Schools and universities, academies and laboratories, hotels, bridges, and public monuments borrowed their names from the court and the military sphere. The relation of the State to the Church was such that a clergy dedicated to spreading a religion of love and humility offered not the slightest resistance to the revival of the spirit of the gods of Teutonic barbarism. The theological student who could not swallow the dose offered him missed preferment and vanished from the scene. CHAP. XXXV Saturating the Social Mind with Militarist Suggestion Directed by the BeTitles and stowal of tions The Kaiser was the "fountain of honor" and the bestowal of Aspiration titles and decorations furnished him with a strong lever by which to turn the people at will. Every year was celebrated at court an Ordensfest, or fête of Decorations, when between five and eight thousand newly decorated citizens, drawn from every walk of life, were presented to the Kaiser and his consort and afterward regaled in the most splendid apartments of the Palace. Thus an indelibly sweet and powerful impression was left on the minds of these people, for the most part unsophisticated and intensely loyal denizens of rural districts or small towns. This day the official organ of the Empire published a special edition containing, on a score of quarto pages, the full names and callings of all these happy persons, together with a minute classification of the decorations and medals awarded. To this list all the newspapers in the Empire give much attention. The personal influence of the Kaiser in giving the German mind the desired set was very great. In innumerable addresses from the throne and after-dinner speeches he gave public thought its key. He had a talent for coining short, pithy, catchy sayings, such as "our future lies on the sea," "a place in the sun,” “the mailed fist," "oceans unite; they do not sever." Furthermore, his personal wishes were a patent factor in determining the trend. of literature and art. He gave vogue to Chauvinistic dramas, to sculptures glorifying his ancestors, and to historical paintings full of bombastic patriotism; while novels showing the darker side of German military life were censored and realistic portrayals of ugly social conditions frowned on. In view of the catastrophe which this perversion of the natural judgment of an intelligent people brought upon the world we are bound to consider how super-social control may best be guarded against. The Kaiser Gives the Public Thought СНАР. The Grow ing Mass of the State Adds to the Difficulty of Controlling It Govern ment Must Abstain from Try ing to Control Public Many Independent Opinion Needed SAFEGUARDS AGAINST SUPER-SOCIAL CONTROL Owing chiefly to the integration of society in consequence of the revolution in the means of communication, the State, charged with new functions, becomes continually more massive. It enrols more servants, claims more of our income and touches our lives at more points. As thus perforce it gains bulk and prestige, more than ever before it ought to be effectively controlled by the people; for, if this colossal machine does not respond to the will of the people, it will obey the will of a class, or will follow its own bent like a runaway train - which means that our erstwhile servants have become masters. If government is not to control the people as the German Imperial Government did, but is to be controlled by them, it should have no hand in the processes whereby the people make up their minds about it. It should not manufacture sentiment for itself nor meddle with the incubation of public opinion. It should not warp young minds by a tendencious education, nor distort the judgment of its citizens by veiled propaganda, nor secretly manipulate the guides and oracles of public opinion, nor gag critics on the ground that criticism obstructs its operations. Documents circulated at public expense should be objective and impartial in tone, not attempting to justify official policies otherwise than by statements of fact. The cost of political controversy should be borne by private citizens and not by the public purse. The people will be managed without their knowing it unless Centers of there are numerous founts of authoritative opinion independent of one another and of any single powerful organization. Let there be many towers from which trusty watchmen may scan the horizon and cry to the people a warning which no official or mob may hush. Perhaps it is impossible to secure society against delusions as disastrous as the Children's Crusade, the witchcraft persecution, and the German megalomania of 1914; but our fairest hope lies in multiplying strongholds of free opinion. Freedom of the Press Altho its growing dependence upon the receipts from advertising is bringing the newspaper under the yoke of commercial interests, we can insist that at least it shall be no jumping jack of officials. The government should not maintain a "reptile press," such as Bismarck used, nor should it censor the newspapers save in war time, and then only by a board on which private citizens preponderate. Public officials should give out impar- CHAP. tially the news of their offices. Neither editors nor owners should be appointed to high posts in the public service lest newspapers fall into the habit of truckling to politicians. No periodical should be denied news service or forced off the news stands on account of its politics. Let the School Become Indepen The School, as mother or moulder of opinion, should be independent of government. By means of a non-partisan board the public schools