PRESENT POLITICS 189 



come to realize that they have been seeing darkly and now find them- 

 selves face to face with the fact that the government is no richer than 

 the possibility of levying upon the income of its citizens. Favors 

 granted by legislation are seen to mean that the hand of the tax and 

 customs collector must be thrust into the pockets of the people to secure 

 the necessary funds. As the realization of this simple truth becomes 

 wider spread self-interest and the spirit of democratic equality rises 

 against the practise. The vigorous opposition to ship subsidies in recent 

 congresses are indicative of the new tendency. All grants by govern- 

 ment, direct and indirect, are being more rigorously scrutinized, and 

 none more so than that of protection against competition. Without 

 enumerating the various influences that have produced the present chaos 

 in practical politics, it is safe to say that while the tariff directly affects 

 the cost of living, the present complaints against the recent legislation 

 is due, not so much to an increased burden of duties as to a new sensi- 

 tiveness to any duties that may seem to carry special benefit to a few at 

 the expense of the many. The mind of the average citizen is reflecting 

 the change that is taking place in his economic status. He no longer 

 thinks of himself as a beneficiary in the development of the country due 

 to the establishment and growth of great manufacturing businesses. 

 He now sees that he is a consumer. When he used to pay out his money 

 for protected articles his thoughts turned to the collateral gains that 

 were expected from the country's expansion. Now he parts reluctantly 

 with the price demanded because the only return is the goods received 

 in exchange, and the additional cost due to the tariff comes to be 

 regarded as an unwarranted exaction. There is no prospect that there 

 will be any further expansion in which he can share. His economic 

 interest lies in the present and forces him to buy his necessary commod- 

 ities as cheaply as possible, so that the tariff becomes an object of 

 hostility. The attitude to-day is not merely the result of an era of high 

 prices due to other causes in addition to the tariff ; it is not a temporary 

 agitation stirred up by trouble-making partisans ; it is a change in mind 

 of the people due to a change in fundamental economic facts. 



When the people begin to realize that they have to foot all the bills 

 of the public service, directly or indirectly, and that there is no entity 

 called " the government " upon which the burden can be laid ; when 

 it is clear that the government is simply themselves in their organized 

 capacity, the institution of graft begins to totter. There arises a strong 

 resolution to examine critically the expenditure of public funds when 

 the private citizen feels that he is contributing them. Exactness and 

 economy in the conduct of the common business and the administration 

 of governmental affairs begins to be demanded from those officials who 

 were formerly suffered to share in the distribution of the riches that fig- 

 ured as part of the public aid and encouragement given private individ- 



