REMOTE STORAGE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA BULLETIN 
 
 New Series No. 157. University Extension Series No. 44 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 BULLETIN 
 
 SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 J. w. SCROGGS, Editor 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC DISCUSSION AND DEBATE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION 
 
 i/ 
 
 r 
 
 NORMAN, OKLAHOMA 
 Novem ber 15, 1918 
 
 University of Oklahoma Bulletin, published by the university, is 
 issued semi-monthly. Entered at the postoffice at Norman, as second 
 class matter, under act of congress of August 21, 1912. Accepted for 
 mailing at special rate of postage, provided for in Section 1103, act of 
 October 3rd, 1917, authorized cn Juiy 8th, 1918. 
 
 
JAN 17 1919 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC DISCUSSION AND DEBATE 
 
 PROBLEMS 
 
 J. W. Scroggs, Editor 
 
 > 
 
 
 * 
 
 # 
 
 PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 NORMAN, OKLAHOMA 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 
 This bulletin is Part II of a series of four parts; as follows: 
 
 Part I; Studies on the Great War. 
 
 Part II; Studies on Social Problems. 
 
 Part III; Problems of Individual Development. 
 
 Part IV; Living in Oklahoma. 
 
 A consideration of all the social problems of our day would 
 be far beyond the scope of this series of studies; it is necessary 
 to select only a few. While the supreme importance of those 
 selected is not always recognized there can be no dout of their 
 serious and urgent importance in the life of our day For the 
 most part they are not yet in the fields of controversy either 
 political or economic. They lie deeper and chiefly concern the 
 ideals of character and citizenship. The purpose is not so much 
 to study the controverted questions of the day as the grounds 
 out of which questions arise. 
 
 As in all previous University bulletins, no attempt is made 
 in this one to advocate exclusively any side or special view of 
 the topics studied. The sole purpose is to arouse interest in 
 these topics and promote their further study, with the ultimate 
 aim of finding appropriate materials for inductive studies in 
 character and citizenship development. Nothing is advocated 
 because it is popular or unpopular, or because of its material 
 values, but only for the sake of its fundamental ethical and 
 spiritual values. 
 
 Problems of much greater interest to business men or pub¬ 
 licists might have been found; the ones selected will be of chief 
 interest to philanthropy and patriotism. While not the leading 
 controverted questions of today some of them may be by the time 
 those now in the high schools are in charge of the affairs of the 
 world. They must be imprest with the truth that nothing can 
 ever be settld till it is settld right. 
 
 We would gladly leave a better world to those who are to 
 come after us but we cannot; they must make their ow T n world. 
 Whether it will be a world of war and struggle, of hatred and 
 unrest; whether the world’s woes and sufferings must continue 
 they must determine for themselves. We can only hope that, as 
 
 > 
 
 David gathered materials for his son to build the temple, for the 
 social structures of the future we may gather such materials, 
 such unselfish principles of justice, sympathy, wisdom, and right 
 that the next age may be better than ours. 
 
 October, 1918. 
 
 J. W. SCROGGS 
 
 Department of Public Information and Welfare 
 
3 09 ,73 
 
 I. THE PROBLEM OF THE MODERN FAMILY 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Family Fundamental. The family is beyond question 
 the ultimate social unit of humanity. On the family depends the 
 physical, mental, and moral welfare of the race. Our interest in 
 the family, then must be unsurpast by any other interest in life; 
 and the welfare of the family must be our chief concern. It 
 deserves a place, then ? in our list of important current topics. 
 
 The Prolongation of Infancy. The human being is born the 
 most helpless of all and remains helpless longest. While mental 
 and physical development are not complete till 30 or later, it has 
 be^n found practicable to entrust human beings with the re¬ 
 sponsibilities of maturity at the age of 21. Th primary purpose 
 of the home is to provide a suitable place for children to grow up. 
 The fact that no great genius has ever come from a public home 
 for children is a very significant testimony to the value of the 
 home to the race. Different treatment is required for different 
 ages and dispositions, and all home policies must be adapted to 
 individual peculiarities and needs. For the first years infinite 
 tenderness and care are required. As the intellectual, moral, 
 and social powers develop, equal tho constantly changing care is 
 required in order to prevent dwarfing or mal-development. 
 
 The Mother and the Family. We have not yet succeeded in 
 perfectly developing a human being. Every other interest in life 
 is subordinate to this; the endowment and development of chil¬ 
 dren may well be considered the paramount interest of human 
 life. The husband and father may build up a great business, a 
 factory or a business block that bears his name, he may be 
 widely known and honored; but his life achievement is utterly 
 insignificant in comparison with that of a wife who brings into 
 the ranks of men a rare being who shall bless the world for all 
 time. We need to see that home making is not only a great busi¬ 
 ness, but that it is the great business of human life. While we 
 wear carnations on Mother’s Day, and pay them empty tributes, 
 the day must come when a civilization will be decried which 
 does not provide pensions and honors for mothers as for the 
 best of soldiers. Often a mother, left a widow with a family of 
 children, by incredible sacrifices and heroic effort gives a family 
 
 V 
 
84 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 of good citizens to a state which never gives the slightest recog¬ 
 nition of her achievement or of its obligation on account of it. 
 
 Failure of the Family. In a recent Oklahoma newspaper a 
 list of 27 cases of the docket of the District Court was given of 
 which 20 w'ere for divorce, and 16 of which were granted, 18 of 
 the suits were .brought by wives. There are more divorces in 
 the United States than in all the rest of the civilized world to¬ 
 gether and the rate is increasing three times as fast as the 
 population. The average for the entire nation is about one di¬ 
 vorce to every twelve marriages; but the state of Washington 
 had one divorce for every four marriages; Montana one for every 
 five; Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, and Indiana one for every six, 
 and San Francisco in 1903 had one divorce for every three mar¬ 
 riages. All these are family failures; but they are not all. 
 Where one case goes to court there are many who endure in 
 silence for duty’s sake a home which is more like a hell than the 
 the paradise married life was meant to b'e; homes may be fail¬ 
 ures and yet kept up. 
 
 Matrimonial Choosing. Among the ancients parents chose 
 husbands for their daughters and sons’ choices had to have 
 their approval. Tho this plan has long been discarded by civil¬ 
 ized peoples, young people are great fools who do not consult 
 their parents in such matters. Parents are apt to underestimate 
 affection, are too unwilling to take risks, and are apt to lay too 
 
 I 
 
 much stress on financial considerations. Civilization has left 
 the supreme decision as to who shall marry to the women not 
 because that always secures the wisest choices, but because 
 women are the chief sufferers from unwise choices, and there¬ 
 fore marriage should not be forced upon them, Young people 
 usually overestimate affection, underestimate character, and are 
 generally ignorant of eugenic considerations. 
 
 Matrimonial Aids. Most marriages are more or less irra¬ 
 tionally contracted tho many turn out happily. No dout this is 
 a potent cause of divorce. Some have advocated responsible 
 matrimonial agencies supported by the state whose functions 
 should be entirely advisory, and which w r ould endeavor in a 
 systematic way to bring about good matches and prevent bad 
 ones. The selection of such a bureau would be very difficult, 
 it is doutful if those who need it most would consult it; but it 
 would at least be an attempt to meet one of the greatest social 
 needs. We can hardly expect a stable family when we leave 
 its founding to luck or blind sentiment which ignores all con¬ 
 siderations of reason. There should be more study of personal- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 85 
 
 \ 
 
 ity and temperament, and society should cease to consider its 
 most serious interest a mere matter to giggle about. 
 
 The Chief Failure. But tho homes might not be as happy 
 as they might be, children might grow up in them somewhat 
 normally and successfully. The worst failure of the home is not 
 in the relations of husband and wife but when it fails to rightly 
 develop children. The home exists for this; if it fail in this noth¬ 
 ing else can redeem it. It is becoming notorious that children 
 are growing up in many American homes very .much as they 
 might on the streets'; there is but little or no control, discipline 
 or guidance. Much indignation has been exprest towards land¬ 
 lords who refuse to rent property to families with x children. 
 Their objection is not to children but to destructive children who 
 are uncontrold by their parents. Children need culture, training, 
 restraint far more than the young of any animal yet a cat 
 mother gives better rearing to her kittens than some mothers 
 do to their children. The o’d training of children was too se¬ 
 vere but many modern parents go to the opposite extreme. 
 
 The Corner Stone of Civilization. Our whole civilization 
 rests upon the home. If that fails we are headed back to bar¬ 
 barism or worse. No great achievements, either individual or 
 social are possible if the home fails to do its work, and there is 
 nothing to take its place. Yv T e can and should relieve motherhood 
 of much of its drudgery, its burden, its isolation, and medical 
 and domestic science are doing it. To rear a family should be 
 beyond all comparison the most attractive occupation for women 
 or for any human being, for in it centers every other hope of 
 humanity. We should frankly recognize the fact and act accord¬ 
 ingly. 
 
 The New Woman. Having in mind the importance and the 
 needs of the home, many have regarded with alarm the appear¬ 
 ance of thG “New Woman.” No one seems to know exactly what 
 she is, or how she differs from the diviner type we have always 
 had, but the mothers of the past have been so excellent that the 
 world fears any change. It cannot but be better that women 
 should be more economicaTy independent; they should not be 
 even tempted to marry an unworthy man for the sake of a home, 
 for that cannot bring a real home. She should be able to support 
 herself for even marriage may bring her a condition where she 
 may have to support herself and others. Her economic depen¬ 
 dence should not compel her to live with a husband who be¬ 
 comes a brute. She needs political independence, for many wo¬ 
 men have to live outside of a home and have precisely the same 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 Z6 
 
 rights and the same need of a voice in making the laws which 
 govern them that men have. And the normal woman, after she 
 has reared her family, has many years of magnificent possibility 
 for public s'ervice which we cannot afford to lose. 
 
 Competing with the home. Economic and social progress 
 has brought about mal-adjustments which make indispensable 
 institutions compete with the home. Practically no .money can 
 be made at home now> all bread-winning has to be elsewhere. 
 With the increast cost of living, wages cannot keep up but are 
 relatively failing and the father’s wages are insufficient. If the 
 mother earns anything she must be away from home, making the 
 performance of her duties impossible. When the mother has 
 leisure, society calls her away from home increasingly. To de¬ 
 prive her of social joys and privileges is unthinkable, at least no 
 man would suggest it, but it does sometimes seem as tho society 
 did not have a wholesome effect on motherhood. (It is even said 
 that in extreme cases, some women find a poodle dog more con¬ 
 genial than a babe.) A man’s work has aAvays taken him away 
 from the home, and no improvement is in sight. Often’education, 
 even, wars against the home by taking children away from it. 
 From 6 to 14 children are away at school all day. After that many 
 have to go away from home to high school and nearly all for 
 aollege or professional training. 
 
 Happy Homes. While the home should be supported from 
 a sense of duty, human nature is too weak for that. Unless the 
 home is happy it must fail of its greatest purpose and achieve¬ 
 ment. Let the entire family make this an object and it will not 
 be so difficult. Love, kindness, faithfulness should be insepara¬ 
 bly associated with the home, but more is needed. Play is the 
 most potent attraction to children and a 7 so one of the greatest 
 forces in their development. The happiest memories of every 
 childhood are associated with its plays; parents cannot afford 
 to be indifferent to them and money spent on toys is not wasted. 
 It is not necessary to provide expensive toys. The finer the toys 
 the less there is for imagination to do: a rag doll is more likely 
 to make an artist than its finest French competitor. Toys should 
 be suggestive. The children who have to leave home for their 
 happiest play are largely deprived of what a home should be to 
 them; amusements away from home are a most formidable com¬ 
 petitor. Many parents make the mistake of over-feeding and over¬ 
 clothing their children while denying them the infinitely greater 
 spiritual values of assisted and supervised play. The unhapplest 
 home is where the children do not play happily. 
 
( 
 
 \ 
 
 SOCIAL PROBLEMS 87 
 
 Wil! the Home Survive. Many earnest students of these 
 problems are seriously asking this question. It is useless to mini¬ 
 mize the difficulties and the dangers; they are real and appar¬ 
 ently inescapable. But solution must be found; humanity has 
 progrest too far to be sacrificed by its own achievements. The 
 school can b’e made to supplement the home instead of compete 
 with it; and the same is true of many other foes. It is not 
 necessary that the home should be a prison whose inhabitants 
 never leave it. We need such adjustments that children leaving 
 home temporarily should return to it with increasing joy and 
 yearning. There should be “no place like home.” 
 
 The Greatest Danger. These things which compete with 
 
 0 
 
 the home or attract children away from it are not the chief 
 perils. Indifference as to what is going on, careless drifting, 
 blindly ignoring patent facts and their results,—these are the 
 chief perils. The problems are not inso uble but they will re¬ 
 quire intelligence and earnestness and moral effort worthy of 
 the great end to be achieved. 
 
 What is the Remedy? Prohibiting divorce would not pre¬ 
 vent the causes which lead to it; punishing chose who marry 
 unwisely is superfluous. The only remedy is character. Th* 
 ultimate dependence for marital happiness is not lov'e but 
 character. Where love is not merited, unworthy character makes 
 it a tragedy even if it survive. Many a couple have fallen in 
 love after marriage,—a deeper, truer love—because of the dis¬ 
 covery of higher, nobler traits of character not discerned before. 
 Many who married with douts and misgivings have entered inte 
 fullness of joy because character was true and genuine and 
 stood the tests. Youth must know that unworthy, selfish, unlov¬ 
 able character can never bring happiness in marriage nor is 
 any other life relation. It is never too late to improve character. 
 Good common sense may do much. Many causes of marital 
 unhappiness might be avoided by good sense and tact. Reso¬ 
 lution to make the best of it often avoids shipwreck. In ideal 
 marriage each will is surrendered to the other and th'ey coalesce 
 more or less into one; a firm, a partnership in which neither has 
 exclusive control. A serious effort to agree will often work 
 wonders. But all these mean character,—the ultimate depes- 
 dence. 
 
 STUDY ON I. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Why is the family fundamental? 2. Cou’d not children be 
 reared in hospitals or public institutions? 3. How long does 
 
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 %$ • UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 * *» 
 
 legal infancy continue? 4. Compare the length of infancy of the 
 human species with that of a few animals. 5. Why do birds build 
 nests? 6. Is it necessary that the mother be not attracted from 
 the home? Why? 7. How could civilized peoples show' their 
 appreciation of the mother? 8. Does every divorce mean the 
 failure of a family? 9. Should divorce be more restricted? 10. 
 Woukl that solve the problem? 11. If the divorce rate keeps on 
 increasing what will become of the nation? 12. Why should 
 there be proportionately more divorces in the United States 
 than in all the rest of the world combined? 13. Should marriage 
 require the consent of parents? 14. Should any state agency 
 be established to facilitate better marriages? 15. Do those who 
 might make good matches have adequate opportunities to meet? 
 16. Is a home v/hich rears bad citizens,—that is, children un¬ 
 controlled and undeveloped,—vrnrse than divorc'e? 17. How far 
 is a cat boxing the ears of her kittens an example for human 
 mothers? 18. Make a list of things which would relieve mothers 
 of part of their burdens. 19. What are.the most essential things 
 required of the mothers? 20. Should she ignore other calls? 
 21. What do you understand by the “New Woman?” 22. Will 
 economic independence of women make them less apt to marry 
 and more apt to seek divorce? 23. Make a list of kinds of work 
 which interfere with the home. 24. Make a list of social re¬ 
 quirements' ditto. 25. Make a list of amusements ditto. 26. 
 Should the mother be a prisoner in the home? 27. May a home 
 b-e so happy that a mother would not miss outside attractions? 
 28. Make a list of things which might compensate a mother for 
 staying close at home. 29. Is play in the home a necessity or 
 an obstruction 30 Is the home in danger? 31. Is a very selfish 
 person capable of genuine, enduring love? 32. Why must the 
 ultimate dependence for the permanence of the home be on 
 character? 33. Do we always love tkose who are worthy? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Lee: Play in Education, Chapter XIX. 
 
 Marden: Woman in the Home. 
 
 Towne: Social Problems, Chapters XII. 
 
 Ellwood: Sociology and Social Problems, Chapters II—VII. 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 S9 
 
 II. CIVILIZATION AND THE USE OF LEISURE. 
 
 Nature of the Problem. The persistent teaching of educa¬ 
 tors and psychologists is at last awakening tlie public to tne 
 importance of the right use of leisure. When at work we are 
 under restraint, compulsion, we are not our real selves; at 
 lesiure we are free, our acts are spontaneous and natural, we 
 are our real selves. What we do depends on our work; what 
 we are depends on our use of leisure. At leisure we rest because 
 the will is not under constraint. Aesop long ago told us in the 
 fable that when the “Bow is always bent it will break.” The 
 gospel of relaxation has long been preacht by physicians and 
 psychologists, but no where is it needed as much as in America. 
 
 Leisure The Building Time. At work we tear down; at 
 leisure we build up. It is not surprising, then, that the right 
 use of leisure should be so important to growth, to the keeping 
 up of strength and vigor. And since it controls our capacity 
 for work, our leisure is as important as our work. Prof. James 
 somewhere endorses the statement that we learn to swim 
 in winter and skate in summer. That is, we utilize all ex¬ 
 perience after it occurs if there is time and opportunity; or in 
 other words, if a normal amount of leisure be provided. A 
 justice of the U. S. Supreme Court once said, “A man can do 
 a year’s work in ten months but he cannot do it in eleven.” 
 Recreating the body, keeping up vigor and force, health and 
 energy are as essential as the work itself, and even more. 
 Leisure time, then, is as important as work time. 
 
 Play and Personality. No satisfactory definition of play can 
 be given, but we do not need one as everyone knows it by ex¬ 
 perience. Since we are our real selves only when at leisure it is 
 evident that relaxation must be necessary to normal growth. 
 Under constant pressure and constraint we can never know 
 what w r e really are. A chi’d deprived of a normal amount of play 
 can never become its full and real self. This is true even of 
 adults, but is far more true of children. 
 
 P!ay and Morality. No moral discipline for children is equal 
 to play. Playing with others, team work, affords more oppor¬ 
 tunities for moral training than all the rest of life. Froebel said 
 that play is the purest and most spiritual activity of man. 
 “Playing fair” is the finest moral training to which children are 
 susceptible. To be ruled out of the game means a direr woe to 
 a child than fire and brimstone to an adult. To the Greeks their 
 games were religious exercises. 
 
 Chicago’s Experiment. After many years of effort by so- 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 ciologists a public play ground was established in one of the 
 worst wards in Chicago. As a result crime fell off in that ward 
 53 per cent in one year. No such a moral record was ever made 
 before. In another case this c'ty tore down a whole block of 
 business buildings and establisht there a public playground. She 
 finds playgrounds are cheaper than jails. She spends over a 
 million dollars a year on supervised play, and sometimes near y 
 twice that. 
 
 Piay and Health. It seems almost superfluous to discuss 
 the relations of play and health. President Wilson, with all his 
 heavy burdens, keeps himself in perfect condition by riding and 
 by p aying golf. Groos says that children do not play because 
 they are young, but that they are young so that they may play. 
 Joseph Lee says, “Play is not a luxury but a necessity. It is not 
 something a child likes to have but something it must have if 
 it is to grow up. It is more than an essential part of his 
 ©ducat’on; it is an essential part of the law of his growth, 
 of the process by which he becomes a man at all.” 
 
 Play and Mental Development. In play, a child without ex¬ 
 terna 1 compulsion puts forth its utmost endeavor, and so in¬ 
 creases its power for effort, and this power is completely under 
 the control of the will. “All work and no play makes Jack a 
 dull boy” is an old and universally accepted adage. The bright¬ 
 est intellectual age in Eng'ish history was the age of Elizabeth, 
 and no other age was so distinguished for play. Elizabeth’s 
 maids of honor used to play “tag.” The playground is every 
 whit as essential as the class room in the education of the 
 child. 
 
 Athletics. We spend one million dollars a year on athletics, 
 but the results are not all that we could desire. The popularity 
 of games depends too much on how spectacular they are. Those 
 who witness games are not taking part in them and get but 
 little good from them. Many games afford exercise to but few 
 students and those not the ones who ne'ed it most. Match 
 games are often accompanied by gambling, and professionalism 
 is hard to prevent. Track athletics are less open to these ob¬ 
 jections but they often encourage over exertion. It seems to 
 be provd that athletes are not long livd. More intelligent super¬ 
 vision is needed. 
 
 Commercialized Amusements. Experience has abundantly 
 provd that amusements cannot be commercialized without great 
 loss. The chief purpose becomes not deve’opment but gain; 
 that overshadows every other consideration. Where there is 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 9i 
 
 competition pandering to the lowest tastes is compeld, and 
 the real object is lost sight of. Society permits and even ap¬ 
 plauds things on the stage which it would not tolerate else¬ 
 where. We allow amusements to sink to the lowest level, and 
 then many well meaning people oppose the amusements instead 
 of the degradation. We permit our most potent force for good 
 to become one of our most potent forces for evil. Motion pictures 
 might he one of the most potent and inspiring instrumentalities 
 we have for education and entertainment. Great works of litera¬ 
 ture can be filmd so as to rival the printed page. History can 
 be reenacted before our eyes in the very costume and custom 
 of the time. The wonderful world seen thru the miscroscope 
 becomes a fairy land on the screen. The moving picture is now 
 the third business in magnitude in the United States, but very 
 few moving picture shows are of a higher type than the dime 
 novel. Norway has annext the motion picture to the school sys¬ 
 tem and prohibits its commercialization. A line example. 
 
