show how impossible it is by any method to " create a new- mind and a new world in a single generation." In spite of seeming examples, such a change has 12 Introductory never taken place in so short a time. If the surface result appears to have come with compara- tive suddenness, search will always indicate forces that have been at work for generations to produce such a result. 1 This truth is in reality one of hope, for it indicates that, however inconspicuous the labours of a century may seem, yet their effects pass on and accumulate, and in time " the old order change th, yielding place to new/' But by acknowledging our great debt to our ancestors, and appreciating the achievements of the past, we must not be led into the mistake of thinking that civilisation is complete, so that there are only comparatively small changes to make. History builds on history, and Civilisation iiu plies more than achievement. Order, existing alone, would mean stagnation. To consider that what has been done is all that can be accomplished is to belittle the present and future in the same way as the superficial reformers, who regard our ancestors as living in darkness and themselves as the first children of light, belittle the past. There is a dynamic aspect to civilisation, in the sense of its evolution ; and to Order must be 1 Usually the case of Germany is given as an instance of a nation being changed in a single generation, but in reality the special militarism of Prussia, and its theory of the State, began in the early eighteenth century. '3 The Philosophy of Citizenship added Progress, a continual changing, an urging forward. And history is the tale of the balancing of these forces. Hence tendencies as well as traditions must be observed and studied, and the problem lies in ensuring progress while maintaining order. As Bergson says, ' The ideal would be a society always in progress and always in equilibrium ; but this ideal is perhaps unattainable." Whether it be unattainable in the distant future depends on the quality of citizenship evolved ; but both aspects are necessary, and permanent progress is always based on order. Nobler institutions must be formed, change be made as change is needed, and each generation, carrying the past with it, must travel farther on the road to civilisation. Citizenship has its two aspects of Order and Progress, and he who wishes to be useful to the community must subordinate himself to the order of civilisation and participate in its progress if he is to achieve his aim. He must attain the balance between appreciation of past achieve- ments and aspiration after future ideals, the link between which forms the action of the present. On the one hand he subordinates himself, but in no servile sense, to the customs and laws of his city and country, and is willingly obedient Introductory to them ; he acknowledges himself as part of a great whole ; and he regards the work of his ancestors with respect. Professor Urwick calls the quality of subordination the most obvious and important fact of social life, and the necessity for putting the good of the community before individual interests has been recognised by the earliest thinkers. " You are a citizen," says Epictetus, " and part of the world. . . . The duty of a citizen is in nothing to consider his own interest distinct from that of others." But mere subordination is not all that the citizen can do to respect and maintain the Order of civilisation : he can work in the various institu- tions of his time, and by taking his share in their administration he can carry on what has originated in the past. Such activities and such subordina- tion are as far, perhaps, as the majority of average, worthy citizens go ; but the complete citizen is not satisfied with all the present conditions of Order, and though he appreciates their value in the past, he is zealous for reform, and wishes to see each generation, including his own, reaching a higher stage. Therefore he takes interest in the problems of his times, whether local, or national, or world-wide, and he actively participates in schemes for betterment. In this way he enters the stream of modern tendencies and uses his The Philosophy of Citizenship capacities for the Progress of civilisation. A study of eminent citizens of all periods will reveal a unity of spirit among a variety of activities, for, in addition to self-expression, or earning a liveli- hood, or performing duties, such citizens occupied themselves with the affairs of their time and place, and acted in some definite way to enhance the well-being of the community. The study and practice of citizenship form a science and an art. Like the scientist, the Civics student gathers accurate, definite knowledge concerning the many ramifications of the subject and there are few byways into which it does not penetrate and he analyses and criticises, and finally co-ordinates his knowledge to form laws and conclusions in relation to his times. And, like the artist, the citizen expresses himself and his ideals in social life. In Professor Geddes' words, " Civics is the application of Social Survey to Social Service." The purpose of the social survey is social service ; that is, the aim of Civics is not only to give knowledge of the institutions of society and their growth, but also to inspire an active devotion to the community. CHAPTER II WHAT IS CIVILISATION? CIVILISATION is not only a state, but a process ; - there is in it a grand unfinish, and its urge is unescapable. It gradually spreads over wider areas and its elements penetrate more deeply into the habits and thoughts of the citizen whether he is aware of the process or not ; for humanity learns in spite of itself. Only those who regard civilisation as a mere stage, and not as an aim, and who interpret it as consisting of all the factors which make up our present system of living, can speak of its " cure." The goal, however, is not yet universally and consciously a definite one, nor the road clearly marked. " The harmony is behind rather than before," while " the road has been created pari passu with the act of travelling, being nothing but the direction of this act itself." 1 1 Bergson, in speaking of evolution in his great work, Creative Evolution, p. 54. It must, however, be borne in mind that evolution and civilisation are not identical the former implies constant unfolding, but the latter, in v addition to growth, means the grown things, the formed institutions which humanity has made. 17 B The Philosophy of Citizenship How then has civilisation come, and what are its bases and factors ? Since the citizen is not only the product but also the agent of civilisation, it behoves him to make some endeavour to under- stand the full content of a term which is too often used loosely and with little comprehension. Civilisation is based on, but does not consist solely of, the material, the physical, the economic ; in fact, on Mother Earth and her products. With- out the earth there would be no civilisation as we know it an obvious truth when expressed, but one not often considered as the foundation of thought on the subject. The primary need is food ; clothing and shelter come next, and, lacking these three, or a sufficiency of them, a civilised community cannot be evolved. Christianity recog- nised the importance of the physical in the prayer, " Give us this day our daily bread " ; Auguste Comte placed the " instinct of nutrition " first in his list of human instincts, basing the " noble on the less noble " ; Karl Marx built his theory on " the materialist basis " ; and Buckle, in his History of Civilisation in England, discusses the influence exercised by physical laws on the organ- isation of society before elaborating his theme. All these, and numerous others, form a consensus of agreement that concrete facts must control all theories. This truth is brought home to us if 18 What is Civilisation ? we carry out the extremely interesting and valu- able exercise of trying to realise what would happen if everybody possessed sufficient to live in moderate comfort. The changes in the world's standard of morals and manners, in law courts and prisons, in the whole of our social life, would be drastic and stupendous. On the other hand, it must never be forgotten that a material basis does not imply that all else is material. The noble is based on the less noble, and though, for human beings, there is nothing without the material, yet a vast universe of thought, feeling, aspiration and other spiritual qualities has rested upon it, otherwise there would have been no civilisation. Next to the physical basis comes that of social life, beginning with the family. Here man is not an individual, but has loves, hopes, fears, aims and responsibilities for others. Whether, as Fiske believed, the institution of the family grew as the result of the prolongation of human infancy necessitating longer care of the mother and child, or through the domestication of animals, 1 or as the result of the home-making proclivities of the woman, or from other causes, matters not so much as does its existence and its results in bring- * An interesting theory advanced by E. Jenks in hig The State and the Nation. 19 The Philosophy of Citizenship ing about the subordination of selfish ends to social ones. The family forms the social key, and leads to the beginnings of civilisation with the formation of the city (developed from village communities, which themselves were founded by families). As the derivation of the word indicates, civitas, or the city, contained the elements of modern civilisation. Professor Geddes recognises this when he remarks that many too often forget " the literal meaning of that word [civilisation], vitally civic as it was, and as it must for ever be/' In the city human qualities were developed that could not emerge in village life, for the needs of a city brought into play capacities hitherto uncalled for. The instance of architecture alone will show what creative powers were evolved, which no village could have produced. The city also enabled community life to adjust itself, to experiment in constitutions, to make mistakes and rectify them, to search for political and social solutions to the problems arising ever new with changing conditions ; and nowhere can these attempts be better studied than in the cases of Greece and Italy. It may be noted that in ancient times the study of social evolution runs parallel with that of religion, for religion also was based on family, city, country, as the very names Jerusalem, Athens, Rome testify. 20 What is Civilisation ? With the city may be associated the country or nation, which evolved as travelling, conquest, and knowledge of neighbouring cities gradually contracted distance. In the city, and later in the country, is found the need for co-operation with a view to the common good ; and this has brought about the establishment of what G. K. Chesterton calls " those great agreements which constitute the romantic achievements of civilisa- tion." Agreements, in city or nation, mark the progress of civilisation ; wars the result of dis- agreement whether racial, national, religious, or commercial, do not destroy, but retard, civilisation. The final agreements, amid differences of race, nation, and creed, have yet to be achieved, for the climax of civilisation is reached, not with city or country, but with humanity as a whole. It is an ideal yet to be developed, but its recognition as an ideal is a step towards its realisation a consummation which will come as inevitably as did the union of the warring cities of mediaeval Italy or the federation of the United States. Among the centres already mentioned have grown various institutions making eventually for civilisation. A few words must be given to the civilising influence of that human invention, spoken and written language, which was an additional method of expression and first gave 21 The Philosophy of Citizenship definiteness to thought. Later on the fertilising power of conversation and the clash of ideas carried mankind further towards the relative truths it has gradually formulated. Political institutions have been mainly experi- mental, in Greece, Rome, mediaeval Europe, and in the modern world ; but the final politics that will leave mankind free to devote its genius and energies to art and morality is not yet substan- tiated. Some military organisations in the past have made for progress in various ways : the war of Greece against Persia was a stand against a deluge that would have drowned the gifts Europe has been able to bequeath ; William the Silent's resistance to Spain crushed the power of intoler- ance in religion ; the American War of Inde- pendence claimed and obtained freedom ; and the late European War was civilisation's effort to rid itself of military arrogance. Social status and social customs have also had their effect and have preserved order, in the resulting relationships, friendly or hostile, between the two great classes of mankind, during the gradations that have taken place from slavery through serfdom to the wages system. The first method of getting work done that was despised, was by forcing it on slaves. Only in the twen- tieth century is the mistake dissipated that 22 What is Civilisation ? physical labour is menial ; and the snobs of to-day would be as surprised to see the valuation given to such service by succeeding generations as would be the fops of the eighteenth century to see the esteem in which art and literature are now held. After the days of slavery had died, serfdom seemed to be the only method of retaining stability and obtaining cultivation of the soil in a society occupied with the feuds and crusades of the Middle Ages. Succeeding to serfdom came the wage- earning, capitalistic state of commercialism, which has had its final break-up heralded by the National Service demanded by the country in its hour of need ; for the European \Var has brought home to the minds of all, as has never been done before, the realisation of the true basis on which the protection and even the continuance of a nation rests. Physical labour is taking its place as the recognised foundation of the life of the world, and therefore of the continuance of civilisation. Religion, art, and education have been powerful factors in deepening, uplifting, and expanding the spirit of humanity on its journey. Art, in the form of literature, music, sculpture, painting, and architecture, has given the expansion and sense of joy that creativeness evinces, has made mani- fest the soul of our race to itself, and has expressed dreams that are to be realised in ages to come. 23 The Philosophy of Citizenship And the expression has been progressive : the calm and balance of Phidias were supplemented by the feeling of Michael Angelo, as the stateliness of Greek temples was succeeded by the aspira- tion of Gothic cathedrals. Education gradually prepares the citizenship of the greater civilisa- tion to be ; it is the handing on of the legacy of the past to the present so that it may be enriched for the future ; and it can become the strongest force in moulding citizens and in hastening the advance of civilisation. When the inspiring story of civilisation is taken as the foundation of all teaching, and all " subjects " are connected with that story, the young citizen will be imbued with the sense of a vast movement, and will wish to take his share in forwarding it. Religion has formed sanctions and promoted discipline of life both necessary functions, which, however, limited by past conditions, have often been narrowly conceived. But now, when the whole world is open to us, the spirit of civilisation dis- penses with narrow forms, and is inspired by the collective wisdom and approval and actions of all who have preceded us. Ethical traditions, such as the Ten Commandments, the precepts of Buddha and Confucius, and the Sermon on the Mount, have originated from religion, and their dominating influence is undoubted. And not only 24 What is Civilisation ? with regard to precepts and sanctions has religion been an auxiliary and factor of civilisation, but also in the sphere of social life its influence has deeply penetrated. All the manifestations and outgrowths of the religious spirit churches, temples, monasteries, friars, nuns, missionaries, gurus, fellowships, societies, charities, hospitals, etc. have changed society and left their mark on the human spirit. The Catholic-Feudal age was of much importance in giving a bent to the moulding of civilisation. Far from being dark, the Middle Ages (here taken roughly as from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries) fixed many permanent qualities on Western Europe, evolved many valuable insti- tutions, and strengthened the general civic sense. The art and culture of the Greeks, and the Roman organisation and law, had commenced their work for civilisation, and were to continue, after some centuries, at the Renaissance ; the discoveries of science and exploration which widened the world and the conceptions of men, besides giving more power to their hands, were to provide their aid afterwards ; but in the meantime medievalism also carried on the torch of human progress, though into different spheres, chiefly the social. It is not to be denied that many mistakes were made, that narrowness and ignorance were not The Philosophy of Citizenship absent, and that some standards were lower. But, judged by the more enlightened later centuries, what age could not have the same declared about it ? In considering so vast a process as the growth of civilisation, the citizen, its product and agent, must give appreciation before criticism, and must gather the facts and movements that have, on the whole, made for progress. In itself the organisation of the Catholic Church acted as a unifying principle, and in spite of abuses, gathered tribes and nations into a higher moral atmosphere. And the Holy Roman Empire, under its blessing, also made an attempt, prema- ture though it was, at the unification of Western Europe ; in later centuries the crusading expe- ditions were, too, an outcome of the unifying principle. The inspiration of the Catholic Church produced those splendours of the Middle Ages, the cathedrals, and it is of interest to note that from France, that country so eminently in the fore- front of civilisation, came also the first Gothic architecture. Noble architecture also shows itself in the gildhalls and castles, symbolising the dig- nity of the artisan