as well as the state university should be kept out dent of of politics. If appointed by Mayor or Governor, the members the State should enjoy security of tenure. But it is more logical that the board of education should be chosen at a separate election under a system of proportional representation. Instead of having to beg funds from a political body like the city council or the state legislature, it should be clothed with the power to levy a tax to support the schools. Some centralization is necessary in order to level up educational opportunities between localities, but local boards should be free to select text books and to hire and promote certificated teachers. Just as in the later Roman Empire the Church served as a kind of counterpoise to the huge irresistible state machine; just as in the Middle Ages the spiritual power and the temporal power held each other in check, so that there was more freedom than either alone would have granted; so, now that the State is gathering mass and momentum, the School should stand wholly on its own bottom, lest the State tamper with the holy functions of enlightenment, character-moulding and opinion-forming. The Indo of Foun dations Should be America is fortunate in that its commonwealth universities are pendence balanced by renowned endowed universities altogether independent of the State. Provided that the scholar's freedom of utterance and of teaching be upheld, the dependence of these institutions upon the gifts of the wealthy need not seriously impair their usefulness. They, as well as all other non-profit-seeking trusts pursuing sanctioned objects, should enjoy immunity from official interference so long as they keep within the terms of their charter. The granting of subsidies of public money to private educational and charitable institutions is to be frowned on, because it enables unscrupulous politicians to padlock the lips of such institutions and their influential friends. As we expand government in order to save ourselves from the CHAP. Means of Freedom of Speech and of Assemblage clutches of the greedy strong, freedom of speech and of assemblage should more than ever be jealously upheld. We should no Preserving more allow an organization to rent all the halls in town during a critical time in order to prevent public meetings than we would allow a spiteful man to keep a street car empty by paying fares for all the seats in it. Open-air places should be provided at public expense in all municipalities for free public discussion on condition only that speakers shall not utter obscenity, slanderously attack individuals, or incite to definite crimes. The evening use, under such reservations, of public school buildings by an open association of citizens of the school district should not be gainsaid. Perhaps the time will come when every community will have its social forum, available for any discussion for which a certain proportion of the citizens stand sponsor. Recognition Should be Decentralized Formal public recognition of exemplary service gives direction to individual ambition. Hence, if the state monopolizes the granting of honors, it will stimulate the development of the type of character and conduct which serves its interests. Recognition is, indeed, too great a moral power to be left to any single institution. The state's right to confer title, certificate, medal, decoration or honorary degree should therefore be shared with various responsible independent agencies, such as colleges, institutes, libraries, and societies. This affords guarantee that all the chief kinds of extraordinary social service will be noted and distinguished. CHAPTER XXXVI INDIVIDUATION OMETIMES a people enjoying large individual freedom has SOMETIM been forced into compact groups by the conditions of living. The individual becomes solidary with some group- the family, the kindred, the village community, the guild, the church so that in many matters he ceases to be a free moral agent. But if the conditions of life take such a turn that the backing of his group is no longer a vital matter to him the groups presently dissolve and the individual reappears. The processes which pulverize social lumps and release the action of their members may be termed individuation. THE TEUTONIC KINDRED СНАР. XXXVI Ancient Kindred When our Teutonic ancestors emerge into history something more than a millennium and a half ago each man is the center of a Solidarity united group of kindred who act on his behalf partly because they have his welfare at heart, but mainly because public opinion, the law, and their own views of life make them guilty with him if he commits a wrong, and almost equally liable to penalty; or, if he is slain, throw upon the whole group the responsibility for vengeance or satisfaction. Every relative of a slayer up to his second or third cousins contributes according to his degree of kinship to the wergeld, which alone can avert the blood feud. On the same principle the wergeld received is apportioned among the kinsmen of the man slain. In case of pauperism the whole kindred is liable, the degree of relationship determining the contribution of each kinsman. The kindred has the right formally to repudiate an offending member, while in some societies a man can solemnly break the ties of kin by breaking his staff in a ceremonial act. Now in South Germany the last traces of such kindred solidarity disappear in the thirteenth century. Sweden gives evidence of it as late as the fourteenth century. In Holland and Belgium the kindreds remain active into the sixteenth century. Vanishing of the Kin |