 Saloons. The attraction to the saloon is not that drinks are 
 sold there; it is a social institution, and tho public opinion 
 generally considers it one of the worst institutions, its chief 
 attractive force is due to the fact that it ministers to a social 
 need. If leisure is not utilized in a better way it will be in a 
 worse way. The German beer garden, to which the whole 
 family goes, is better than the saloon tho it is far from ideal. 
 It seems to be very difficult to replace the public dance hall 
 with anything better; it is easy to get better things but not 
 the patronage; when commercia'ized it is a social menace. 
 Billiards and bowling alleys are excellent and wholesome 
 games, but when commercialized they are generally opposed 
 by good people. The only way to prevent commercializing 
 amusements is to furnish them at public expense. 
 
 Soldier’s Leisure. We have found that so'diers cannot 
 endure the terrific strain of modern war if no better use he 
 made of their leisure than formerly. To make nerve and muscle 
 respond and endure in modern warfare care must be taken 
 which was not dreamed of 50 years ago. Recreation must keep 
 pace with the wear and tear of battle .and trench. And so we 
 are spending millions for the renewal of the soldiers while 
 they rest, and we have to do so if we are to have efficient 
 armies. Napoleon and Grant said that it is the “Spirit of the 
 Army” that wins victories, the “morale” of an army is a matter 
 of first importance; but these depend chiefly on the use made 
 of leisure. 
 
92 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 Leisure Must Be Protected. It is a common, saying that 
 work ennobles but over-work degrades. We must have leisure; 
 this is a fundamental law of our being; we cannot escape it; 
 we cannot greatly modify it. Even if some workmen do make 
 a ruinous use of leisure, all do not. Even if the idleness of 
 some children is a measureless curse we cannot rob childhood 
 of its birthright—the opportunity for spontaneous growth and 
 development. Even if the opportunities of leisure cannot be 
 utilized we cannot afford to sell them to greed. 
 
 The use of leisure must be spontaneous, voluntary, free. 
 To compel recreation, to make it a task changes its character 
 and impairs its value. Tho we must prevent excesses, leisure 
 must remain inviolate; leisure must be leisure. 
 
 The Adult Attitude. Older people get so interested in work 
 that it becomes play to them. Samuel Johnson says “It is 
 doutful if a great man ever accomplisht his life work without 
 having reacht a play interest in it.” We must “get into the 
 game.” But the doctors are tel'ing us there is no substitute 
 for leisure. In the rush and drive of American life men are 
 breaking down earlier and more completely than among any 
 other people. Labor, however enjoyable, cannot be a substi¬ 
 tute for leisure; it affords no time for relaxation or renewal. 
 
 But the worst thing is when the adult, because he is inter¬ 
 ested in his work and finds it play for him, insists that children 
 should do the same. So it is common for older people to be 
 not only indifferent to the right use of leisure, but object to 
 anybody having any at all. They do not distinguish between 
 leisure and idleness. 
 
 An Ancient Testimony. We are not left to guess work about 
 this; it has all been fully tested out by experience. The story 
 which Xenophon tells us of the education of Cyrus shows that 
 one cause of the development of the Persian empire was the 
 wise use of leisure. But ev'en if that story be somewhat ideal¬ 
 ized there' is no question as to Athenian education. No nation 
 ever gave so much time, attention, and effort to the utilization 
 of leisure as the Athenians did. .And no people ever had so much 
 leisure. The Greek business man usually closed his place, of 
 business at 2 p. m., and spent the afternoon’s leisure -at games 
 or listening to the philosophers, poets, or statesmen. The great 
 Greek tragedies were given at public expense,—they wou’d have 
 been impossible otherwise—, and great audiences sat all day in 
 the sun on hard stone seats listening to them. And yet the ag¬ 
 gregate of Athenian business activities is amazing. Her fleets 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 93 
 
 covered every sea, and her manufacturing and commerce sus¬ 
 tained them. They excelled all the ancient world in all lines of 
 productive activity and yet had more leisure than any other peo¬ 
 ple ever had before or since. The secret of Athens, of the “glory 
 that was Greece” was her wise use of leisure. Her leisure was 
 not wasted time but the chief source of her wonderful mental and 
 physical energy. 
 
 Leisure Time Not Lost Time. A boy scout master in Iowa 
 askt a farmer to let his boy go on a week’s “hike” with the other 
 boys. The farmer was about to give an indignant refusal;—to 
 think of losing a whole week from work!—when he was askt: 
 “Suppose that for the remaining 51 weeks the boy should work 
 with greater willingness, interest, and zest, would the week 
 really be lost?” The farmer tried it, and afterwards it was a 
 fixt custom. The fact was that the w r eek’s hike was the most 
 productive week of the whole year. When to that is added the 
 mental, physical, and spiritual effect on the character and de¬ 
 velopment of the boy it is strange that fathers do not see the 
 truth more readily. Lack of leisure and the proper use of it 
 are the chief causes of the drift to the city which has become 
 one of the overshadowing problems of our time. No man can 
 work all the time and do his full work or his best. 
 
 P!ay is Life to the Child. Practically all the happiness a 
 child experiences is in its play. It enjoys work only as it can 
 make play of it, which is very seldom. To rob a child of play is 
 to rob it of happiness as well as its spiritual growth. * Children 
 not only desire play but they hunger for it, and p 1 ay-hunger is 
 just as imperative as any other hunger. To oppose it is to invite 
 if not compel disaster. Play, then, is the birthright of every 
 child. Without it he cannot be a normal child or grow to normal 
 manhood or womanhood. The child deprived of a happy child¬ 
 hood can never be compensated afterwards. Beyond all question 
 child labor laws are just and expedient. Poverty cannot prevent 
 children from playing, tho it may affect their playing. A rag 
 doll, however, plus imagination may give far better results in 
 development than the finest mechanidal contrivance money can 
 buy. 
 
 Play and Democracy. All p^y is democratic. On the play¬ 
 ground the aristocrat and the ragmuffin compete on equal terms 
 and the hero is the one who can do things. When they choose 
 sides there is no respect of persons, only ability and worth 
 counts. No finer school for democracy is conceivable. Fairness, 
 team work, equality, cooperation,—what school for these can 
 
94 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 compare with the playground? We must learn self restraint, we 
 must learn how to use freedom; these, children cannot learn 
 while at work for there all is obedience, restriction, subordina¬ 
 tion. Labor is chiefly valuable for its objective results, its wages, 
 its achievements; play is valuable for its subjective resuds; it 
 develops the worker himself and increases his capacity for work. 
 Children do not play in Germany as they do here. If democracy 
 is to triumph we must give more intelligent attention to play. 
 It is a part of good citizenship. 
 
 The Use of Leisure. It is not mere leisure that we need, 
 but a wise use of leisure. A playground dominated by bullies 
 cannot realize our expectations. While leisure is a dominating 
 factor in human life its value depends entirely upon*how it is 
 used. The fire which cooks a meal may also burn a city; its 
 value depends entirely on its use. Play must be directed, super¬ 
 vised, if we are to get right results from it. We cannot turn 
 leisure over to the accumulation of evil influences and expect 
 its normal results. Least of all can we commercialize our use 
 of leisure, our recreations and amusements, and escape their 
 complete perversion. The Greeks used their old men in super¬ 
 vising play, for it kept them young while it guided the children. 
 
 The great Perversion. We must face the fact, then, that 
 while the use of leisure is the most potent force we have in mem- 
 tal, physical, and moral development we are allowing it to be so 
 commercialized that it is failing to fulfill its purpose. In com¬ 
 mercialized amusements no ideal can be considered unless it 
 pays; no excellence is sought unless it is profitable. We are 
 not only faking to use leisure wisely but are allowing it to be 
 used against us. One of the arguments against changing from 
 a ten to an eight hour day was that the two hours would not 
 only be wasted but much of it would be spent in dissipation. 
 Whether a further change to a six hour day would be advan¬ 
 tageous or not depends entirely on how it would be spent. We 
 are prohibiting child labor, and rightly, but are giving but little 
 attention to how the children’s idle hours are to be spent. There 
 is no greater curse than id’eness. Child labor may be far less 
 an evil than child crime. We may undo in hours of leisure what 
 we do in hours of labor. 
 
 STUDY ON II. 
 
 Suggested Questions to Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Why are w‘e our real selves only when we are free? 2. 
 Could one be safely trusted in business who was dishonest in 
 play? Why? 3. Why is clean athletics so important? 4. Ex- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 95 
 
 plain how we learn to swim in winter or skate in summer. 5. 
 What effect wou’d being extremely busy all winter have? 6. 
 Is keeping up one’s strength and vigor a part of this year’s 
 work or next year’s 7. Show why one’s individuality or per¬ 
 sonality is used more in play than in work. 8, Is use necessary 
 to the development of any power or quality? Why? 9. Can you 
 see any reason why the Greeks thought games were religious 
 exercises? 10. Discuss Joseph Lee’s statement. 11. Why should 
 overworking Jack make him dull. 12. Does athletics get all to 
 exercise? 13. Are athletic sports valued chief y as a spectacle 
 or an exercise? 14. Why should commercializing an amusement 
 render it almost or quite valueless? 15. What purpose must 
 necessarily predominate in commercialized amusements or 
 sports? 16. How would you remedy it? 17. What do you think 
 of the Norway plan as to motion pictures? 18. Must the saloon 
 be replaced- in order to secure the full benefit of its removal? 
 Why? 19. Why are we spending so much to give soldiers whole¬ 
 some recreation? 20. Can a child grow up normally without 
 play? 21. Should we make a provision for it the same as for other 
 necessities? 22. Why do not old people play? 23. What effect 
 would the Greek plan of making the o’d men supervisors of 
 play have on both the young and the old? 24. Can you show 
 that leisure time well used is not lost time? .25. Show that play 
 is especially necessary to children in a democracy. 26. How 
 may leisure be perverted? 27. How may it best be utilized? 
 
 REFERENCES , 
 
 Lee: Play in Education, Chapters I—X. XLVI, XLVII. 
 
 Johnson: Education by Plays and Games, Chaps. I—III. 
 
 * 
 
 / 
 
96 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 III. CONSERVATION OF LIFE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Ancient Views. Sickness was once considered a direct 
 visitation from God. It was argued in the book of Job that 
 Satan was the immediate cause, but even then God had per¬ 
 mitted it. Sickness, as well as other misfortunes, was consid¬ 
 ered prima facie proof that th'e sufferer or some one else had 
 done something to deserve it. The sick were sometimes punisht 
 to make sure that the punishment was adequate. Sickness was 
 sometimes attributed to evil spirits and various incantations and 
 charms were used. With such views prevalent the sick could 
 not expect much intelligent sympathy or care. 
 
 The Modern View. We now hold that health is normal and 
 sickness preventable; altho some causes are not yet satisfacto¬ 
 rily known. The “evil spirits” are germs, malnutrition, failure of 
 organs to function naturally, etc. Mental states may greatly 
 interfere with or modify bodily functions; emotions reverberate 
 thru the entire, body. Most sickness is now held to be pre¬ 
 ventable by cleanliness, proper care, -and correct living. In 
 stead of being due to a visitation of a mysterious Providence it 
 is usually due to natural and preventable causes. Hygiene 
 sanitation, and prophylaxis are counted among the most elemen¬ 
 tary duties- of life. 
 
 Lengthening Life. Not long ago the length of a generation 
 was estimated at about 33 years. Now it is nearly 50 years. 
 This is chiefly due to the better care of infants and small 
 children. It is very doubtful if the range of life is extending 
 very much. In David’s time it was 70 years (three-score<-and- 
 ten) and sometimes 80 years. Break downs in the prime of life 
 were never so common as now. While medical science has 
 achieved wonders in combating disease, the average person was 
 never more careless of health. Nearly all deaths are premature. 
 While the causes of all diseases are not yet known we know 
 that many of them can be prevented. It is now thought that 
 the normal life should be at least 100 years. 
 
 Partial Death. But it would be of no advantage to the 
 human race if the span of life were extended to 100 years unless 
 senility were also delayed. In the Greek myth, Eos, the Dawn, 
 obtained from Zeus the gift of immortality for her husband 
 Tithonus, but neglected to ask for perpetual youth. So he grew 
 older and older, more fee^e and helpless, but could not die. 
 Finally as a blessed relief he was turned into a grasshopper! 
 Without strength, vigor, activity, immortality would be the 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 } 
 
 97 
 
 greatest imaginable curse. Death-is not the worst calamity. 
 
 Deferred Penalties. Few violations of the laws of health 
 resu't in immediate death. Youth usually thinks it can ignore 
 things injurious to health because they do not cause immediate 
 death. In many ways men defy the laws of health with apparent 
 impunity till suddenly there comes.a break down, and life be¬ 
 comes a burden and a curse. Its work is stopt just when it is 
 most interesting and important and the years that linger on are 
 fruitless and barren. Not less tragical are the more numerous 
 cases where the powers dependent on health break down grad¬ 
 ually and the capacity for both work and enjoyment decrease 
 until the poor victim prays for deliverance. 
 
 The Laws of Health. The essential laws of health are now 
 comparatively well known. They pertain chiefly to eating, 
 clean iness, exercise and recreation. A text book of applied 
 physiology or hygiene gives abundant information. A few things 
 only will be mentioned here. 
 
 Eating; Quantity. Most people eat far more than they need. 
 The general practice is to eat till the stomach begins to com¬ 
 plain. But in normal health you have already eaten too much 
 before the stomach protests. All food eaten in excess of needs 
 exhausts vitality instead of sustaining it. Many foods do not 
 furnish as much energy as is consumed in digesting and as¬ 
 similating them. The stomach cannot be habitually overloaded 
 without a gradual loss of energy and capacity for efficient 
 work. For those who are tempted in this way the only safe plan 
 ig to quit hungry. 
 
 Essential Foods. The materials required for the subsistence 
 of the human body are, proteins, (pro-te-ins) carbohydrates, 
 minerals and fats. A “balanced ration” is a meal consisting of 
 food containing a proper proportion of these food elements. 
 An average would be approximately as follows :*proteins, 6.4 oz.; 
 carbohydrates, 16 oz.; fats, 6.4 oz.; minerals, 1.6 oz.; total 30.4 
 oz. or nearly two pounds. Overeating is usually more or less 
 necessary in order to get enuf of the essential elements. Some 
 day, possibly, those who prepare our meals will give just what 
 we need so that we shall save expense and get greater energy, 
 for none will be wasted in digesting useless food. 
 
 Mastication. If food is not properly chewed a greater 
 amount of energy is required for its digestion. We can live on 
 ’ess food if we chew it longer. What we eat does not become 
 real food until it is digested, so what we do not digest simply 
 wastes energy. Food not pulv'erized by the teeth must be dis- 
 
98 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 solved in the stomach before the body can make use of it, 
 and the latter requires very much more energy than the former. 
 This makes the condition of the teeth a matter of great import¬ 
 ance to health. Much wretched illness is now traced to de¬ 
 fective teeth. 
 
 Cooking. The process of digestion begins in the kitchen. 
 Instead of being drudgery,- cooking is one of the very highest 
 and most vital arts of life. If food is not properly cookt all the 
 processes which follow are less effective. It requires less well 
 coolrt food to support the body because more of it can be utilized. 
 Good cooking, then, means not only better tasting food but 
 greater economy, greater energy, and a longer and happier life. 
 
 Jovial Meals. Eating and matters related to it, then, are 
 among the greatest interests of human life. Not only do health 
 and the prolongation of life depend upon them, but the energy 
 which makes life worth while is even more dependent. But while 
 eating is a somewhat serious business it should be done as 
 hilariously as possible. An enjoyable meal is likely to be eaten 
 more slowly and be better digested; jovial meals may reduce 
 expenses. All unpleasant matters should be resolutely ban is lit 
 from the table. Eating is the fundamental process of life ex¬ 
 tension; it deserves far more attention than it gets. 
 
 Sanitation. In recent years nothing has surpast in interest 
 and importance the achievements of sanitation. The chief ob¬ 
 stacles to the building of the Panama Canal were not th'e en¬ 
 gineering difficulties, tho they were stupendous, but the disease 
 germs lurking in the miasmic swamps. Human beings could not 
 work there even if they could manage to live there. Both there 
 and in Cuba the yellow fever was a recurring scourge; now it 
 is almost unknown. By the rigid enforcement of sanitary meas¬ 
 ures they have been rendered comparatively healthy. The full 
 significance of such facts is beyond the power of words. We 
 cannot measure what they mean for human happiness and pro¬ 
 gress. Large portions of the earth which have in all past time 
 been given up to disease and the inferior races resulting are now 
 open to human energy and have entered a new service of the 
 r3.ce. The number of American soldiers killed in the Hispano- 
 American war was insignificant compared with the number who 
 died in unsanitary camps. Sanitary engineering has become one 
 of the most useful of professions. 
 
 Town and Country. It used to be thought that the greater 
 healthulness of the country compensated for its disadvantages 
 in other respects. But the examination of young men under the 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 99 
 
 selective draft lias revealed the fact that country boys are not as 
 healthy and vigorous as town boys. The difference is chiefly 
 due no doubt to the greater attention given to athletics and 
 usually to sanitation in the towns. Back yards, stables, and 
 privies do not war in vain against the health and vigor of the 
 rural family; they may easily overbalance all the advantages of 
 rural residence. Filth and disease are almost correlative terms; 
 they are inseparable. There must be either disease or a lower¬ 
 ing of vitality wherever there is filth, for it cannot exist without 
 being communicated to air, water land food. 
 
 Flies. The common housefly is the greatest spreader o-j 
 filth. Their existence is a menace to human life and is more or 
 less a sanitary disgrace, or would be if the facts about them 
 were more generally known. They are the very embodiment of 
 filth in their origin >and in their habits. Not only that, but they 
 are the greatest carriers of disease germs we have. “Swat the 
 fiy” has become a familiar campaign cry, but it is not fami'iar 
 enuf. The truth is not half realized. It is doubtful if any other 
 one agency does as much to shorten human life and diminish 
 its energy and efficiency. 
 
 Tuberculosis. In the United States, one-third of all who die 
 between 18 and 45 are victims of the “White Plague.” As this 
 is the period of the greatest physical vigor this death rate is ap¬ 
 palling. From one-seventh to one-tenth of the human race die 
 of this? one disease. There are, it is estimated, one million peo¬ 
 ple in the United States suffering with it, and the annual cost 
 is about $500,000,000. 10% of all deaths are due to tuberculosis 
 and all of them are premature. 3,000 die of it in Oklahoma every 
 year, and 230,000 will ultimately die of it in the state. Of 
 270,000 school children examined in 25 cities nearly 17% had 
 tubercu’osis. And yet it is strictly preventable. If sufficient 
 interest could be aroused it could easily be exterminated. 
 
 Sanitoriums. Tuberculous patients cannot be allowed to 
 enter regular hospitals for fear of infecting other patients. 
 They cannot be isolated and so must spread the disease to all 
 about them. It would seem brutal to kill every one who became 
 affected w'th tuhercu’osis. Is it any less brutal to compel them 
 to kill others, to murder their own families, to go at large 
 spreading the disease everywhere? A sanitorium with proper 
 facilities cures all cases in the earlier stages and would in time 
 greatly check the disease. New York requires every county of 
 35,000 inhabitants to maintain one. 
 
 Inoculation. It has long been observed that persons having 
 
100 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 had certain contagious diseases are immune to them afterwards. 
 Each disease creates in the body an anti-toxin which can suc¬ 
 cessfully combat the germs of that disease. Inoculation is an 
 attempt to produce those anti-toxins by artificial means and the 
 
 v 
 
 results have been remarkably successful. Small pox was once 
 one of the greatest scourges of the race but is nbw no longer 
 feared. Anti-typhoid vaccination has proved equally successful. 
 Up to ten years ago cases of typhoid in the United States army 
 averaged 3 or 4 to the thousand. Since anti-typhoid vaccination 
 has been made compulsory in the army the disease has been 
 almost eradicated; cases now numbering only 3 to the hundred 
 thousand. It was announced recently that in the French army 
 typhoid fever has been entirely eliminated. 
 
 Serum Treatments. In addition to preventive vaccination 
 there is also the curative type known as “serum treatment.” 
 These are not so fully developt but have already achievd markt 
 success, especially in diphtheria, tetanus, and hydrophobia which 
 no longer inspire the terror they once did. The method is also 
 used in the plague, cholera, meningitis, scarlet fever, whooping 
 cough, and other diseases. Investigations are still in progress, 
 and much greater achievements are doutless possible. 
 
 Surgery. Some of the most marvelous achievements of 
 our age have been in surgery. Some of the marvels are almost 
 unbelievable. Part of the stomach has been removed—in one 
 case two-thirds of it—and the patient livd. Pieces of shell have 
 been removed from the heart and the wound sewd up. Bones 
 have been replaced, faces restord, portions of intestines and 
 other parts of the body removd. Skin grafting has become 
 common. Bones are taken from one body and grafted into an¬ 
 other, or from different parts of the same body. A large pro¬ 
 portion of the soldiers wounded in battle formerly died or were 
 incapacitated, but now a very large proportion return to the 
 ranks again. 
 