and the power of the sword in mediaeval times. Of social activities, mention must specially be made of the Benedictines, who, with their ideal of labour as well as prayer, were truly civic in their spirit and work. An inter- 26 What is Civilisation ? esting point with regard to the civic influence of monasteries has been noted by Mr. Victor Bran- ford : " Between the decay of ancient and the rise of mediaeval cities, the monasteries kept alive in the West the civic ideal of creating a milieu for the life of the spirit." The passage of slavery into serfdom in the early Middle Ages has already been mentioned ; but the importance of parish life must be pointed out, for it provided for the exercise of some freedom and the beginnings of local institutions of govern- ment. And in the growing towns, themselves a product of medievalism, the civic sense was quickened by means of the gilds, which supplied by their training, not only workers, but citizens. Increase of trade brought intercourse with other peoples and necessarily bonds with them, and all which makes for unity can serve civilisation. As has already been stated, the town or city is a permanent basis of civilisation, and therein was initiated the democracy of the Greeks and the self-government of the municipalities of the Middle Ages. With the founding of parliaments came the idea of representative government, not conceived in ancient times, but destined to mould all nations. Gradually there came a separation of the powers of Church and State, and with this a quickening in the shaping of the nations that had arisen in The Philosophy of Citizenship the Middle Ages. As secular powers distinct from the Church, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Portugal, and Germany gave their genius to the forwarding of civilisation. The shaping of new instruments of thought by the forma- tion of the Teutonic and Romance languages wa? no mean achievement of this period, and the establishment of colleges, universities, and schools enhanced culture. The great tales and sagas of Roland, Arthur, and the rest were composed ; the drama was initiated in the form of mystery and morality plays ; and literature culminated in Dante, the master of the thought and learning of his time. In his work is found also a sign of the elevation of womanhood that the ideals of chivalry and the worship of Mary the Madonna largely helped to bring about. The ideal is always to some extent a reflection of the real, and just as the Greek goddesses could not have been con- ceived unless Greek women had possessed their characteristics, so Beatrice, who typifies an ideal, was created from her fellow-women. It is thus seen, from this short sketch of their achievements, that the Middle Ages can lay no small claim to an influential share in the story of civilisation. The rise of nationalism, especially among Euro- pean peoples, has, with other tendencies, produced 28 What is Civilisation ? modern humanity, which is now expressing itself in terms of its own qualities and activities rather than in those of a church or dogma. The concep- tion of the State in the modern sense, and of all its implications, is one still in process of elaboration, and it exerts increasing influence on other conceptions, such as the content of morality, the aims of education, the status of woman. In another sphere also has theology (which is not the same as religion) declined before the search and adventure of man, and that the scientific. Investigation and discovery, hypothesis and proof, have made a firm foundation on which further knowledge may build. Exploration of the heavens and the earth has given us our place in the uni- verse and has made known to us the world, our home ; while the patient labours of scientists have displayed causes and processes for the enrichment of knowledge, have provided remedies and inventions for the relief of pain, and can be utilised to the utmost service of humanity. Upheavals in another form have been caused by the assertion of human rights and liberties : the Civil War in England in the seventeenth century and the French Revolution have been followed by the rise of democracy with its unknown potentialities ; the Russian Revolution has extended the area and introduced more possibilities, though 29 The Philosophy of Citizenship here the subsequent events have gone astray from Civilisation's course. Through the hands of democracy, that is, of citizens, will come the reconstruction so looked for since the war ; and the consciousness of the increased importance of " the people " can be traced in modern histories, which give greater space to social phenomena and economics and pay less regard to dynastic affairs. In manifold interactions the foregoing factors have made the mankind of to-day, which shows in its actions and strivings two main tendencies that make for civilisation and are signs of its advance. The one tendency is an increased sensitiveness, both of depth and extent, in human nature, resulting in an increased capacity for pain, but also in wider interests, greater joy, and fuller life. Which of our preceding generations could grasp the universe with such understanding and such control of natural forces ? Who could give a richer content to the phrase " heirs of all the ages " ? Who among the ancient or mediaeval lovers could understand sex-love as the modern man and woman realise it in all its complexity and fulness ? W r hat period of time has seen a greater sense of the widening scope for service of every citizen ? For not only in content of knowledge and range 3 ' What is Civilisation ? of feeling, but also in the area of responsibilities and especially in this area a more sensitive spirit is causing humanity consciously to forward civilisation. We realise that there are elements in life that we can tolerate no longer poverty, disease, and war have to be minimised and finally exterminated. And the other tendency is a growth of self- consciousness in the race. Pascal's saying, " The whole succession of men during the course of so many ages should be looked upon as one man, ever-living and constantly learning," is being more widely comprehended and accepted. The self-consciousness of humanity, of itself as an entity and of its power to direct its own evolution, is a long stride on the road to civilisation. Con- scious of its past, and aware as never before of the history of the planet, the soul of humanity turns to new worlds to conquer, within itself as well as without. It recognises itself as a unity whose welfare as a whole has to be established, so that there are no submerged or parasitic parts. It knows now that its fate lies in its own hands ; it can make of itself what it will. The greatest hope for the future rests in the fact that humanity is at last taking up its own burden and respon- sibility and guidance with courage and deter- mination. It wishes its members to understand The Philosophy of Citizenship each other, and invents a universal language, not to supersede, but to be added to the mother- tongue ; it realises the full horror and waste of war and initiates a League of Nations as a step towards the final elimination of the horror and waste. By natural selection and the survival of the fittest has evolution proceeded until it reached humanity. Then human nature intervened, slightly at first and semi-unconsciously ; but now the full consciousness is awakening and a power above biological evolution is arising. It is a power personal where nature is impersonal, spiritual where nature is material, moral where nature is relentless, bent on amelioration where nature is merely concerned with continuance and renewal. That power is ourselves, the creators of civilisation. Thus we arrive at some sort of definition of civilisation in its twentieth-century sense. Those who regard it as a diseased condition needing a cure, and those who identify it with outward changes such as railways and telephones, or even with intellectual achievements, take but a super- ficial view of the great story of mankind and its progress. True history is the story of the energy, the will, the endurance, the patience, the life that works on the unfinish of the earth and pro- duces civilisation ; it is the story of change, of 32 What is Civilisation ? humanity's guidance of its own nature and the nature around it. The true account of man's life on earth has yet to be written in words. But there is progress, even if it is interrupted, for the human spirit in its varied course pushes its way in all directions and against every barrier. It deviates, it tries all opinions, ways, and ideals ; it lives them and modifies them. It has made mistakes and woven myriads of complexities in beauty and tragedy, but it goes on towards the goal of civilisation, which is the complete unity of mankind. Not all the institutions of our time are neces- sarily signs of civilisation ; any aspects of social life which disintegrate tend to make units instead of unity are enemies to civilisation ; those which express co-operation and service are its auxiliaries. Civilisation may be said to be the conquest of egoism by altruism, a conquest which has been increasing since the dawn of human history. The progress has been embodied in labour, village and city life, politics, religion, science, art, biography, and through these revela- tions of the spirit of civilisation we know that the human race goes ever forward and growth is the great law of the earth. 33 CHAPTER III THE CONTENT OF CIVICS A. GENERAL REMARKS. Civics as a subject is yet in the making, but it is one that will prove of great importance in future education. Victor Branford asks, " Cannot a system of education be designed and developed capable of imparting to personality the bearing and beauty of the aristocrat, the moral dignity of the craftsman, the culture and vision of the thinker, and add thereto the urge and uplift of citizenship ? " Undoubtedly such a type of edu- cation will gradually come when our obsession for mere book-learning has diminished and our range of powers in dealing with young people has extended ; and then we shall not be able to exclude the teaching of Civics, that " last and youngest branch of Science, as yet but a little noticed bud on the vast ever-spreading tree of knowledge [which] may before long be recognised as one of the most fruitful of all." But even 34 The Content of Civics Professor Geddes, from whose writings the last sentence is quoted, tends to limit the scope of Civics to the study of cities ; and among ordinary citizens only vague notions prevail as to its content. Usually it is considered to deal with local institutions and methods of government, or at most to include some kind of regional survey, with maps and charts. It does include both these fields, but it stretches beyond them, extending to all that appertains to citizenship, and embracing a knowledge of the main factors in the story of civilisation. The Civics student may well adopt Lord Morley's dictum of " preferences but no exclusions." There are three main aspects from which Civics may be regarded : the geographical, the historical, and the occupational or economic. The first includes a study of man's surroundings and their effect on him ; soil, coast, minerals, forests, moun- tains, are all important factors in environmental influence. How far has the life of settled industry bordering on the Nile been determined by that river ? In mountainous countries like Scotland and Switzerland, why are sheep reared in one and cattle in another ? A geological survey shows that the hard impervious gneiss foundations in Switzerland provide a moist, rich pasture for cattle, while the limestone in Scotland allows 35 The Philosophy of Citizenship water to permeate, and the dry grass suitable for sheep is produced. Thus the industries of the people are literally based on different founda- tion-stones. Again, how far did the mountainous character of Greece decide that separate States should develop, and culminate in the magnificent concentrated civilisation represented by the city- state of Athens ? But the last case reminds us of the historical aspect of Civics, for not only must the effect of nature and environment on man be considered ; his manipulation of nature and environment form another aspect of the subject. To quote Professor Geddes again : "A city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time. ... To realise the geographic and historic factors of cur city's life is the first step to comprehension of the present, one indispensable to any attempt at a scientific forecast of the future." Some ardent citizens are apt to overlook this historical basis and to blame existing conditions without realising their worth in the past ; but it can truly be said that they know not the present who only the present know. Even Confucius, the Chinese sage of the sixth century B.C., had grasped this truth when he said : "As we use a glass to examine the forms of things, so must we use antiquity in order to understand the present." Just as to-day, with 36 The Content of Civics which the citizen is immediately concerned, is an outgrowth of yesterday, so to-morrow will be a development of to-day ; and the one cannot be understood, nor the other prepared for, without the historic background. Civics, however, requires no history in the dull textbook sense ; it demands a knowledge of the gradual conquest by man of his difficulties, both within and without himself, and an insight into the result of the complicated interactions of his own activities. Whether we realise it or not, we are actually co-operating with the past in our daily life and work, and we cannot do otherwise. There is a deep truth in Comte's saying that " the living are more and more governed by the dead." The third aspect of Civics is the economic, in the sense of dealing with the work of the people. Occupation influences the personality and outlook as manual labour marks the hands. Even if education and surroundings have been alike, a different occupation would produce a different character, quite apart from hereditary influence. The personality of a doctor differs from that of a bricklayer, not merely on account of a different training ; a seamstress differs from a teacher, while the housewife and sailor are different from all the others. We must therefore gain knowledge of the industries and occupations connected with 37 The Philosophy of Citizenship a district as well as of the geographical features and historical foundation. To adopt the famous formula of Professor Geddes, we must study the Place, Work and People, and the interactions of each upon the others. As Mr. F. J. Gould has said : " Our prime business is to know the Place where we live, to develop individual and municipal and social Work in ways most suited to the natural resources and situation of the Place . . . and both to try and understand People in relation to their Place (or Environment) and to render education, art, and politics a fc harmonious and beautiful expression of civic and national con- ditions." Uninstructed citizenship, however devoted, pro- duces much futile and impermanent work. In order to be effective a citizen must not only be capable of undertaking responsibilities and the war has proved that but few citizens are incapable but he must be aware of the conditions of his time and how they have arisen ; and he must be, in addition, animated by the spirit of progress. In other words, the three essential qualities of good citizenship are common sense, knowledge, and devotion. A right knowledge of the social significances of family, city, country, empire- commonwealth will oust the confused sentimentality or angry rashness so often mingled with the 38 The Content of Civics civic ideals of well-intentioned but ill-informed citizens. In pursuing civic knowledge two mistakes must be avoided : the one is that of the metaphysician and the other of the specialist. By metaphysics is meant the consideration of words and ideas as independent of facts and experience, or the building of theory not based on practice. As an instance of the metaphysical method an incident in my own experience may be mentioned. When I started taking Civics classes for adults I showed my syllabus to a well-known social worker in London. Acknowledging that he did not know much about the subject as I treated it, he said that if he were giving a course he would spend the time up to Christmas in discussing the nature of Freedom. From September to Christmas dis- cussing ! It is the mistaken method of the meta- physician ; and the nineteenth and previous cen- turies have attached too much importance to mere discussion, that is, to mere words and mere ideas. If Freedom were the subject of a course, the way to approach it would be, not to discuss its nature, but to trace the efforts mankind has made to acquire it, to gather the results of freedom in action and thought, to note the changing em- phasis placed on freedom as an end. Otherwise what basis of knowledge would the students have 39 The Philosophy of Citizenship on which to found their opinions ? Unless theories are founded on facts the discussion is apt to remain in the clouds, whereas Civics is essentially of the earth and its wonderful products, and of man and his marvellous exploits. Metaphysics is smiled at as an intellectual amusement by the active citizen, for he knows that every true idealist must be a realist as well. Sectionalism should also be avoided, and a part of Civics must never be regarded as the whole. No one can actively concern himself with the whole content of the subject, but he should, while taking interest in the part, remember that it is but a part of something which eventually em- braces the whole of the globe and runs through all the centuries. It is a mistake to learn the details of the functions of local committees and not to notice the great tendencies of the country ; it is a mistake to be keen on baby clinics and to forget the health of adolescence and adult- hood ; it is a mistake to know all about sea-shells and be oblivious of the vast ocean of life around. Let it not be supposed, however, that sections as such should not be studied or worked in, but they should always be relegated to their proper position with regard to the whole. Three principles must be followed by the Civics student who wishes to grasp the subject ade- 40 The Content of Civics quately. The first insists on the necessity of taking a wide survey. For citizens in our lands the scope of Civics extends outwards from the family to the Commonwealth of British nations, and nothing which affects any part of this im- mense area of land, thought, and action is alien to the subject. Therefore the citizen may say with Terence : Homo sum ; humanum nihil a me alienum puto (I am a man, and I consider that nothing human is alien to me). A bird's-eye view enables valuations of better proportions to be made, it shows the connections between the various " subjects " of the study, and unites them all in the great story of the world. Now- adays a largeness of vision is needed to cope with the problems confronting our times ; and com- plete Civics essentially gives a wide vision by its method of synthetic survey. Something has already been said of the necessity of having a historical basis, and of realising that the conditions now prevailing are the result of many processes having their roots in remote antiquity. In building the philosophy of citizen- ship, the firm foundation of historical facts, that is, of what mankind has done, must be laid, other- wise the structure will fall before the first blast of critical common sense. Not only critical faculty, but also imaginative insight is required 41 The Philosophy of Citizenship to afford a right appreciation of the long vista of the past, to comprehend the significances of the present, and to plan the ideals of the future. Inspiration as well as material can be gathered throughout the ages ; and, just as the great world swings round the sun and carries all with it, so the present moves onward carrying all the past with it. That is why we can speak of the living past. But the citizen must not stop at the past ; he must connect it all with the present and the future, otherwise he becomes a mere antiquary. Being satisfied with what is, and looking askance at pioneers, is the opposite mistake to that of those who depreciate our ancestors. The citizen must choose the middle path, and with his feet set in the road of Order turn his face towards Progress. He must join all times with his own, as links in the long chain of achievement beaten out by civilisation, and he must so act that more links may be added. The needs of to-day are connected with the results of yesterday and the hopes of to-morrow. Bearing these three principles in mind taking a wide survey, having a historical basis, and con- necting all with the present and the future the citizen may with profit work through a syllabus of study such as the one that follows. 