EDITOR'S TABLE. 



125 



Money taken from a man for an ob- 

 ject that he does not approve, such 

 as circulating libraries, public baths, 

 and a hundred and one other schemes 

 supposed to be for the benefit of peo- 

 ple, is as much a violation of the 

 principle of equal rights, the unfail- 

 ing test of a high civilization, as the 

 highwayman's possession of a travel- 

 er's purse. The same is true of taxes 

 in support of so-called public chari- 

 ties, which are not charities at all, 

 properly speaking. They are simply 

 compulsory largesses, since they are 

 not voluntary contributions prompt- 

 ed by the altruism of the citizen, but 

 forced contributions that he is always 

 glad to escape. 



So enormously has this policy of 

 aggression grown within the past 

 few years; so indifferent have people 

 become to the fundamental duty of 

 human society, namely, the main- 

 tenance of order and the enforce- 

 ment of justice; little wonder that 

 "a spirited foreign policy" is now 

 one of the most cherished ideals of 

 the American people. It is only an 

 extension of the domestic aggres- 

 sion to the field of foreign politics. 

 People that violate incessantly and 

 without the slightest compunction 

 the rights of one another, no matter 

 what fine motives they may give 

 themselves in justification, are cer- 

 tain to be deficient in respect for the 

 rights of the foreigner. Not in a 

 negative way alone by the passage 

 of tariff and anti-immigration acts 

 will they attack him. But they will 

 attack him positively, issuing bluster- 

 ing declarations of defiance and in- 

 sult, proposing the violation of the 

 laws of nations in order to interfere 

 in behalf of rebellious subjects, con- 

 niving at conspiracies to overthrow 

 a monarchical government in the in- 

 terest of a more democratic one, and 

 making elaborate preparations on 

 land and sea to engage in any con- 

 flict that may be provoked. 



The induction to be made from an 

 examination of these phenomena of 

 American social and political life is 

 obvious. It is that we shall never 

 reach the highest civilization by the 

 path that we are pursuing so ener- 

 getically and with so much self-satis- 

 faction. A continuance of the policy 

 of aggression, both domestic and for- 

 eign, can not fail to end disastrously. 

 Devotion to the work of perfecting 

 our criminal laws and the suppres- 

 sion of crime; to the simplification 

 of our civil laws, making justice 

 cheap and easy ; and to the redemp- 

 tion of our various governments 

 from the pilferers that have taken 

 possession of them, may not appeal 

 very powerfully to the imagination 

 of men intent on great and showy 

 schemes of state philanthropy. But 

 it will do infinitely more to promote 

 American civilization. It will teach 

 men to respect the rights of others, 

 and to do nothing that will violate 

 even remotely the principle of jus- 

 tice. It will lead them to depend 

 upon themselves that is, voluntary 

 co-operation, instead of the state 

 that is, compulsory co-operation to 

 promote the schemes of the philan- 

 thropist for the alleviation of human 

 suffering and the advancement of 

 the human race. 



ABSTRACTIONS IN EDUCATION. 



A recent article by Mr. Freder- 

 ick Burk in the Atlantic Monthly 

 gives a vivid idea of the uselessness 

 and worse than uselessness of much 

 of the instruction that is imparted to 

 normal-school classes under the head 

 of Psychology and Methods of Edu- 

 cation. Mr. Burk has been attend- 

 ing classes in several of the foremost 

 institutions for the training of teach- 

 ers, and furnishes verbatim reports 

 of what he heard. As we think it 

 of importance that attention should 

 be called as widely as possible to his 