 Anti-Sepsis. The healing of wounds is chiefly a matter of 
 preventing infection. Surgical success is chiefly due to improvd 
 anti sepsis. Many wounds would heal of themselves if disease 
 bacteria could be kept out. One of the greatest discoveries dur¬ 
 ing the war is the “Dakin-Carrel” anti-septic treatment. Profes¬ 
 sor Robertson of the University of California has recently dis¬ 
 covered a preparation which greatly accelerates the process of 
 healing; it is called “Tethelin,” and is made from th'e pituitary 
 body in the brain. 
 
 The Nursing Profession. It is now fully recognized that 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 IOI 
 
 in most sickness, care or nursing is as essential as medical treat¬ 
 ment. In typhoid fever, for example, little medication is needed 
 except in complications; the doctor’s skill is directed to the 
 nursing. The nurse supplements the doctor; by remaining con¬ 
 stantly at the bedside the nurse makes the doctor’s presence 
 constant by carrying out his instructions. Schools, factories, 
 communities are employing nurses whose work is to prevent 
 sickness, or who will call the doctor before the case becomes 
 serious. Nursing affords a surpassingly useful and honorable 
 profession for women in which she has buV little competition 
 with men. 
 
 Fresh Air. The chief remedy for tuberculosis of the lungs 
 is fresh air, and it is indispensable in many other diseases. It 
 is especially essential in keeping up the bodily vigor which 
 enables the body to resist disease, and gives greater energy and 
 efficiency. Air-tight houses are comfortable and possibly save 
 fuel but they are not fit to live in. It is especially necessary to 
 have school rooms and sleeping rooms well ventilated. Fresh 
 air will not only increase your energy but prolong your life. 
 
 Aitruism of Medical Men. “No discovery in medical science 
 has ever been used to destroy an enemy.” Medicine ministers 
 to friend and foe alike. The chronic grumblers who can find 
 so little to praise in their fellow men should study the work 
 of the medical profession. It is they alone who have given pre¬ 
 vention of disease more prominence than curing it. They have 
 taken the sole leadership in sanitation and in all efforts to keep 
 the world healthy. Yet when people are well they do not pay 
 doctor % bills. The doctors by preventing sickness are making 
 their profession less profitable financially. But they are doing 
 it and at an ever increasing rate. It is deemed a part of good 
 business to make trade; the example of the doctors gives one 
 new hope for the future; and the example should not go un¬ 
 noticed and unhonored. 
 
 A Healthier World. The chief significance of a healthier 
 world is not longer life, tlio that means much for the human 
 race. Its chief meaning for us is that vigor and efficiency of 
 the race will be increased, so that life will not only be longer 
 but will accomplish far more work while it lasts. In this work 
 every one has a duty. Every one can do something to make the 
 world more healthy and wholesome. And the reward is sure: 
 for in this cause one cannot help others without being blest 
 himself. 
 
102 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 STUDY ON III. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Is suffering ever the result of wrong doing? 8. Is air¬ 
 sickness caused by violation of laws of health? 3. Is it ever 
 
 * 
 
 causd by the sins of our ancestors? 4. Why is taking care of 
 health one of the first duties of life? 5. Can one violate the 
 Sixth Commandment by carelessness of his health? 6. Is every 
 violation of health laws punisht? 7. In what ways may such 
 violations be punisht? 8. Give examples where violations of 
 laws of health by one person cause sickness and suffering to 
 others. 9. Should one ever intentionally expose himself to 
 contagious diseases? Wily? 10. Is it better for children to 
 have the measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, etc., and be 
 done with them? 11. What is the deeper meaning of the old 
 
 Greek story of Tithonus? 12. Why should the Dawn desire an 
 
 % 
 
 endless day? What part of life corresponds to the “Dawn?” 
 13. Would we be more careful of our health if we could see the 
 penalty of every transgression of its laws? 14. Why can a bal¬ 
 anced ration be smaller than'an unbalanced? 15. Why is cook¬ 
 ing a high art? 16. Why are good teeth so important to child¬ 
 ren? 17. Could one live without appetite? 18. How do you 
 account for the fact that town boys have better physique than 
 country boys? 19. What is the remedy? 20. Write an out¬ 
 line for a speech on “Swat the Fly.” 21. What is the best 
 prevention and treatment for tuberculosis? 22. How can you 
 account for the decrease in cases of sr^ill pox? 23. For the 
 decrease in cases of typhoid fever? 24. What has made the 
 improvements in surgery possible? 25. Should every girl be 
 taught nursing? 26. As the world gets healthier what will be¬ 
 come of the medical profession? 27. What is the chief reason 
 for care of the health? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Lee: Play in Education, Epilog. 
 
 Towne; Social Problems, Chapters XVI, XVII. 
 Hart: Educational Resources, Chapter V. 
 O’Shea & Kellogg: Making Most of Life. 
 Marden: Be Good to Yourself, Chapters I, II, III. 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 103 
 
 IV. PUBLIC FINANCES. 
 
 ilN X nU.L>U U J. lUiV. 
 
 Inefficiency. Nowhere else does representative government 
 show greater weakness than in collecting and expending funds 
 Citizens of monarchies tell us that they can support all their 
 royalty and aristocracy and still run their governments much 
 more cheaply than we run ours. The trouble with us is not so 
 much dishonesty as slipshod and inefficient methods. There is 
 not only no inherent reason why democracies should cost more 
 than other governments but they should cost less. ' The real 
 trouble is that so many people are not informed as to the prin¬ 
 ciples of either collecting or expending taxes. The people can 
 rule but they cannot use their power wisely. 
 
 Tax Maxims. One is that “All property whatever should 
 bear the same proportion of the burdens of taxation.” This is 
 apparently just, but it is utterly impossible. Property should be 
 classified for taxation, each class with a different rate. Property 
 which pays only 3 per cent cannot be taxt 2 per cent, while 
 property earning 20 per cent could pay that rate easily. 
 
 Another maxim is, “Each should be taxt according to the 
 benefits he receives.” Sounds just, but how can the benefits be 
 measured or estimated? 
 
 Another is, “Each should be taxt according to his ability to 
 pay.” Shou'd a merchant cha ge his customers according to wha L 
 they are able to pay? Even if this principle were entirely just 
 how could “ability to pay” be measured? It is not a simp’e mat¬ 
 ter. Some argue that the best measure of “ability” is expendi¬ 
 tures. That would depend on what the expenditures were for 
 Unprofitable expenditure would not indicate the same ability as 
 profitable expenditure. It would not be expedient to tax large 
 expenditures if they were for charity, or for doctor bills, etc. 
 
 Another maxim is: “Taxation should not increase the cost 
 of the necessaries of life,” for then it would fall too heavily on 
 the poor; it should be much heavier on luxuries. 
 
 Another maxim is, “Taxes should be indirect,” so the people 
 will not find them out. Or, “Raise the taxes in any way that will 
 arouse the least opposition.” These are mere confessions of ig¬ 
 norance and impotence. 
 
 Shifting of Taxes. Most taxes are shifted, and must be 
 shifted. A merchant must add his taxes to the price of his goods 
 just as he would any other expense. He does not pay his taxes 
 out of profits any more than he does clerk hire, insurance, rent, 
 or any other expense. He must quit a business unless it pays all 
 
104 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 his expenses and more; that is, unless he can make his customers 
 pay them. When a people tax their merchants, then, they merely 
 tax themselves. Every man must shift his taxes if he can, so 
 that all taxes are finally paid by those who cannot shift them,— 
 those who cannot fix their prices, but must take what they can 
 get. The wisest tax, then, w'ould be one which cannot be shift¬ 
 ed. By levying a tax which is sure to be shifted we do not really 
 tax the one we seem to tax. 
 
 Inheritance Tax. The citizen N has enjoyed his property dur¬ 
 ing his life time; the state helped him to accumulate it, collect¬ 
 ing his debts, enforcing his contracts, standing guard over his 
 life and property. When he is thru with it the state should be 
 fully reimbursed. A direct inheritance to near relatives should 
 not be taxt as heavily as collateral inheritance'to more distant 
 relatives. An inheritance tax cannot be shifted, the receiver 
 
 \ 
 
 is ‘able to pay” it; it is proportioned to benefits received, etc. 
 This is the fairest and most expedient of all taxes. A small in¬ 
 heritance should of course be exempted. 
 
 Income Tax. The next fairest tax is the income tax. The 
 
 % 
 
 chief objection is the difficulty of finding out what it is; this 
 affects the expediency of the tax, not its justice. The income 
 tax amendment to the constitution establishes this method of 
 taxation, but as yet it is not largely used. England raises nearly 
 fourteen times as much in proportion from this source as Vfe 
 do, and it seems to be generally considered there as the most 
 popular form of taxation. Income tax cannot be shifted. 
 
 Corporation Tax. The state creates a corporation at the 
 request of its members and for their benefit. It is but fair and 
 just, then, that they should pay in taxes a large part at least of 
 that benefit. Since it is very difficult for the individual business 
 man to compete with a corporation, the corporation can afford 
 to pay for that advantage. While part of a corporation tax can 
 be shifted much of it cannot. Business of great magnitude can 
 only be undertaken by corporations so we cannot afford to dis¬ 
 courage them too much by taxing them too heavily. 
 
 Unearned Increment Tax:__This is coming into general use 
 in Germany, England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It 
 is one of the least burdensome of taxes. A tax on speculation is 
 more expedient than a tax on labor, and especially since labor 
 bears the chief burden of shifted taxes. 
 
 Unwise Taxes. The above are among the most expedient 
 and just taxes. Perhaps the most unwise tax is a tax on enter¬ 
 prise, which is so important in every department of the life of 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 105 
 
 the people that to discourage it is almost suicidal. We need 
 more of it; we cannot get too much. A very little tax on enter- 
 prize may be fatal unless it can be shifted, and in that case it 
 had just as well not be levied because some else would really 
 
 pay it. 
 
 Tax Philosophy. The question cannot be fully discust here; 
 these facts are mentioned only to show the need of studying 
 taxation. Our comparative failure in taxation is due chiefly 
 to our assumption that it is a simple matter. All that is at¬ 
 tempted here is merely to show that it is an immensely intricate 
 and complicated matter. The best remedy within easy reach is a 
 State Tax Commission composed of men of successful business 
 experience and who are profound students of tax problems. 
 
 The National Purse. This is filled chiefly by indirect taxes 
 such as tariffs, revenues, excises, and by fines, fees, taxes on in¬ 
 comes, corporations etc. Congress only levies direct taxes in 
 time of war and those levied during the civil war were after 
 wards refunded. 
 
 Expenditure. Emptying the national purse is entirely in the 
 hands of Congress. Its expenditure is the most inefficient and 
 extravagant in the world. In no other nation are “Pork Barrel” 
 methods so tolerated, or “log-rolling” so common. We tolerate 
 the theory that congressmen are expected to “get something” for 
 their districts as an aid to their re-election. A large proportion 
 of the bills past by each congress are “private bills” which are 
 of little or no importance to the nation but are often little less 
 than legalized robbery of the public. Out of over 2500 bills past 
 by the senate in the last session, all but less than 200 were 
 private bills, most of them appropriating money. 
 
 A Budget System. The only way to stop this is by some 
 kind of Budget System, but it seems very unlikely that such a 
 change will ever be made unless public opinion compels it. In 
 placing adequate checks upon each department of government 
 the constitution has made it impossible to locate responsibility. 
 Only a modified budget system could of course be possible 
 where the president and congress might be of different political 
 parties. The statesmanship of a representative may be gauged 
 by his attitude towards a budget system. In this respect we are 
 far behind every other enlightened nation. 
 
 Local Finances. Local taxation is based chiefly on real and 
 personal prop'erty. This is augumented by fluctuating amounts 
 from the state. The theory of the real property tax is sound 
 if carried out. It is easily assest and hard to shift. As a rule 
 
10 6 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 speculators demand a lower tax rate on their land on the ground 
 that they are not deriving an annual income from it. But their 
 only object in holding the land is to get a larger price than they 
 paid for it, so their profit is a deferred income. By holding 
 land for higher prices they are rendering no public service and 
 are making it harder for poor people to get homes. 
 
 General Property Tax. Concerning nothing are economists 
 more unanimous than that a general property tax is not expedi¬ 
 ent. Much personal property is hidden and the assessor has no 
 way to find it but by inquisitorial methods which are intolerable 
 in a free country, and often unlawful. In Massachusetts assess¬ 
 ments on personalty increast about three fold in forty years, 
 while assessments' of realty increast nearly five fold. That 
 means that personalty is paying less in proportion than forty 
 years ago, and yet it has doubtless increast far more than realty. 
 There are more stocks, bonds, money, and credits in New York 
 City than any where else in the country, but the taxes from 
 those sources are only about one-eighth of those on real estate. 
 In Chicago a few years ago the richest man in the city paid 
 taxes on only $20,000 of personality, tho he was worth millions. 
 Assessors have to be elected by the votes of those whose prop¬ 
 erty they assess and cannot afford to make enemies, and if they 
 should sacrifice themselves it would never be appreciated. 
 
 Assessments. Nothing that we do is more inefficient and 
 unscientific than our assessment for taxation. The same articles 
 such as horses, wagons, etc., are sometimes assest nearly twice 
 as high as some parts of the state as in others. The law re¬ 
 quires property to be assest at its market value but it seldom 
 is. Every property owner must swear that the valuation is 
 correct. The present system often compels an honest man to 
 commit perjury but who deems it a lesser evil than valuing 
 his property higher than his neighbors. The blame is, chiefly at 
 least, on the system. In some states the assessments are pub- 
 lisht. This is vehemently opposed by those who are shirking, 
 which goes to show that the publicity is desirable. 
 
 Permanency. The expenditure of local funds in small com¬ 
 munities is usually more honest and efficient than in cities. The* 
 chief fault is trying to get along too cheaply. An aggregate of 
 millions is squandered in merely temporary improvements that 
 should have been made permanent at the beginning. This is 
 notably true in roads, bridges, etc. The ultimate cost is far 
 greater than making such improvements permanent to begin 
 with; and besides they never render the public the service need- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 107 
 
 ed. Most of such improvements should be built by bonds so that 
 those who use them hereafter could help pay for them. Tho 
 prejudice against bonds is very expensive to those who hold it 
 
 Home Rule in Taxation. Many advocate home rule in taxa¬ 
 tion so that its problems could be brought more clearly before 
 the individual citizen, which would cause more study and give 
 better opportunities for it. Many complain more of taxes than 
 of any other burden. But ifis by far the cheapest investment 
 we make. In nothing else does an equal amount of money give 
 anything like such returns. For the taxes we pay we may 
 live in a civilized community, have life and property protected, 
 have the children educated, with roads, bridges, courts, records, 
 things which no money could buy in any other way. 
 
 The State Purse. State finances overlap both local and na¬ 
 tional The state revenues come chiefly from specific taxes on 
 corporations, oil, etc. Many think that the income tax should be 
 levied only by the state except in time of war. This would be 
 greatly to the advantage of the richer states. The state levy 
 on general property is usually very small. Last year it was 2*4 
 mills in Oklahoma. Abolishing state taxes would make but little 
 difference with tax bills. 
 
 Emptying The State Purse. State funds can be expended 
 only by the legislature; it is one of its most important functions. 
 Much complaint is made of every legislature, but the fault is far 
 more with the system. The opportunity of the legislature to at¬ 
 tend to the expenditure of so much money involving so many 
 interests is entirely and even absurdly inadequate. It meets but 
 once in two years and then only for sixty days, and half of that 
 or more is required to get organized and in running order. The 
 state does not furnish adequate information, either of the needs 
 at home or of what is done in other states. 
 
 The honest and capable efforts of the legislators are seldom 
 appreciated. The selfish legislator who gets the most swag for 
 his constituency is likely to be better rewarded than the faithful 
 and patriotic public servant. The greatest bane of legislative 
 procedure is legislative bargaining. Legislators must support 
 each other’s bills in order to get anything at all. The trouble is 
 not with the legislators but vf.ith the system. If we demand ef¬ 
 ficient expenditure of public funds from the legislature it would 
 seem that the first essential would be to give it a fair chance 
 to do it. 
 
 Importance of Expenditure. Not only is the legislative func¬ 
 tion of spending the state’s money important because of the im- 
 
io8 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 mense sums of money expended; but the legislature must choose 
 the objects for which it will be expended. So the rate of pro¬ 
 gress the state makes depends on legislative support of new 
 movements. Oklahoma does not yet have a Library Commission, 
 nor a Tax Commission, nor a Legislative Reference Bureau 
 There is but little time to consider such things in a legislative 
 session. Nothing can be done successfully or satisfactorily with¬ 
 out adequate financial support. 
 
 «* 
 
 But these themes are far too great to be discust in this brief 
 introduction. The only object is to show the necessity of study¬ 
 ing them. 
 
 STUDY ON IV. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Why should business methods be more ineffective in de¬ 
 mocracies? 2. Ar'e there advantages which compensate? 3. 
 Discuss each of the Tax Maxims named. 4. Why should lux¬ 
 uries be taxt most? 5. Is it wrong to shift taxes? 6. Upon 
 what classes do you think taxes are finally shifted? 7. Discuss 
 the justice, expediency, etc., of Inheritance Tax. 8. Ditto the 
 Income Tax. 9. Ditto the Corporation Tax. 10. Ditto the 
 Unearned Increment Tax. 11. Ditto taxes on Enterprize and 
 Labor. 12. Discuss the advantages of a Tax Commission. 13. 
 What is “log rolling?” 14. What is meant by "pork barrel” 
 legislation? 15. How would a Budget System work when the 
 executive was of one political party and the majority of the 
 legislative body another? 16. What would be some of the ef¬ 
 fects of taxing unused land the same as improved land? 17. 
 Would cement roads be economy in the long run where they 
 are used very much? 18. Are wooden bridges cheaper than 
 iron? 19. What advantage would there be in publishing as¬ 
 sessments? 20. Show that a General Property Tax is a tax 
 on honesty. 21. Discuss Home Rule in Taxation. 22. Show 
 how state taxes overlap national and local taxes. 23. How 
 could the legislature be given a better chance to do its work? 
 24. Show how education is dependent on the wisdom of legis¬ 
 lative appropriations. 25. Why are legislative sessions lim¬ 
 ited to 60 days? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 Plehn: Government Finance. 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 109 
 
 V. THE STATE AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Relations. The proper relations of the state to the indi¬ 
 vidual is one of the unsolved problems. Excessive predomin¬ 
 ance of the state leads to tyranny; of the individual, to anarchy. 
 According to the German view the state is everything; the in¬ 
 dividual nothing. The state is above all else. They practically 
 make it superior to God and to morality. Whatever is neces¬ 
 sary to the state is moral, is their teaching. Much of that 
 kind of teaching is in reality toadying to the ruling class which 
 is practically the state. In the American view the state exists 
 to serve the individual, just the opposite of the German theory 
 of the state. With us all authority to the state is grudgingly 
 yielded. Wherever the constitution grants authority it provides 
 abundant checks upon it. 
 
 Lloth indispensable. Altho somewhat antagonistic the in¬ 
 tegrity of both must be carefully sustained. Too great subordin¬ 
 ation of the individual leads to moral degeneration as illustrated 
 by the frightful barbarities perpetrated by the Germans in this 
 war and the moral bankruptcy of the German nation. Too great 
 subordination of the state leads to such weakness and corrup¬ 
 tion that the state cannot perform its necessary functions. Weak¬ 
 ening the state too much enables strong individuals to use if 
 for personal ends. The state must be composed of individuals; 
 any deterioration of the individuals must weaken the state. The 
 relations of the state and individual is a problematic one which 
 requires constant adjustment. 
 
 The State Must Control the Individual. Even if the state 
 exist only to serve the individuals composing it, still within cer¬ 
 tain limits it must control them. Its ability to serve often de¬ 
 pends upon its abiljty to command. The necessity for state con¬ 
 trol of crime is evident. Where the state cannot do this each in¬ 
 dividual must go armed and prepared to defend himself; this is 
 the savage state of society where there is practically no govern¬ 
 ment. Where interests conflict the state must control or there 
 would be continual- strife. Without state control there would 
 be practical anarchy. So even if we hold that the state should 
 serve the individual we must willingly consent to allow it to 
 control us in all necessary ways. 
 
 Limitations of State Control. Jefferson thought the nation 
 was governed best that was governed least. That depends. The 
 state must govern enuf; how much depends on varying condi¬ 
 tions and circumstances. The poor especially suffer from a 
 
no 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 weak government; for it is not able either to protect them or 
 serve them. In our American theory we do not permit state 
 control for the sake of the state, but only where it is to the 
 interest of the individual. There is danger of course that the 
 individual interest may be selfish; that powerful or corrupt 
 combinations may control the state in their own interest; the 
 sole dependence then is upon the incorruptibility and intelli¬ 
 gence of the electorate. The final limitation of the state’s 
 power is the rights and interests of good citizens. 
 
