Government and Administration of the United States | Page 4

branch, at least, of their legislatures is
composed of members holding their seats on account of noble birth,
thus admitting the aristocratic element into their governments.
#Democracy.#--A pure democracy is a government in which all the
people rule directly, meeting in popular assemblies in which is
determined by the votes of the majority how the government is to be
administered. This form of government is obviously possible only in
very small communities. Several of the Grecian states governed
themselves after this manner. No perfect example of a nation with this
form of government can be said to exist at this time. The nearest
approach to pure democracy is found in certain cantons of Switzerland.
The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that the early Germans governed
themselves in a purely democratic manner, and the first governments of
several of our American colonies were of the democratic type. When
we come to the study of local government in the United States we shall
see the democratic form followed in the New England Town Meetings.
#Republic.#--A republic is a democracy adapted by means of the
introduction of the representative principle, to the government of a
large and widely separated people. Under this form of government the
people rule themselves, not directly, as in a democracy, but through
agents or representatives of their own selection. The participation of the
people in their own government consists therefore merely in the choice
of officers to represent them and carry out their wishes. There exist at
present several republics, the tendency seeming to be for nations to
approach more nearly this form of government. France has been, since
1870, the best European example of a republic. Our own

government--the United States of America--is to us the most interesting
and important example of a republic.
#Popular Government.#--By the word 'popular' is meant, of or by the
people, and by popular government is to be understood a government in
the administration of which the people as a whole participate. Every
change by which new and greater political powers are given into the
hands of the common people is considered a step towards the full
realization of popular government. During the last one hundred years
great strides have been made in this direction by all European nations
except Turkey and Russia. The extent to which this movement towards
popular control of government can be safely and successfully carried is
a question of very great importance. To a very large extent it depends
upon the intelligence, previous training, and natural political ability of
the people who are to be entrusted with their own government.
CHAPTER III.
The Functions of Government.
Broadly speaking, the functions performed by government are of a
threefold order: the establishment, interpretation, and enforcement of
laws. A division of government into three branches is thus called for:
the legislative, the judicial and the executive. The manner in which
these departments are related to each other, the extent to which they are
vested in the same hands, and the degree in which they are separate
from each other and independent in their workings, differ in different
countries. In England, as we have seen, the executive and legislative
functions are closely united. In our government, as we shall see when
we come to consider its structure, complete independence of the three
departments has been aimed at.
All statesmen agree that a good government should possess ample
power to interpret its own laws, and sufficient strength to fully enforce
them. When we come, however, to the question of what are the proper
subjects for control by government, and what for free management by
individuals, we reach a subject upon which writers and thinkers have

been unable to agree.
Under the great question, over how broad a field it is expedient and
right to extend the activities of government, are embraced many of the
great topics at present agitating the public mind. Difference upon this
point has been one of the underlying causes of the existence of political
parties in the United States, and has furnished one of the real springs of
our history. Communism, socialism, and anarchy, may be embraced
under this question. This it is that makes the study of the principles of
government, especially in the United States, so important to every one
who would understand the political life around him, and be able to
form an intelligent decision upon the questions of the day. Shall the
nation or the state own and manage the railroads, the telegraph lines,
and the canals? Shall education receive the support of the state? Shall
the employment of women and children in mines and factories be
regulated by law? Shall the city own its own street railways, its markets,
its water and gas supply, its telephones, and its water fronts? Shall this
or that duty