waged for the purpose of making the world better in the end.

Earning a Living. Every citizen should try to earn an honest living for himself and those dependent upon him. A man who does not work is a burden upon the community. What he eats and wears is produced by the labor of other people. Now, an able-bodied man who lives upon the labor of others loses his own self-respect and deserves to lose the respect of others. Hence a good citizen will refuse to eat bread that he has not earned, if it is possible for him to earn bread for himself. Sometimes men cannot earn their own living because they cannot find work to do. When this is the case, there is something wrong somewhere, and it is the duty of good citizens to try to discover where the wrong is and to take measures to remedy the wrong. In a land of plenty no strong-armed man, willing to work, ought to be compelled to go hungry or to eat the bread of charity.

The Duty of Studying Political Questions.-Before you enter upon politics you should make a careful study of political questions. As a voter you will be called upon to do work upon a great political machine, for that is what the American government is. Ought you not to be prepared for this work? Ought you not to understand this machine? A person would not begin to work on a watch until he had studied carefully the workings of a watch. Neither should a person meddle with the American government until he knows something about its workings, for it is a machine much more complicated and difficult

to understand than a watch. It has big wheels and little wheels and wheels within wheels curiously and nicely fitted together, each doing its own work, doing it well when voters are wise, doing it ill when voters are foolish. Is it not plain, then, that you ought to begin at once to study this machine so that when you begin to operate it you will know something of its workings?

While you are at school you may prepare yourselves to vote in an intelligent manner when you come of age. You may do this in two ways,-by reading and by discussion. Read history. You cannot understand the present without understanding the past. Read the lives of . great men. The founders of our government were unselfish men. Read what they wrote about government and learn what they did for their country. Read the history of political parties and study their platforms. Read works upon government. Read good newspapers and inform yourselves of the political questions of the day.

But reading is not enough. Along with reading must go discussion. Our government is founded upon free and open discussion. This is why citizens are guaranteed freedom of speech. By talking over a question in a goodnatured way with friends we learn a number of things. In the first place, we learn more about the question under discussion. We almost always find that our friend knows something about it that we did not know. Then we learn to express our thoughts more clearly and forcibly. We never know a thing well enough until we can tell it to some one else. Discussion also teaches us to have respect

for the opinions of other people; and this is very good for us. Above all, discussion is good because it leads to the truth.

The Duties of Voters.-When you come to vote you will be glad to have studied political questions, for in the polling booth you will find yourself face to face with duties which, if you fulfill them properly, will require all the knowledge you may have gained. What are these duties? If an intelligent man will ask himself the question seriously he will conclude that he ought at least to do the following things:

(1) To vote whenever it is his privilege to vote.

(2) To vote only for honest men for office.

(3) To accept no bribe and to give no bribe. (4) To know what he is voting for.

(5) To know something of the character of the person for whom he votes.

(6) To prefer his country to his party.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Can you name a war that was a blessing to mankind? One that was a curse?

2. Would you fight for your country, even if you thought it was in the wrong?

3. Should a citizen obey a bad law? Who shall judge whether a law is bad or good?

4. Explain how a single vote may decide the result of an election. 5. What are some of the things a politician must do?

6. Would you vote for your party even if you thought it was wrong?

7. Of the duties mentioned in the lesson which stands first in importance? Which stands second? Which third? Which fourth?

XII. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: MAJORITY

RULE

"That government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."-Abraham Lincoln.

Introduction.-Now that we have learned what citizenship is and what are the rights and duties of the citizen, we may begin to study the workings of the government which it is the duty of citizens to operate and keep in repair. And first I want you to learn something about the powers of the American government. When an officer, perhaps a man of small stature, lightly lays his hand upon the shoulder of a big powerful man and tells him to "come along," why does the big man instantly obey? From what source does the officer derive his power? When a body of lawmakers makes a law that no wooden buildings shall be erected in a certain part of a city, why do the landowners there submit and build no houses of wood on their land? Where do the lawmakers get their power to make the law? A judge sentences a man to die, and in a few days or in a few weeks the poor wretch is hurried to his doom. Where does the judge get such power? Such questions as these, questions about the power of government, are of the greatest importance and should receive your most careful attention.

The Power of the People. In the olden times it was

thought that government came down to men from heaven and that rulers received their offices and their power from God. Only a little more than two hundred years ago a great English writer published a book in which there was a picture representing Government as a mighty giant with a crown on his head, hovering over the earth and

Such a picture would not
In our day government

ruling it with staff and sword. represent government to-day. is very close to men and is looked upon as a purely human affair. Men plan and build government somewhat as they plan and build houses and battle ships. In this planning