 The State Must Protect the Individual. No individual can 
 protect himself economically, and very many cannot protect 
 themselves in any way. For those able to protect themselves, to 
 do so is likely to be against public policy, for power to protect 
 may be used to oppress. There are always the helpless which 
 the state must jealously guard; there are the physically or men¬ 
 tally defective who are the special wards of the nation, and one 
 measure of a nation’s civilization is the care it takes of those 
 unable to take care of themselves. In extreme cases the state 
 provides homes or asylums. Our failure to make any provision 
 in most states for mothers left widows with children to rear is 
 far from creditable to our civilization. 
 
 Self-Protection. Too much protection would evidently 
 weaken or destroy individuality, self assertion, and independ¬ 
 ence. It is better to permit some suffering, even, than sacrifice 
 such qualities as these. Here, as before, no hard and fast rules 
 can be laid down, A too paternal government may in the long 
 run be more injurious than a negligent one. The ultimate test 
 of a government is the individuals it produces. They must have 
 all possible initiative and freedom of action and deve 1 opment: 
 protection should be afforded only where it is clearly needed. 
 
 The State Must Assist Individuals. A common way of doing 
 this is in the enforcement of contracts, regulation of trade, pre¬ 
 vention of unfairness, dishonesty, and crime. Most of our laws 
 are for the purpose of regulating the relations of individuals. No 
 man can do just as he pleases either to a neighbor or to a 
 stranger. Public employment bureaus are establisht to aid the 
 unemployed to find employment; both state and nation have 
 Departments of Labor to look after the interests of all kinds of 
 labor; consuls find time from their other duties to hunt up trade 
 opnortunities in other lands and get information needful to 
 American business. .The state maintains or supervises various 
 public utilities which serve the public more efficiently and 
 cheaply than private enterprize could. 
 
t 
 
 SOCIAL PROBLEMS in 
 
 Helping Without Pauperizing. It is clear that too much 
 help paralyzes individual effort and enterprise. To help just 
 enuf without helping too much is a never-io-be-solved problem, 
 for conditions constantly change. The teacher who helps the 
 pupil too much is merely eating his dinner for him,—depriving 
 him of opportunity of growth. The incapable usually clamor 
 for government aid; they want the government not only to 
 protect and assist them in an elementary way but to do every 
 thing for them. Since they are unable to use liberty effectively 
 they are willing to surrender it entirely and compel every one 
 else to. One of the most difficult things in the world is to help 
 the poor without pauperizing them. Those who administer 
 charities find great numbers who soon become dependent on 
 charity and make no further efforts to better their condition. 
 Many will not work while others will furnish them with food, 
 clothing, and shelter. 
 
 Subserviency. Germany is an example of a people where 
 the mass'es have lost their initiative. The promise of a little 
 pension when they are old holds the underpaid laborers to 
 their poverty. They invent nothing. Politically they are the 
 most incompetent people in Europe, and submit with scarcely a 
 protest to the greatest political injustice and fraud in the 
 world. A paternalistic government does so much for them that 
 they are abjectly dependent on it for everything, and even be¬ 
 lieve everything it tells them. The masses of Germany are said 
 to still believe that she was attackt first at the beginning of the 
 war. At their government’s command they have committed the 
 most unspeakable barbarisms in the world’s history with ap¬ 
 parently but little protest. Fifty massmeetings to protest against 
 war are said to have been held in Berlin the night before war 
 was declared, but the protesters all lined up when they were 
 told, and fought their best. And they fought to rivet the bands 
 of their slavery both upon themselves and upon other nations. 
 
 The State Must Develop the Individual. The state must not 
 only not repress individuals as in Germany, but should develop 
 them, both for th'eir sake and for its own. This is its noblest 
 duty and highest function; it is the supreme test of a form of 
 government. We recognize this in our public school system. 
 The fathers of our republic taught that education is the corner 
 stone of democracy. It is the chief glory of America that a 
 Lincoln may come from a log cabin and a Garfield from the 
 tow-path; that her boys and girls have a better chance to rise 
 than anywhere else in the world. Emerson said, “America 
 
 i 
 
112 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 means opportunity.” A German-American in Iowa, who cam© 
 here ten years ago with nothing, recently bought a $500 Liberty 
 bond for each of his eight children as a recognition of his obli¬ 
 gation to America which had given him opportunity to rise. To 
 him America meant more than to most of us who are born here. 
 Not only do we offer education to every child but parents are 
 forbidden to rob their children of its advantages. We recog¬ 
 nize no greater obligation than the education or development of 
 the children. 
 
 German Education. This is a stupendous perversion. The 
 children of the working classes are not taught to reason but to 
 absorb and obey; or in other words, to serve the aristocracy. 
 While this system has developt an unprecedented capacity for 
 absorbing knowledge, with it has been developt an unparalleled 
 political incompetence and the lowest inventive skill in the 
 civilized nations. For American labor to support the German 
 system is unspeakable ignorance or worse. Any admirer of that 
 system should go there to live; he has no right to live under our 
 free institutions and be a traitor to them. 
 
 The State and the Criminal. This helpful attitude of the 
 state applies even to criminals. Formerly prison and punish¬ 
 ment expressed the wrath of society towards crime. It was sup¬ 
 posed that the more severe the punishment the greater the de¬ 
 terring influence. Punishment is now thought of as remedial 
 rather than punitive; the duty of the state is not to punish but 
 to reform the criminal; the punishment is incidental to the 
 greater purpose. So in prisons we are trying to develop crimi¬ 
 nals, to teach them trades, to advance their education. Since 
 few have known the effects of higher education we are trying 
 to give each convict the kind of education he needs, whether 
 technical, cultural, or vocational. In the California penitentiary, 
 more than 1,000 convicts have taken correspondence study from 
 the University and the results are found to be remarkable. We 
 must endeavor to return the criminal to society not more hard¬ 
 ened and embittered but equipt better than ever to make a living 
 and a place among men. 
 
 The State and the Poor. Dissatisfaction with poverty grows 
 mo'^e acute. Can the state prevent it? Many are the panaceas 
 recommended. Ancient Rome furnisht her poor with/free graiu, 
 and the poor crowded to her. A kind hearted woman in 
 Connecticut left a sum of money to help the poor of her town. 
 A few years later the town petitioned the legislature to annul 
 the will to keep the town from filling with paupers. The state 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 113 
 
 does not owe the individual a living, but as far as possible a 
 chance to make a living. Pauperizing is akin to murdering. To 
 take away from a man that which makes him a man is little less 
 than taking his life; for without that which gives it sig¬ 
 nificance and value it is a cumbrous gift. Socialism has been 
 called a paradise for the incompetent; would not a paradise for 
 the comp'etent be a better world? And a still better one would 
 be where the competent had opportunity to make their own 
 paradise. But even here the state might furnish opportunities 
 till the job seeker lost all power to find one himself. The 
 mother eagle carries her eaglet to a great height and drops it. 
 As it falls flapping and shrieking towards the abyss beneath 
 the mother dives below and catches it on her back, carries it 
 on high and drops it again. It is severe discipline, but some day 
 that eaglet soars to meet the sun. 
 
 Patriotism. We say much of the duty of the state to the 
 individual; what of the duty of the individual to the state? Those 
 who demand most from the state are not always the most pat¬ 
 riotic. It is true that the state should exist for the individual; it 
 is equally true that the individual exists for the state. When the 
 state is in danger the individual forgets self. The people must 
 protect the nation for their own sake, not the nation’s. Ger¬ 
 many cannot understand Belgium and England and America: 
 she cannot see why they should fight. The love of country, of 
 its honor, of its liberty, has always been the greatest obstacle to 
 tyranny. And patriotism not only calls for sacrifices in war, 
 but for honest voting and intelligent citizenship in time of peace. 
 Neither can avail without the other. Men will not die to save 
 a nation not worth saving. 
 
 War Time Relations. In war time the normal relations be¬ 
 tween the state and the individual are disturbd; for men to talk 
 of free speech and other rights when the nation is in danger is 
 irrational and contemptible. A committee of five men control 
 all the railroads in the United States but there has not been a 
 protest or a suit to prevent such control. The government must 
 fix the prices of coal, wheat, iron, copper, shoes, and will doubt¬ 
 less fix many other prices. Supply and demand cannot be de¬ 
 pended upon now; high prices might defeat us in the war by 
 making it impossible for the poor to live or the government to 
 secure supplies. Whatever theories we may hold in time of 
 peace there is but one opinion now. The state must have all; 
 our interests, our loyalty, our treasure, our sons. 
 
 Individualism and Socialism. The social type which lays 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 1 14 
 
 too much stress on the individual is calld “Individualism;” that 
 which overemphasizes the state is called “Socialism.” There 
 are many types of both; they are tendencies rather than defi¬ 
 nite types. The socialistic type, represented by ancient Sparta 
 and modern Germany, is designated “State Socialism;” this is 
 the only type that has ever succeeded in establishing anything 
 jike a permanent state. Many socialists are as antagonistic 
 as individualists to the state socialism of Germany, and especial¬ 
 ly to its results. Individualism is beset on one hand by anarchy 
 and on the other by the rise of powerful individuals who cannot 
 be restrained by single individuals but only by the state which 
 individualism weakens. Both are types of brigandage, for scien¬ 
 tifically and morally the financial exploiter is as much a brig¬ 
 and as Robin Hood and sometimes less chivalrous. Socialism 
 is beset on the one hand by communism denying the right to 
 property, as twice illustrated in French history and also in the 
 recent Russian revolution; and on the other by autocracy which 
 naturally results from the relativ weakening of the individual, 
 as illustrated in Sparta and Germany. This great war is a 
 struggle between liberty for the individual and the dominance 
 of the state, or democracy and autocracy. 
 
 Character and Citizenship. These are correlated and must 
 be developt together,—character for the individual, citizenship 
 for che state. Character is the more fundamental because an 
 unworthy character cannot be a worthy citizen; and on the 
 other hand, so-calld good people sometimes neglect the duties of 
 citizenship, or their duties to others. But such men are not 
 really good; they lack the highest and culminating quality of 
 goodness. A goodness which neglects or denies public or social 
 duties is futil and abortiv, salt which has lost its savor. No 
 one can be a good man or a good Christian unless he is also a 
 goo I citizen. Religion must make citizenship. We cannot love 
 God unless we love our neighbor. We cannot have good citizen¬ 
 ship without good character, or good character without good 
 citizenship; they are inseparable, and it takes both to solve the 
 problems arising from the relations of the State and the Indi¬ 
 vidual. Character takes care of the individual; citizenship of 
 the state. 
 
 STUDY ON V. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Which would be better for the state; to have its rela¬ 
 tions to the individuals composing it settled permanently, or to 
 have them constantly needing adjustment? 2. Which would he 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 US 
 
 better for the individuals? 3. In what respects are the German 
 and the American ideals of the state opposite? 4. In a normal 
 world which should be favored more, the state or the individual? 
 5. Discuss the reasons why the state should control the indi¬ 
 vidual. 6. How may democracy tend to anarchy? 7. Discuss 
 Jefferson’s maxim. 8. Which would great wealth be likely to 
 favor; state or individual control? Why? 9 .Under which would 
 the poor fare better? Why? 10. Should America protect its 
 citizens on the Lusitania? Why? 11. Make a list of the ways 
 the state may assist its citizens. 12. Why is it hard to help 
 the poor without pauperizing them? 13. Which would you pre¬ 
 fer; a poor government with line citizenship, or good govern¬ 
 ment with inferior citizens? Why? 14. Why is there little hope 
 of a revolution in Germany? 15. Why should it be the state’s 
 duty to develop its citizens? Why not the citizens develop 
 themselves? 16. Why should those who admire Germany be 
 required to go back there to live? 17. Can other nations trust 
 them? Why? 18. Why should punishment be remedial instead 
 of punitive? 19. Is the state ever partly to blame for crime? 
 20. Will a merciful attitude towards crime increase it? 21. 
 Should a criminal after his punishment be restored to his former 
 place in society? Give reasons both for and against. 22. Was 
 ine Connecticut woman really kind to the poor? 23. Can you 
 suggest a better plan than the one she used? 24. Where would 
 you rather live; where the government made the best pro¬ 
 visions for the competent or for the incompetent? Why? 25. 
 fs the mother eagle cruel to her young? 26. What if she failed 
 to catch it sometime, should she change her method? 27. Why 
 should the individual be entirely subordinated to the state in 
 time of war or great peril? 28. Are laws made for peaceful 
 times sufficient for war times? 29. Are there any heroes in 
 times of peace? Who? 30. Should all individual rights be ig¬ 
 nored in war time? What should be retained? 31. If the nation 
 is lost what becomes of the individual citizen and his rights? 
 32. Define Individualism. 33. Does the subordination of the in¬ 
 dividual weaken his mental and moral powers? 34. How does 
 Germany illustrate this? 35. Define Socialism. 36. Does 
 individualism or socialism give greater opportunities to power¬ 
 ful and unscrupulous individuals? 37. Can anything restrain 
 such individuals? 38. Should religion restrain them? Can it? 
 
 39. Which type is more congenial to the weak and incompetent? 
 
 40 . Which to the strong and capable? Why? 41. Does the 
 highest character serve itself or others? 42. Can a man be good 
 
ii6 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 in himself, regardless of others? 43. Why is good character 
 futil without good citizenship? 44. Is this war a struggle be¬ 
 tween liberty and autocracy? 45. How is this war a struggle 
 between theories of the relations of the state to the individual? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Cunningham: Christianity and Social Problems, Part I, Chap. III. 
 Elwood: Sociology and Social Problems, Chapters' XIII, XIV. 
 Towne: Social Problems, Chapters IX, X, XI. 
 
 Hart: Educational Resources, Chapter VII. 
 
 VI. THE WORLD TREND TO DEMOCRACY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Aristotle’s Cycle. Aristotle observed that the governments 
 of the cities of ancient Greece showed a tendency to change in 
 regular cycles. First, preceded by chaos without history, 
 there would be a monarchy under a single masterful man. Mon¬ 
 archies tend to become tyrannical and are overthrown by a com¬ 
 bination of leaders and there is an aristrocracy. This tends to 
 become a selfish oligarchy, the worst of all governments, and 
 finally the people rebel and establish a democracy. But in t ime 
 democracy tends to become corrupt and inefficient and there 
 is anarchy. Then a strong leader arises who brings order out 
 of confusion and there is a monarchy again. While this tendency 
 is much less markt in modern history it is still to be reckoned 
 with. 
 
 The Present Trend. For more than a century the world 
 wide trend to democracy has been rapidly increasing. That. 
 China and Russia could become democracies seemed a few years 
 ago as improbable as anything in human affairs could be; but 
 the revolutions in both countries show great strength and are 
 probably permanent. Both have had absolutism and oligarchy; 
 the cycle naturally brings democracy. If this degenerates into 
 anarchy or becomes corrupt, monarchy, in some form, will 
 come back again. While the trend to democracy is universal 
 we cannot assume its permanence. In countries which still 
 retain the monarchal form of government the monarch is being 
 more and more limited by legislative bodies. In England, for 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 ii/ 
 
 example, the king is hardly more than a figure head. Countries 
 already democratic are becoming more so. One indication is 
 the growth of woman’s suffrage sentiment especially in England 
 and the United States.* Everywhere there is a tendency to dis¬ 
 tribute power more widely. While wealth tends to pass from 
 many to the few, political power is passing from the few to the 
 many. Even in countries with the most autocratic governments 
 more attention is paid to public opinion and increasing efforts 
 are made to direct and mold it. 
 
 Republic and Democracy. The distinction between a repub¬ 
 lic and a democracy is less pronounced. The introduction of the 
 Initiative and Referendum in republics makes it possible for 
 them to be practically democracies. With this political device 
 a republic may become a pure democracy whenever there is need, 
 thus securing the advantages of both. In our own history the 
 two leading parties at first were the Federalists and the Repub¬ 
 lican. The Federalist became the Republican party and the 
 Republican became the Democratic party of today, and the drift 
 still continues. 
 
 Autocracy Efficient. It must be admitted that autocracy is 
 more efficient than democracy. The centralization of authority 
 and responsibility is an elementary principle of good business 
 management. When men are free to think they will think dif¬ 
 ferently and there will be divided counsels. Division, paralysis 
 in the presence of the enemy, is not democracy but suicide, as 
 Russia is learning. Autocracy has an infinite advantage in in¬ 
 ternational trade; the nation is one instead of being divided into 
 competing units. All the power and purse of Germany is back 
 of every German exporter. Individual business in other coun¬ 
 tries cannot compete. Any price can be made regardless of cost 
 in order to kill off foreign competition, and necessary standards 
 of excellence can be maintained which freer nations cannot at¬ 
 tain. Autocracy can promise old age pensions, check emigra- 
 tion, prevent graft, appoint experts to administrative positions, 
 and so secure unparalleled efficiency in business and municipal 
 management. 
 
 Democracy Growing More Efficient. In countries with the 
 freest political institutions there are constant efforts to make 
 democracy more efficient. One is the Preferential Ballot which 
 will greatly aid the people in expressing their will and in getting 
 competent officials, and will correspondingly weaken the power 
 of demagogs. Another is the Short Ballot in place of the pres 
 ent long ballot which so often defeats the popular will. Legis- 
 
IIS 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 lative reform tries to locate responsibility so the people may 
 know just how their representatives are representing them. 
 Civil Service Reform aids the public in getting more efficient 
 service and in getting public business done on business princi¬ 
 ples. 
 
 Defects of Democracy. Democracy can seldom elect its best 
 men to office; it allows itself to be manacled at the ballot box 
 and the demagog flourishes; it is difficult to get sufficient unani¬ 
 mity; men will play for selfish advantage when their country is 
 in extremest peril; cities are governed by shameless rings 
 which are prodigies of greed and corruption; government is 
 enormously expensive and inversely proportional in efficiency. 
 Often democracy must compromise with crime, it is useless to 
 pass laws which cannot be enforced; the worst have an equal 
 voice with the best, and the best find excuses for fraternizing 
 with the worst. New York City has not reelected a good admin¬ 
 istration in 50 years, and other cities have a similar record. 
 Such facts must be faced; we cannot afford to disregard them. 
 It is no defense to say that these faults need not be, so long as 
 they are. We cannot afford to disregard the tendencies to dis¬ 
 integration and anarchy,—they are democracy’s greatest peril. 
 
 Democracy the World’s Hope. And yet democracy is the 
 world’s chief hope It permits and develops the individual initia¬ 
 tive which makes individual morality possible. Its ultimate 
 ideals are the same as religion’s,—the culmination of human 
 development. It stimulates the noblest patriotism; it gives 
 significance to sacrifice because there is something to sacrifice. 
 Only democracy can make a great people; that is its mission, 
 that is its test. Compare German brutality and American benevo¬ 
 lence in Belgium; it is the natural difference between the effects 
 of autocracy and democracy. Democracy loves brotherhood; au¬ 
 tocracy spurns it. The test of a form of government is not its 
 efficiency, but the great souls it develops. 
 
 Duties of Democracy. Every act which weakens democracy 
 helps to establish autocracy. Democracy must learn self-re¬ 
 straint, efficiency, reverence for law. We have the saying, 
 “The Lord cares for widows, orphans, idiots ana the United 
 States.” We have no right to appeal to Providence for what we 
 should do ourselves. We are free, but not free to do wrong, not 
 free to destroy our heritage. One candidate would rather be 
 right than be president; another would rather be president than 
 be right; the people must discriminate, use more care in voting. 
 We must distinguish between the statesman and the demagog, 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 119 
 
 the patriot and the time-server. The man who for any pretext 
 whatever votes for an unworthy man for office is a traitor t« 
 democracy; the ballot of the freemen is his most sacred trust. 
 
 Individual Responsibility. In a democracy each citizen must 
 feel responsibility for his country’s acts, must share responsi¬ 
 bility for his country’s welfare. It is common for office seekers 
 and politicians to do things which, if enuf of their fellow citizens 
 also did them, would jeopardize their country’s existence. One 
 man buys a vote; suppose everybody did it? One man defeats 
 or evades a law; suppose everybody did it? One man neglects 
 to vote, cheats in business, slanders a good citizen, dodges his 
 taxes; suppose everybody did the same—and all have an equal 
 right to—what would become of us? The man who will do 
 wrong, expecting that the virtues of his fellow men will prevent 
 the natural results, is a cowardly sneak and slacker. If our free 
 institutions are to endure we must have good citizens and their 
 efforts at progress and uplift must not be neutralized by the 
 selfish or anti social. Democracy can lead in the world’s progress 
 only as it approximates a theocracy,—the rule of right, justice, 
 and intelligence; and this must come thru the character of th© 
 private citizen, not thru any miracle from the skies. 
 
 Democracy and Peace. Democracy loves peace and demands 
 it. Pericles, the culmination of Athenian democracy, proposer- 
 arbitration to prevent the Peloponnesian war wnich ruined 
 Greece. Autocratic Sparta rejected it. Sparta, Germany, Turkev 
 are well mated; their barbarities show the real spirit of au¬ 
 tocracy. Democracy is not yet safe; never was it so assaulted 
 as now. Give autocracy a chance and it will crush freedom 
 again as it often has before. We are waging this war to mak* 
 the world safe for democracy. As President Wilson said in his 
 war message: 
 
 “A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained ex¬ 
 cept by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic gov¬ 
 ernment could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its 
 covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of 
 opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plotting of 
 inner circles who could plan what they would and render an ac¬ 
 count to no one would be corruption seated at its very heart. 
 Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady 
 to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any 
 narrow interests of their own.” 
 
