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SPEA

PEAKING of politics as a career leads to the inquiry, What politics in which and for which the chief occupation of a citizen is to be carried on? For the present purpose, the definition may be briefly stated thus: the science of governing, and the art of applying the principles of that science to the promotion of the equal security, safety, liberty under equal law, and the prosperity of the whole body of the people of a commonwealth. The National Government and the forty-four States present a vast and varied field for the study and practice of politics as a career; provided the field can be entered

and held, and its rewards counted upon with sufficient certainty to furnish an adequate motive for devoting one's self to such a career, in the same way as farming, trade, manufacture, the professions, etc., are taken up as a life business.

A knowledge of political systems and of the substantial character and probable effect of laws ought to be universal in our country, where every citizen is in reality a law-maker, and has a direct and responsible part in the choice of those who administer the laws. None ought to be voters, and much less executive officers, who are not substantially possessed of such knowledge. To put the power of making and administering laws into the hands of those ignorant of the nature, spirit, and effect of law is as absurd and at last more disastrous than to leave the blind to direct those who can see. Other things equal, those succeed best in all personal pursuits who best understand the end they desire to attain and the best means to accomplish it. This is true of government, and far more important; for the success or failure of one man in his lifework is but a drop in the great stream of human affairs, but success or failure in government affects millions at once, and may promote or retard the progress of a nation for a century. All men who are politicians cannot have political careers. There is not room for all, but only for the very smallest fraction of the great mass of people. Which among so many will be the fortunate or unfortunate ones to be chosen legislators or executive officers is perhaps the most uncertain of human uncertainities. The careers of private life can in general be entered upon at will to the personal advantage of the man himself and his family; but the true and honest follower of a political career must look not to personal gains and benefits, but to He who is the general good of the vast brotherhood of men. actuated by other motives is likely either to develop into a first-class demagogue or to degenerate into a condition of pecuniary corruption, or both.

In republics such as ours, which in theory are the sovereign work and express the deliberate will of the majority of the whole people, the art, business, or trade of politics may be supposed to be equally open to all-either, as the case may be, as an unselfish, untiring duty for the common weal, or as a calling pursued for the private gain of the man or woman who undertakes it.

"

There are many kinds of politicians. The socialistic politician has not worked out all his plans with the precision of Plato in his Republic, but he thinks how beneficent it would be if it only would work. When he is asked to point out in what manner he would change the laws and their administration, he is quite unable to do so in any fundamental way. If he turns, as many very practical politicians in other countries, and sundry very practical and some very unpractical people in this country, do to the very potent panacea of free trade" to help the condition of those who honestly and diligently strive and hope for better progress, he finds that if he can buy the productions that he needs from other countries cheaper than from his neighbors, he must also sell the productions of his own labor and the labor itself, if it be in demand at all, at a cheaper rate; and that the gain, if any, made in his purchases has been doubly outweighed by the losses on his side as a seller of labor and products.

He who takes up politics as an occupation, as one takes up any other calling, enters upon a career of much larger significance and much greater difficulty and responsibility than that of the politician that every citizen must and ought to be. The first duty of man is to provide by honest means for the maintenance of himself and family. Honest politics as a pursuit

does not furnish such means except in the small class of administrative employments, and then only in a meagre degree. In such cases, the end of the office-holder's career, by any of the casualities of place, very often leaves his family and himself stranded on an almost desert shore. The associations and employments of private life are gone, and the savings of even the strictest economy are small. If we turn to the wider field of elective and legislative politics, the same duty and the same necessity exist.

The patriotic citizen who applies himself to the study and practice of politics must have his worldly competence already assured, or he must starve or be tempted to forget or disregard his patriotism-one of the essential elements of which is honesty—and pursue politics as a trade from which pecuniary gain is to be derived. The rare individual who pursues politics from the patriotic motive of doing good to his fellow-men, and aspires only to understand and expound the institutions of his country is indeed a living beneficence, and the more of such politicians a country can possess the better.

