250 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



on the other hand individuals may cheat the state if 

 they can. But what seems to be a better conception of 

 government is that it is simply all of us together seek- 

 ing through common activities the highest good of all. 

 Compulsion may be necessary as a means of securing 

 the support of the thoughtless, the ignorant and the 

 willful. But the essential idea is one of common ac- 

 tion for the common good. Laws are merely expres- 

 sions of the common will for the common wealth and 

 the common welfare. It seems clear that a true democ- 

 racy must hold firmly to the idea of government that 

 regards it as merely one of the ways in which people 

 act together for mutual interests. 



This distinction in attitude toward government is 

 vital. There is much discussion about what govern- 

 ment should do and should not do. If government is 

 a superman, a separate power, something above and 

 beyond the all-of-us-together, then we may well insist 

 on limitations to its activities and requirements. But 

 if it is truly the rule of the people its activities are to be 

 judged purely by their effectiveness. We are not to 

 urge that government do this or do that merely because 

 we have a blind faith in some superior wisdom residing 

 in the state; nor do we refuse to ask government to do 

 other things merely because we fear socialism or any 

 other " ism." There are but two questions to be an- 

 swered when governmental activities are up for con- 

 sideration : ( i ) On the whole is governmental ac- 

 tivity whether law or regulation or management or 

 actual ownership most effective in gaining the ends 

 which the people really want and need? and (2) in the 

 longer view does this activity make the people them- 

 selves stronger or weaker in foresight, judgment, ini- 

 tiative and general intelligence? 



