Arthur William Dunn

“ WHAT TAXATION MEANS IN A DEMOCRACY The change to government "of the people, by the people, for the people" should put the paying of taxes in a very different light. We decide upon a service we want performed for us, we provide the governing machinery to perform the service, and the service must be paid for. We do not object to paying for having our house built, our food provided, our clothes made, and our goods hauled. Why should we object to paying for the service of schools, roads, protection of health and property, the defense of our liberties? ”

“ FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND JUSTICE The opportunity to choose one's calling, to decide what service one will fit himself for, the right of "self-determination" with regard to what one's work shall be—this is what "freedom" means. This is why men are happier when they are free. The "equality" and "justice" that all men want mean EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE that which they like to do, and AN EQUAL CHANCE TO MAKE A LIVING, or to obtain compensation for their labor or enterprise. It is for these things more than for anything else that people have left old-world conditions and come to America. ”

“ It is important to understand that when we speak of "wealth" we do not necessarily mean GREAT wealth. A boy who has a fifty-cent knife, or a girl who has a twenty-five-cent purse, has wealth as truly as the man who owns a well-stocked farm. The difference is merely in kind and amount. Food, clothing, houses, books, tools, cattle, are all forms of wealth. ANY material thing, for which we are willing to work and make sacrifices because it satisfies our wants, is wealth. Earning a living is merely earning or producing wealth to satisfy our wants and those of others. ”

“ UNFAIR COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE On the other hand, there are people who do not get for their work a living that fairly compensates them for the service they render by it to the community. If our community life were perfectly adjusted in all its parts; if all the people clearly recognized their common interests and their interdependence; if they had the spirit of cooperation and were wise enough to devise smoothly working machinery of cooperation;—then the returns that a worker received for his work would be closely proportionate to the service rendered by his work. ”

“ You send important questions to a committee, you put into the hands of a few men the power to bring in bills, and then they are brought in with an ironclad rule, and rammed down the throats of members; and then those measures are sent out as being the deliberate judgment of the Congress of the United States when no deliberate judgment has been expressed by any man. ”

“ NATIONALITY AND SOVEREIGNTY Nations have a strong sense of their NATIONALITY, and are extremely jealous of their SOVEREIGNTY, which is the supreme power claimed by every nation to form its own government and to manage its own affairs without interference by other nations. It is this that has prevented the development of anything like a real international government that could control the conduct of national governments, or that could require a nation to submit its grievances to any judge other than itself. This has perhaps been the chief weakness of the world community. ”

“ The blame for inefficiency and wastefulness on the part of government at Washington, or at the state capital, or at the county seat, rests largely with the people back home, who are either selfish or blind to the fact that the interests of the nation are larger than their own or those of their own little community. The very people who talk most loudly about the extravagance of government, or about the burden of taxes, are likely to be the ones who expect most from their congressmen for purely personal or local advantage. ”

“ All around us may be seen, if our eyes are open, the evidences of the work of our government. Always the governmental machinery is at hand to serve us in a thousand ways, if we are wise enough to use it. The more we study its work, the more we shall be impressed by the fact that its greatest service is in opening the way for cooperation, and in providing the organization and the leadership for such cooperation. ”

“ RECREATION AND SOCIAL LIFE THE VALUE OF PLAY Children enjoy play because it satisfies physical, mental, and social wants. But it is also the principal means by which they prepare for the more serious duties of later life. It builds up health, trains the muscles and the senses, and sharpens the wits. It gives practice in team work, develops leadership, and teaches the value of "rules of the game." Every child is entitled to an abundant opportunity to play, both because of the happiness it affords him and because by it he is trained for membership in the community. ”

“ CONVENIENCE must be a prime factor when expensive labor is at a premium; and ATTRACTIVENESS must be one of the chief motives not only to make farm property more saleable but to give greater enjoyment to the owner and his family..." "A farmstead is, but a unit in a farming community, yet travelers form an impression of the entire community by individual farm homes which they see in passing. Therefore, not only financial consideration but personal pride and a feeling of community spirit and enterprise should urge the farm owner to develop his farmstead according to the best of modern methods." ”

“ At its best, the New England town meeting has never been equaled as a mechanism for local government. No mere representative system can give the opportunity for real participation in government which a town meeting affords. Even the small boys who come to enjoy the fun from the gallery are taught that government is a living reality. By grappling first-hand with their own small local problems, men are trained to take part wisely in the bigger affairs of state and nation. ”

“ THE WANT FOR BEAUTY Besides health and knowledge and association with other people, we want surroundings that are pleasant and beautiful. The want for BEAUTY is sometimes more neglected than other wants, but it is important, and we all have it and seek to satisfy it in some way or other. It may be at one time by a walk in the woods or fields, or at other times by cultivating flowers, by keeping our room tidy, by looking at pictures, or by exercising good taste in clothing. We also enjoy beauty in sound, as the song of birds or music in the home or school. ”

“ On the other hand, it is natural that men who have been successful in managing their private business affairs should also be influential in managing public affairs without necessarily having unworthy motives. Nevertheless, when government falls under the control of ANY particular class or group, whether it represents wealth, or labor, or any other interest, if it has not due regard for all classes, and if it denies to the members of other groups the voice in government to which they are entitled, it establishes a despotism and overthrows democracy. ”

“ LEISURE A REQUIREMENT Every worker is entitled to opportunity for recreation, both for his own sake and for the well-being of the community. This means, first of all, that he must have LEISURE for it. When people have to work hard for ten or twelve or more hours a day, year in and year out, as was once customary in industry, there is neither time nor energy for wholesome recreation. That such conditions existed, and still exist to a considerable extent, is due to gross imperfections in the industrial organization of the community. ”