120 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 STUDIES ON VI. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Would a stable government, which never required any 
 exertion to preserve, be better for us? Why? 2. Make a list 
 of all the tendencies to democracy you can find. 3. Make a 
 list of efforts to make democracy more efficient. 4. Which ones 
 would be the most effective if tried? 5. Why was it that a few 
 years ago labelling articles “made in Germany” helped to sell 
 them? 6. Were German manufacturers more honest and capa¬ 
 ble than ours? 7. Account for the rapid growth of German 
 commerce. 8. Why does not autocracy triumph over all? 6. 
 Make a list of the weaknesses of democracy. 10. Can they all 
 be remedied? 11. Which do you prefer, an inefficient democ¬ 
 racy or an efficient autocracy? Why? 12. Make a list of the 
 methods or means by which a representative democracy—a re¬ 
 public—may secure the advantages of a pure democracy. 13. 
 Why is democracy the world’s hope? 14. Make a list of the 
 chief duties of citizens in a democratic state. 15. Make a list of 
 the advantages of being a citizen of a democratic state. Also the 
 disadvantages. 16. Make a list of the advantages of being a 
 citizen of an autocratic state. 17. Also the 'disadvantages. 18. 
 Why does the individual citizen of a democracy bear a greater 
 share of responsibility for his country’s welfare than a citizen 
 of an autocracy? 19. Why must a democracy have better citizens 
 than any other form of government? 20. How would God rule a 
 democracy? 21. How might the millennium come? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Weyl: The New Democracy, Bk. II, Chaps. XI, XVI—XX. 
 
 VII. RURAL PROBLEMS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Drift to Cities. One of the most disquieting facts of the 
 modern world is the drift of the population away from the 
 country. “Back to the land” has been a popular slogan but 
 those who shout it most do not practice it. It is common to all 
 other countries as well as ours. It seems to be increasing and 
 there is nothing yet in sight which seems able to check it. The 
 belief is common that it must be stopt or social progress will 
 be seriously checkt. Farming is the fundamental occupation; 
 nothing can prosper unless it prospers. If the farmer suffers 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 121 
 
 there are few who do not suffer with him. The simple fact that 
 so many are leaving the farm shows conclusively that they 
 think other occupations offer greater rewards. 
 
 The City Drift Not Wholly Bad. So far as the drift to the 
 towns and cities is caused by unfavorable rural conditions it is 
 to be deplored and must be remedied if possible. But it is not 
 altogether due to that. It is evident that those who live in the 
 cities must be fed by the farmer, so the greater the city popu¬ 
 lation the greater the market for his products. The farmer 
 certainly could not be helpt by the lack of prosperity of the 
 towns. They exist largely to serve him, and the more prosper¬ 
 ous they are the better they are able to serve him. 
 
 The Effect of Farm Machinery. One influence is the effect 
 of the increast introduction of improvd farm machinery. 100 
 years ago it required 64 hours of man labor to raise on'e acre of 
 wheat; now, with the help of machinery, it is sometimes reduced 
 to as low as 3 hours. The amount of labor required for pro¬ 
 ducing our most important crops has been decreast four-fifths 
 since 1850. Between 1880 and 1890 the number of acres per 
 male worker increast from 23.3 to 31 acres, or 34 per cent; and 
 the value of the crops per man from $286.82 to $454.37. Such 
 facts show that fewer workers are needed in the country and 
 they naturally drift to other occupations. At present, of course, 
 the labor shortage is serious owing to the number of men in the 
 war. 
 
 Intolerable Uncertainty. In most countries farming is more 
 or less a gamble with seasons and prices. The farmer may work 
 ever so skillfully and faithfully, he may do everything that 
 agricultural science and experience suggests, he may toil early 
 and late, but lack of rain at critical times may annul all his 
 efforts. Prices may go up but he has no products to take ad¬ 
 vantage of it. On the other hand if the season is good prices 
 are off and he gets no profit. He has no assurance of anything. 
 Such conditions are nerve racking and disheartening. If he have 
 a lucky crop occasionally there are losses of other years to 
 make up. The state might furnish drouth insurance so that the 
 whole population -would share the farmer’s loss from drouth. 
 
 Hard Life. The farmer enjoys few advantages that are not 
 offset by something. Work hours are longer than in any other 
 industry; ther'e is no possibility of an 8 hour day on most farms. 
 There is no shelter from the hottest sun nor the coldest winds, 
 nor always from the rain. In the worst weather stock must 
 have more care not less. When a crop is ripe it must be gathered 
 
122 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 by day or night. There are few times when more than one thing 
 should not be done at once. There is almost constant overwork, 
 worry, and physical and nervous strain. With few exceptions 
 the farmers fare is coarse and monotonous. Few laborers will 
 work on farms if they can get other employment. No other 
 occupation involves greater hardships than the farmer’s. 
 
 isolation. Not only is the life hard, but meliorations and 
 compensations are limited. At night the farmer and his family 
 are too tired to read or study; distances, bad roads, and tired 
 teams render social life almost impossible. Neighborhood meet¬ 
 ings are impracticable in busy times; it is difficult to finish the 
 chores and get to the meeting place before 9 o’clock, and no one 
 has to rise earlier than the farmer’s boys and girls. With the 
 enforced renunciation of such things the taste for them dete¬ 
 riorates, and often the desire for them, so that farm life often 
 becomes a sort’ of solitary confinement. The father and mother 
 "get used to it” but the young folks cannot and should not; it is 
 the starving of the social instincts in the country that makes 
 the town so overwhelmingly attractive to boys and girls on 
 the farms. 
 
 High Price of Land. Another cause of the drift to the cities 
 is the increasing price of land. It is doubtful if there is a greater 
 economic delusion than the belief that this benefits the farmer. 
 It benefits speculators in land only, and the farmer can only be 
 benefited by becoming a speculator. High priced land increases 
 the farmer’s taxes but does not produce any larger crops. The 
 only way the farmer can profit is by selling out and going into 
 other business, for if he buys another farm he must pay an 
 equal price. Iowa is the only state that showd loss of popula¬ 
 tion between 1900 and 1910. The loss of rural population was 
 so great that the growth of the towns did not offset it; but not¬ 
 withstanding the loss of rural population the price of farm lands 
 increast greatly. One of the chief causes of the increase in ten¬ 
 ancy is the increasing price of land. Men rent farms because 
 they cannot own them; they cannot own them because they cost 
 so much; they cost so much because of speculation in land. 
 Land and life are so intimately connected that neither can be 
 subjects of speculation without injury to some. 
 
 Cooperation. The only solution of most rural problems 
 seems to be “cooperation.” The isolation makes cooperation 
 very difficult and often impossible on large enuf scale to be ef¬ 
 fective. This deprives the farmer of many alleviations and he 
 must struggle on as best he can under burdens which might be 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 123 
 
 greatly lightend if not remov'ed by cooperation. While co¬ 
 operation has accomplisht wonders in Europe it does not seem 
 to be gaining much among American farmers. Community gath¬ 
 erings as at threshing, corn “shuckings,” house raisings, quilt¬ 
 ings, etc., are rarer now than formerly. The lack of cooperation 
 weakens the farmer to an isolated individual who is practically 
 helpless in competition with highly organized business interests. 
 
 Cooperative Marketing. The value of this both to the pro¬ 
 ducer and consumer has been fully demonstrated in the case of 
 melons, apples, oranges, peaches, strawberries, and other fruits 
 and vegetables. It has made profitable businesses where without 
 it no business was possible. It is certain that farming can never 
 realize its maximum profit until cooperative marketing becomes 
 general, and it is fully as necessary to the welfare of the con¬ 
 suming public as it is to the farmers. 
 
 Cooperative Borrowing. The isolation of farmers makes it 
 difficult for the money lender to keep well informed about the 
 character of his security. It is with difficulty that a farmer’s 
 neighbors can keep reliably informed as to his solvency; for the 
 banker in the distant town it is impossible. The most success¬ 
 ful cooperative borrowing plan ev'er discovered is the “Raiffeisen” 
 system in Germany. It depends entirely on the cooperation of 
 neighboring farmers. The agricultural loan law recently passt 
 also depends on local organizations which are only a form of 
 neighborhood cooperation. The individual farmer cannot com¬ 
 mand cheap capital promptly but a group of them can do so 
 easily. All that is needed is some kind of “Credit Union” which 
 experience in many lands proves to be safe and practicable. 
 
 Cooperative Machinery. In great wh'eat regions in Oregon 
 and Washington small farms are being absorbd into the great 
 farms owned by large companies which can afford machinery 
 out of the reach of small farmers, who cannot compete for lack 
 of large capital. The agricultural achievements of Denmark are 
 the greatest the world has yet known, and one of the chief 
 causes is their method of cooperation in buying and using ma¬ 
 chinery. Every farmer cannot afford a tractor, but several could, 
 and in urgent times could keep it running day and night. The 
 main thing is a spirit of cooperation; if that be not lacking the 
 difficulties are by no means insurmountable. Few individual 
 farmers can afford electric light or irrigation plants, but several 
 farmers cooperating might do so easily and safely. 
 
 Good Roads. Since isolation is the farmer’s greatest foe we 
 are interested in anything which will diminish or remove it. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 124 
 
 Doubtless' the greatest single burden or tax on the farmer is bad 
 roads. Ten miles of bad roads makes prosperous farming all but 
 impossible in addition to all the social and individual losses it 
 causes. Formerly the farmers were expected to keep up the 
 country roads at their own expense. Since the entire population 
 is equally interested in good roads, both the state and nation 
 should assist in building and maintaining them. The goal should 
 be graded cement roads. In Illinois it is proposed to borrow 
 $100,000,000 for road building and set aside the auto tax as a 
 sinking fund to meet it. While the plan is practicable it would 
 be both expedient and just to add other taxes to the auto tax. 
 The annual value to the farmers alone would be far more than 
 the interest and annual payments. 
 
 Exploiting The Farmer. The farmer is exploited, tho no¬ 
 body will admit that he does it. An Oklahoma farmer started 
 to deliver his wheat to an elevator when the price went up. 
 Immediately the price dropt 10c a bushel. The difference in the 
 price of wheat is sometimes 6c a bushel in neighboring towns on 
 the same day. By arbitrarily grading the farmer’s wheat the 
 buyer often robs him of part of the price and there is no appeal. 
 One year when farmers and stockmen sufferd greatly from vari¬ 
 ation in the price of cattle the market price in Glasgow, a great 
 European market, varied less than lc during a whole year. An 
 association of farmers tried to charter ships at every American 
 port, but were everywhere told that all the cattle space had been 
 engaged months before. Farmers will not always submit to such 
 wrongs. 
 
 Price Control. One great need of the farmer is stableization 
 of prices so he w r ould know what he could depend on and so 
 remove one of the gambles from farming. Prices on a farm pro¬ 
 duct always go down when the farmer has it to sell, and go up 
 as soon as it is out of his hands, and the profit goes to the 
 middleman and speculator. Farmers loyally submitted when the 
 price of wheat was fixt as a war measure, altho they lost mil¬ 
 lions by it. A thing so necessary and salutary in war time is 
 not without value in time of peace. The nation has ruthlessly 
 fixt the price when it injured the farmer; it should not object to 
 fixing it so it would profit the farmer. It would be equally bene¬ 
 ficial to the consumer for he pays so much more than the farmer 
 receives. No one can witness the howling mob in the Chicago 
 wheat pit without marvelling that such is the instrument evolvd 
 by modern civilization for making prices for farmers. The 
 farmer should have a voice, either directly or thru his repre- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 125 
 
 sentatives, in making the prices of his products. He has none 
 whatever now. 
 
 Problem Spiritual Not Material. Altho the facts already re- 
 ferd to are important, they are not the most important facts 
 which concern our theme. The chief rural problems are spir¬ 
 itual rather than material. We have seen how important is 
 cooperation, but it is a mental not a material fact. The mind 
 can triumph over even distance and bad roads. We turn then to 
 the more clearly spiritual phazes of the rural problem. Much 
 of the failures of our atempts at rural betterment are due to 
 ignoring the spiritual forces. The ultimate forces of human 
 life are spiritual. 
 
 Social Life in the Country. The social is often the connect¬ 
 ing link between the material and spiritual, but it faces towards 
 the spiritual. We have considered the material effects of isola¬ 
 tion, but the worst isolation is to be surrounded by persons who 
 are unfriendly or uncongenial. The effects of isolation may be 
 revolutionized by changing the condition of the mind. Provision 
 for social life would mitigate most of the material evils. For 
 lack of social opportunity aspiring youth grow up on the farm 
 dissatisfied, unhappy, and determind to leave it as soon as pos¬ 
 sible. Farmers who barely know each other cannot cooperate. 
 It is for lack of pleasant social intercourse that they cannot 
 form credit unions, or in any way organize successfully. For 
 lack of social experience rural youth fail to learn how to get on 
 with others and develop powers of leadership. For lack of 
 social life education languishes and interest in it is hard to sus¬ 
 tain. The social and spiritual are phazes of the same thing and 
 are of fundamental importance in rural life. 
 
 Society and Happiness. We are social beings; all the high¬ 
 est joys of life are social. To be deprived of society is solitary 
 confinement,—the highest of all punishments. To starve the 
 social nature is to divest ourselves of the noblest possibilities of 
 mind and will. There is no hope of substantial rural improve¬ 
 ment until the social life can be increast and utilized. While 
 this is true of older people in the country, it is very much more 
 true of the young people. The lack of social opportunity is one 
 of the most serious aspects of the rural problem. 
 
 Amusements. Youth will find amusement of some kind in 
 spite of bolts and locksmiths; but they may not be of a stimu¬ 
 lating or cultural sort, and are often harmful or demoralizing. 
 Where wholesome amusements are lacking vice is inevitable. 
 Of all rural amusements the most wholesome and usually the 
 
126 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 most popular are games. Of these there is infinite variety and 
 young people need but little help or guidance in learning them. 
 There is one rural community in Oklahoma where the school 
 board members are the champions of the district in playing 
 volley ball, where the young and the old play together, where 
 social joys rank in importance with labor and business. In 
 that community the young people are so happy that nothing 
 could induce them to leave the country for the town. 
 
 Singing. In human nature at its best the esthetic nature is 
 prominent, and often predominant, hence the importance of art 
 in human life. Music is the one universal art. It takes years 
 to be able to paint a picture, but a child may sing a song into 
 the hearts of the world. In the community referd to above, it 
 was thru music that the community amusements came. They 
 do not have a feud; everybody is friendly; they like to sing to¬ 
 gether. Music is a great harmonizer; people will sing together 
 when they will not speak as they meet, and sing harmoniously 
 too. Stein, the German statesman, had great difficulty in arous¬ 
 ing the German states against Napoleon till he got communities 
 to singing patriotic songs. Our government at Washington has 
 sent out urgent requests to every community in the present 
 crisis to get together and sing, for that would b’e a tremendous 
 force in unifying the people for the great struggle. No social 
 effort will go farther or do more than singing. A rural com¬ 
 munity that sings together will be progressive. 
 
 Literary Societies. These, while much more difficult to 
 keep up, are of immense value. They afford a very wide range 
 of intellectual stimulus. A debating club is easier and is valu¬ 
 able. One of the best community exercises is a “Current Topics 
 Club.” The interest is more vital, the debaters speak their real 
 convictions and try to convince their audiences; they get fresh, 
 vital information, and the range of subjects may cover every¬ 
 thing that is going on in the world. The course of which this 
 bulletin is a part, is an effort to supply materials for clubs. 
 
 Consolidated Schools. Rural education will be considered in 
 another chapter. The consolidated school seems to be the goal 
 of rural education. Where there are good enuf roads so that 
 the transportation problem is not so formidable it is by far the 
 best plan now in sight. It is not only a great economy, but its 
 non-educational features are also important. In one rural dis¬ 
 trict in Ohio containing 35 square miles, two auto busses gather 
 up the children in less than two hours, and in the evening they 
 transport the young and old to the school house for lectures, 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 127 
 
 concerts, singings, games, etc. While the older people are to¬ 
 gether there is opportunity tor business and social organizations, 
 and for all the joys and privileges of social life. Instead of 5 or 
 6 Third Reader classes, for example, there is only one with ample 
 time for real instruction. But the consolidated school ideal can¬ 
 not be reacht without good roads. 
 
 The Rural Course of Study. Some are advocating a differ¬ 
 ent course of study for rural schools. Rural education should 
 be as broad as any. To educate rural children differently would 
 compel them either to st&y on the farm or leave it at a great 
 disadvantage. This is the German plan. A child is educated 
 for the occupation chosen for him and he must stick to it thru 
 life. But great improvements are needed in the rural courses 
 of study. There should be much more nature study; there 
 should be more contact with things not pictures of them. Agri¬ 
 culture, Domestic Science and Art should be given a more prom¬ 
 inent place as more nature study prepares the way for them. 
 Botany should be one of the leading studies; zoology, and espe¬ 
 cially entomology and ornithology should rank with botany and 
 the three R’s; the pupil should study the world he lives in, the 
 educational results would equal the industrial. Domestic science 
 and agriculture are applications of botany, chemistry, etc. The 
 results of teaching the former will always be disappointing un¬ 
 less enaf of the latter is taught as a foundation. 
 
 Leaving Home for Education. This is usually a great ad¬ 
 vantage after pupils are mature enuf; but when they must leave 
 before the high school age it is often a calamity from the stand¬ 
 point of both community and individual. Under present condi¬ 
 tions a very large proportion of those who once leave the farm 
 never return to it. Only the consolidated school can prevent 
 this by furnishing a high school education at home. Those who 
 leave home at the beginning of the high school age are at the 
 most critical time of life, the time when parental care is finish¬ 
 ing its work. Not only do such children lose what the last years 
 at home might do for them, but their going away at that time 
 is an irreparable loss to the social life of the community and to 
 their own homes. Good roads will bring the consolidated school 
 and that will solve the problem. 
 
 Harmony. A neighborhood fuss is the greatest of rural ca¬ 
 lamities. It paralyzes all social and even business effort by 
 preventing co-operation. The most invaluable citizen is the 
 peacemaker, and to be one is the noblest social ambition. The 
 Church has never taken seriously enuf its function as a peace- 
 
128 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 maker, an appropriate activity for the followers of the Prince 
 of Peace. In all human society there is no greater service, and 
 no other service is so desperately needed. Church divisions, 
 especially in small communities, are often the greatest obstacles 
 to community unity and co-operation. In rural communities de¬ 
 nominations are evidently impossible; there are not enuf people 
 to go ’round. Each blames the other for the divisions but that 
 does no good and often aggravates the evil. The problem of 
 the rural church is one of the most insistent problems of our 
 day. Denominationalism is evidently depriving rural communi¬ 
 ties' of a large part of the ministries of the Christian religion. 
 Yet the Master prayed that we might all be one. How much 
 longer will the chufch take on itself the responsibility of pre¬ 
 venting the answer to that prayer? 
 
 Land for Returning Soldiers. Much is being said in this and 
 other lands of trying to discharge in part the debt due the re¬ 
 turning soldiers by settling them on vacant land, and some pre¬ 
 parations have been begun for doing this. When they return 
 there will be thousands of them who will not be able to get ready 
 
 employment. The money they have saved in the army will soon 
 
 « 
 
 be gone for it goes fast while seking work. But if we are to at¬ 
 tempt to establish the returning soldiers in agriculture the pres¬ 
 sure for rural betterment and reform is strong indeed. Unless 
 we can very greatly improve rural conditions it would be singular 
 ingratitude to consign soldiers to a life so many are trying to 
 escape from. 
 
 Cur Chiefest Problem. No other solution of the demobiliza 
 tion problem seems possible. Rural conditions can be betterd; 
 society can do justice to the farmer, and it must. This is our 
 chief problem; all others can wait. 
 
 STUDY ON CHAP. VII. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Which is the pleasanter place to live, the town or the 
 country? 2. What does the drift to the cities indicate? 3. 
 What evils to the country result from it? 4. What evils to the 
 towns? 5. Why is a home owner a better citizen of a rural 
 community than a tenant? 6. In what sense does the town exist 
 to serve the country? 7. Which is the more fundamentally 
 necessary? 8. Should the national or state government furnish 
 drouth insurance? 9. Make a list of the hardships of the farm¬ 
 er’s life. 10. Why are social gatherings at night so difficult in 
 the country? 11. How is the farmer benefited by the increas- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 129 
 
 ing price of land? 12. How could speculation in land by those 
 who do not live in the country be discouraged? 13. Is co-opera¬ 
 tion among farmers increasing or decreasing? 14. Why is co¬ 
 operative marketing necessary? 15. Why is the spirit of co¬ 
 operation more necessary than good methods? 16. Should those 
 who are now living pay all the cost of good roads, or share the 
 expense with those who are to live after them? 17. If roads are 
 built by bonds, show how they would help pay for themselves. 
 IS. What do you think of the Illinois plan? 19. Must farmers 
 unite to prevent being exploited? 20. How would price control 
 by a government commission benefit the farmer? 21. Are ru¬ 
 ral problems primarily material or spiritual? 22. Why is social 
 life important in the country? 23. Is it more necessary than in 
 the towns, or less? 24. Why is there so much less playing for 
 children in the country than in the towns? 25. Why is com¬ 
 munity singing so valuable in rural life? 26. Why is it harder 
 to keep good order in rural gatherings than in the towns 27. 
 Make a list of the advantages of consolidated schools. 28. What 
 is the chief obstacle? 29. Why should nature study be given a 
 more prominent place in rural schools? 30. Why should the 
 pupil study the world he lives in? 31. Would Church Federa¬ 
 tion answer the prayer of Jesus? 32. Would giving the soldiers 
 free land discharge our duty to them? 33. Would making farm¬ 
 ing more safe and profitable bring the other things needed? 34 
 Why are rural problems the most urgent and important? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Hart: Educational Resources, Chapters IV, VIII—XIII. 
 