42 The Content of Civics B. A SYLLABUS OF STUDY FOR ADULTS.' This syllabus is meant to embrace the main content of Civics, to trace the growth of each social element, and to indicate both its significance at the present time and its probable future. It is a guide to the subject, and does not provide the matter of it. Since the FAMILY is " the eternal school of social life," a beginning must be made with this as social unit, for it contains the germs and is the nursery of many institutions. Long before the sense of city or country develops there comes family feeling, which governed actions even before religion or the State existed in definite form. As was well said in The Round Table*: "The virtues of the home become the excellencies of the citizen as naturally as the bud opens into the full-blown flower/' Its importance can scarcely be over- estimated, and its historical significance should be traced from the earliest times. Of the stages through which society passed before this great 1 This forms the sketch of a two years' course (one hour a week for seven months of the year) which has been worked through with adults. The names of books dealing with each section will be found at the end. The syllabus is not intended for children, who should have the subject presented differently. a In the issue of June 1917, article on " The Education of the Citizen." 43 The Philosophy of Citizenship step towards human civilisation was taken we know little. It must, however, be noted that the step was probably due to woman's influence, which has been much greater as a real civilising force than many feminists realise. After the family in primitive times, early patriarchal families can best be studied from the typical one of Rome, and the slaves, forming part of it, must be con- sidered in taking a civic view of ancient society, especially when relative progress is being esti- mated. In the mediaeval family the main differ- ences from the patriarchal are the disappearance of slavery with the appearance of the serf, who is head of a family of his own ; the emergence of the mother as the central figure, and of the unmarried woman who became nun or saint. Next comes the complete change wrought by the industrial revolution with its machinery, factories, wage-earning, unions, and political action. No longer did the family remain a unit ; and each member must now receive separate consideration. The problems started in the age of machinery still remain : such questions as those of child labour, married women's labour, housing con- ditions, slums, a family wage, unemployment, health, and training are a few, but their enumera- tion is sufficient to show that the welfare of the family of to-day requires the aid of those engaged 44 The Content of Civics in the realms of economics, eugenics, education, and ethics. True in more senses than she perhaps intended is Mrs. Bosanquet's conception of the family as " the great trysting place of the genera- tions, where the past and the future flash into the reality of the present . . . the great discipline through which each generation learns anew the lesson of citizenship that no man can live to himself alone." Both with regard to historical sequence and to complexity, the VILLAGE is the next social unit. It marks the settlement of families on the land, a stage which brought mankind to the threshold of civilisation, for wandering tribes could not provide a foundation from which to progress. India and China, being lands of villages, supply information and give the characteristics of ancient villages, and Greece must not be for- gotten. So apt are we to regard the last-named country in connection with city-states that the fact of its life being fundamentally pastoral and agricultural, with the countryman representing the unchanging element, is often neglected. The ancient villages of all countries will be found to exhibit characteristics not dissimilar, and the citizen should discover them. He should also make himself acquainted with the types of villages in his own district, and find the reasons for their 45 The Philosophy of Citizenship origin, position, and present conditions. The story of the parish in England is an important one, since, as Mrs. J. R. Green says, " all the multi- tudinous activities and accidents of their common life were summed up for the people in the parish church/' and in time parishes became civic as well as religious areas. Significant also are the peasants' rebellions due to enclosures both in the fourteenth and eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has been said that " the village far more than the town is characteristic of our national life, and from it have gone forth the great majority of those who have made the empire." But the citizen-student will perceive that village life needs revitalising, and that the process has already begun, as is indicated by the establishment of the Village Clubs Association and the many Women's Institutes. In connection with the study of villages the student will find interesting a history of his own county and its industries, which will give a back- ground to the individual villages. The king's highway is intimately connected with village life and rural development, and its administration illustrates the growth of a civic idea of respon- sibility. The construction and maintenance of highways, from the mere tracks originated by animals to the macadam roads of to-day, have 46 The Content of Civics concerned, in turn, individuals such as lords of manors, parishes, and their inhabitants, and finally the State as a whole. The history illustrates a tendency of the day that of many matters be- coming questions of national as well as of local import. In one sense the CITY is the centre of the subject of Civics. Aristotle calls man a political being (i.e. a citizen of the TroAi? or city), and we have only to repeat the names Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, Paris, London, to realise how the city typifies civilisation. Professor Geddes is even inclined to narrow the content of Civics to the science of cities. He says : Viewed as a science, Civics is that branch of Sociology which deals with Cities their origin and distribution ; their development and structure ; their functioning, internal and external, material and psychological ; their evolution, individual and associated. Viewed again from the practical side, that of applied science, Civics must develop through experimental endeavour into the more effective art of enhancing the life of the City and of advancing its evolution. In the chapter on Civilisation it was seen how the establishment of cities gave opportunities for the expansion of human faculty, and the study of towns and cities from all the aspects mentioned by Professor Geddes forms one of the most impor- tant sections of this syllabus. A town or city is 47 The Philosophy of Citizenship an organism, and therefore it grows ; it is "a drama in time " as well as " a place in space " ; it can boast of a past as well as hope for a future. No better introduction to civic feeling could be given than by the study of the significance and salient features of ancient cities. Gratitude to our ancestors will evoke the sense of responsibility to our contemporaries and descendants, and thus something of the old intense civic passion felt by an Athenian or Roman may be aroused. So strong was this enthusiasm that the Corinthians said: " An Athenian spends himself in the service of his city as if his body were not his own, and counts his mind then most his own when it is employed upon her business." To a Greek or an early Roman his city was his country and his church, so that patriotism and religion were blended into one. Ruskin said that a nation expresses itself by its art as well as by its history (though in a broader sense its history includes its art), and the modern town or city might well extend its operations in the way of pageants to include something that would correspond to the great Panathenaic pro- cession, and some representation that would depict past history, present activities in all spheres, and aspirations for the future. This could be expressed artistically, symbolically, or in actuality, 4$ The Content of Civics and it would reveal the beauty and ceremonial that should accompany a right conception of complete citizenship. A vast field of usefulness, ingenuity, and inspiration lies open in this direc- tion for citizen brains and hands and hearts a field wherein the young could be trained to help. In studying the towns of the Middle Ages, their growth, their struggles for independence, their charters and trade must all be noticed. And the development of mediaeval gilds is of high impor- tance, for besides fulfilling the many duties for which they were organised, they evoked a spirit of association and sense of public right and duty that were essentially civic. Among the changes of modern times the chief points to be noticed are the over-rapid and hap- hazard growth of industrial towns, and the con- sequent amorphous aggregate of buildings that are in no sense corporate centres possessing a civic pride. For the last two centuries, however, the history of English towns and cities, with their local authorities, labour troubles, and parliamen- tary representation, merges into that of the nation as a whole, and, as Mr. Frederic Harrison has pointed out, our civilisation is now national rather than municipal, and in a sense our civic institu- tions, if not our civic enthusiasm, surpass anything of ancient or modern times. 49 D The Philosophy of Citizenship To leave the study of cities at this stage would give a sense of despair, but there are the cities of the future to be considered. Before town planning, however, should come REGIONAL SURVEY, which, in the words of Professor Fleure, means " a direct and concrete study of our surroundings and our relations to them." Regional survey is not merely geographical ; it is also historical ; it notes the achievements of average groups of humanity, and thereby interprets their soul through its self-expression, which results in the formation of customs and institutions and the production of buildings and shipping, of all forms of art and scientific knowledge. Such a study of a centre of civilisation, be it village, town, or city, considered in relation to its environment and from as many outlooks as possible, should be undertaken by the student in his own district and in conjunction with other citizens. 1 The results of a survey can be collected and arranged in a museum or exhibition, and it is to be regretted that local museums do not devote more space to picture their own surroundings and the past and present activities of their own district. One of the most interesting exhibitions is that of the Outlook Tower, Edinburgh, where the city is not 1 Simple regional survey is the best starting-point in Civics teaching for the young. The Content of Civics only depicted and interpreted, but also connected with the rest of Scotland and the world. The importance and fascination to the citizen of Town Study and Town Planning can be gathered from Professor Geddes' words about the Ghent International Exhibition of 1913, when he indi- cates the underlying meaning and purpose of such an exhibition : For in this exhibition there is a beginning, perhaps the first clear and definite beginning, of the comparative study of cities in their life ; each shown as arising like a living being, in constant relation to its environment and with the characteristic advantages of this, with its limitations too. Like the living being it is, a city also reacts upon its environment, and in ever- widening circles. Thus it may transcend its old limitations, here economically and there educationally ; or it may be first in thought and next in deed. Hence its character and aspect in each age ; hence its varied eminence and influence accordingly ; until once more it changes, with circumstances or with times, outwardly, inwardly, or both. At one time it may be with conspicuous advance, at another rather with elements of arrest and decay, of poverty and disease, of vice and crime ; and all these modified by war and peace, and each and all with correspondingly varied consequences and reaction, now of deterioration, or again of renewal. In such historic survey there is no neglect of " Town Plan- ning," though the alderman, the borough engineer, the anxious reformer too, may sometimes fear this on his first visit. Yet when he gives a second look and gets as far as the Gallery of Garden Suburbs, or that of Central Improvements, he feels that these are not ill-chosen, but typical ones, naturally arranged. ... So he comes to recognise, often generously, how these new Garden Suburbs, or the no less needed Central Improvements , . . The Philosophy of Citizenship are really related ; and how again they gain complete- ness and value from each other, and from the City's past. . . . Our illustrations of many cities are thus not only for historic interest and interpretation, but for practical guidance. Whatever the student of cities can observe and interpret, foresee and suggest, the active citizen will not be long to devise and to apply. It is inevitable that the next generation will be engaged in city design and building to a far greater extent than any other, and it therefore behoves the present generation of citizens to prepare the way by comprehensive surveys. From the earliest times philosophers and prophets and poets have dreamed of an ideal city, and it re- mains for the twentieth century to build that city, which, as has been well said, " like the cathe- dral of the past will be the handiwork of many artists inspired by one faith." However, the citizen must always remember that the Utopia must be constructed on old foundations, and what is must be the basis of what is to be. Therefore notice must be taken of certain groups of villages, towns, and cities which have grown in England, and which will probably become civic centres in the future. To such groups, including Greater London and the districts surrounding coal-fields, Professor Geddes gives the name of Conurbations, and considers that eventually these may come to own a common water and electricity supply, 52 The Content of Civics have a common local government, and develop a common civic spirit. The citizen-student now passes on to LOCAL GOVERNMENT, which, like all the rest, must be taken historically, for the roots of the present lie deep in the past ; especially is this true of England, and many of its national institutions have arisen from local ones. That local govern- ment exerted great influence in moulding the civic sense was recognised by Tocqueville in his remark that Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science ; they bring it within the people's reach ; they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty. It is of importance to remember this in view of the increasing tendency to the devolution of powers to local authorities on account of the complexity and number of national and municipal affairs. In considering the case of self-govern- ment in India and Egypt, the significance of local government, especially in village areas, should also be noted. Since the days of the Saxons the duties and responsibilities of citizenship have been learned 53 The Philosophy of Citizenship by Englishmen, as Sir T. Erskine May says, " at their own gates " ; and he is inclined to believe that her free local institutions have enabled Eng- land to maintain " alone among the nations of the earth . . . for centuries a constitutional policy.' 