“ Conflicts of interest are often more apparent than community of interest. Teamwork among the different parts and groups that make up our nation is often very poor. Although our government is a wonderfully good one, it is still only an imperfect means of cooperation. Our nation is far from being a complete democracy, for there are many people in it who do not have the full enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and large numbers of our "self-governing" people really have little or no part in government. ”

“ No person can really be loyal to his neighborhood who is not first of all loyal to his home. Thoroughly efficient townships and counties and cities are essential to a thoroughly efficient state; and no citizen is loyal to his state who is not loyal to his township, county, and city. The strength of our nation depends upon the strength of the states that compose it, and real national patriotism cannot well exist in the heart of a citizen who is disloyal to his state. ”

“ IN THE COMMUNITY That is what it means to be a member of the body; and membership in a family, or a school, or a club, or a community, is just the same. We have already seen, and we shall see more fully as we go on with our study, how completely we are dependent upon our communities for food, for the protection of life, for education, and for all else that makes up our life. The community that does not provide for its members in these things is like a sick body. ”

“ In cities where people live crowded together in closely built city blocks, unsanitary conditions in one home endanger the health of the entire community. There is also danger from fire, and vice and crime may breed and spread quickly and unseen. The community is driven, therefore, in its own defense, to regulate the people's housing. In small communities, and especially in rural communities, where homes are more widely separated and in some cases quite isolated, it has seemed of little concern to others how one citizen builds his home and what he does in it. ”

“ WHY THE PEOPLE SUBMIT TO "BOSS RULE" Why do the people submit to "boss rule"? In the first place, they do not always submit to it. Occasionally, when the "bosses" go to unusual extremes, the people give way to "fits of public rage," to use the words of former Senator Elihu Root, "in which the people rouse up and tear down the political leader, first of one party and then of the other party." ”

“ As soon as work on the farms is organized, and employment is made steady for all help, just so soon will a better class of laborers be attracted to the farm. As the farm-owner wishes life to be free from eternal drudgery for himself and family, yielding the fruits of happiness, leisure, and culture, he would do well to consent and arrange to give the farm hand who shares the shelter of his roof a fair chance at the same benefits. The laborer wants regular hours, a chance for recreation, a good place to live in, and enough wages to maintain a family according to American standards. ”

“ Have they an equal RIGHT to health? to an education? to pleasant surroundings? to earn a good living?
Suppose A is a Native American boy, and B a foreign-born boy who speaks a foreign language: does this make any difference in their RIGHT to life and health, an education, etc.? Does it make any difference in their OPPORTUNITY to satisfy their wants in these directions?
Can you think of persons in your community who have less OPPORTUNITY to satisfy their wants than you have? Can you think of any persons who have less RIGHT to satisfy their wants than you have? ”

“ Democracy is founded on faith in the ability of the people to manage their own affairs with due regard for the equal rights of other people. We look upon our government chiefly as an instrument to ensure an equal opportunity to all to exercise initiative and to manage their own affairs ”

“ GOOD SENSE AND GOOD BUSINESS Dishonest returns by one taxpayer defraud the citizen who is honest, because they place a heavier burden of taxation upon the latter. Moreover, the dishonest taxpayer and good cheats himself along with others, for the lower the business valuation of property, the higher the rate of taxation, or the poorer the service received from the government. "It is good sense and good business for a state to show up with large tax values and low tax rates. It shows a brisk and lively prosperity that is attractive to outside capital and enterprise." ”

“ Whether a citizen follows a vocation of his own voluntary choice, or one into which he has fallen by chance or by force of circumstances, he is under obligation to the community as well as to himself to do his work well. In these days of specialization this inevitably means preparation, training. If the community expects the citizen to perform efficient service, it must afford him a fair opportunity for preparation. During the war the government made special provision for training, not only for military service, but also for the industrial occupations that the nation needed. ”

“ Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble...
The right of free speech and of a free press is a very sacred one, and its maintenance is one of the chief safeguards of democracy. It is the means by which PUBLIC OPINION is formed and made known; and public opinion is one of the chief means of control in a democracy. It controls the conduct of individuals, and it controls the actions of government. ”

“ The very nature of our interdependent life makes it necessary for each worker to do one thing and to do it exceedingly well. Even farming is broken up to a considerable extent into special kinds of farming. Moreover, since the worker must be a specialist, requiring long, special training, it is more difficult than it used to be for him to change from one occupation to another after he has once started. Each person, therefore, owes it both to himself and to the community to choose his vocation carefully, so far as he has opportunity to make a choice. ”

“ The nation needs the productive work of each citizen in time of peace as truly as in time of war, although when it is not fighting for its very life it is more tolerant of those who do not contribute efficiently by their work to the common good. It carries them along somehow. But such members of the community are a burden and a source of weakness at all times. Therefore, for example, there are in most of our communities laws against vagrancy; that is, against willful and habitual idlers "without visible means of support," such as beggars and tramps. ”

“ In our government the legislature, composed of representatives of the people, makes the laws; the executive branch of government sees to their enforcement; and the courts, which are responsible neither to the legislature nor to the executive, interpret the laws and administer justice in accordance with the laws. This separation of powers is to prevent any one person or group of persons from exercising too much power, as the king did, and is a safeguard to the liberty of the people. But the separation of powers IS NOT COMPLETE. Each branch of government has A LIMITED CONTROL over the others. ”