 VIII. THE WAGE SYSTEM. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Increasing Unrest. Whether justifiable or not, there is in¬ 
 creasing dissatisfaction among wage earners everywhere. It 
 was one of the most serious and dangerous obstacles to the suc¬ 
 cessful prosecution of the war. When those who are dissatisfied 
 find themselves helpless, they easily become desperate. It was 
 labor conditions which gave traitorous d’emagogs the opportunity 
 to ruin Russia. No nation is safe while a large part of its peo¬ 
 ple are dissatisfied. To meet such complaints with denunciation 
 or a show of force only makes the matter worse, tho it dam up 
 
i 3 o UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 the flood for a while. The first need is candid and sympathetic 
 investigation. 
 
 A Few Definitions. It is not necessary to distinguish here 
 between wages and salaries. The chief difference is that sal¬ 
 aries are for longer periods and are not subject to little losses 
 of time,—this is not essential to the present investigation. A 
 minimum wage is the least wage permitted by law where wages 
 are regulated. A living wage is the least wage that will support 
 the worker and enable him to support an average family. A fair 
 wage from the standpoint of the employer is as high a wage 
 as is paid by his competitors under equal conditions; from the 
 standpoint of the laborer it is a reasonable proportion of the 
 labor product. The wage fund is the proportion of the earnings 
 of a business which is available for wages after providing for 
 other expenses. The closed shop is a business establishment 
 which employs only members of a labor union; an open shop is 
 one which employs any labor. 
 
 Wage Theories. The philosophy of wages is by no means 
 simple; authorities are not agreed upon even the fundamental 
 principles. The one most commonly held now is the “Produc¬ 
 tivity Theory,”—That wages are paid from the products of labor. 
 On this theory part of the product of labor belongs to the labor¬ 
 er by moral and economic right. On the other hand, wages cm 
 never long exceed the actual earnings of labor, so wages cannot 
 be uniform. The subject is exceedingly involved and compli¬ 
 cated and is not yet fully understood. 
 
 What Are Wages? The older theory was, that wages is the 
 amount necessary to sustain life. Ricardo defines it as “The 
 price which is necessary to enable the labor'ers to subsist and 
 perpetuate their race.” Against this the laborer rebels. Under it 
 he would have to live from hand to mouth; he would not be 
 entitled to save or to better his condition. While this defini¬ 
 tion is no longer held by economists it still influences the atti¬ 
 tudes and discussions of both employers and employees. If, 
 however, the laborer’s right to a profit were admitted Ricardo’s 
 definition might stand as far as it goes. 
 
 Nominal and Real Wages. We must not’e this distinction. 
 The former is measured in money only; the latter by the pur¬ 
 chasing power of the wages. If, for example, a man receive $4, 
 a day for two successive years, we ordinarily say that hs wages 
 were unchanged during that time. But if the cost of living was 
 doubled during the second year it is evident that his wages 
 would not purchase as many of the necessaries of life that year; 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 131 
 
 that is, the purchasing power of his wages was less the second 
 year. While his nominal wages remaind unchanged his real 
 wages were greatly reduced. The employer might justly claim 
 from his standpoint that he paid the same wages both years, 
 while the employee might claim with equal justice that he re¬ 
 ceived very much less the second year. 
 
 The Different Standpoints. The trouble with both sides of 
 the controversy is that it is so difficult for either to see the 
 problem from the other’s standpoint. This makes negotiation 
 extremely difficult. Such conditions are full of danger and peace¬ 
 ful solution may easily become impossible. Social peace and 
 social justice require that both employer and employe try to do> 
 full justice to each other’s point of view. Partisanship can only 
 widen the breach and make matters worse. That either side 
 should conquer the other in a labor war or any other kind of 
 war should be unthinkable, for in the end they must find some 
 way to work together. Ruinous labor wars, like those of ancient 
 Rome, leave matters unchanged and nothing is gaind. 
 
 Labor As A Commodity. The theory is often held that labor 
 is a commodity to be bought and sold in the labor market; the 
 laborer must sell his labor for what he can get and should not 
 complain if he cannot get what he wishes any more than one 
 selling stock or merchandise. It seems clear that there is much 
 similarity at least between labor and commodities. But the 
 wage earner insists that the laborer and his labor are insepa¬ 
 rable. If the laborer has nothing but his labor to give him his 
 hold on life it is not clear how labor can be bought and sold 
 unless the laborer is too; that is, if labor is a commodity the 
 laborer is practically a slave, and the wage system a species of 
 slavery. 
 
 Unstable Wages. The laborer objects that under the wage 
 system it is impossible to make either nominal or real wages 
 uniform. The laborer’s margin is small at best, and when wages 
 vary he is unable to keep his promises, fulfill his agreements, 
 he loses his investments, he cannot do business as others do. 
 He cannot be a man among men. His life becomes a gamble 
 with all kinds of chance and he is not even permitted to throw 
 the dice. He cannot safely undertake to buy a home, take out 
 life insurance; he cannot live a normal life or have a normal 
 chance to get on. Such is the laborer’s view. 
 
 The Distribution of Wealth. The wage system is a part of 
 the general system of the distribution of wealth. The wage 
 earner contends that our present system is not successful in se- 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 132 
 
 curing a just and equitable distribution. One per cent of the 
 population of the United States own more than one-half of the 
 total wealth, and labor feels that it does not get a share which 
 is proportional to the value and importance of labor to society. 
 They feel also that great wealth is not always fairly or honestly 
 obtaind. The freight on oil from Cleveland to New York was 
 $2.5G a barrel. Rockefeller drove such a bargain with railway 
 officials that he not only got a rebate of $1.06 on every barrel of 
 oil he shipt but on every barrel shipt by his competitors! This 
 was the beginning of the Rockefeller fortune. If society expects 
 that the distribution of wealth will be accepted as final it should 
 insure that the distribution is fair and just. 
 
 The Law of Supply and Demand. Many argue that wages 
 must be subject to this law and that there is no possible escape 
 from it. Is this true? Labor holds that there is a human side 
 to wages; that it is not merely a matter of economic law, indif¬ 
 ferent, brutal, inhuman. Human life and its significance are in- 
 volvd. The wage earner maintains that if the law of supply and 
 demand crushes millions of lives and makes hopeless the lives 
 of half the human race it must be set aside. Sometimes, too, 
 the alleged supply and demand are fictitious and untrustworthy 
 and such momentious interests cannot be entrusted to laws 
 based upon them. Humanity is far more than its supplies and 
 demands and the right to life must come first. 
 
 The Subordination of the Worker. Mr. Carnegie, defending 
 the wage system, says of the Golden Age of Industry, “The mil¬ 
 lionaire wiT be the trustee for the poor, intrusted with a great 
 part of the wealth of the community, but administering it for 
 the community far better than it could or would have been done 
 for itself.” Undoubtedly Mr. Carnegie has tried to do this, at 
 least to a creditable extent, but is it entirely satisactory? Such 
 trustees are self-appointed at best and few are as altruistic as 
 Mr. Carnegie. But even if it could be guaranteed that every 
 millionaire wou'd make such use of his money, would it be best 
 for the world? We might make the same argument for autoc¬ 
 racy in government. It is doubtless true that many people 
 would be better off finanacially if some one else managed their 
 business for them, but would it be best for them in the widest 
 sense, or for the world? 
 
 Unemployment. It is a familiar statement that the unem¬ 
 ployed soon become the unemployable. The threat of poverty 
 should be enuf, but in addition to that is the certainty of 
 deterioration. Nothing takes the stamina out of a man like 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 t 33 
 
 unemployment. To the ambitious, aspiring workman no terror 
 is equal to it, for it not only deprives him of the means of 
 living, but attacks his personality. It is the way tramps are 
 made. He may be as dependent as a slave, tho in a different way. 
 If he has a family hungry and sick he is likely to grovel at the 
 feet of the employer. It is preposterous to claim that there 
 is anything like equal bargaining between employer and em¬ 
 ployee. 
 
 Enforced idleness. It is often said that “Any one can get 
 work who wants it.” That was once urged upon a distinguisht 
 American preacher by members of his church. He disguised 
 himself so that his wife wouldn’t know him and called upon 
 the same members with a pitiful story. He would not ask for 
 charity and not one of them would give him work, and some 
 abused him roundly. Next Sunday he read to an amazed 
 audience the exact words which were said to him. It was to 
 the credit of his church that it loved and trusted him more than 
 ever, but no one ever repeated the remark to him. There are 
 doubtless many out of work because of their own fault, (or mis¬ 
 fortune) but that must not prevent our sympathy for those who 
 in desperate need walk the streets day after day with sinking 
 courage, seeking for an opportunity to live in God’s world, 
 with sometimes a hungry wife and children huddled in some 
 dismal cellar. To steel one’s heart against such suffering and 
 degradation is unworthy of a good citizen or a Christian. Labor 
 says that the wage system is responsible. Is it true? 
 
 War and Unemployment. However skiFful demobilization is 
 managed it will leave many soldiers unemployed. The spectacle 
 of soldiers going thru the experience of unemployment in the 
 midst of a nation whose honor and safety they riskt all to save 
 is intolerable to the patriotic citizen. Most of the so’diers 
 came from the ranks of labor and they will come back with a 
 new claim to justice and fairness. Under our present system 
 most of our taxes are shifted and finally rest upon the wage 
 earner. The present debt is too great for that; some other 
 way will have to be found. Certainly we cannot ask the soldier 
 to pay it. A labor soldier kiTed or disabled leaves a family 
 all but destitute; and while a pension provides bare subsistence 
 it cannot replace the bread winner. The rich will have to 
 face a new appeal when the soldiers come home. 
 
 Effects of Specialization. When a laborer devotes himself 
 exclusive - ^ to one line of work he becomes very skilled in it, 
 is much more valuable to his employer, and usually receives a 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 134 
 
 higher wage. But the more he narrows his range the fewer 
 jobs there are opend to him; he becomes more uncertain of 
 employment and more dependent on the will and whim of his 
 employer. The wage earner feels that if he can do but one 
 thing his chance to live depends on the few who have that 
 work to offer him, so that his very excellence becomes his 
 peril. Even if the wage earner’s beliefs are often fallacious we 
 must try to get his standpoint. 
 
 Profit and Wages. Labor is often criticized because it 
 demands shorter hours than men in business usually work. The 
 head of the firm often works more hours and has fewer holidays 
 than any of his employees. There is a wide difference in 
 working for a profit and working for wages. The laborer is 
 not encouraged to have any interest in his work beyond his 
 wages. A man once appealed to Stephen Girard for work. 
 Not having any work for him he put him to removing a pile of 
 stone. The man soon reported the work done and Girard told 
 him to carry them back and he refused. Girard dismist him on 
 the ground that if he was getting wages he had no right to 
 consider whether his work was useful or not. One of the greatest 
 objections to the wage system is that it centers the worker’s 
 interest in his wages instead of in th'e quality of his work. Such 
 workers would never build Gothic cathedrals. 
 
 Piece Work and Wages. Workmen who are more rapid and 
 skillful can work by the job much more profitably than for 
 wages, because wages can never exceed the average productivity. 
 But the use of this principle gives us the infamous ‘‘sweating” 
 system which by common consent is the most frightful labor 
 condition the world has yet seen. Thoughtful labor leaders 
 favor paying all laborers on a job the same wages rather than 
 risk extension of the sweating system. While the principle is 
 totally wrong they adhere to it as a choice of evils. It seems 
 that there is no principle, however just, that cannot be mis¬ 
 applied and misdirected, and made an injury instead of a 
 benefit. 
 
 What is a Fair Wage? This is the difficulty. There seems 
 no way to determine a wage that both employer and employee 
 will consider fair under all circumstances. The price of products 
 varies greatly; when high, labor’s portion would be larger than 
 when prices were low. But labor must be paid promptly, and 
 before the sale of goods when the laborer’s share could be 
 known. If labor is overpaid the employer’s ability to hire labor 
 is impaired or destroyed and the laborer is thrown out of em- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 135 
 
 ployment or retained at lower wages. The problem is to estab¬ 
 lish a fixt wage for a service with varying market value. 
 
 The Employer is Not Free. The employer must meet com¬ 
 petition. If his competitor pay too low wages he cannot pay 
 more and keep his business. He must be able to meet the risks 
 of markets, depreciation of goods, bad debts, miscalculations of 
 all sorts, besides all the predictable expenses. Ely says, “Em¬ 
 ployers cannot by any means do as they please; but after a 
 century’s experience, there is a widespread feeling that in all 
 these bargains about wages the workman is at a disadvantage, 
 and does not get the share which it would be well for him to 
 have.” The right wage, then, is not a matter for acrimonious 
 discussion or denunciation; but a matter of conflicting interests 
 where it is seemingly difficult to see what (s right or just. 
 Conditions change so rapidly that even if an adjustment were 
 reacht it would not hold for very long. 
 
 The Employer and Low Wages. It is generally assumed by 
 labor leaders that of course the employer favors low wages; 
 the lower the better for him. This is by no means the case. 
 It makes little difference to the employ'er what wages are paid 
 so long as he is able to recoup them from the public. Experience 
 proves conclusively that the lowest wages are by no means the 
 most profitable to employers. Well paid workmen are better 
 satisfied, more loyal, more capable, healthier and in every way 
 more valuable than underpaid workmen. Employers know this 
 but are restrained by competition and the uncertainties of 
 business. Here again the destruction of confidence in the 
 validity and honesty of prices is a calamity. The problem is 
 fundamentally a moral one. 
 
 Wages and Needs. It is evident that on an average labor 
 should be paid enuf to meet all essential needs. But very often 
 a business is not able to do this, and there are times when 
 almost every business must advance money for wages. Business 
 is often run at a loss for a time in order to keep employees from 
 suffering; some do this for a portion of every year. Wages must 
 finally be based on the productiveness of the labor employd. 
 If a business cannot make money enuf to pay labor adequately 
 it is easy to say that that business ought not to be run, but if 
 carried on for awhile it might become profitable. To base wages 
 on needs is impossible, yet needs should not be disregarded in 
 estimating wages. 
 
 Wages and Improvidence. A sudden rise in wsges is often 
 attended by extravagant expenditure; sometimes much of it 
 
136 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 for luxuries which the wealthy cannot afford. Factory girls 
 have been known to wear silk dresses to their work; much goes 
 for drink and other vices, so that often the additional wage is 
 more of a curse than a blessing. But wage earners are not 
 the only people who sometimes squander their money. What 
 a workman does with his money makes no possible difference 
 with what his wages should be; if he has a right to it it is his, 
 whatever he does with it. We may regret his folly and hope 
 that when he becomes more accustomd to money he will spend 
 it more wisely. But to the great majority of workmen higher 
 wages means greater thrift, more self-control, and better pro¬ 
 vision for the higher things of life. 
 
 A Living Wage. It is inconceivable that any good citizen 
 would advocate paying less than a living wage; it would differ 
 little from stealing or murder. We assume that all have the 
 “right to life,” but what does that mean? To take away any 
 essential of life is to partly take away life itself. Investigations 
 in Chicago and New York showd that the least that a family of 
 five ,—2 parents and three children—could live on was $800 a 
 year. Yet four-fifths of such families receive less than $750, 
 and one-thijd ’ess than $500 a year. Tf wages cannot be raised 
 to a living level the laborer claims that the wage system is a 
 failure and can only be continued by wronging labor. But if 
 employers pay all they can, how can they do more, however 
 insufficient wages may be? If they pay more they must fail in 
 business and then pay nothing at all. 
 
 Wage Competition. The man out of employment soon gets 
 desperate. It is often said that a man is free to work or not 
 as he chooses. This is palpably false. He must work or be 
 punisht; he must work or suffer extremely,—hunger, cold, sick¬ 
 ness, starvation,—than which there are no punishments more 
 terrible. Under such conditions nothing can prevent one laborer 
 from under bidding another nor some employers from taking 
 advantage of it. Employers have much to say about “freedom 
 of contract,” but is the laborer always really free? 
 
 Wages and Unemployment. Unless a large number of labor¬ 
 ers are unemployed the wage system would not be satisfactory 
 to employers, for it is this which keeps wages down and furnishes 
 extra laborers for unusual demands. The more nearly all labor¬ 
 ers are employd the higher employers would have to bid to get 
 what they want. But unemployment itself is a serious dimuni¬ 
 tion of wages. The man who gets $6 a day for half time is only 
 getting $3 a day, for human needs do not stop with unemploy- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 137 
 
 ment. But enforced unemployment is one of the greatest hard¬ 
 ships that can be inflicted upon a human being. It is a fearful 
 thing. Now so far as the success of the wage system depends 
 on unemployment it is clearly not the final solution of the labor 
 problem. 
 
 Employment Bureaus. Some attempts to meet the evils of 
 unemployment have been made by the establishment of free 
 employment bureaus. When these are conducted for profit 
 laborers are too often exploited. At best it has to pay for the 
 service when it has nothing to pay with, and so must mortgage 
 future wages. They are at best a desperate resort. When sup¬ 
 ported by the public and administered by sympathetic officials 
 they may do something to mitigate the evils of unemployment 
 but cannot remove them. The unemployd workman cannot pay 
 traveling expenses; he cannot even afford to be idle. 
 
 The Labor Union. Since \vages changes are constantly 
 threatened, on the one hand pressure for their lowering and on 
 the other demands for their increase it is necessary for laborers 
 to form a permanent organization. They cannot be blamed for 
 feeling that in unity there is strength. It is natural, too, that 
 such an organization should not confine itself to collecMve 
 bargaining but try to safeguard every interest of the laboring 
 man. The more wrongs the Union helps to right the greater 
 service it renders to its members the stronger it wiT be, the 
 greater will be its influence over its members, and the more 
 they will sacrifice for it. Opposition can only strengthen them; 
 the more they are persecuted the stronger they will become. 
 The only way to weaken the union is to render it unnecessary. 
 No union, for example, could accomplish much with the em¬ 
 ployees of Henry Ford for he renders them a greater service 
 than any union cou’d. 
 
 Wage Bargaining. The chief function for which the labor 
 union exists is collective bargaining. It is evident that a large 
 
 number of laborers are more indespensable than any one of 
 
 * 
 
 them. If, then, they combine in bargaining for wages they have 
 a great advantage over individual bargaining. The employer 
 might easily replace any one of them but could not replace all 
 without great inconvenience and often great loss. Employees 
 have an undoubted common interest in their wages and there 
 seems no sound reason why they should not combine in bargain¬ 
 ing if they find it to their advantage. Employers who cooperate 
 
138 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 themselves have no good ground for objecting to their laborers 
 doing the same. 
 
 The Menace of the Union. Members of unions are human 
 beings like other people; they are not infalliable. They usually 
 support, for example, a uniform wage regardless of the actual 
 worth of the workman. This is universally condemnd both by 
 ethics and economics as ruinous policy. However much we 
 may admire the solidarity and self-sacrifice which the policy 
 involves, we cannot but deplore the fact that all principles of 
 actual values, of giving fair equivalents, and of just dealing 
 should be disregarded in wage bargaining. When the members 
 of the union go to the store they expect that prices will be 
 proportional to values; they would enforce a rule on others which 
 they do not themselves observe. Of course labor leaders know 
 this, but they claim that their policy is a choice of evils; that 
 it is better to do that than run the risk of divisions and contro¬ 
 versies within their own ranks which would result from any 
 other policy. 
 
 The Right to Strike. As an abstract proposition it is hard 
 to see how the right to strike can be denied or even questiond. 
 Certainly we cannot deny to any individual the right to quit a 
 job for that would be practical slavery. Even compelling him to 
 complete a labor contract would be dangerous, for he might 
 be inveigled sometimes into agreements which prove very unjust 
 We cannot permit strikes by soldiers; that would be desertion. 
 In national peril the safety of the nation is paramount to the 
 rights of individuals. Unless we are ready to reestablish slavery 
 we must permit an individual workman to quit a job when he 
 feels that he is unjustly treated. But when a thousand men quit 
 at once it is more like a national than an individual matter and 
 the the national principle may have to apply. If 4,000,000 men 
 stop work at the same time it would be coercing the nation. 
 