If we descend to the class of politicians whose object is to get gain for themselves either in money or power, and with whom measures are mere pawns on the chess-board of politics, we find perhaps the most dangerous and injurious elements, short of nihilism and anarchism, in the structure of political society. The corrupt and selfish demagogue is beyond the reach of codes and courts. Yesterday he was a Republican of Republicans; to-day he is a Democrat of Democrats, and, failing to get what he wants under these names, to-morrow he is a Mugwump or a Prohibitionist or an Alliance man—all depending on how it seems most profitable to gamble in the market of politics.

Believing in the divine order that places the sum of human happiness within the reach of all, and inasmuch as only a few can possibly be employed in conducting a government, it seems to follow that politics, as a career, cannot be looked to by young Americans as the best choice of occupation in life; and, leaving out considerations of individual happiness and the tastes and ambitions that affect it, the very principle and structure of a republic seems opposed to the idea of the profession of politics as a pursuit. A political class in a republic must always be in danger of becoming or trying to become, the master and dictator of political movements—a Trust of Bossism and corruption, of which there is already an over-abundance.

A

THE EFFECTS OF MCKINLEYISM.
Methodist Magazine, Toronto.

DVICES from Europe indicate that there is very great commercial depression in all the manufacturing centres of the Continent and Great Britain. The effect of the McKinley Bill has been to almost paralyze many of the manufacturing interests of these countries, causing very great suffering to unnumbered thousands of industrious operatives. It strikes us that the commercial policy of the United States, as indicated by this Chinese-like exclusion of foreign productions, is one of extreme selfishness. It was not needed for the legitimate development of the manufacturing industries of the Republic. It seems to have been dictated by the grasping avarice of a few millionaire corporations. These soulless corporations often grind the bones of the poor by reducing their wages to the lowest minimum. Some of the employés in the miningvillages of Pennsylvania and elsewhere are living under conditions in which human beings can scarcely subsist.

In a nation which has increased in wealth beyond any previous experience in the world, which is paying its national debt with unexampled rapidity, which is lavishing millions in pensions, and whose treasury is overflowing with silver and gold, the strange fact is exhibited that while the rich are becoming richer, the poor are relatively becoming poorer still. The result is seen in the estrangement between the classes and the masses, in the labor unrest which heaves and throbs from

the mines of Cour d'Elêne to those of Tennessee, and in the labor-riots at Homestead and Buffalo.

At the same time this great Nation, with its millions of square miles of land still unoccupied, which await only the touch of labor and irrigation to greatly enrich the national wealth, is excluding with a strange jealousy, that very labor which is so necessary for its development. The Chinese, who have redeemed much of California from a desert, and made housekeeping in that land possible, are absolutely shut out of the country. Even the poor Indians of the Canadian Northwest were not permitted to cross the line to save the hop-crop which could scarce be harvested without their help.

There are some Americans who have enough of loyalty to humanity to be ashamed of the callous greed which inspires this selfishness.

The case of Canada differs from that of the United States in that the heavy indebtedness of the country, created by extensive canals and other public works undertaken, demands a large revenue, which can only be met by a heavy customs-tariff or by direct taxation. The latter no Government is likely to undertake.

The verdict of the Nation has doomed McKinleyism, and opens a new page in American history. Not by cutting itself off from the brotherhood of nations, but by weaving ties of commerce and mutual advantage, like Great Britain, with the very ends of the earth, will the American Nation or any nation fulfill the moral obligation of promoting the greatest happiness and highest civilization of all mankind.

GOVERNMENTS AND THE NEW CONFERENCE.

TW!