1 If we may ascribe the ideal of beauty to the Greeks, of order and government to the Romans, and of clarity of thought to the French, we may look upon England as expressing political liberty ; and her training school has been the olden village moots, hundred moots, and shire moots, with the institutions developing therefrom. Even the Norman Conquest failed to extinguish the zeal for local affairs, and some of the institutions they found here were adopted by the conquerors. Like the native language, these institutions formed the groundwork of what is in use nowadays. Notice should be taken of the early English moots, the Norman manorial courts, the parish meetings, Tudor administrations, and the history of the Justice of the Peace. The work done by this personage influenced not only his district but also himself, as can be seen by comparing the turbulent nobles of the fifteenth century with the order-loving squires of the seventeenth. The contrast is striking, and is largely explained by the training and discipline of the J.P.'s in the six- teenth century. Some knowledge of the charters 54 The Content of Civics granting self-government to the towns should be gained, and also a history of corporations, which were finally made into a uniform type by the Act of 1835. It will be seen that later Acts dealing with local authorities exhibit the general tendency, already mentioned, of devolution in all spheres of government a tendency that largely extends the scope of citizens in their own districts. In considering the powers and limita- tions of different councils and committees the student should always refer to his own local representatives, and .notice in what way the laws work in actual practice. Of special interest is the history and adminis- tration of London, continuous as its life has been from Roman times to the twentieth century, and forming a link, as it does, between the two great nations that have achieved success as empire- builders. A brief survey should also be taken of the enterprise of various municipalities, and the conclusion will be arrived at that there is more civic art and sense of citizenship in English town councils than is usually ascribed to them. Municipal trading is a question of importance, and it is significant that in some directions it is increasing. And the growth of various Citizen Associations is a point of vital interest in the sphere of local government. 55 The Philosophy of Citizenship The STATE is the next institution to be studied, an institution we have ourselves developed as a form of social order. It is an essentially human achievement, and must not be confused either with race, or nation, or society. The function of a State is mainly government, which is coming to include responsibility for the education, work, and welfare of all. That the State should be more than government was insisted on by Edmund Burke : The State ought not to be considered nothing better than a partnership agreement in a trade. ... It is to be looked upon with other reverence. ... It is a partnership in all science ; it is a partnership in all art ; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are dead and those who are to be born. From the study of the development of the ancient city-states, their characteristics and kinds of government, the student will pass on to the rise of the mediaeval European nations and the changes wrought by the Catholic-Feudal age. Thus he will come to the threshold of modern history, and he can concentrate on his own nation. Very many national aspects of civic importance are before him, but each should be regarded as a growth which continues. The various expressions 56 The Content of Civics of a sense of citizenship, the revolts and protests with regard to the liberty of the Press (which produced a masterpiece of literature in Milton's Areopagitica), and the extensions of the suffrage ; the growth of a sense of law ; the expansion of Parliamentary power, and the settling of its procedure, are all sections of the wide subject of the State. The principles and aims of the different political parties must be ascertained with as little prejudice as possible ; and should be obtained from upholders of the several parties. In the making of the nation the deeds of the army, navy, and civil service take their place, and something of their history should be known. Art in all its branches and scientific achievements express the national spirit and should not be omitted in the study. Some knowledge of the attempts at philanthropy made by citizens and of the thought expressed in philosophy or religion can be included in Civics, for citizenship deals with more than politics. The two sections of prime importance to the citizen are his nation's Industry and his nation's Education ; the one because on labour, industrial and agricultural, our civilisation rests, and there- fore a right conception should be attained of its history and present tendencies, and a right value apportioned to it ; the other because on the 57 The Philosophy of Citizenship methods and aims of education depend the char- acter and worth of the next generation, and it is time that the average citizen took a more living interest in this important subject, for it is in danger of being captured and controlled by academic students who, if they are merely academic, are themselves but imperfectly edu- cated. In ancient times INDUSTRY was carried on by slaves, and even so great a thinker as Aristotle could not conceive of a society without slavery. What Aristotle could not conceive has come to pass, and therefore those not so great as Aristotle may reasonably hope that their noblest social ideals, and even more, will eventually be realised in the grand march of Humanity. From the conditions of slavery in Greece and Rome the student passes to the emergence of serfdom in the Middle Ages. Some knowledge of the artisan in the towns will have been gleaned when studying the gild system, wherein the spirit of association was developed. The rise of the money system in the Middle Ages will show that our modern wages problems are not of great antiquity. During these times the work of the Benedictine monks and nuns, who possessed a sense of the dignity of labour, is of greater importance than text-books usually show, and the maxim of St. Benedict 58 The Content of Civics might well be adopted by the citizen of to-day : Laziness is the enemy of the soul. Merchant Ven- turers must not be overlooked in the sphere of industry the men who commenced our coloniza- tion, developed our trade, and increased our sea power in the sixteenth century. The next two centuries the expansion of finance, of machinery and of industrial operations, which all helped to bring about the Industrial Revolution, introduce the citizen to the present-day difficulties and aims of labour. The struggle of the working classes for improved conditions, and the legislation affecting them, brought new types of citizenship into the field of history, such as that expressed by Robert Owen and Francis Place, whose bio- graphies will lead the student to the two influential currents of working-class effort in the nineteenth century the Co-operative Movement and Trade Unionism. The twentieth century sees such developments as Whitley Councils, the foundation of gigantic federations of workers, Socialism and National Guildism. Before determining his atti- tude towards any of these aspects the citizen should discover the aims of each section ; and he cannot fail to be impressed by the fact that not only has the attitude towards labour changed during the last century, but the attitude of labour itself has also changed. A type of citizenhood 59 The Philosophy of Citizenship willing to serve the community but also conscious of its worth is arising. Life depends on labour, and the future depends on EDUCATION, which in a sense is a part of politics, as Aristotle recognised in saying : "No one can doubt that the magistrate ought greatly to interest himself in the care of youth, for where it is neglected it is harmful to the city." In ancient Greece it must be noticed that the aim of education was not the commercial idea of " getting on," but that of producing citizens of thought and leisure to serve the State by governing and fighting. In Rome also the education resulted in an efficient patriotism. But both these States were deficient in that work was relegated to the slaves, who were excluded from education, and in that the claim of girls to education was not acknow- ledged. The great increase of the spread of knowledge, and the confluence of Greek culture with Catholic learning known as the Renaissance, stand typified in the person of the famous fifteenth- century schoolmaster, Vittorino da Feltre, whose educational aim was " to combine the spirit of the Christian life with the educational apparatus of classical literature, whilst uniting with both something of the Greek passion for bodily culture and for dignity of the outer life." The growth of schools in England and the 60 The Content of Civics value apportioned to education in this country can be gathered by the opinion expressed by Edward VI's Government that " the liberal educa- tion of youth is the foundation of our common- wealth." English developments in education show many writers who have treated of different aspects : Milton, whose definition still holds, " I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnani- mously all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war " ; John Locke, who urged that children's reasoning should be developed, and thought that instruction should be given in the natural rights of man and the foundations of society, and the duties resulting therefrom in our phraseology this would mean the teaching of Civics ; Joseph Lancaster and George Birkbeck, Thomas Arnold and his son Matthew, John Ruskin, all famous in connection with education in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Elementary schools, commencing with the Charity Schools in Queen Anne's reign, the disgrace of child labour, and the latest Education Act all need study, but the chief of all present-day problems in education is the great question of Aim. To what end are all the schools and Acts and teaching ? The citizen- hood of England as a whole has never yet answered that question, nor formulated a general aim to 61 The Philosophy of Citizenship which all subjects and time-tables, methods and discipline, teachers and taught, should be sub- ordinated. It has been said that the BRITISH EMPIRE was founded in a fit of absence of mind, but, how- ever haphazardly the mighty commonwealth com- menced, it is a present fact, with responsibilities and privileges, of which the citizen should be cognisant. And not only should he be cognisant of the history of each part of the Commonwealth since the appearance of the British on the scene, but he should know something of what went before, especially in the case of such an olden civilisation as that of India. Some of the methods of colonisation adopted by Greece and Rome should be noted, and it is of interest to trace the points of likeness, amid many differences, between the two greatest empires of the world, Both Romans and British possessed the power of adaptation and compromise in dealing with others, and therefore they both were able to agree with and govern the others. Both empires comprised all grades and types of peoples and races. For this reason the greater and later empire has an enormous task before it ; the position of England and the past history of the country, however, make its citizens specially fitted to accomplish the task. 62 The Content of Civics After a general view of European commerce in the Middle Ages, of the opening up of the high seas, of European voyages and discoveries in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, of the reasons for English colonisation and the kinds of colonies founded, the best plan is to concentrate on English enterprises, taking each part of the Commonwealth in turn, not in too much detail, but so as to form a conception of its growth, its standing, and its salient features. So will the citizen gather pic- tures of varied interest of the courage of the early explorers in Australia, of the romance of the West Indies, the amalgamation in Canada, the origins of the United States, the magnificent civilisation and literature of olden India, etc. As always, the study must be brought up to the present, and such questions as the Imperial Con- ferences held of late years, the closer bonds between the different parts of the Commonwealth caused by the war, the spreading doctrine of self-govern- ment or " Home Rule all Round," l an Imperial Parliament, the economic resources of the empire, the treatment of native races, migration within, and citizenship of the Commonwealth are deeply worthy of much consideration. The word " Com- monwealth " has been used throughout in the sense of "a community, designed to meet the 1 A phrase originated by Mr. F. J. Gould in 1889. 63 The Philosophy of Citizenship common needs of men, founded on the principle of the service of each for all. ... The ideal towards which all political and social endeavour moves forward is a society of free men and free women, each at once ruling and being ruled, each con- sciously giving his service for the benefit of all." * This ideal can only be realised when the citizens of the Commonwealth have gained a knowledge of their inheritance somewhat on the lines indicated in this chapter. Such a knowledge will form the background of the citizen's opinions and hopes, just as the facts of which the knowledge treats form the necessary basis of his activities. Having acquired the background, the citizen can study the present with more assurance, and should turn his attention to modern tendencies and RECON- STRUCTION, with which the last chapter will deal. * From an article on " Three Doctrines in Conflict," in The Round Table for March 1919. 64 FFFAMILY.FFF. U- CHAPTER IV THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CITIZENSHIP No citizen can escape the influences by which all mankind is affected, and three main ones operate : heredity, environment, occupation. Every child is equipped with certain qualities derived from its parents or remoter ancestors ; these qualities may or may not be fully developed during the child's life, but they will to some extent colour that existence. By heredity is here meant, however, more than parental inheritance, for we live in a world loaded with legacies, and the phrase " heir of all the ages " is true of heredity in its social sense. The legacies of custom and moral standards are inherited by each new life, whatever its individual qualities ; atmosphere of thought and even range of feeling are formed during the ages, through the legacies bequeathed to us by scientists, poets, artists, and philosophers ; the very aspect of the earth is changed for the new citizen through the work of hands living before him, by the building of cities, of mighty 66 The Fundamentals of Citizenship temples and cathedrals, of great monuments, bridges, towers, and factories. A citizen born after the Parthenon was built began his career with a far different inheritance from one born a century before, just as one beginning life on earth after the establishment of railway trains would differ from one living in the eighteenth century. These examples would serve to illus- trate the influence of environment also, but that very environment is heritage as well. If each generation was forced to begin at the beginning of knowledge and inherited no past achievements, progress would be impossible ; and that we are not such savages as hunted and lived in this island two thousand years ago is due to the legacies of all who have lived and died and left something behind as a result of their lives. This is their life everlasting upon earth, and there is much appropriateness enshrined in the homely words : " For what we have received, may we be truly thankful/' Environment includes all outer influences, geo- graphical, cultural, and religious. The subject now coming to be known as Human Geography describes the effect of the earth on her children and the results of natural environment on the characteristics of races. This environment has been modified by man during his sojourn on the 67 The Philosophy of Citizenship earth in such ways as irrigation, draining of swamps, cutting canals, excavating tunnels, clear- ing forests, and making roads ; cultural environ- ment embraces not only educational conditions but also all the legacies of the scientist, artist, and philosopher ; in this case the environment becomes richer with every generation, and what is presented to the young citizen becomes ever more full of inspiration for him, so that he grows up surrounded by more possibilities than the genera- tions preceding him. It is the duty of the present generation to ensure that the coming one should receive all the advantages that environmental conditions can supply ; and no forms of citizen service are greater than those of expanding educa- tional ideas and methods, and of helping to provide such surroundings as will eventually eliminate any poverty-stricken class. The third influence, occupation, marks person- ality by the constant pressure of the multitu- dinous effects of each occupation, and by the atmosphere generated around the incidents con- nected with it. A citizen's point of view and field of thought are usually determined by his occupation, which introduces him to special issues of the problems of the day. Therefore he must guard against the danger of over-absorption in his occupation, for this would result in giving 68 The Fundamentals of Citizenship him a false conception of the relative value of his work. Mere specialism engenders narrowness, unless the specialist possesses that essential charac- teristic of good citizenship interest in the welfare of other workers. The question of welfare brings us to the con- sideration of the bases on which life and all its manifestations rest, and which were touched upon in the chapter on Civilisation. In this sphere of being the basis is a material one, and consists of food, clothing, and shelter primarily. Without these we could not exist, a truth con- stantly overlooked by those who have all necessities provided for them. But these prime needs must be obtained before others can be satisfied, and if any particular class is compelled to exert all its energies in providing the material basis of its life, and even then only obtains an inadequate provision, how can it be expected to seek other, higher satisfactions ? Recognition and acknow- ledgment of the material basis of life will result in a different attitude towards those who provide that basis, and without whose work our life could not continue. Food, clothing, and shelter must be obtained before other needs can be satisfied. For there are other needs, both