ercise this mystic power on behalf of the worshipper without pay, any more than an attorney will plead his client's cause without fee. So the priest charged a stiff price for his services and grew wealthy. In Homer's time the priest drank the finest dark wine of which he knew. It is a far cry from this to the Christian priest exercising his functions under responsibility and bound to serve the poor without fee-farther yet to the Protestant and Mohammedan conception of a clergy who are pastors and edifiers, but not intermediaries between the soul and God. About the close of the second century Tertullian declared that in heathenism the very gods are for sale, that no one is admitted free of charge to the knowledge of the gods. A fee is exacted for room in the temple, for even admittance thereto. Among Christians on the contrary, "no market value is set on anything in our religion. We have indeed boxes for offerings. . . contributions, however, are not compulsory, but spontaneous." CHAP. XXXVIII DE-COMMERCIALIZED GOVERNMENT It was customary for the Roman state to farm out its taxes rather than collect them by the hand of its own servants. Syndicates bid against one another for the right to collect a particular tax in a certain province for a term of years. The contract with the censor fixed the rate at which the publican or tax gatherer could collect, but there was little to restrain the practice of extortion. Only the powerful could profit by the subject's right to appeal to the governor. "Wherever the tax gatherers penetrate," says Livy, "there is no justice or liberty for anyone." "Imagine," writes Cicero, "what is the fate of our allies in the remoter provinces when even in Italy I hear the complaints of Roman citizens." Among the Jews the publicans could not enter a court of law to give testimony, nor fill offices of judicature, nor engage in public prayers. No money was to be changed at their treasury, their contributions to charity were not accepted, and they were ranked with thieves and murderers. About the close of the seventeenth century the French Crown began to sell to sixty "farmers-general" the right to collect the indirect taxes. Adam Smith describes their profits as exorbitant" and the collection as "wasteful and expensive." Commenting on the fact that their cruel methods often led to bloody Roman French Farmers CHAP. XXXVIII Farming Sale of Commis- conflicts, he remarks," Those who consider the blood of the people as nothing, in comparison with the revenues of princes, may, perhaps, approve of this method of levying taxes." When the Convention met it prosecuted the farmers-general as enemies of the people and guillotined thirty-five of them. Amidst general execration, the system fell after an existence of nearly a century. Farming out the poor is another instance of handling public responsibility as a business transaction. A hundred years ago a report on the care of the poor in Massachusetts observes that where there is no almshouse the poor are "disposed of by the overseers in severals ways. 1. The overseers farm them out at stipulated prices to contractors who are willing to receive them and keep them on condition of getting what labor they can out of the paupers. 2. Relief is afforded to the poor at their own habitations. 3. The poor are sold at auction-the meaning of which is that he who will support them for the lowest price becomes their keeper; and it often happens, of course, that the keeper is himself almost a pauper before he purchases, and adopts this mode in order not to fall a burden upon the town. Thus he and another miserable human being barely subsist upon what would hardly comfortably maintain himself alone-a species of economy much boasted of by some of the town officers and purchasers of paupers." This report concludes: 1. That the poor when farmed out or sold were frequently treated with barbarity and neglect. 2. That the education and morals of the children of paupers except in almshouses were almost wholly neglected. They grew up in filth, idleness, ignorance and disease, and many became early candidates for the prison or the grave. Until half a century ago commissions in the British army were private property. The officer bought his commission and, when he was done with it, he sold it for the highest price he could obtain. The capable experienced officer could be jumped over in promotion by a mere youth. The high cost of a commission excluded members of the lower and middle classes from desirable places in the army and made the command of His Majesty's troops a prerogative of the aristocracy. This class privilege was extinguished by paying the owners of commissions $35,000,000 in compensation. The aggressions of the profits motive to-day are, then, but an eddy in a great current which has borne us farther and farther from the practice of purchase. That in modern society love, salvation, clerical ministrations, protection, justice, education, access to the professions, access to the public service, promotion, and recognition, are generally to be had on a basis of need or desert, instead of. price, is owing to numerous triumphs over commercialism by the spirit of good will, justice and democ racy. CHAP. XXXVIII CHAP. Necessity of Raising the Plane of Certain Callings Excluding the Unfit Attracting the Superior ΤΗ CHAPTER XXXIX PROFESSIONALIZATION HE patron of the artisan or tradesman is presumed to be competent to look out for his interests. For him caveat emptor has been the rule. Bad wares he can reject and poor service he can refuse to pay for. Since the one party is in no need of special protection, the other party has not been subjected to any special restraints. But the patron of a calling which involves the use of highly technical knowledge, since he is not qualified to judge the worth of the service he receives, is in a position of extreme dependence. The patient cannot pronounce upon his doctor's treatment. The client cannot test the value of the advice his counsel gives or know whether his cause is properly presented. The student cannot plumb his teacher's learning, the reader gauge the editor's disinterestedness, nor the creditor verify the audit of the public accountant. One will hesitate to commit one's dearest interests to such men unless one has ground for believing them to be worthy of trust. There is need, therefore, that callings of this confidential character be restricted to men of honor acting with reference to a high standard. The means of bringing this to pass is to elevate the calling into a profession. The expert cannot raise the tone of his calling unless he is shielded from the withering competition of bunglers, quacks and charlatans. So the first step toward creating a profession is the exclusion of the unfit. This is sought by forbidding the practice of the profession to all save those who have been licensed by some board, institution or organization authorized to examine and pass upon the proficiency and character of applicants. Along with this goes often the power to expel from the profession the practitioner whose conduct is such as to bring it into disrepute. It is not enough to bar out unworthy persons. It is necessary that the calling attain a standing and dignity which will attract to it men of good breeding and high spirit, for it is such men who will contribute most to set and fix an exacting standard of professional conduct. To this end the law generally accords the calling some official recognition. RECOGNITION OF THE PROFESSIONS Army and navy officers not only hold their commissions from the head of the state, but under militarist governments they are authorized to cut down pitilessly any civilian "insulting the uniform." The clergy once enjoyed exemption from the jurisdiction of secular tribunals, i.e., "benefit of clergy," and even now the courts respect "the seal of the confessional." Ordinarily the physician is not required to divulge on the witness stand the secrets of his patients and in a great variety of juridical questons the law insists upon the testimony of medical men. A constitutional "liberty of the press" guarantees a footing for the journalist. Lawyers have been drawn into the judicial system until in the eye of the law the bar has rights and functions wellnigh as important as those of the bench. The more exacting legal requirements as to the audit of companies amount to a recognition of the profession of public accountant, while the statutes establishing administrative boards occasionally recognize the existence of such persons as architects, engineers, psychologists, economists and sociologists. CHAP. Formal Recogni tion of a Calling Social Recogni Calling Of even greater benefit to the tone of a calling is a social status high enough to protect the dignity and self-respect of the tion of a practitioner. The lawyer makes clear to his client that he is a counsellor, not a servant. The physician feels at liberty to remonstrate with the patient suffering under the consequences of his evil conduct. The indispensableness of the clergyman in such crises as christening, marriage and death, together with the custom of prayer at public functions, gives him a place of much prominence. The scholar shares in the prestige that has accrued to science, although his will not be a position of real dignity until "academic freedom" is firmly established. The military enjoy a social status inherited from feudalism, when holders of command were also territorial magnates. Gradually the professions have risen in public esteem until they are no longer overshadowed by the hereditary ruling or fighting castes. To use the old French terms, the men of the robe" have come quite abreast of the "men of the sword." In modern society |