MONETARY

M. CUCHEVAL-CLARIGNY, OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. Revue des Deux Mondes, Paris, November 15. WICE has the United States failed in realizing its hope of entangling Europe in the embarrassment with which the American Republic is struggling. In 1878, upon the invitation of the United States, and again in 1881, upon the joint invitation of that country and France, Conferences were held, to endeavor to settle the relations between gold and silver coinage. These Conferences ended in smoke. What chance has the Conference now sitting at Brussels of reaching more positive conclusions than its predecessors?

Has a single important event occurred in Europe since 1881 of a kind to modify the monetary situation of any country whatever and to influence the resolution of its Ministers? Not one, so far as I am aware. In the German Empire, in Austria, Russia, and France, the governing bodies are inflexible monometallists. In England Mr. Goschen has uttered words which are thought to indicate a leaning on his part towards bimetallism; but the severity with which Mr. Gladstone has criticised the utterances of Mr. Goschen in regard to the monetary situation, indicates that the present Ministry will not deviate from the monometallic path. President Harrison, then, has but slight reason for hoping that the Conference now sitting has any chance of success.

How can it be successful? Is is not a chimerical enterprise to try to make people use a kind of money they do not want because they have a better kind at their disposal. The United States employs simultaneously four sorts of accredited circulation: greenbacks, silver certificates, gold certificates, and bank-notes. These altogether make a circulation of more than a billion dollars, while its circulation of silver coins, of its own free will and as the effect of its manifest preference, is limited to 60,000,000 dollars, or a dollar a head. In the face of these facts and figures, is it possible to take seriously the American propositions? Are these anything else, as Mr. Luzzatti has pointed out, than an attempt to unload on Europe the mass of silver coinage struck so uselessly and with so little foresight?

The Americans and their bimetallist followers insist that

silver has not lost its value in respect to merchandise; it has depreciated only in relation to gold, of which the value rises more and more by reason of its increasing rarity. The production of gold, they say, has diminished; it has become insufficient for the needs of humanity; a catastrophe is impending; you must, therefore, alongside of gold, restore silver to its former function. Is it true that the production of gold is diminishing? Mr. Goschen said so ten years ago. Mr. Laveleye repeated in a big book what Mr. Goschen said, and their words have been echoed by their admirers in chorus. It is true that the amount of gold produced was somewhat less during four or five years starting from 1879, and the two eminent men whom we have cited jumped to the conclusion that the diminution in the production of gold was a settled thing and would continue indefinitely. In fact, however, the production of gold has increased; it holds its own and more. According to Mr. Leech, Director of the Mint of the United States, the production of gold, which was about 309,224 pounds avoirdupois in 1886, reached about 414.768 pounds in 1891. Mr. Ottomar Haupt, a specialist on the question of the precious metals, estimates the gold coinage of the mints of the world, at 99,000,000 dollars in 1886, at 130,000,000 in 1887, at 140,000,000 in 1888, and at 176,000,000 in 1889. These figures show constant progress. Moreover, according to Mr. Haupt, the reserves of gold in European banks and the treasury of the United States amounted to 1,280,400,000 dollars in 1889 and to 1,382,800,000 in 1890, while in the first seven months of 1891 the reserves were already 140,000,000 dollars more than in 1892. On the 30th of June, 1892, the reserves of gold in all the European banks were still increasing.

The Government which has most cause to complain of the depreciation of silver is the Anglo-Indian. It receives all its revenues in silver, and is obliged to make very large payments in gold. By 1877, the expenditure on account of the construction of railways in India had risen to $450,000,000. Large amounts also had been spent for drainage and irrigation. All these sums had to be paid in England, and, therefore, in gold, either because the Anglo-Indian Government had borrowed the money there or guaranteed its repayment. Moreover, the interest on the Indian debt, the quota required from India for certain expenses of the Empire, the retiring pensions of ex-functionaries, have also to be paid in England, and, consequently, in gold. Let me add that there is no trouble in the relations between the Anglo-Indian administration and the British metropolis; the population of India suffers in no way, and transactions in the interior of the country continue on the old footing. The Financial Council of India, in a report on the financial situation, averred that "the present value of merchandise in general use, expressed in silver, furnishes no proof of diminution in the value of silver." If the Government is sometimes in a tight place, the country does not become poorer, and does not desire any change.