material and spiritual, and to say that the basis is material does not imply that all else is material. As 69 The Philosophy of Citizenship Comte said, " The nobler things rest on the less noble/' and common sense shows that the less noble must be supplied before energies can be spent in seeking the nobler things. The true idealist is a realist as well, and builds his ideals on the foundation of fact. No ideal can be fulfilled, no religion practised, no philosophy founded without material means. Music, exploring the vast realms of feeling ; painting, which catches and fixes beauty ; the frozen loveliness of sculp- ture ; the calm magnificence of Greek temples ; Gothic architecture aspiring to the skies ; literature, the soul's self-expression ; the guidance of the great teachers ; the statesman's plans ; the prophet's vision ; all these depend on the husband- man's toil, the artisan's handicraft, the housewife's service. None of the great achievements of the human spirit could have been accomplished with- out human bodies that were fed and clothed and sheltered ; and the dependence of the spiritual on the material should be appreciated. It is the citizen's concern, therefore, to ensure that an adequate material basis should be ob- tainable by all without undue anxiety or in- tolerable toil ; unless there be such a foundation the superstructure cannot be firm, or permanent, or even real. No nation can produce its full complement of worthy citizens until all are assured 70 The Fundamentals of Citizenship of the bases of life, for until then all energies and thought are, through dire necessity, directed towards securing those bases, and cannot be expended in other duties of citizenship. There- fore in a certain sense it is true to say that Civics, like charity, begins at home, if we regard the word Home as being symbolic of the provision of food, clothing, shelter. And the Civics student who is not a mere metaphysician will set his nation's house in order before proceeding outwards to deal with other matters. He is more likely to appreciate the importance of this when he realises his own fundamental characteristics as a citizen. The average citizen is a member of a family either by relationship or by dwelling with one, and here he imbibes his first lessons in social conduct. His outlook is largely formed by the family, and its influence marks him throughout his life. During his early years he is also moulded by the education he receives, and by the religion that he is taught, each of which has varying effects according to its quality. But for some of his education and religion he goes outside the family into the larger community of which most families form a part. Families are usually them- selves members of a village, town, or city, and this exercises a wider, more complex influence on the growing citizen, expands his mind by giving The Philosophy of Citizenship him more interests, and teaches him the truth that no man can live independently of the com- munity which provides him with all that distin- guishes his life from that of a savage. Villages, towns, and cities are themselves part of a larger whole, the Country, and this national unit is, at our present stage of civilisation, the most important, embracing within its sphere the highest sentiments and most devoted work of its citizens. Very truly can the native land say to her children : Thou hast no common birthright, Grand memories on thee shine. Inspired by the patriotic wish to enhance the prestige of his nation which a noble love of country arouses, the citizen is profoundly moved to give his services for the benefit of the land that has coloured his mind by its hills and streams, its woods and moorlands, and by the past records of its sons and daughters. In these days of much talk of internationalism it must not be overlooked that the national spirit must first be strong and distinctive in order to take a worthy part in international affairs. The nation will be the medium through which internationalism will work, and there can be no international inter- course without nations. In a less direct sense the citizen of England is 72 The Fundamentals of Citizenship also a co-citizen with all the others of the countries of Western Europe. He belongs to that type of civilisation as distinct from the Asiatic types ; and it is the civilisation which leads the world. But it is impossible to make Western Europe a part of the next unit, the British Commonwealth, and therefore this issue is omitted in the diagram ; no diagram can adequately depict the interactions of civilisation or life. If we were considering a seventeenth-century English citizen we should stop at this point, for there was no larger unit in those times ; but in the twentieth century there are dawning the responsibilities and privileges of the British Com- monwealth, which is gradually shaping itself, and evolving a definite citizenship, that in the future is likely to have its value for every member. Each section of the Commonwealth will also come to contribute its genius and resources to the vast whole, and to share as a partner all the advantages of membership in such a community ; a community which, in itself, is a great League of Nations. In its turn this league rests on a greater, now in formation, the potentialities and consequences of which have yet to be discovered and experienced. But it cannot be doubted that the League of Nations idea is the foreshadowing of a fact which will, far centuries hence, bind all 73 The Philosophy of Citizenship Humanity into one ; and that unit will be the final one ; the unity of Humanity is the goal of civilisation. Thus we may imagine each citizen as standing on a pyramidal foundation, the base of which is the world as a whole, with ascending steps of a League of Nations, the British Commonwealth, the nation, the village, town, or city, and the family. They are his roots and supports, and to them he owes all that he has grown to be. Picturing the citizen in this way is not intended to convey an individualistic view of him, for there are millions of others at that apex, and it is his duty to judge of his opinions and actions in relation, not so much to himself as to the community as a whole. And a community is more than an aggregate of individuals. A chance crowd can be so described, but a church, a society, a town, a nation, are communities with a spirit binding them in a sense that no chance crowd could be bound. It is this spirit that the citizen must regard ; in other words there is a higher tribunal than his individual conscience. Arrived at his full estate the citizen finds himself restricted in many ways, but, since his aim is Service, the cry of Freedom as an end in itself will not appeal to him ; for in order to serve he must be bound and limited, so that his desires 74 The Fundamentals of Citizenship and doings may not work to the detriment of others. Long before written law made its appear- ance, customs and traditions were barriers to liberty, and they formed barriers as strong as statutes. Pericles saw their force in calling them " those unwritten laws which bring upon the transgressors of them the reprobation of the general sentiment." Public opinion is in some cases stronger than law, and in early days, un- settled as they were, such restrictions tended to promote the stability of society, and thus to make ready the way for advance. The family traditions handed down through generations, the village customs, the social fixity of the feudal days, the caste system, have all, in their times, been power- ful agents of civilisation regarded from the aspect of Order. Other bars to the citizen's liberty are the central government and laws, which have become established through the collective wisdom and wishes of his ancestors, and to which he should loyally subordinate himself, or, if he disapproves, he should attempt to change them. But in all cases, appreciation of their past use should precede criticism of their present advantage to him. The same may be said of the limitations imposed by the by-laws of his local authority, which he may himself help to form. It is especially a charac- 75 The Philosophy of Citizenship teristic of English progress that the past should be linked to the present, a characteristic which should be noted by reformers if they wish to achieve success. It was a British citizen who said : The glory of England is its capacity to blend the old with the new, not to destroy but to adapt ; to learn from the past, but not to be enslaved by it ; to rejoice in modern progress, but to attach it to that which has preceded it. 1 The bases on which the citizen rests refer mainly to the past ; his limitations are of the present. So far we have considered factors which have formed him, and which were established before he appeared ; but there remain many other factors in the making of a complete citizen his opportunities, his avenues of expansion, his means of expressing himself ; these are of the present, but they also merge into the future. It is impos- sible for anyone to concentrate on all the openings of activity and thought which reveal themselves as adulthood is reached, but everyone should be aware of the significance of the spheres which they disclose. The avenues are many and diver- gent, leading to all the domains of life and con- necting the citizen with the world and all that in it is. His family responsibilities come nearest, and in the case of many women citizens this sphere * W. H. Freemantle. 76 The Fundamentals of Citizenship is the one wherein their energies are largely used. To a certain extent a semi-involuntary means of expression and activity, the .family is yet the one that most merges the citizen into the life of others, and those who live, not with their own family or any other, but alone in " rooms," thereby lose a humanising and broadening influence which nothing but the intimacies of family life can supply. Another semi-involuntary outlet is the citizen's occupation, which, as has already been seen, deeply affects him, and through which he may himself affect society, whether by performing necessary service through it, by forwarding re- forms in it, or by extending its usefulness. Many other avenues of interest and use remain, which, though not so close, yet provide an outlet for civic enthusiasm ; most of these are practically voluntary and followed in leisure time. There is the wide field of Politics, local, national, and inter- national, with a larger connotation than that given to it by mere party factions. Not only should the citizen adopt his own opinions after careful examination of every side that experience can give, but he should also understand why other parties hold their opinions, and be able to show why he considers them mistaken. It is an educative exercise to read the leaders of news- papers differing from his own view, and to attempt 77 The Philosophy of Citizenship to refute the arguments therein. Economics are closely connected with politics, and govern them far more than votes do, and the citizen may ba led by his politics, or by his wish for an assured status, to join some economic association. Thus he may expend his energies in the work of a Trade Union, or Co-operative Society, or professional organisation, which forms a link between his politics and his occupation. Of late years the opinions of such organisations have had much force, and the possibility of their conversion into National Guilds is one that those with an eye to the future have considered, whether with approval or without. Various schemes for improvement are always before the citizen, and in some, either local or national, he may participate, according to what reforms he has at heart. A housing scheme, some extensions in education, attempts to provide more beauty in daily life, the promotion of health, and innumerable other civic activities will lead the citizen to join other societies, and to attend meetings, especially those with a local interest, for he must remember that Civics begins at home in every sense that can be applied to the phrase. The whole realm of Art is open before him, and it reveals that which will expand and deepen his feeling, and invest with new meaning all the 78 The Fundamentals of Citizenship common things of life. For " Art for art's sake " is not a civic phrase, nor is it ethical or philo- sophical. Art should be for Life's sake, whether the art be literature, or painting, or architecture, or music, or sculpture, or the drama ; and if Art be not connected with streets and houses as well as with studies and studios, it is valueless to citizenship ; for to what end should the citizen gain the culture given by Art ? The Muses are the handmaids, as well as the inspirers, of mankind. The world of Science, both theoretical and applied, lies before the citizen, and the same question might here be asked : To what end should Science be followed and its secrets used ? The war has given a terrible example of the way in which man's discoveries and inventions may be utilised when the talents of scientists are not devoted to the welfare of the world. A wide scope of industry and discovery and application is present for the citizen with scientific tastes and tendencies. A great difference between the mediaeval and modern citizen is brought about by the power in the hands of the latter to control natural forces, a power that is not only due to applied science, but can also become creative in the sense of forming new and different environment. Perhaps the most accessible method of keeping in touch with civic affairs is that afforded by the 79 The Philosophy of Citizenship Press, which includes newspapers, journals, and books. Newspapers have been mentioned before ; it only remains to say here, that there is at present no really impartial paper in existence, and there- fore all opinions expressed in newspapers must be read in the light of that fact. Of making many books there is no end, and a great number are unnecessary ; but it is a difficult matter to distinguish those which are written for the sake of a livelihood from those wherein a human spirit is giving needed knowledge or expressing con- victions or visions. Only a broad education will give adequate means of separating what is written by " bookmakers," or by workers, or artists, or pioneers. Lastly there are the avenues that lighten as well as expand the soul : recreations of all kinds ; clubs for various purposes ; and friends to fertilise thought, exercise feeling, and provide companion- ship. It will already have been realised that the complete Citizen is concerned with far more than political matters, that some beauty and ceremonial are needed in the conception of citizenship, and that, in fact, all life touches him who would follow civic pursuits and fulfil civic duties. Every one of the avenues of activity mentioned forwards the education of the citizen, which never ceases so long as his interest in civic matters 80 The Fundamentals of Citizenship continues. And spreading over all his activities, suggesting and directing them, and permeating and inspiring his energies is the philosophy or religion which he has adopted or moulded for himself. Haphazard or muddled thought, not based on some system for guidance, leads to mistakes in reforms, ill-devised plans, and badly regulated public actions ; therefore a philosophy, or religion, or both, are necessary for clear thinking and inspiration. An attempt has been made, in the diagram that follows, to picture the citizen, his bases, his limitations, and his means of expansion and activity. But in considering charts two cautions are most strongly voiced. The first is that it is not well to work from a diagram to facts or theories. The chart should grow (as the ones contained in this book have done) from knowledge, and thought, and discussion, and should be a result rather than a starting-point. Secondly, charts and diagrams are always too fixed and mechanical to illustrate with adequacy any living subject. Life is dynamic ; it breaks bounds, and grows beyond any static conception ; it can never be enclosed. And therefore any aspect or part of life always contains more than a piece of paper with lines and words can reveal. 