 Wages and Charity. It must, of course, be admitted that 
 wages are often insufficient to support the laborer’s family, ©r 
 sometimes even himself. Many who profit at labor’s expense 
 regret this and seek to compensate for it by generous charity. 
 It cannot be questioned that this charity is generally sincere 
 and the result of a real and generous sympathy. The total «f 
 our charities is enormous even if it is too small. But labor 
 leaders have long insisted that they do not desire charity but 
 justice; and that where charity is a substitute for justice labor 
 can not be grateful for it. 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 139 
 
 Wages and Free Land. All economists agree that cheap or 
 free land raises wages, for if wages sink too low the laborer will 
 betake himself to land, and wages can never go lower than the 
 price which keeps him from the land. On the other hand, as 
 the price of land rises it passes beyond the reach of the poor,' 
 and this deliverance from low wages is denied. It is the immense 
 amount of free land in the United States w r hich has kept wages 
 so much higher here than in Europe. But our free land of any 
 value is about exhausted, and wages must tend to the level of 
 wages in Europe. But wages cannot fall here without serious 
 trouble. 
 
 Wages and the Tariff. Opinions differ violently about this. 
 There can b’e no doubt that the tariff enables manufacturers to 
 pay higher wages, the only controversy is as to whether they 
 actually do it or not. We do not want to bring our labor into 
 competition with the poorly paid pauper labor of Europe, all 
 are agreed about that. Normal w r ages are undoubtedly much 
 higher here than in Europe, but the cost of living is also much 
 higher so the real wages are sometimes lower here than there. 
 Wages are so much lower in China and Japan that importation 
 of laborers from those countries is forbidden by law. As nations 
 draw nearer together these problems must grow acute. The 
 theoretical benefits of tariff are largely neutralized by free im¬ 
 migration which permits European labor to come here and com¬ 
 pete more to our disadvantage than if they had remained in 
 Europe. 
 
 The Real Foe of Labor. A buyer of goods seldom considers 
 whether he is paying what they are really worth or not; he wants 
 them as cheaply as possible and if the price is very low he asks 
 no questions. The public is constantly “jewing” prices down 
 by every possible argument and device. Of course this dim¬ 
 inishes the fund from which labor must be paid; the less goods 
 sell for, the lower wages must be. Here comes the effect of the 
 unfortunate lack of confidence. Two shovels are exactly alike, 
 and made in the United States; one sells at hom'e for 90c, the 
 other in South America for 3.6 ^c. Such facts cause the people 
 to lose all faith in the validity and honesty of prices on which 
 the fund for paying wages depends. All business dishonesty and 
 chicanery are a foe of labor. 
 
 Labor and Machinery. It is evident that as machinery is 
 perfected labor must more and more be displaced, and the wage 
 system will be more severely tested. Even if the proportion 
 •f the product which goes to labor remained unchanged an 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 140 
 
 increasing portion must go for machinery. The labor that re¬ 
 mains will be more effective, more intelligence will be required, 
 there will he more danger, and so wages must increase or 
 ought to. One man now does as much on the average as 13 
 did 200 years ago, but normal wages have not increased half 
 that much, tho they have inereast some. In the long run ma¬ 
 chinery increases wages; but as in all other industrial readjust¬ 
 ments, labor is the chief sufferer while the readjustments 
 are being made. 
 
 Legislation. Unfortunately labor has largely lost confidence 
 in the justness and the wisdom of labor legislation. Our legis¬ 
 lative system makes it impossible to tell who is responsible 
 for defective legislation. If there is a minute defect the courts 
 will declare it unconstitutional, and the people cannot tell 
 whether to blame the legislature or the courts. If both these 
 do their full duty the executive department may enforce the 
 law so as to contravene the will of the people thro their legis¬ 
 lature. Our system favors on'y the politician who wants to 
 cover up responsibility for his acts. A Kansas legislator intro¬ 
 duced the 10 commandments as a bill. It did not pass, but if 
 it had the courts would have pronounct it unconstitutional, 
 in some states at least, on account of the 4th commandment. 
 Public confidence in laws is seriously impaired. 
 
 Wages of Women and Children. When the father’s wages 
 are ,too low to support the family the mother is compeld to earn 
 such pittance as she can by leaving her home and allowing her 
 children to grow up on the streets. Sometimes even the child 
 ren are taken out of school and put to work in order to procure 
 adequate support for the family. Many states have compulsory 
 education laws which compel the children to attend school 
 at least part of each year on the assumption that they never 
 need to work for food and shelter. In New York city it was 
 found that 20,000 children came to school too hungry to study 
 and they had to be fed at public expense. No doubt the children 
 ought to go to school, nothing should be permitted to rob them 
 of that privilege, but how can they do it if wag'es are too low? 
 The wages of women and children are always lower and sc 
 reduce the wages of men, and the evil keeps multiplying itself. 
 
 Substitute for the Wage System. One of the most promising 
 is “Profit Sharing.” Where a satisfactory basis of division can 
 be agreed upon the plan works admirably, and very little can 
 be said against it. The chief objection, perhaps, is that it is 
 a voluntary concession on the part of the employer, and the 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 141 
 
 workmen have no legal right to such an arrangement; it is too 
 much like a charity, and depends entirely on the benevolence 
 of the owner. These objections, however do not ho:d against 
 the pr nciple involved. 
 
 Another plan is cooperative ownership. While this ap¬ 
 proaches still nearer the ideal goal it is not always best for 
 the workmen. It works all right in prosperous times; but if 
 the profits are shared, losses must also be shared. But the 
 workmen se'dom have enuf ahead to stand very serious losses, 
 and such a plan might break down in a crisis just when it 
 needed to be strongest. Most any plan will w r ork in fair 
 weather. 
 
 Motives for Working. The slave workt because he had to; 
 the motive was fear. The wage earner works because he is 
 paid to; the motive is gain. All agree that fear as motive is 
 ruinous and is to be avoided as much as possible. But is the 
 hope of gain very much better? Human nature is selfish and 
 grasping enuf at best without cultivating the desire for gain. 
 And it is doubtful if gain is always the chief motive of the 
 wage earner. When he works for a bare living he is as much 
 driven by fear as the s’ave, only he fears a different punish¬ 
 ment 
 
 Higher Motives. Much of the most strenuous exertion is 
 not the result of either of these motives. Men work to support 
 wife and children; they work at public charities; for patriotic 
 causes The soldier goes to the last limit of exertion where 
 neither fear nor gain are considered at all. The consciousness 
 of serving others, of providing for them happiness and welfare 
 is the most powerful motive of all exertion, and its exercise 
 is ennobling and inspiring. Preachers, teachers, sot'die-rs, 
 mothers are always underpaid, yet there are no more heroic, 
 devoted workers. Here a wage is merely necessary to existence 
 but ; s ^ever the primary consideration. It is in this direction, 
 then that we must look for adequate motives for workers. 
 
 • ?^or and Citizenship. Every good citizen is a laborer of 
 some kmd. be he rich or poor; no idler could be a good citizen. 
 If a men does not earn a living by productive labor of some 
 sort somebody else munst earn it for him. “If a man will not 
 work, neither 7 et him eat” is a sound principle and of universal 
 appMcatiou. Men who make their living by speculation, swind¬ 
 ling. or trading where they do not give honest equivalents, 
 are to say the least “undesirable citizens.” Many very rich 
 men labor harder than the average laborer; there is no ex- 
 
142 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 <;eption—the good citizen is a laborer. 
 
 The Labor Problem Insoluble. The object of this study is 
 not to find or advocate any solution, if there be any, of the 
 wage problem. It is rather to arouse a sympathetic attitude 
 towards the great problems which, are to press for solution in 
 the coming years. All men are brothers; the children of the 
 same Father. In all the past, sin against this great .truth has 
 never been forgiven; the result has always been anguish and 
 blood. It may be so in the future. But even if there were no 
 vengeance for social sins, the good citizen should do all he can 
 to alleviate social injustices out of mere fairness to his fellow 
 men. While we talk more or less glibly of human brotherhood, 
 its meaning is as yet but little realized. When it is no one will 
 be selfishly happy while a single human brother is undeservedly 
 poor or wretched. 
 
 STUDY ON CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Why are contented wage earners necessary to national 
 safety? 2. Cannot such classes be made powerless? 3. What 
 difference between salaried men and wage earners? 4. What 
 objection ,to Ricardo’s definition of wages? 5. Can you improve 
 it? 6. Are nominal wages deceptive 7. What difference be¬ 
 tween the meaning of wages to the employer and to the em¬ 
 ployee? 8. Is labor a commodity? 9. Should real wages be made 
 stable? 10. Is Mr. Rockefeller’s wealth a sort of wage society 
 has paid him for his services to it? 11. Is wealth proportional 
 ,to its holder’s social service? 12. Is Supply and Demand a satis¬ 
 factory basis for estimating wages? 13. What do you think of 
 Mr. Carnegie’s idea? 14. Why do the unemployed tend to 
 become tramps? 15. Can anyone get work who wishes it? 
 16. Can the man always find the job that is waiting for him 
 somewhere? 17. Why will returning soldiers make wage prob¬ 
 lems more acute? 18. Should men be all-round workmen or 
 specialists? 19. Was Girard right? 20. Should a laboring man 
 attend picture shows very often? 21. What do you think of the 
 labor policy of equal wages regardless of the efficiency of the 
 laborer? 22. Should laborers receive a “fair wage?’’ 23. Are 
 employers always responsible for low wages? 24. Should wages 
 be based on the laborer’s needs? 25. Should a man receive 
 high wages if he squanders them? 26. Is a laborer free after 
 he contracts for a certain wage? How do laborers get along 
 who do not receive a ’’living wage “ 28. What can prevent 
 
 competition between laborers from making wages too low? 29. 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 143 
 
 Is some unemployment necessary to the successful working of 
 the wage system? 30. If the state always found a job for every 
 idle man would the power to hunt jobs for themselves be 
 weakened? 31. Is the labor union valuable to its members only, 
 or to the entire nation? 32. Should laborers be compeld to bar¬ 
 gain separately for wages? 33. Should the right to strike ever 
 be annulled? 34. Does tariff raise nominal wages or real wages? 
 
 37. Why are cheap goods inimical to the interests of labor? 
 
 38. Does labor-saving machinery help employers or employees 
 most? 39. Should the law prevent a child from working for 
 better food or clothing? 40. Must “profit sharing” always be 
 voluntary, or can it be established by law 41. If a factory 
 were owned by its workmen how would they live when it was 
 not making money? 42. Which is the better motive, fear or 
 gain? 43. Can higher motives be enlisted? 44. Would we have 
 better missionaries if we paid them better salaries? 45. Are 
 there not some who do not need to work? 46. Can we solve the 
 labor problem? 47. Must we try to solve it? 48. What will do 
 the most to improve labor conditions? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Cunningham: Christianity and Social Problems, Part II, Chap. II. 
 Towne: Chapters VI, VIII, XIV. 
 
 Ellwood: Sociology and Social Problems, Chapter XII. 
 
 IX. EDUCATION. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 What is Education? It may seem strange that after so 
 many centuries of educational effort there should be any un¬ 
 certainty as to just what it means, but it is true. Many ex- 
 perienct educators dout if we really know yet how to educate 
 a child. This is not the result of ignorance, for never have the 
 problems of education been studied with as much ability and 
 thoroness as now, and never have we known as much about 
 them. But we know that much which has past as education 
 in the past hardly deserves the name. It is a healthy sign that 
 none are more dissatisfied with educational procedure and 
 results than educators themselves. 
 
 Definitions. The original meaning of education was train¬ 
 ing, formation of mental habits, or development of mental 
 powers. According to this, no knowledge gaind in school is as 
 important as the processes by which it is gaind. The supreme 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 144 
 
 aim of education is the acquiring of such control of the mind 
 that the individual is able to focus all of his powers on whatever 
 practical problem he may meet with in life. But since minds 
 can be traind only by acquiring knowledge, it is thought .that 
 much practical knowledge is just as valuable for mental training 
 as any other knowledge, so that a pupil might be taught much 
 useful knowledge without sacrificing mental culture. 
 
 Extremes. Either view may be carried to extremes. Cul¬ 
 tural education often graduates a student who is utterly unable 
 to make a living; his education has not prepared him for life. 
 There are so many things yet to learn that they calld his gradu¬ 
 ation his “commencement” because he really commenct life 
 when he left school. On the other hand it has been held that 
 the chief if not the sole aim of the school should be to fit the 
 pupil to make a living; that school life should be devoted 
 entirely to acquiring useful knowledge, the ability to do .this 
 satisfactorily being taken for granted. The former has long 
 been called “Liberal” education; the latter “Vocational” edu¬ 
 cation. 
 
 The Two Contrasted. The various liberal or cultural types 
 depend upon the relative predominance of intellectual, moral, 
 or esthetic elements. Since vocational education seeks to pre¬ 
 pare for a special vocation the type must vary with the vocation 
 prepared for, and also with the directness with which the aim 
 is carried out. A vocational school which is limited exclusively 
 to preparing pupils for a single vocation is not in reality an 
 educational institution but a fitting school. A business college, 
 for example, is a very worthy and a very necessary institution 
 but it is not an educational institution. It is no criticism 
 of business coTeges to say that they are not strictly educational 
 institutions. They have their place, and they do a very neces¬ 
 sary and useful work, but their purpose is not to develop mental 
 ability but to prepare for a special occupation. 
 
 Vocational Education Right. Even from the standpoint of 
 liberal education the advocates of vocational education are 
 largely right tho for other reasons than the ones usually given. 
 A mind is not developt or educated except by studies in which 
 it is vitally interested. Some studies in the school curriculum 
 are not interesting to all children; from such they get but little 
 good. Children are most vitally interested in what is going on 
 in the world and in studies directly connected with life. A 
 live teacher will connect all studies with real life. Very much 
 vocational work, then, can be done without sacrificing cultural 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 145 
 
 ideals of education. Every practicable effort should be made to 
 fit pupils for a definite career where it is possible, and doubtless 
 more of this can be done than has yet been done. 
 
 Vocational Education Limited. There are so many different 
 occupations that to teach the rudiments of all of them is utterly 
 impossible and would take up all the time of the school. To 
 select a few of the larger vocations would not be fair to the 
 others, and besides very many would afterwards change their 
 choice. There are those w T ho live by exploiting farmers, for 
 example, who are anxious to keep up a good supply of farmers. 
 They advocate an exclusively agricultural education for rural 
 children so that it wou d be impossible for them to ever leave 
 the farm except at great loss; they would not be fitted for any 
 other ilfe. The intelligent farmer will demand the broadest 
 education for his children so that they may have an equal chance 
 with others. 
 
 Misdirected Education. Vocational education assumes that 
 the young student comes to school with his life choices finally 
 and wisely made,—a thing which hardly ever happens. It may 
 attempt to fit a child for an occupation for w r hich it has no 
 natural adaptness, for its choice may be only a temporary whim. 
 To train a child for an occupation it will never follow is a waste 
 of time, and sometimes far worse than that. Many a student 
 has realized when too late that he spent his preparation time, 
 all the time he will ever have in this world, in preparing for an 
 occupation he will never follow. If he had given his chief at¬ 
 tention to mental training he could not have lost by it. 
 
 A Narrow Education. But even if there were never any 
 mistakes of this kind, no one should choose an exclusively vo¬ 
 cational education. All life tends to grow narrower as we grow 
 older so that the broader our interests and sympathies are to 
 begin with the better. A life narrow at the beginning becomes 
 pitiable before the end. All vocational education is of course 
 narrow, in fact, that is its chief value. Its aim is to teach the 
 pupil one thing and all effort is centered on that. 
 
 A Paradise for Quacks. Again, suppose everybody had only 
 a vocational education, and even knew his vocation far better 
 than the average man does now; this would inevitably mean that 
 he knew less of other vocations. If no one knew anything of 
 medicine but doctors it would be a paradise for quacks, for 
 nobody would be a judge of a good doctor. If no one knew 
 anything of law but the lawyers it would be a paradise for 
 pettifoggers. The progress of the race d'epends largely upon 
 
146 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 the ability of the community to rightly estimate and appreciate 
 goodness, efficiency, worth; for this no education can be too 
 broad. 
 
 Athens and Sparta. A classical illustration of these types 
 :s afforded by two cities in ancient Greece. The educational 
 ideal at Sparta was vocational, at Athens the liberal type. Yet 
 Athens excelled in even the things in which Sparta specialized. 
 In all her history Sparta never furnisht a great philosopher, poet 
 or statesman. The fame of ancient Greece is due entirely to 
 Athens who originated the term “liberal education.” She gave 
 all her educational effort to training and developing the minds 
 of h'er youth, who then met the problems of life with the best 
 minds it was possible to acquire, and excelled in everything. 
 
 Liberal Education. The aim of cultural education is to 
 change a dull boy to a bright one; to enable a pupil to use its 
 faculties skillfully and accurately; to give it a good thinking 
 machine. This is the intellectual part. It should also educate 
 its tastes so that it will not waste time and money on the ugly 
 and unseemly. It should also train it to get along well with 
 its fellows, ,to observe their rights and wishes; to cooperate 
 with its fellows,—that is, social and moral education. The 
 most valuable studies are those which are observed to produce 
 these results in greatest abundance. 
 
 Practical Subjects. It is said that the child needs to learn 
 how to make a living first. But first of all the child must learn 
 how to learn. One aim of education is to enable the child to 
 learn rapidly and accurately with little or no aid from a teacher. 
 Until the child can do this it is not prepared for life, for in all 
 occupations new conditions and enterprises are constantly com¬ 
 ing up which have to be studied and mastered; those who can 
 do so go to the top. But making a living is not all; making a 
 life worth living is far more. We cannot know what subjects 
 will prepare for life for we do not know what life will be. But 
 developing mental power will fit for any life; the education which 
 does that cannot be lost. Cultural subjects are the most prac¬ 
 tical. 
 
 Does Higher Education Pay. Out of 11,384 names of success¬ 
 ful men and women listed in a recent volume of Who’s Who in 
 America, over 8,000 had attended college, nearly 1800 high school, 
 1100 had attended only common schools, while 24 were self 
 taught. This shows that while only about 2% attend colleg’e, 
 this 2% furnishes over 70% of the most successful. There is 
 no explanation possible except that education greatly increases 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 147 
 
 one’s chances in life. The increase in happiness and satisfaction 
 is in still greater proportion. 
 
 Specialists. We are told that this is the age of the specialist 
 There is some truth in this but also dangerous fallacy. The 
 exploiter of labor favors specialists. He would get better service, 
 he hopes, and if a workman can do only one thing the man who 
 controls that job has him at a disadvantage and can pay him 
 what he likes. The specialist fallacy is this; a man should 
 specialize, but not till he has a liberal education. Then he 
 can specialize with safety and profit, for he makes a better 
 specialist if he has a liberal education first. 
 
 Education and Life Choices. Few of those entering college 
 
 have decided on their life work. One of the greatest values 
 
 * 
 
 of a college education is th'e aid it gives in choosing a calling. 
 For this purpose alone it is worth all it costs. A significant 
 illustration of this is shown by divorce statistics. While a 
 smaller proportion of college women marry this is not a reason 
 for b'ame. They are more independent, command better salaries, 
 are better judges of men, and are under less economic pressure 
 to marry. But while between 7% and 8% of all marriages end 
 in divorce scarcely any college women are divorced. This can¬ 
 not be accident. The chief reason is, they make wiser choices. 
 The day may come when to deprive a girl of a cultural 'educatioi 
 will rank with the highest cruelties. 
 
 Education and the Home. Much of the old education at the 
 home has been transferd to the school; we need not now inquire 
 into the reasons for it. Most of the children spend half their 
 waking hours at school for three-fourths of the years they are 
 at home. Most of their growth and development occurs there. 
 It is evident, then, that a closer relation between the school and 
 home is needed. The school must do more than supp’enm 
 home; it must cooperate with it. The practice, which is begin¬ 
 ning to be common, of giving children school credit for work 
 and chores done at home is excellent from every point of view. 
 
 Parent Teacher Associations. This is an attempt to bring 
 teachers and parents into closer relations. These have proved of 
 great value except where parents have made them an oppor¬ 
 tunity for interfering in school management or discipline. They 
 afford opportunity for expression of parental interest in the 
 school, and for the discussion of matters of importance to both. 
 The chief problem is the program. It is not best to have them 
 too often; one inspiring meeting is worth hundreds of perfunct¬ 
 ory gatherings. Their chief value is the opportunity they afford 
 
T4§ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 for social contact and cooperation between two classes of work¬ 
 ers with the same children. 
 
 School Social Centers. It is increasingly evident that the 
 homes cannot conveniently or efficiently minister to the social 
 needs of the commuity; they do not exist for that purpose 
 and houses are seldom suitable. School houses should be de¬ 
 signed and equipt to serve the social needs of the community. 
 Rooms can be pland and furnisht so as to serve both school and 
 commuity needs. There should be a library and reading room, 
 a p’ace for concerts, lectures, stereopticon, and if possible, 
 motion pictures, community banquets, social gatherings of young 
 and old. The school should be the center of the community 
 life, and should be built accordingly. 
 
 The Community Church. This should be near the school 
 and where possible should be the center of the social life of the 
 community, for which it is much better adapted than the school 
 house. But the community church seems impossible under our 
 denominational system. The center of interest and loyalty of 
 a denominational church would not be the community it serves 
 but the denomination to which it belongs. Too often the com¬ 
 munity is expected to serve the church, instead of the church 
 serving the community. The problem is difficult tho it ought to 
 be so’vable, but cannot be discust here, M^here no community 
 church is possible the school must enlarge its functions so as to 
 cover the moral and social interests of the community,'leaving 
 of cours’e the religious interests to denominational organizations. 
 