The Chamber of Commerce of Bombay, in answer to a request for its opinion on the subject, said that, while recognizing the inconveniences of the constant variations in exchange, “it was better, in the opinion of the Chamber, to let things take their natural course.' The English Government has so far accepted the judicious advice of the Bombay Chamber, and set an example which all the world would do wisely to follow. There are currents which it is foolish to try to ascend. Let the proprietors of silver-mines in the United States do what they may, they cannot prevent depreciation in the metal. Without speaking of Mexican mines, which constantly increase the amount of their production, the mines of the United States produced in 1889 4,180,000 pounds avoirdupois of silver, while in 1890 the production rose to 4,840,000 pounds. How can the price be kept up in the face of such a flood of the white metal?

Must we conclude, then, that silver money will cease to be used? I do not think so. When the Indian Government

shall have paid off the heavy loans it has contracted in England-and it declares that it does not intend to make any further loans the demand for silver in India will greatly increase. That country has long been and will always remain the most important and most regular consumer of the white metal. The functionaries of India who have appeared either before the Council of Finance, or the various commissions, have been unanimous in affirming that India's power to absorb silver has not diminished, and that there is not an Indian who does not try to hoard silver, while the native princes accumulate in their treasuries enormous masses of silver money. Cochin-China is beginning to be an important absorber. China has no real money, because the Imperial Government refuses to coin any. There are, then, 600,000,000 people in the extreme East for whom the use of silver money will be the first step in civilization. Shall we not initiate in the use of money the Africans whom we are trying to raise from their native barbarism? From all these things will come about gradually the restoration of silver to its old place in the currency of the world.

In Europe, the recovery of agriculture and trade from its present depression will be hastened, whenever the millions of gold now locked up in banks and treasuries to provide for the war so anxiously expected shall be put in circulation. For all Governments on the Continent of Europe, the key to the monetary situation is the releasing from military service all the young men who, instead of producing, keep these States and their families constantly in debt.

THE

DISSOLUTION.
TH. BARTH.

Die Nation, Berlin, November.

HE probability that the military programme will result in the dissolution of the Reichstag is a growing one. There is no indication that the independent public sentiment will be brought into accord with the Chancellor's measures. On the contrary, the presumption is daily gaining strength that the Government measure, in the form in which it is proposed to submit it to the Reichstag, will be unacceptable. Prince Bismarck, too, by taking a stand against the project, has materially enhanced the difficulties of the Government. He will rally his own friends to the Opposition standard, and, unwilling as the Advanced Liberals are to operate in concert with one whose plans they clearly see through, they nevertheless will not allow his conduct to influence their attitude. I have no doubt that as respects the introduction of the two years' service, and many other matters embodied in the programme, the Chancellor may show himself open to conviction. But that will not suffice. The cardinal question is whether he is prepared to modify his plan to the extent of submitting to a very considerable abatement of his demands, and that is hardly to be hoped from his unelastic character.

The project is clearly the outcome of anxious military consideration. Count Caprivi is fully sensible of the burdensome nature of the project, and the rectitude of his political character leaves no room for doubt that he is himself thoroughly impressed with the conviction that the proposed measure is in the interest of the German Empire. It is precisely this which assures us of his uncompromising insistence on the programme in its integrity. Apart from minor details the two courses open to the Reichstag are to accept it unconditionally or reject it absolutely.

Should the measure be rejected, dissolution is inevitable, provided, of course, the Emperor support the Chancellor. In that case the latter, after having exhausted all constitutional means, must retire with the consciousness of having done his duty.

This result may possibly be averted by unforeseen developments, but it is so far probable that a party which would not be taken unawares should have all its measures carefully con