81 F 82 CHAPTER V SOCIAL IDEAS THE spirit of an age, the atmosphere of thought, the attitude towards moral and social issues, the values apportioned to different kinds of action, all these permeate the life of any period, and profoundly influence its expression. Changes in social ideas come very slowly, and are correctly estimated only by those trained by knowledge of the past and by thought concerning the present ; but it is the citizen's duty to have acquaintance with the prevailing ideas of his time, since ideas powerfully mould events and finally become \ embodied in institutions. The main characteristic \ of a good citizen is usefulness, and in order to be of use and play his part well, he must know the tendencies of his time, for his concern with the present is partly in view of the future. Therefore he looks around and attempts to foresee, by the light of what has happened and is happening, that which is likely to happen. Alertness on his part will detect for him significances and tendencies 83 The Philosophy of Citizenship that are pregnant with meaning. In every decade new aspects are revealed, latent tendencies are developed, and possibilities, hitherto unknown, appear. Ten years ago, how many could have foretold the Russian Revolution, Food Control, the Coal Commission ? These momentous things, how- ever, did not come suddenly, nor was the war solely responsible for them. The great war with Napoleon a century ago did not produce such results, for their time had not yet come ; the hundred years between made ready the spheres wherein citizenship works, and prepared the developments hastened by the war. Discerning citizens could, however, even ten years ago, per- ceive the general tendency towards national control and more real democratic government ; yet they could not foresee the great disturbing forces of 1914-18 which accelerated all movements. Civics is a subject of continuance, and the citizen's observations and interests cease only with his life. He will be the most effective citizen who places his energies in the stream of tendencies flowing along the course of civilisation, which itself implies continuance, and inspires to work for the future. Without wasting his time on side-issues of no permanent value, the instructed citizen possessed of insight is sure of his work continuing, even more sure than a few years 84 Social Ideas ago ; for, though it is not easy to detect the almost imperceptible merging of an attitude or of a generally accepted standard into something different, yet during the last five years all pro- cesses have been hastened, and therefore more opportunities have occurred for the citizen to exercise his acumen. The detection and interpretation of modern tendencies is in one sense the climax of Civics study. It is here that the citizen sees whither we are going, formulates our present needs, and has his duties shown in the form of actual and definite work. This detection and interpretation need practice as well as insight and knowledge, for it is the significance of events which has to be noted rather than the event itself. As an example may be cited the Registration Act of 1915, which in itself came to no practical issue, but which indicated that the nation, for the first time in its history, expected all its sons and daughters to contribute something definite to the welfare of the community. The demand of the miners for the nationalisation (which does not mean State Control) of the mines is another in- stance of an event which signifies much change in the thought and action of the world of industry. The war accelerated the desire of various parts of the British Empire to be more closely concerned 85 The Philosophy of Citizenship in the affairs of their Commonwealth ; but those who had noticed the Imperial Conferences held since 1897 detected this wish several years before the war made the demand so definite. In each of these cases the event is charged with more significance than appears on the surface, for it is the expression of ideas that had been working and spreading long before. And other ideas are even now permeating our own times. The cry of the nineteenth century was Liberty, Equality, Fraternity ; and, judged, as all ideals should be, relatively to the circumstances of the time, it was a wholesome and progressive demand ; but in a certain sense it is out of date in the twentieth century. Liberty would throw off shackles, social and legal, and leave men free ; Equality asserted the intrinsic dignity of each human being ; Fraternity gave the motive for being free. But these terms have not now the connotation which the nineteenth-century idealists gave to them. Freedom is sometimes regarded as an end in itself, and praises are bestowed upon mere liberty irrespective of the uses to which it may be put. But this glorification of Freedom in itself is not conducive to good citizenship, nor to the progress of civilisation ; for a community might be conceived in which all were theoretically and legally free and the strong used their freedom 86 Social Ideas to exploit the weak. Freedom allowed factory owners to employ young children for long hours ; freedom would allow the profiteer to continue. Why should citizens be free ? Is it that they may develop their capacities freely ? But capaci- ties highly developed might be used to harm others, as are those of the expert pickpocket. Self-development is not an end in itself ; whether it is worthy or not depends on the ends to which the self is dedicated. When the Greeks made their stand against the Persians to retain their freedom, we feel they made a right resistance, and are glad that Mara- thon is a name signifying their success. But why are we glad ? It was not because a few small States overcame the mighty power of Persia and so preserved their liberty, but because one of those States was thereby able, to a greater extent than perhaps any other since, to influence civilisa- tion. That is, the freedom of the Greeks is of value according to the use made of it. On the other hand, when the conquering Alexander sub- dued Eastern lands, our sympathies remain with him, because he spread Greek ideas and laws and a higher type of civilisation than that reached by those he conquered ; therefore their loss of freedom hastened their progress. Another in- stance of the loss of freedom carrying a people 87 The Philosophy of Citizenship forward is that of the temporary subjection of the Anglo-Saxons in England, which caused their customs and institutions to be merged in those of the Normans, an amalgamation which ultimately produced a race that is the richer in civic and civilising capacity than it otherwise would have been. However, this method of conquest with the object of imposing a superior culture is not one for the twentieth century to adopt. Expressed in one word, the aim of the citizen is not Freedom but Service. To a certain extent he must be free to serve, but he must also be limited in many ways, to prevent harm accruing to others through his free actions. For this reason, the twentieth century does not con- sider Freedom as an end in itself, but only as a means to the great end of Service. The term Fraternity should imply service, but it too often degenerates into a mere vague feeling that savours of sentimentality, instead of sane practical help, definitely designed to carry out some worthy civic purpose. It is comparatively useless for the heart to say Love one another if the brain is not actively engaged with schemes to deal with those who do not follow the command. The citizen must concern himself with things as they are, and whether he believes or not that the World Beautiful would come if everyone loved everyone 88 Social Ideas else, he must face the fact that such is not the case at present ; nor will it ever come about through mere exhortation. Feeling should be accompanied by strenuous thought and vigorous action, which are the antidotes to sentimentality ; and feeling, thought, and action should all be dedicated to service. Equality was a cry which asserted the intrinsic dignity of a human being, and for its time it was a necessary and hope-inspired cry. But much depends on the meaning ascribed to equality. Does it mean that all men are equal, or that all should have equality of opportunity ? Does it mean all are equally capable, or all should have equal respect ? The citizen should have clear ideas regarding equality, especially with the im- plications involved in that aspect of it now much to the forefront and dealing with equal pay. Most of those who are clamant on this question have not considered the matter below the surface, but the following points all arise from it : What is the comparative value of different kinds of work ? How is the intrinsic value of work to be estimated ? Does equal pay mean such amounts as will bring an equal standard of living ? 89 The Philosophy of Citizenship Is equal work to be measured in terms of quantity, or quality, or length of time spent on it, or expenditure of energy, or amount of thought bestowed upon it ? From one point of view the demand for equal pay for equal work is logical and seemingly just ; in a commercial sense it is quite just. But is it just in the higher sphere of social justice ? The twentieth century has passed beyond the com- mercialism of the nineteenth, and expects some- thing better from its sons and daughters than the bargain : / paid so much for my preparation, and you must repay me with interest ; or Here are my capabilities, and I demand so much for their use. This spirit of bargaining is a sordid one, unworthy of citizens ; the spirit of service has a different standard. It would be well if all citizens realised that payment for work, whether equal or unequal, is a conception which is slowly being shaken. Though civilised society at present associates the idea of labour with the idea of pay, yet it has done so only for the last six or seven centuries, and various indications point to a slight shifting of the point of view. The reduction of income tax on account of dependents ; the recent Army order giving more pay to officers with families ; the higher scale of payment to women having 90 Social Ideas children to maintain in the training scheme for wholesale tailoring by the Ministry of Labour ; these are all instances showing that pay is not given merely for the work done, but also according to the need. Various suggestions with regard to the pay of teachers also voice the veering of opinion from pay for work to salary according to need : a member of the Birmingham Education Committee suggested that unmarried men should be placed on the women's scale ; another sugges- tion has been made that employers should pay equally for equal work, and the State should supplement by allowances for dependents. The significance of all this lies in the fact that the differentiation implies a recognition of the prin- ciple of maintenance for the family a valuable and vital principle, since on the well-being of the family rests the welfare of society. Another tendency with regard to pay must be noted. It is that indicated by payment during unemployment, and it signifies the beginning of the break-down of the wage-system in favour of that of salaries. The difference between the two consists in that wages are pay, usually weekly, for the use of the earner's labour-power ; if the work is left undone through illness or absence or other causes, the wage is not paid. Day and weekly labourers are paid in this way, and, in a 91 The Philosophy of Citizenship sense, doctors' and lawyers' fees are wages ; but they are sufficiently high to allow of holidays and illnesses in easy circumstances. A salary is money paid for services during the year, whether work is done all the time or not ; teachers, medical officers in an institution, civil servants, etc., are paid in this way. It will be seen that a salary is further removed from the idea of pay merely for work than are wages. In time, but probably not for some centuries, the system of pay for work will be generally re- garded as crude and uncivic, just as the system of slavery, once so widespread and seemingly permanent, is now considered crude and inhuman. And let him who doubts this remember the remark made in a previous chapter about Aristotle and his inability to conceive of a society without slavery ; it is possible that some things which now seem essentials of a stable society may gradually be eliminated. To some it has already become conceivable that the idea of work does not necessarily involve that of pay, and the citizen should be cognisant of all such signs of the times. Certain it is that our attitude towards work will change when no more^ futile, worthless work is done, when hours of work are shorter, when the reward for work well done is the assign- ment of more responsible work, when all work is 93 Social Ideas a form of service, when education points to such service as the duty and privilege of each citizen. Then we may come to regard work, not as an evil to be shunned, but as a good to be sought. These two tendencies that towards the sub- stitution of salaries for wages and that towards the payment of salaries, not according to work but according to need are, as has been shown, really tendencies, sometimes very slight and not always present ; but they are not mere ideals, and this must be borne in mind in discussions on equality or equal pay, for tendencies, if they are in the line of social evolution, become in time institutions and social facts. 1 Connected to some degree with the question of Equality is that of Leadership ; and here also changes are occurring with regard to the concep- tion of a Leader. The thoughtful citizen would not now unhesitatingly accept Carlyle's dictum that history was " the biography of great men." No person now could grasp all the knowledge of his time as Aristotle did, nor excel in all the spheres wherein Michael Angelo shone, for knowledge in all spheres has increased to an extent too great for it to be possible. Social conditions and in- 1 Socialists, by their insistence on the abolition of the wages system, mean that all should be paid a salary according to need. 93 The Philosophy of Citizenship stitutions have also become far more complicated, and no one figure can dominate all fields similarly to Julius Caesar. On account of the separation of functions, eminence can now be gained only in one or two fields ; a sentence in Pitt's last public speech implies this conception of lessened leadership. He said, after the victory of Trafalgar, " Europe cannot be saved by one man " ; and he was right. Therefore the very march of civili- sation has caused the extinction of Titans, and nowadays any one individual is of less importance, but all individuals are of more importance. Another aspect of leadership has been present throughout the ages, but only as sociology has developed has it been realised. It is that no teacher ever enunciated a message that was evolved solely by himself, no prophet expounded a vision that others had not glimpsed in part, no leader ever led a people to action for which his followers were not ready. It is as though a poet, a dis- coverer, a philosopher, gathered threads from many hands and wove them into a garment of truth or beauty ; yet a garment is a very different thing from a number of scattered threads. In this respect the great person is a product of his time as well as a moulder of it, a learner as well as a teacher, a gatherer of stray gleams of light as well as a beacon ; not only does the stream 94 Social Ideas irrigate the fields of the country through which it flows, but it also takes into itself raindrops and tributaries all along its course. Thus the real function of a so-called leader is to interpret ; he is an interpreter who detects the tendencies of his time and explains his followers to them- selves. Very often this is done unconsciously ; but the increased sensitiveness of human nature will enable the observant and thoughtful to analyse the leader's main sources of inspiration, as he himself will increasingly do. Even as the eye of man can now detect more shades of colour than could the ancients, so the human mind becomes finer, more subtle, more aware of distinctions ; and human feelings become more poignant, more open to delicate impulsions. As evolution proceeds, the structure of our very souls changes. Our feelings, in complexity and range, are as different from those of primitive man as is " an infant crying in the night " from Antigone weeping over her brother and brooding on her duty and destiny. Habits and manners are changed, and that which our ancestors have forged out and stamped upon the citizen-soul comes to us without effort the courtesies of daily life, the sense of responsibility for others, and what might be called a social sensitiveness, are part of the citizen's inheritance ; and by means 95 The Philosophy of Citizenship of this more sensitive social apprehension he discerns evils which must be eliminated, and conditions which can be allowed no longer. As another consequence of the increase in sensitiveness which has been evinced as history proceeds, there has come a change in sanctions, restraints, methods of exhortation and of education. When an individual, a school, a society is not sensitive to higher promptings it needs restraints and prohibitions ; Thou shall not . . . is the commandment of a people imperfectly developed in the moral sense, and it always precedes Follow the gleam. The one is negative and forbids, the other is positive and urges ; the one causes a shrinkage of the sensitive soul, the other causes its expansion. It is nobler to point towards a good to be attained than towards an evil to be avoided ; but it requires a higher stage of civilisa- tion to appreciate this method, and a higher type of personality to carry it out. The citizen may work along two lines, the positive and the negative, the latter being the easier. Negative forces are useful in exposing evils and criticising conditions ; but they are merely destructive, and attempt to rid society of certain institutions or tendencies without offering others to replace them. Exposures, criticisms, and ridicule may pursue their destructive course, and to some 96 Social Ideas extent it is a necessary one, which clears the ground of evils and mistakes. But bare ground is not sufficient for the homes of citizens ; the planter and builder must do their share. So destruction without construction is incomplete as a civilising agent, and he who merely grumbles is thereby showing his poverty of mind and lack of initiative ; mere grumbling is the futile ex- pression of incapacity. By forming a constructive ~plan far nobler results follow, for here the citizen builds the good and pursues the ideal. Proposals for betterment are as far above schemes of de- struction as town planning is above pulling down slums, or as educating young citizens is above punishing criminals. The one stops short at destroying evil, the other produces a good which would itself neutralise the evil ; the one con- centrates on the worse, the other on the better ; the one destroys, the other creates. Since human evolution is, in Bergson's wonderful phrase, a creative evolution, the citizen who constructs is thereby adding his share to the forces that move the world. The positive is the method for the twentieth century, and the citizen's support should be given not so much to schemes which prohibit, like Veto Bills, as to those which would provide such conditions or educate to such a degree that 97 G The Philosophy of Citizenship the danger of, or the desire for, a particular evil would be minimised. The idea of self-denial and asceticism as good in themselves belongs to the Middle Ages, and was appropriate and use- ful then, but not now. Asceticism in itself is of no value to humanity. A race which willingly and gladly does without because it does not want the lower thing is in reality more highly developed than one which hankers after the flesh-pots of Egypt, even if it does not strive to obtain them. There are two kinds of self-denial that which denies because the thing desired is considered evil, and that which denies for the benefit of others. Than the latter nothing could be nobler ; but the former presupposes a desire for the wrong, other- wise there would be no self-denial. Which is the higher : he who does without because he does not want, or he who wants and does without because he thinks his desire is wrong ? A concrete case can be considered by asking the question in another form : Is he who craves for drink and denies himself a higher or lower type than he who does not like it ? Should we endeavour to train a race that kept the craving, and was taught to self-deny, or a race that delighted in simple tastes ? The question is reminiscent of the theory that it would be wrong to do away with poverty, for then no one could practise the virtue of charity ! 