2 74 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



SOCIAL LEGISLATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST 



By Peofessok WILLIAM P. OGBURN 



THE Pacific coast states represent a future empire. Nature has 

 marked them off by natural barriers and by climate more distinctly 

 than any other division of the United States. This fact so impressed 

 the distinguished author of the "American Commonwealth" that he spec- 

 ulated upon the development of a Pacific coast type of the human race 

 and pointed out that this region might quite naturally have been the 

 home of a separate nation. Oregon, Washington and California are 

 equivalent in area to France and the British Isles. Their population, 

 hovi^ever, is only four and a half million, while the population of France 

 and the British Isles is eighty-five million. It can not safely be pre- 

 dicted that these far western states will ultimately hold so dense a pop- 

 ulation as these European nations; yet, undoubtedly, the future will 

 see an immense population dwelling in these new states. The opening 

 of the Panama Canal has most dramatically forced this fact on the 

 attention of present inhabitants of the Pacific Coast. 



Here, then, an empire is being built. To the student of science it 

 suggests several questions. How can a state be scientifically built? 

 What principles do the researches of political science yield? Should 

 state-makers use the experimental method ? Will a democracy, in which 

 the common people rule, be sufficiently far-sighted and capable to util- 

 ize scientific principles in building their future state? These ques- 

 tions arise when one studies the experiences of the Pacific coast states 

 in state-making. It is the purpose of this paper to present the begin- 

 ings of empire-building in Washington, Oregon and California as seen 

 through their treatment of social problems. Before such a presenta- 

 tion is made, the viewpoints suggested by these questions need some 

 elaboration. 



The first question is: How does political science say a state should 

 be scientifically built ? Can a state be built as scientifically as an engi- 

 neer spans the East Eiver with a suspension bridge? Political science 

 is not as exact a science as engineering, yet it has developed sufficiently 

 to speak definitely about the making of states. The contributions of 

 this science to state-craft may be referred to as the theory of the state. 



At the time of the declaration of independence by the American 

 colonies, the theory of the state held that the government which gov- 

 erned least governed best. Organized government as then known in 

 Europe had been achieved primarily by the strong man, as typified by 