 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 District and County Systems. The county or township or¬ 
 ganization generally prevails in the East and Bouth, the district 
 system in about haT of the other states. The District system 
 originated in Massachusetts as a temporary device, and was 
 abandoned after about 50 years trial. Horace Mann said that 
 in that short time it injured the educational interests of Mass, 
 more than anything else in her history. Notwithstanding this 
 it is generally adopted thruout the entire country. It has now, 
 however, been rejected by nearly all the southern states and by 
 many of the most progressive northern states. From an edu¬ 
 cational standpoint there never was anything to recommend it; 
 the reasons for its adoption have been political rather than 
 educational. It is a misapplication of the principle of local 
 self-government, but overlooks the principle that schools exist 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS' 
 
 149 
 
 solely for the benefit of the children. The only question that 
 the good citizen can consider is what method provides /the best 
 educational advantages for the children. 
 
 The Direction of Educational Effort. This is not only one of 
 the most important but one of the most difficult tasks of civiliized 
 life. While i,t has engaged the life thought and labor of thous¬ 
 ands of the greatest minds of the race for thousands of years 
 its problems are still unsolvd, and we are still wasting much 
 of the lives of our children and of future generations. Philoso¬ 
 phers, statesmen, scientists, mothers, as well as teachers have 
 made it their chief interest but still our education is disgrace¬ 
 fully imperfect and inefficient. The opinion somehow generally 
 prevails that most anybody can be a school director. Men are 
 sometimes elected school directors to keep down the school tax! 
 Often when directors do know anything about educational 
 matters they are 30 to 40 years behind the times so that some¬ 
 times i literate men make better directors. 
 
 Never Knows the Difference. One of the most discouraging 
 features of our system is that the incompetent school director 
 never knows his mistakes or is conscious of his failures. He 
 is often supremely satisfied with and even proud of his supposed 
 attainments. This is pathetic enuf; but when we reflect that 
 it is not he who loses, but innocent children whose only oppor¬ 
 tunity for life preparation has been squandered by his blind 
 incompetency, the case is tragic. If the incompetent school 
 director could realize the facts he would refuse the trust which 
 his fellow citizens thrust upon him. But he usually thinks he is 
 doing well enuf and as well as any one else would. 
 
 Selecting Teachers. If ever a job required omnescience it 
 is the selection of teachers. A teacher who is a failure in one 
 place is often a success ill another. The problem is first to be 
 sure the teacher has the necessary qualifications, and second, 
 to match the teacher and the school and community. Either fails 
 without the other. In this respect our system is notoriously 
 imperfect. The selection of teachers taxes the wisdom of the 
 most experienct and competent educators and yet the task is 
 often left to those with no knowledge or experience whatever. 
 
 An Extreme Case. An Oklahoma school director once said 
 to the writer, “I don’t keer ennything fer yer dieplomers an 
 reckymendashuns; I kin size up a teacher in half a minnit by 
 jis lookin at her.” And under our present system the educational 
 interests of a community are entrusted to such a man. A resi¬ 
 dent of a small town in New York state was boasting of the 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 150 
 
 local school board. “Why,” said he, “the president of the Board 
 is a man of the finest judgment you ever saw. He can tell within 
 five pounds just what a heifer will weigh.” And such judgment 
 was in that village proudly supposed to be ample for selecting 
 teachers. These men are doubtless good citizens in their place, 
 but are they educators? Are such directors the very best pro¬ 
 vision we can make for the direction of our children’s education? 
 
 Seeking a School. One of the most obnoxious and repulsive 
 tasks in the civilized world is hunting a school. To a sensitive, 
 refined teacher it is the most objectionable feature of the pro¬ 
 fession of teaching. The ordeal is severe enuf at best but school 
 boards, especially in the country, often needlessly aggravate it. 
 It is not surprising that most teachers get out of the profession 
 as soon as possible. It is notorious that good looks, pheasant 
 address, and recommendations from friends are more potent in 
 getting a school than evidence of scholarship, experience, or 
 of preparation for teaching. Excellent teachers who are in the 
 profession for life are often relegated to inferior positions, 
 while best positions go to persons who are only teaching for 
 a little money with no intention of making it a life work. 
 
 The Most Competent. The gist of the matter is this: Does 
 one who has studied a difficult matter for years know any more 
 about it than one who has given it but little or no attention? 
 So many men assume that they know as much about educating 
 a child as a teacher does. While the experienct teacher shudders 
 at the responsibility of the direction of education many who 
 have scarcely given it a superficial thought clamor for control 
 of th'e schools. We must come to this: we must train teachers 
 and select them as carefully as we can, and then trust them with 
 the education of the children. Under the present system neither 
 the teacher nor any one else has a fair chanc'e; every teacher 
 is restrained or handicapped by lack of equipment, inadequate 
 salary, uncertainty of tenure of position; and the board mem¬ 
 bers are equally handicapt by the demands of private business, 
 lack of knowledge of educational science and of what is happen¬ 
 ing in th'e school room, and the helpless children suffer. 
 
 Education Controld by Teachers. If experienct educators 
 cannot solve educational problems, who can? We should manage 
 it so that the teacher’s profession would attract the ablest and 
 best men and women, and the requirements should be such as 
 to exclude ad the incompetent ancl unworthy. Make the pro¬ 
 fession what it needs to be, and then hold it responsible for 
 the results. France approximates this and has by common con- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 151 
 
 sent the bes,t educational system in the world. They have 
 a national board, whose head is a member of the president’s 
 cabinet, composed of persons of the highest character and in¬ 
 telligence, some of them eminent teachers. They have entire 
 control of all educational affairs, even making all school laws. 
 Under them are district boards in charge of the different di¬ 
 visions of the nation. They fix teacher’s salaries which are paid 
 
 by the nation. Each community furnishes the school building 
 and equipment just as we do. Thus France secures for edu¬ 
 cational management the very highest ability and knowledge 
 she has; thus she secures for her children the very best advan¬ 
 tages possible. Can we not do as well? 
 
 The County Unit System. This is our nearest approach to 
 the French system. It places all the schools of a county under 
 one school board whose educational qualifications are prescribed 
 by law so that it is composed of thoroly qualified persons. The 
 salaries of all teachers are paid by the state so that no com¬ 
 munity is tempted to rob' its children to keep taxes low. Each 
 community furnishes its school property as now. This board 
 decides all controversies concerning school matters promptly 
 and finally and so avoids the disputes and quarrels which so often 
 prevent good schools and paralyze all educational effort, and 
 which often go on from bad to worse unless settled by dis¬ 
 interested outsiders. This plan considers only the welfare of 
 the children, all else is excluded. The facts that this method 
 is so rapidly coming into use in this country, that it has provd 
 so successful in France, and that England’s new educational 
 bill is in the same direction justifies its advocacy here. 
 
 The Administration of City Schools. The county unit system is 
 already in use in most of the southern states and the most 
 progressive states elsewhere. Something like it prevails to 
 some extent in the administration of citj r schools. It is becom¬ 
 ing the universal practice of city boards of education to employ 
 a superintendent and entrust him to the entire management of 
 the schools and hold him responsible for the results. Such a 
 policy, however, is entirely voluntary with the school boards; 
 it is seldom provided by- law. It is the nearest approach we 
 have to education directed by educators, and the result is that 
 our city schools are incomparably the best we hav’e. The same 
 policy is spreading to the smaller cities and towns where 
 salaries are large enuf to attract able superintendents. It is 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 152 
 
 little credit to us that our best schools exist in spite of our 
 system, rather than as a result of it. 
 
 The Townshio Unit System. This is used in the six New 
 England states, and in Northern Mich., New Jersey, Penn., Ohio, 
 Ind., and N. Dak. The County Unit System is used in Md., Ky., 
 Tenn., Ga., Ala., Fla., La. and N. Car., S. Car., Iowa and Utah have 
 a mixt system. In densely populated states the Township system 
 would operate about the same as the County system in sparsely 
 populated states. The principles are the same. Nearly all 
 of these states now having the larger unit once used .the District 
 system. Indiana abandoned it in 1852, Massachusetts in 1882, 
 New Hampshire in 1885, Georgia in 1887, Florida in 1889, etc. 
 The larger unit system is used in all cities. Oklahoma City, for 
 example, has 25 schools under one school board and one sup¬ 
 erintendent. In Ill. there are about 12,000 teachers in the 
 district schools which have about 40,000 directors; while Chicago 
 has over 6,000 teachers and only 21 directors, and would be 
 better off with 7. 
 
 Compulsory Education. It is evident that parents’ control 
 over their children must have necessary limits; in the nature 
 of things no right can transcend those of the children. A great 
 many calculations show that the cash value of every day a child 
 spends at school is worth to it, on the average, from $5 to $10. 
 It can seldom earn more than a dollar a day at work. When 
 it is kept out of school it is clearly robbed of the difference. 
 There are, of course, such emergencies such as cotton picking 
 when the schools should be closed, for the work is so necessary 
 that the pupils gains in the family welfare more than it loses. 
 But no parent should be permitted to exploit the labor of a child 
 for profit. 
 
 Pupils Kept In Classes. The recitation a pupil misses by. 
 absence are only a small part of its losses. Irregular attendance 
 makes good classification of pupils impossible; this is a loss 
 not only to the irregular pupil but to all others, so that the 
 irregularity of one family inevitably injures the whole com¬ 
 munity. The greater expense of teaching pupils individually 
 would make popular education impossible without classes. No 
 classification of pupils can be perfect at best so a very little 
 irregularity is a serious matter. Classes in arithmetic, for 
 example, are usually a year apart, so that dropping out of a 
 class means losing a year of school. Our compulsory education 
 
 t 
 
 law compels children to attend three months each year; but 
 it is impossible to keep pupils well classified who attend only 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 153 
 
 that much. The truth must be learned: we cannot educate bur 
 children without keeping up good classification of pupils; it is 
 vital to our educational system. 
 
 Ethical Education. Far greater effort should be made to 
 make education develop character. The state cannot afford to 
 educate bad characters, or the selfish and corrupt who live 
 only for themselves, and would not if it knew them in advance 
 for it would make them more dangerous to the state. Those who 
 are educated by the state are under obligations to become good- 
 citizens of it; otherwise the state is not justified in supporting 
 public education. But a good' citizen is impossible without good 
 character; that must come first. But a good character in private 
 life is often grossly negligent of public duties; we must develop 
 both character and citizenship. To find more effective ways of 
 doing this is the greatest need of our education. 
 
 Education our Highest Interest. Over the school house 
 hover all the good angels of the Future; all that Humanity is 
 ever to achieve is latent in the little school desk. No other 
 trust can equal it; no other interest compare with it. To put the 
 least obstacle in the way of educational advance is to renounce 
 all claim to good citizenship in the sight of God and man. It is 
 the ark of God’s covenant with the race; by far our most price¬ 
 less possession. The children are our only real treasure; all 
 else is rubbish and tinsel. Well did the great Master say: 
 “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones, * * * it were better 
 for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he 
 were sunk in the depth of the sea.” To oppose anything that 
 tends to benefit education is certainly offending many of the 
 little ones dear alike to earth and heaven. 
 
 Education Our Ultimate Hope. This study of a few of our 
 social problems shows how difficult and perplexing they are. 
 Their solution will demand the very highest quality of character 
 and citizenship it is possible to secure. On all sides we are 
 hearing it admitted that we must look to education to do more 
 than we have done, or can do. The demand is not so much for 
 more grammar, arithmetic, or geography, tho they should he 
 taught with the utmost efficiency, the new demand is that our 
 education shall produce higher types of character and citizen¬ 
 ship; not the individual but the social character, the good 
 citizen, the soldier of the common good. It is in the light of 
 this purpose that we must work for educational improvement. 
 
154 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 STUDY ON CHAP. IX. 
 
 Suggested Questions To Aid Discussion. 
 
 1. Why should greater study make educational problems 
 seem more difficult? 2. What is education? 3. Is the acquisition 
 of all knowledge equally beneficial to the mind, or are some 
 subjects more valuable than others? 4. How would you define 
 a “Liberal Education?” 5. How define a “Vocational Education?” 
 6. Are they entirely incomputable? 7. If you could not get both 
 which one would you prefer? 8. Which would be the best for 
 a slave? 9. Which best for a freeman? 10. Is there any way 
 to tell what vocation a child should be educated ror? 11. Should 
 each one select his own vocation or would it be better if some 
 one else selected it for him? 12. Could parents or officials 
 select a vocation earlier and so give longer time to prepare 
 for it? 13. Where each selects his own vocation what can be 
 done for those who are unable to decide till after school days 
 are over? 14. Why should ancient Athens have excelled Sparta? 
 15. Why do you think higher education pays? 16. When should 
 one begin to specialize? 17. Why should fewer college women 
 be divorced? 18. Can the school and home be more closely 
 connected? 19. What are some topics which might be profitably 
 discust by Parent-Teacher Associations? 20. Draw a plan of a 
 building which cou’d be used both for school and community 
 purposes? 21. Why should the “District System” be the most 
 popular one in half the states? 22. Why is it being given up 
 in so many states? 23. Should educational policies be directed 
 by the most competent or by popular vote? Why? 24. Does 
 the average- school director choose a teacher or an agreeable 
 personality? 25. What are some of the advantages of the French 
 system? 26. Why should children who will not behave well be 
 
 removed from school? 27. What compensation is there for 
 
 * 
 
 keeping an unruly child in school? 28. Why can the state not 
 afford to educate those who are not going to be good citizens? 
 29. Would a parent who earned a fortune for a child be doing 
 it a greater service than giving it an education? 30. Can we 
 ever have perfect education? 31. The first of these studies was 
 the Problem of the Family, the last, Education: does every 
 social problem begin and end with the children? 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 Hart: Educational Resources, Chapters XIV—XVI. 
 Towne: Social Problems, Chapter IV. 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 155 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 FOREWORD . 82 
 
 I. THE PROBLEM OF THE MODERN FAMILY... S3 
 
 Family fundamental. Prolongation of Infancy. Mother and 
 
 Family. Failure of the Family. Matrimonial Choosing. Matri¬ 
 monial Aids. Chief Failure. Home the Cornerstone of Civiliza¬ 
 tion. The New Woman. Competing with the Home. Happy 
 Homes. Will the Plome Survive? The Greatest Danger. What 
 is the Remedy? 
 
 II. CIVILIZATION AND THE USE) OF LEISURE. 89 
 
 Nature of the Problem. Leisure the Building Time. Play and 
 
 Personality. Play and Morality. Chicago’s Experiment. Play 
 and Health. Play and Mental Development. Athletics. Com¬ 
 mercialized Amusements. Saloons. Soldier’s Leisure must be 
 protected. Adult Attitude. An Ancient Testimony. Leisure time 
 not lost. Play is Life to the Child. Play and Democracy. Use 
 of Leisure. The Great Perversion. 
 
 III. COVERSATION OF LIFE .:. 96 
 
 Ancient Views. Modern View. Lengthening Life. Partial 
 
 Death. Deferred Penalties. Laws of Health. Eating. Essential 
 Foods. Mastication. Cooking. Jovial Meals. Sanitation. Town 
 and Country. Flies. Tuberculosis. Sanitoriums. Inoculation. 
 Serum Treatments. Nursing Profession. Fresh Air. Altruism 
 of Medical Men. A Healthier World. 
 
 IV. PUBLIC FINANCE ...103 
 
 Inefficiency. Tax Maxims. Shifting of Taxes. Inheritance 
 
 Tax. Income Tax. Corporation Tax. Unearned Increment Tax. 
 Unwise Taxes. Tax Philosophy. National Purse. Expenditure. 
 Budget System. Local Finances. General Property Tax. Assess¬ 
 ments. Permanency. Home Rule in Taxation. State Purse. 
 Emptying State Purse. Importance of Expenditure. 
 
 V. THE STATE AND THE INDIVIDUAL.109 
 
 Relations. Both Indispensable. State Must Control. Limita¬ 
 tions. State Must Protect the Individual. Self-Protection. State 
 Must Assist Individuals. Helping without Pauperizing. Subser¬ 
 viency. State must Develop the Individual. German Education. 
 State and the Criminal. State and the Poor. Patriotism. War 
 Time Relations. Individualism and Socialism. Character and 
 Citizenship. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 
 
 156 
 
 VI. THE WORLD TREND TO DEMOCRACY.116 
 
 Aristotle’s Cycle. The Present Trend. Republic and Democ¬ 
 racy. Autocracy Efficient. Democracy growing more efficient. 
 Defects of Democracy. Democracy the World’s Hope. Duties of 
 Democracy. Individual responsibility. Democracy and Peace. 
 
 VII. RURAL PROBLEMS...1...120 
 
 Drift to Cities. Not wholly bad. Farm Machinery. Intoler¬ 
 able Uncertainty. Hard Life. Isolation. High Price of Land. 
 Co-operation. Co-operative Marketing. Co-operative Borrowing. 
 Co-operative Machinery. Good Roads. Exploiting the Farmer. 
 Price Control. Problem Spiritual not Material. Social Life in the 
 Country. Society and Happiness. Amusements. Singing. Lit¬ 
 erary Societies. Consolidated Schools. Rural Course of Study. 
 Leaving Home for Education. Harmony. Land fop Returning 
 Soldiers. Our Chiefest Problem. 
 
 VIII. THE WAGE SYSTEM..,.129 
 
 Increasing Unrest. Definitions. Wage Theories. What are 
 
 Wages? Different Standpoints. Labor as a Commodity. Un¬ 
 stable Wages. Distribution of Wealth. Law of Supply and De¬ 
 mand. Subordination of the Worker. Unemployment. Enforced 
 Idleness. War and Unemployment. Effects of Specialization. 
 Profits and Wages. Piece Work and Wages. What is a Fair 
 Wage? Employer not Free. Employer and Low Wages. Wages 
 and Needs. Wages and Improvidence. Living Wage. Wage Com¬ 
 petition. Wages and Unemployment. Employment Bureaus. Labor 
 Unions. Wage Bargaining. Menace of the Union. Right to strike. 
 Wages and Charity. Wages and Free Land. Wages and the 
 Tariff. Real Foe of Labor. Labor and Machinery. Legislation. 
 Wages of Women and Children. Substitutes for the Wage System. 
 Motives for Working. Higher Motives. Labor and Citizenship. 
 Problem Insoluble. 
 
 IX. EDUCATION ......143 
 
 What is Education? Definitions. Extremes. The Two. Con¬ 
 trasted. Vocational Education Right. Vocational Education 
 Limited. Misdirected Education. Never Knows the Difference. 
 Selection of Teachers. An Extreme Case. Seeking a School. 
 Most Competent. Education Controled by Teachers. County Unit 
 System. Township Unit System. Compulsory Education. Pupils 
 Kept in Classes. Ethical Education. Education our Highest In¬ 
 terest. Education our Ultimate Hope. 
 

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UNIVER9ITY OF ILLINOI9-URBANA 
 
 3 0112 099012780 
 
 DEBATE BULLETINS 
 
 These are collections of facts and arguments on both sides 
 of public questions. While efforts are made to secure accuracy 
 in statements of facts, none is made to test the soundness of 
 arguments; they are simply arguments which are used. The 
 debator himself needs the discipline of testing arguments. A 
 brief description of these bulletins are given below: 
 
 Number 12. A Students’ Manual of Debating and Parliamen¬ 
 tary Practice. This is a reprint with a few changes of tjhree 
 bulletins of the University of Wisconsin. It contains, (1) Sug¬ 
 gestions for organization, with a Model Constitution; (2) A 
 brief Manual of Parliamentary Practice; (3) A brief Manual 
 of Argumentation; (4) Instructions to Judges. Sold at 10c per 
 copy. 
 
 Number 13. The Initiative and Referendum. Giving sev¬ 
 eral articles and digests of a number of others. (Out) 
 
 Number 15. Unicameral Legislatures. 72 pp. Same plan. 
 
 Guaranty of Bank Deposits. 80 pages. (Out) 
 Woman Suffrage. 80 pages. (Out) 
 Consolidation of Rural Schools. 32 pages. 
 
 The Preferential Ballot. 56 pages. 
 
 Government Ownership of Railways. 116 pp. 
 The Single Tax. 162 pages. 
 
 Workmen’s Compensation. 132 pages. 
 
 Selling Munitions of War. 64 pages. 
 
 Continuing the Monroe Doctrine. 148 pages. 
 Teachers’ Pensions. 52 pages. 
 
 Compulsory Arbitration of Labor Disputes. 
 Woman Suffrage No. 2. 80 pages. 
 
 The Citv Manager Plan. 84 pages. 
 
 Number 16. 
 Number 17. 
 Number 18. 
 Number 20. 
 Number 22. 
 Number 22. 
 Number 24. 
 Number 26. 
 Number 28. 
 Number 30. 
 Number 34. 
 Number 40. 
 Number 43. 
 
 Others in preparation. 
 
 All these bulletins except Number 12, are furnished free to 
 any citizen of the state. 
 
 It is desirable that each debating club should have more than 
 one copy of each bulletin, at least one for each debator. We 
 will send whatever number will be actually used. Address all 
 requests to 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DIVISION 
 Department of Public Discussion and Debate 
 Norman, Oklahoma