98 Social Ideas The religion of Buddhism contains much of noble ness and greatness ; but it is a creed of negativism and attempts to solve the difficulties of life by in culcating the doctrine of desirelessness, which produces an attitude that does not face the prob- lems, but evades them. Similarly negativist was the attitude of the conscientious objectors in the late war ; they failed in true citizenship by evading the conflict of ideas and action and withdrawing themselves from their nation's trouble. The great poet-citizen Milton once said, " I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat." The mistake made by the moralists of negativism is that of basing their theories on mere thought dissociated from action and actualities. The com- mon-sense remark, It depends on circumstances . . . takes account of the doctrine of Relativity, and is of more civic and ethical value than the narrow You must never do that. There is a vast differ- ence between the relativist's view that war is an evil, but that in our present stage of civilisation some wars are necessary, and the absolutist's dictum that all wars are always wrong, which leaves out of account ancient ideals, the realities 99 The Philosophy of Citizenship of human nature, and the circumstances of different times. No room exists in the modern world of civic action and construction for that brother of the metaphysician, the Absolutist ; for reality of past and present is what citizenship must base its ideals upon, and in order to discover reality, the citizen-student must allow for relative standards according to times and customs. His view must be essentially sane and balanced, and he must regard things material and spiritual, economic and ethical, in due proportion and with recognition of their interaction and of their relative develop- ment at different periods of history. 1 The grandest social idea towards the fulfilment of which civilisation slowly moves is that of the Unity of Humanity and its conscious direction of its own destiny. In memorable words Pascal has embodied this conception : The whole succession of men during the course of so many centuries should be regarded as One Man, ever living and constantly learning. By the unity of humanity is not meant a vague cosmopolitanism, but a stage when no section, though aware of its own history and intrinsic qualities, will segregate itself from any other section or from the whole. Such signs 1 It is interesting to note that Einstein's theory of relativity carries the principle into the realms of science, as well as those of philosophy and ethics. 100 Social Ideas as the conception of a universal language like Esperanto and the formation of a League of Nations, indicate that Humanity is beginning to know itself as an entity, and the realisation brings a new sense of power. Collectively, but not individually, mankind has its fate in its own hands, and it is becoming more and more conscious of this power. Citizens generate forces, many and various, which operate against, or with, or alongside of each other, and, as surely as the apple falls to the ground and the moon does not, so do these forces form the grand result that we call human history. We made that history ; we direct the course of civilisation, we decide our own destiny. It is a question of direction ; and when humanity becomes more self-conscious it will realise its capacity to attain what it desires. Hence arises the need for the citizen to have a definite aim and to understand the tendencies which produce the results and complications of his time ; for on his efforts, in conjunction with those of others, will the direction taken by progress depend. 101 CHAPTER VI SPHERES OF REORGANISATION RECONSTRUCTION of a new world is a phrase that has been repeated more often than any other since the war, but it is, in a sense, misleading. The Civics student will understand that no new world can be founded or reconstructed, for the old world is ever present, and must be carried on with all its legacies ; any reconstruction that is brought about must be based on what has been. The foundations of the edifice are already laid ; but that very metaphor reveals that the word " reconstruction " implies something mechanical, lifeless, and is not quite applicable to human life, or the expression of the human spirit. Re- organisation is a more living word ; an organ is a part of a living thing, and to re-organ-ise implies the handling of an organism, that is, of something that lives, and is therefore subject to growth. Instead of talking about the reconstruction of a new world, which partly implies the creation of a new world from the beginning, it is better, both IO2 Spheres of Reorganisation logically and civically, to consider the reorganisa- tion of the old world, which means the creation of the future from the materials, both physical and spiritual, of the past and the present. What are the materials ? First there are natural forces and the earth's products : sunshine and rain, water-power and electricity, the soil and vegetation, metals, coal, oil, stone, and fish, sheep, cattle, working horses. The last three are partly the effect of man's handiwork, which is the second class of our materials and includes buildings of all kinds, machinery, engineering feats, railways, and ships. Thirdly, there is what might be termed the culture which has been acquired, and which consists of all the knowledge gained by mankind and preserved, and all the art and literature that remains. The rest of the materials ready can be comprehended within the term Experience and its results : it comprises the skill in using knowledge, power of organisation, methods of government, philosophies, and morality. The history of our race lives in these materials with which citizenship can reorganise the old world, and they are a mighty heritage. The whole purpose of the study of Civics has been frustrated if it does not lead to the desire to have some comprehension of, and participation in, the great movements of the time. All prepara- 103 The Philosophy of Citizenship tion for citizenship is useless unless citizenship is practised. Preparation consists of knowledge and appreciation ; practice consists of action definitely directed to the welfare of a distinct community. So many citizens consider that they have done their duty if they have made themselves cultured, or if they faithfully obey the laws, or if they subscribe to worthy objects, or if they perform some useful work. But that is only one side of citizenship ; the other is not so safe, it is agitating and unsure, it involves the recognition of responsibilities for the dark spots, the disease, the poverty, the ignorance, which the comfortable citizens have escaped. Neither side should be neglected, and a balance of the citizen's forces can be established by common sense. The Greeks had discovered a profound truth when they formulated their phrase, " the golden mean," and like all profound truths, it is applicable to far more than was at first realised. The golden mean signifies more than a middle course ; it is a harmonious line of advance chosen after strivings and mistakes. Just as equilibrium does not mean mere stagnation, but the delicate and exact balance of forces on a certain area, so a balance of the citizen's energies is not inaction, but the result of action. What might be called the climax of Civics study is concerned with reorganisation in the fields 104 Spheres of Reorganisation wherein an instructed citizenship, marked by sanity of view and inspired by visions, is awaited. There are five main spheres in which reorganisa- tion is actually taking place at present ; and the efficient citizen will endeavour to keep cognisance of what is happening in each sphere, though it is not possible for him to exercise his energies in all of them. A short review of the factors working in the various sections of the different spheres is here attempted. Beginning with the earth itself, the basis of all our life, it will be noticed that with regard to the EARTH'S PRODUCTS a different conception is held in the sense that it is considered they should be more cultivated, more protected and preserved, rather than ruthlessly gathered with little view to the future. Far more can be obtained from the earth than hitherto : the irrigation of deserts is in its infancy ; the reclamation of waste lands, in the way the mouth of the Ganges has been made productive by man's handiwork, is but beginning ; and such tracts as the vast expanses of Brazil await cultivation. As has been pointed out by Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, we have failed to make proper use of the water power in this country and in the Commonwealth in general. He asked ' : * In March 1919. 105 The Philosophy of Citizenship Have we given enough attention to hydro-engineering ? Should we not multiply our hydraulic laboratories and train up a body of hydraulic engineers who would be capable of turning our natural resources to the best account ? Has not the time come for the State to make a general survey of its most pressing needs in the sphere of physical science ? What wonderful stores of energy yet remain to be utilised centuries hence can only be guessed at. But Sir Oliver Lodge l and other physicists and chemists assert that we are on the brink of a discovery with regard to the internal energy of matter, and that our descendants will, instead of using coal and oxygen, make use of atomic energy. Another indication of the increased care and respect for the earth, our home, is seen in the creation of a professorship of forestry at Oxford ; the establishment of a National Institute of Agricultural Botany for the purpose of developing agriculture at Cambridge ; and in the general movement in regard to conservation of forests, especially in America. Experiments with the object of increased production by scientific farm- ing on the lines initiated at Rothamsted Farm at Harpenden by Sir John Bennet Lawes open up many possibilities. And along with increased production goes more economic utilization, of coal, for instance. The obtaining of wealth from waste 1 Speaking in December 1919. 106 Spheres of Reorganisation is another aspect of the question of the use of materials ultimately obtained from the earth, and many lessons have been gleaned from war efforts as to methods of doing this. Passing from the products of the earth to man's handiwork upon it, we may take BUILDING AND SURVEYING as the next sphere wherein reorganisation is taking place. Here town planning and city design includes not only the arranging of new towns, but also the clearing away of slums and the beautifying of existing towns. Garden cities and suburbs are being planned all over the country, and with these plans are included housing improvements and the beautifying of work-places. In co-ordination with all this architectural effort of the public should be the various Art Schools and Art Associations of the country. Why should not members of the Royal Academy, for instance, show their citizen spirit by using their talents for the public benefit in works connected with public improvements ? The application of Geography to Civic problems is being practised more and more, and such men as Professor Geddes, Mr. Mackinder, and Mr. C. B. Fawcett have studied devolution from its geo- graphical aspect. Professor Geddes has suggested the term " Conurbations " for the groups of cities, towns, and villages which have grown round the 107 The Philosophy of Citizenship great coal-fields, and has prophesied that the future will see them with a common local authority, common water, gas, and electricity supply, a common transport system, etc. ; Mr. Mackinder discusses the possible federalisation of the United Kingdom ; and Mr. Fawcett offers a solution by the division into provinces according to geo- graphical features. Regional Survey is now even introduced into some schools, and the day will come when every district will be surveyed from all points of view. But the human aspect must not be forgotten in this connection ; and a Civic survey should result in more than geographical analysis, and should include some account of the general human characteristics expressed in the district, as well as the biography of any inhabitants who have become noted or have worked worthily. Human Geography is in reality a great and penetrating survey, and Professor Fleure, of Aberystwyth, has shown the method of dealing with so enormous a subject, which touches on so many others. Le Play's great generalisation, that the environ- ment indirectly affects civilisation through the prevailing industry, is essentially a generalisation belonging to human geography. Claiming our attention next is the vitally important sphere of EDUCATION. Its impor- 108 Spheres of Reorganisation tance can scarcely be overestimated, for educa- tion is concerned with the coming generation, the makers of the future, those who will carry out the plans of the present and bring its ideals nearer to realisation. For this reason too much thought cannot be exercised on the training of young citizenhood. We have begun to provide a certain amount of continued education, but it will have to be extended and enlarged. The danger here is that persons with academic qualifi- cations, but without the right sense of citizenship, may capture the continuation schools, as many have captured the secondary schools ; but that condition of affairs can be but temporary, for an instructed citizenhood will arise to demand common-sense treatment of youth, and a greater co-ordination of subjects to one another and to outer life. The Civics student will already have come to the conclusion that, judged from the standpoint of citizenship, " subjects " in schools are too much separated from one another, and that, as the whole story of civilisation is one, so the separate subjects, which are in reality a record of the achievements of humanity, should not be isolated, but should each show its relation- ship to the great whole. The young citizen would then leave school with the sense that all he has learnt has been of use in preparing him for his 109 The Philosophy of Citizenship later life and work ; and it is only those with experience of a wider life that can produce that sense in him. Part-time education will also extend to further education for all, at first to the age of sixteen and then to eighteen ; and this education should include some training for future work. Adult education is also to be included here, and that may well take the form of education in Civics, the most important subject for complete citizenhood. Methods of work and discipline are continually being improved and rethought-out, and the Montessori ideas are only one instance of experi- ments that are being made. In every department of education, however, the most advanced and philosophic thinkers are agreed that all reforms must subordinate themselves to the great aim of the whole of education, conceptions as to which are still vague and differing. If educational associa- tions were asked to define such a general aim for the education of all young citizens, the first half- dozen would probably give very different answers. One aim often put forward is that of self-develop- ment ; the child is to be trained so that all its innate capacities are fully developed. But to what purpose are these faculties to be trained, and to what use are they to be put ? Self-develop- ment may in itself prove to be an evil, as highly no Spheres of Reorganisation developed faculties used for egoistic purposes may perform more harm than less developed ones. By all means let faculties be trained, but let there be a definite purpose in view their use for the benefit of the community. No one has expressed the great ideal of education more admirably than Mr. F. J. Gould l ; he speaks of a principle which should be acceptable to all forms of thought and faith, which should govern the procedure in all, and yet leave ample room for differentiation accord- ing to local temperament, manners, customs, and traditions. The principle is Service, based on Industry and inspired by History ; and by Service we understand the duties and efficiencies of the Household, the Village, the City, the Country, the Federal Commonwealth. . . . Industry embraces all activities agricultural, manufacturing, organ- ising, scientific, artistic, educational which make for health and betterment, physical and moral. . . . History means the whole story of man's soul from primitive ages to yesterday, in its struggle towards the True, the Beautiful, and the Good. " Service of the Commonwealth, based on Industry and inspired by History," is a brief, plain, and satisfying principle which all can accept with dignity. At present the teaching profession is separated into too many groups, and it needs unifying by making all teachers, elementary, secondary, technical, and university, into civil servants with responsibilities directly to the nation. But the J In his British Education after the War. in The Philosophy of Citizenship teachers must not become an isolated body ; their own need and that of the community is that the entire educational system should be related to all the other organs of culture and industry. It is not seemly that teachers should control education ; the control should come from the nation as a whole, and a so-called " expert " on education may give advice that might end in educational disaster. Those teachers who are most progressive and cultured in the true sense will acknowledge this, for they will comprehend that education is but one section, though a most important one, of national life. No exception must be made to the rule that all institutions and movements must support the welfare of the whole. As education can be looked upon as one basis of the future, so INDUSTRY can be regarded as the basis of all life, for without the vital industries associated with the land, mines, food, clothing, housing, and transport, the world could not be kept going. It is in this sphere that the greatest changes and the most drastic reorganisation seem imminent, and that most signs of distur- bance appear. A grasp of the tendencies in the world of industry will enable the citizen to deal with some adequacy with the various crises as they arise, and to prepare the way for a new order, so that it may come as a growth rather