412 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



beneficial. Does any one suppose that 

 the public geta full value for the enor- 

 mous expenditure incurred for the sala- 

 ries of officials? If any one does, we 

 venture to say that he is seriously in 

 error. Neither the intelligence nor the 

 zeal of public employees in general 

 comes up to the standard that might be 

 realized if our politics were dominated 

 by higher principles ; and not only is a 

 vast burden thus laid on the industry of 

 the country, but many advantages which 

 might be secured to the public are lost. 

 Let us make the most of any encourage- 

 ment we have received ; but let us not 

 draw the lesson, either that the people 

 at large are very wise and good, or that 

 the forces of evil have been permanent- 

 ly discouraged. The people at large are 

 good enough to do a great deal better 

 than they generally do; that is about as 

 much as can be said on that point. The 

 forces of evil are hard to discourage and 

 very hard to destroy. They watch their 

 opportunity, and are as assiduous as the 

 spider in repairing the party webs which 

 an outraged public sentiment may have 

 torn. Public opinion is something that 

 should be invoked at all times against 

 every form of evil, and every possible 

 means should be used to keep it alive 

 and active and watchful. The adula- 

 tion so frequently bestowed upon "the 

 people " is a moral narcotic rather than 

 a stimulant, as it suggests that every- 

 thing must go well in a country where 

 there are such vast reservoirs of wis 

 dom and virtue. The true note to 

 strike is that of responsibility. An hon- 

 est man does not require to be told he 

 is honest; and a dishonest man is not 

 made better by it. The message to each 

 and all is, that we have public duties 

 and responsibilities commensurate with 

 the great advantages we derive from 

 our membership in a civilized state, 

 and that we can not neglect these 

 without dishonor and loss. 



INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 



IT is greatly to the credit of the 

 United States and Great Britain that 

 they should now on several occasions 

 have submitted disputes which might 

 otherwise have given rise to war, to 

 the decision of a court of arbitration, 

 or, as in the case of the San Juan 

 question, to that of an individual ar- 

 bitrator. One conclusion that may be 

 drawn from this course of procedure 

 is that, as between these two coun- 

 tries at least, war is a discredited and 

 obsolete method of settling disputes. 

 The question now is why it should not 

 soon become the same for all civilized 

 nations. The burden of military taxa- 

 tion in Europe is becoming well-nigh 

 intolerable. One or two countries, nota- 

 bly Italy, are now on the very verge 

 of national bankruptcy, and all because 

 the wit of man, at the close of the nine- 

 teenth century of what has been called 

 the " Christian " era, can not devise any 

 adequate means save war on a huge and 

 most destructive scale for the adjust- 

 ment of conflicting international claims. 

 It seems impossible that the sin and 

 shame of this should not before long 

 become intolerable to all well-disposed 

 men; and on the continent of Europe, 

 not less than in England and the United 

 States, the great majority of men may 

 come under that designation. The time 

 has arrived, we think, for a serious 

 demonstration in favor of arbitration as 

 a substitute for the barbarous method 

 of the sword ; and the duty of initiating 

 such a movement would seem clearly 

 to lie with the two nations who have 

 themselves set the example of a success- 

 ful and happy use of arbitration. The 

 project of persuading the nations to 

 turn their back on war is indeed a vast 

 one, but that is no reason why it should 

 not be taken in hand why, in the first 

 place, a rough sketch, as it were, of the 

 conditions necessary for the realization 

 of the object in view should not be 

 made and taken into consideration. Of 



