88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



next generation on more equal terms in life. The tendency is to empha- 

 size parental obligation rather than the claims parents have upon their 

 children. As the opportunity to acquire a free hold on the public lands 

 has diminished, the necessity of creating other opportunities by educa- 

 tion has come to be more generally recognized. Hence the growing 

 liberality with which the public school systems and the state uni- 

 versities are supported by taxation. Trade and continuation schools 

 are helping to bring the individual into better adjustment with 

 his environment. The splendid system of high schools in New York 

 City is the work of the last fifteen years. The metropolis has also under- 

 taken to provide adults with education upon all sorts of subjects by 

 means of lectures. Not only have the obligations of parenthood in- 

 creased, but man's masterful position in the home has declined. The 

 common law has been modified until the property rights of the married 

 woman in many states are essentially on a par with those of the married 

 man, or at least the trend of affairs is clearly in this direction. The 

 idea that woman is man's inferior is in growing disrepute, and one 

 avenue of usefulness after another is being opened to her. The move- 

 ment for "votes for women" is progressing rapidly throughout the 

 civilized world. Likewise, the health of the common man has ceased 

 to be a matter of indifference and has become a matter of public con- 

 cern. The fact that no portion of society is safe so long as any portion 

 is left to fester and rot is more fully understood and acted upon than 

 ever before. The fall in the death rate indicates an improvement in the 

 state of the masses of mankind. Such scourges as yellow fever and 

 cholera have apparently been banished, and well-defined limits set to the 

 ravages of smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever and many other diseases. 

 Again, the enactment of more stringent corrupt practises acts aims at 

 abridging the influence which the property-owning classes exert in 

 public affairs. 



Ill 



The insistent demand for direct primaries, the initiative, the refer- 

 endum and the recall indicate a disposition on the part of the rank and 

 file to have more to say in our political and civic life. The object of 

 these institutions is to make our representatives more truly responsible 

 to those whom they are supposed to represent. They evidence the 

 popular distrust in which our legislative bodies are held. They are the 

 result and not the cause of the failures of representative government. 

 They are the weapons with which the people are seeking to defend 

 themselves against the aggressions of office-seekers and the property- 

 holding class. The one-time boss of Cincinnati, George B. Cox, was 

 recently quoted as saying: 



I made good in polities because I never lied to any one and because I never 

 went back on a friend. What is more, despite some criticism to the contrary, I 

 always tried to serve the people. 