than a 112 Spheres of Reorganisation revolution. Economics necessarily plays a great part here, but something has already been said on that aspect in the chapter on Social Ideas. It may be added that indirectly connected with the realm of economics is the sense of obligation, slowly spreading among citizens, that all should work at something useful to the community, either with hands or brain, either within or without the home, for the sustenance of life, or its recreation or its beautification. The Trade Union and Co-operative movements had their origin in the nineteenth century, and are now established and doing eminent service to the world of industry. Within the trade unions themselves is coming the recognition of the duty of the workers to help forward the whole of their class and not merely to agitate for those in their particular industry, as has hitherto been too often the custom. The gigantic federations of labour, such as the " triple alliance " of the Miners' Federation, the National Union of Rail- waymen, and the National Transport Workers' Federation, have in the past been tending to prove themselves an aristocracy of labour, from whom the class below received but little help. But some of those in the industrial world are themselves now endeavouring to check any exclusiveness. Recent strikes have also brought to the front 113 H The Philosophy of Citizenship the question of the welfare of the whole com- munity in connection with that of a section of workers ; and the advocates of direct action are faced with the fact that on the one hand a strike is more harmful to those who work than to those whom it is meant to harm, and on the other hand constitutional means are now possible by which control of legislation and administration can be gained means which have not yet been fully developed and used. At the present time the question of nationalisation (which is not the same as State Control) is of pressing importance ; and connected with this are the movements of Socialism and the newer proposal of National Guilds. It is essential that the citizen should have clear notions as to the meaning and purpose of these movements, and understand what they do not mean as well as what they stand for. For example, Socialism does not mean the gradual betterment of social con- ditions, which is the Social Reform advocated by Liberalism ; nor does it mean Communism, or the common ownership practised by the early Christian societies, which were religious and not civic groups ; nor is it Collectivism, or the vesting of the means of production in the hands of govern- ment or municipalities, which might result in what Mr. Belloc has called the servile State. To-day Socialism might be defined in a broad practical 114 Spheres of Reorganisation sense as such public ownership and control of the vital industries connected with land, mines, food, clothing, housing, and transport, as sooner or later dispenses with the system of profit, rent, interest, and wages. England has, of all countries, produced the greatest number of differing types of Socialists, as the very names of Keir Hardie, William Morris, and H. M. Hyndman show. National Guildism is distinct from Syndicalism, which means the control of any industry by the workers in it, free from interference by the owners or the State. But the National Guilds movement sees the danger in this method of control solely from within each industry, and proposes that all industries, whether manual or mental, should control their own management and working in friendly relation with other guilds and with the people at large. In other words, the State would own and regulate the general system and its interactions, but would not interfere with internal control. The National Guild movement is in its infancy, but it has an important future, as it moves with two tendencies of the times that of nation- alisation and that of self-government by the workers and seeks to combine them. The last sphere to be mentioned wherein re- organisation is taking place is that of CONSTI- TUTIONAL and SOCIAL IDEALS. Of con- "5 The Philosophy of Citizenship stitutional changes that are taking place, the one of devolution in all governmental departments is of great significance. There is a tendency to allocate authority from a central to a smaller unit, and that not only with regard to the national government and local authorities, but also in connection with imperial authority. The method of "Home Rule all Round" has now come into the sphere of practical politics, and some citizens have long seen in it the only solution of the Irish difficulty . This is, however, but one instance of the devolution that is spreading generally, and that is in no sense contradictory to the tendency towards nationalisation. In a philosophic sense the tendencies are similar, for the one means the self-government of workers in their own industries, and the other the self-government of peoples in their own countries ; and both have to consider the larger whole of which they are a part. The previous chapter has dealt with several social ideals ; but mention should be made of the responsibility, which is extending and increasing, felt by the more civilised races regarding their treatment of the more backward ones, a responsi- bility that has been forced into notice by some of the results of the war. Not only is there felt a responsibility towards the less advanced among Humanity's sons and daughters, but the sense 116 Spheres of Reorganisation spreads to itself, and, as was mentioned in the previous chapter, Humanity realises that it is responsible for its own destiny. The forces are present, and the rest is a question of direction ; and self-direction will be accomplished when a general conviction of the essential unity of our race has arisen. The foregoing are very scanty sketches of the spheres wherein reorganisation is taking place. Let it be noted that the factors and sections enumerated are not those wherein some may think changes should take place, but they are spheres wherein change is actually taking place now. In other words, the various signs of the times have been gathered together and classified, and an attempt has been made at some interpre- tation ; nothing has been invented or culled from Utopia. Even when the present buddings have reached fruition, more developments, as yet unseen, will make their appearance, for with life there is always a grand unfinish. Among the various schemes surrounding him, how can the citizen choose wisely those which will make for civilisation ? There are two main standards by which to judge whether reforms are in the stream of tendencies working for progress. The first criterion raises the question of the past : 117 The Philosophy of Citizenship Is this scheme in harmony with the historical and psychological development of the nation ? Sudden schemes not based on the foundations of previous history, on the facts, past and present, of the case, must be rejected. Reformers are usually idealists, but to be effective they must be realists as well, for no revolution can be forced on a people unprepared or unwilling. As an example, the instance of Bolshevism in Russia might be quoted. In England Bolshevism (which the citizen should realise is not the same as Socialism) could never succeed, even temporarily, for our national history has been greatly different from that of Russia, and our national consciousness is not the same as that of such a land of villages and peasants. A proposed change may be neces- sary in one country, but be quite out of the line of advancement in another ; for each has its own historical evolution and psychological develop- ment, which the Civics student may discover by studying the thought and work of those who express their country's spirit. The second criterion deals with present and future conditions. Just as the test of the strength of a chain is its weakest link, so the test of the well-being of a nation is the condition of the class that is worst off. The stage of civilisation reached by any society is judged by this standard. nS Spheres of Reorganisation Therefore no scheme should be tolerated in which benefit to one section of the community is allied with detriment to a weaker section. That is exploitation, and not to be allowed by citizens who care for their country's honour. Exploitation of the poor by the rich ; of the weak by the strong, whether the strength be in physique, or mentality, or organisation ; of the " masses " by the " intel- lectuals " ; of individuals by other individuals, or classes by other classes ; exploitation of the work, or brains, or energies of others ; exploitation of any kind, in any sphere, is, in the realm of citizenship, the unpardonable sin. 119 BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR THE STUDY OF CIVICS (This is not an exhaustive list, but a selection of those boohs likely to be found in any good public library.) INTRODUCTORY and GENERAL Sociological Papers. Vols. I to III (Macmillan) . (Con- tain valuable articles by Professor Patrick Geddes and others.) Interpretations and Forecasts. Victor Branford (Duck- worth). (Essays on various aspects of citizenship, considering the citizen from different points of view and at different periods.) The Living Past. F. S. Marvin (Clarendon Press). (Shows the general characteristics of each age in the world's history and its influence on the present.) The Century of Hope. F. S. Marvin (Clarendon Press). (Gives a general survey of the achievements of the nineteenth century.) Discovery : the Spirit and Service of Science. Sir Richard Gregory (Macmillan). The Masque of Ancient Learning. The Masque of Medicsval and Modern Learning. Patrick Geddes (Outlook Tower, Edinburgh). (A picturesque treatment of culture throughout the ages with inter- pretations from the civic standpoint.) 121 The Philosophy of Citizenship Social England. H. J. Traill (Cassell). (A very good reference book.) A Short History of the English People. J. R. Green (Macmillan) . THE FAMILY The Family in its Sociological Aspects. J. Q. Dealy (Harrap). (Deals very well with primitive times and considers some modern problems.) The Family. Helen Bosanquet (Macmillan). (Contains sketches of family conditions at different periods.) THE VILLAGE The Greek Tradition. J. A. K. Thomson (Allen & Unwin) . (Gives realistic and unconventional pictures of village life in ancient Greece.) The Way of Peace. H. Fielding Hall (Hurst & Blackett). (Chapter II deals with villages in general.) The Village Community. Sir L. Gomme (Scott). (Sketches the origin and development of British villages.) Kingham : Old and New. W. Warde Fowler (Oxford University Press). (An interesting account of a typical English village and its development.) Problems of Village Life. E. N. Bennett (Home University Library. Williams & Norgate). (Traces the history of English villages and discusses present conditions.) The Village Labourer. J. L. and B. Hammond (Longmans). (A very good history of village conditions during the years 1760 to 1832.) 122 Bibliography TOWN and CITIES Town Study. M. M. Penstone (National Society's Depository). (A very good introduction to the sub- ject. Suitable for the use of teachers.) The Meaning of History. Frederic Harrison (Macmillan). (Contains a valuable chapter on " The City : Ancient, Mediaeval, Modern, Ideal.") Cities in Evolution. P. Geddes (Williams & Norgate). (An excellent book.) The Making of London. Sir L. Gomme (Clarendon Press). The Story of Coventry. Miss Dormer Harris (Dent). The Story of Cambridge. G. W. Stubbs (Dent). (Contain good accounts of town life in mediaeval times.) The Old Guilds of England. F. Armitage (Weare). Restoration of the Gild System. A. J. Penty (Sonnenschein). (Chapter IV gives a good account of mediaeval gilds.) EXHIBITIONS, SURVEYS, TOWN PLANNING Two Steps in Civics. P. Geddes (Outlook Tower, Edin- burgh). (A pamphlet describing a Town Planning Exhibition and the International Congress of Cities in 1913-) A Suggested Plan for a Civic Museum. P. Geddes (Outlook Tower, Edinburgh.) A Conference on Regional Survey. H. J. Fleure (Philip). A First Visit to the Outlook Tower. (Outlook Tower, Edinburgh) . Garden Cities of To-morrow. Ebenezer Howard (Allen & Unwin). Town Planning. G. Cadbury (Longmans). 123 The Philosophy of Citizenship Town Planning in Practice. Raymond Unwin (Fisher Unwin) . Transactions of the Town-Planning Conference (Royal Institute of British Architects). (The Conference was held in 1910, and the book contains many valu- able illustrations.) The Town Planning Review. A quarterly journal. LOCAL GOVERNMENT Outlines of English Local Government. E. Jenks (Methuen). (Traces the history of the various kinds of local government.) English Local Government. R. C. Maxwell (Dent). Outlines of Local Government. J. J. Clarke (Pitman). (Handy little books for reference.) English Political Institutions. J. A. R. Marriott (Clarendon Press). (Chapters XII and XIII deal adequately with local government and its history. The book is also useful for national government.) The Common Sense of Municipal Trading. G. B. Shaw (Fifield). THE STATE The City States of Greece and Rome. W. Warde Fowler (Macmillan). (Very good account of their origin, general conditions and dissolution.) The State. Woodrow Wilson (Heath). (Historical sketch of early States and present government of modern European States.) The State and the Nation. E. Jenks (Dent). (Traces the evolution of the State from the patriarchal system a very good book.) 124 Bibliography Parliament. Sir C. P. Ilbert. Conservatism. Lord H. Cecil. Liberalism. L. T. Hobhouse. The Navy and Sea Power. D. Hannay. (Home University Library. Williams & Norgate.) Select Passages on Duty to the State. ]. G. Jennings (Oxford University Press) . (Contains excellent selections from authors throughout the ages of interest to citizens.) Introduction to the History of the Science of Politics. Sir F. Pollock (Macmillan). INDUSTRY and THE WORKERS Social Life in Rome at the Time of Cicero. W. Warde Fowler (Macmillan) . (Discusses the practice of slavery and the condition of slaves.) Six Centuries of Work and Wages. Thorold Rogers (Fisher Unwin). (Contains interesting points on the com- parative values of money.) The Town Labourer. J. L. and B. Hammond (Longmans). (This and the work on the Village Labourer are two of the best books on the subject.) English Sea Voyages of the Sixteenth Century. W. Raleigh (MacLehose). History of Trade Unionism. Mr. and Mrs. Webb (Long- mans). History of Co-operation. G. J. Holyoake (Fisher Unwin). Revolutionary Syndicalism. J. A. Estey (King). (Clear historical account, chiefly connected with France.) Economics of Socialism. H. M. Hyndman (Twentieth Century Press). 125 The Philosophy of Citizenship EDUCATION The Schools of Hellas. K. J. Freeman (Macmillan). (Gives the aims and methods of Athenian and Spartan education for citizenship.) Roman Education. A. S. Wilkins (Cambridge University Press). (A useful sketch.) Vittorino da Feltre. W. H. Woodward (Cambridge Uni- versity Press). (Shows the condition of learning on the Continent at the Renaissance.) The Schools of Medieval England. A. F. Leach (Methuen) . Education in the Middle Ages. A. W. Parry (University Tutorial Press). A Short History of Education. G. Benson Clough (Holland) . (Useful for reference as to dates of Education Acts, etc., in England.) Workers' Educational Association Year Book. (Sketches present educational conditions, societies, etc.) BRITISH COMMONWEALTH The British Empire : its Past, Present and Future. Edited by A. F. Pollard (League of the Empire). (Short sketches of the history, mainly from a constitutional point of view.) The Commonwealth of Nations. L. Curtis (Macmillan). (Traces the history, with interesting discussion.) The Problem of the Commonwealth. L. Curtis (Macmillan). (Both of Mr. Curtis's books have very good diagrams of populations, areas, etc.) The Round Table. (A quarterly journal dealing with affairs of the Commonwealth.) 126 Bibliography For more detailed history see " The English People Over- seas " Series (Constable). REORGANISATION An Alphabet of Economics. A. R. Orage (Fisher Unwin). (Explains the various terms in economics from the point of view of a National Guildsman.) The Meaning of Industrial Freedom. G. D. H. Cole and W. Mellor (Allen & Unwin). (A pamphlet concisely putting the case for National Guilds.) The Meaning of National Guilds. M. B. Reckitt and C. E. Bechhofer (Cecil Palmer). Roads to Freedom. Bertrand Russell (Allen & Dnwin). (Gives the salient features of Socialism, Anarchism, etc.) Wealth from Waste. H. J. Spooner (Routledge). (Shows how much that is now wasted might be utilised.) Can We Set the World in Order? E. R. Enock (Grant Richards). (Reveals the untouched resources of the world.) The Spiritual Foundations of Reconstruction. F, H. Hayward and A. Freeman (King). (Discusses four original proposals for reconstruction in education.) British Education After the War. F. J. Gould (Watts). (A comprehensive survey pleading for unity of aim a most valuable contribution to the literature of education.) History the Teacher : Education Inspired by Humanity's Story. F. J. Gould (Methuen). (The education of the future will develop along the lines sketched in this book.) 127 The Philosophy of Citizenship The Progress of Eugenics. C. W. Saleeby (Cassell). (Sketches the history of the eugenics movement and explains its aims.) Papers for the Present. (Headley Brothers.) (A series of pamphlets dealing with present-day questions. Especially good is A Citizen Soldier, an account of the education of Alastair Geddes.) The Making of the Future Series. (Williams & Norgate.) Edited by P. Geddes and V. Branford. Discuss reconstruction from a civic standpoint. Volumes which have already appeared are : The Coming Polity. P. Geddes and V. Branford. Ideas at War. P. Geddes and G. Slater. Human Geography of Western Europe. H. J, Fleure. The Provinces of England. C. B. Fawcett. Our Social Inheritance. P. Geddes and V. Branford. Printed in Great Britain by UHWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AWD MWDON UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBR4RY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUE^N THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW d to $1.00 per volume a fte r the siS r erdu ' ^creasing demand may be renewed if r ^ ay> Books n t in expiration of loan^eriod. appllcatlon made before 10 . o SEP 271940 ArH 10w-4,'23 491199 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY