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"Dft 1, 1906
The Commoner.
WORLD PROBLEMS
Each locality has its questions of interest;
each state has subjects which arouse discussion;
each nation has its issues of paramount impor
tance, and the world has its problems. There are
transient questions which come and go and ques
tions which, like Tennyson's brook, "go on
forever." Each generation, in each country,
meets the issues presented by conditions, but
all the nations of the earth are constantly grap
pling with problems universal in their scope and
everlasting in duration. In his famous oration at
Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln spoko of an "un
finished work" which those buried there had
promoted and to which the living should dedicate
themselves. Every generation finds an unfinished
work when it enters upon life's stage and leaves
the work unfinished when it departs. The work
of civilization is ever an unfinished one for the
reason that new problems present themselves as
soon as present ones have been solved. In our
trip around the world we have had an opportu
nity to note some of the problems which most
concern all peoples at all times. The first con
cerns the legitimate sphere of the government
what should the government, acting for all the
people, do, and what should be left to tho in
dividual? This subject Is under consideration
in every civilized nation, and no two nations
have reached the same solution. At the two ex
tremes stand the individualist and the socialist
the former jealously guarding the individual and
opposing any encroachments upon his sphere of
action, the latter emphasizing tho work of the
state and seeking to convert tho work of produc
tion and the work of distribution into state func
tions. Between these extremes stand the mass of
the people, governed moro by the exigencies of
each individual case than by the theories put
forward by individualist and socialist. In some
jdirections the countries of Europe and Asia h,ave
extended the sphere of government beyond any
thing known in the United States; in some re
spects our government has enlarged the sphere of
,the state beyond anything attempted in the old
World, but everywhere the tendency is to extend
rather than to diminish the sphere of 'the state's
activities.
In the United States the public school is
probably the best illustration of extensive co-operation
on the part of the public. We regard the
education of the people as a matter of public
importance so vital a matter, in fact, that we
no 'longer depend upon the private school. The
private school has its place, and its establish
ment is encouraged by localities and regarded
with favor by the government, but the people
acting as a whole insist that the school door shall
be open to every child born into tho country.
In the last quarter of a century much advance
has been made in the- establishment by the public
of technical schools, such as law schools medical
colleges, dentistry schools, industrial schools and
agricultural colleges. Probably the greatest com
parative advance has been made in the matter
pf agricultural, colleges and experiment stations.
In Europe the public school system is spreading,
more rapidly in northern than in southern
Europe, but not less surely in southern Europe.
In Asia the people are just beginning to recog
nize education as a public function a part of
the state's work. In Japan public instruction has
for some years been modeled after the systems
employed in the United States and Europe. In
'Asia the public school is of a more modern origin,
but some idea of the rapidity with which the
public school is spreading in China may be known
from the fact that four thousand public schools
have been established within five years in the
district of one of the viceroys.
Municipal ownership presents another phase
of this subject; a century ago comparatively few
cities in this country or Europe owned their own
waterworks; now it is the exception that any
city of any size relies upon a private corporation
for its water supply. City lighting is having the
same history although municipalization began
later than with the waterworks. Now comes
the question of street car lines, and as the same
principles apply, the same inevitable trend toward
municipal ownership is noticeable. The exper
ience of all the cities has been practically the
same; first, liberal franchises to induce the es
tablishment of water, light or street car plants;
Second, efforts at regulation and restriction, made
'futile by the corrupt influence of the franchise
companies; third, municipal ownership as a pro
tection to the people and as a means of purifying
politics. In the extent to which municipal owner
ship has been carried Great Britain leads tho
MR. BRYAN'S FORTY-FOURTH LETTER
world, although in other countries some cities
like Vienna have rivalled the cities of Great
Britain.
Ac In.noarl,y all of tho countries of Europe and
Asia the telegraph lines aro now owned by tho
government, and in most of the cities tho tele
phone system is also owned by tho public. It is
hardly necessary to say that in all countries of
any standing the mail service is now in tho hands
of the government. There is very noticeablo
growth In the government ownership of rail
roads. Many years ago tho government owner
ship of railroads was tested in various Euro
pean nations and the tendency toward the exten
sion of government mileage and tho diminution
of tho mileage of privately owned roads has been
constant. In some countries there is still com
petition between tho government lines and the
lines owned by private corporations, but ex
perience leaves no doubt that tho lines owned
by the government will ultimately supplant tho
roads in private hands. Switzerland has within
four years purchased tho main railroad system
within her territory; Japan has within a year
extended the government railroads by purchas
ing some of the roads in private hands, and the
Indian government is planning to absorb moro
of the privately owned lines. In France a num
ber of the railroads hold fifty year charters, which
have now more than half expired, and which pro
vide for the surrender of the lines to tho govern
ment at the end of that period the government
in the meantime guaranteeing a fixed interest
and an annual contribution to the sinking .fund.
While local considerations and local condi
tions have much to do in the determination of
each case, there is one general principle which
is becoming more and more clearly outlined as the
question of government ownership is discussed,
namely, that when a monopoly becomes necessary
it must be government monopoly and not monopoly
in private hands. In other words, the principle
now most familiarly applied is, "competition
where competition is possible; government mo
nopoly where competition is impossible." I havo
not space for the discussion of details; many
different methods have been employed in differ
ent countries for the acquiring of private plants
by the city or state, and different methods have
been employed in different countries for the elim
ination of the political element from public ser
vice. Those who havo faith in the intelligence
and capacity of the people havo confidence that
they will be able to reduce to a minimum any
dangers attendant upon a course which they be
lieve to be necessary to their own welfaro. The
fact that after more than a quarter of a century
of experience no retrograde movement
is to be observed furnishes some proof that the
dangers anticipated have not in practice been
shown to be insurmountable.
Another world problem is to be found in the
effort to fix woman's place in the social economy.
No one can travel around tho world without not
ing the' wide difference that exists between the
treatment of woman in different countries. In
-the Orient woman has, until comparatively recent
years, occupied a very inferior position. In no
respect has the influence of the west upon tho
east been more marked than in the elevation of
woman. Even in Japan, where for half a cen
tury the ideas of America and Europe have found
vigorous growth, woman's position ig not yet
equal to man's. The education of boys received
, attention before the education of the girls, but
the girls' schools are now multiplying in number
and in attendance. Traveling in the country one
still sees the blackened teeth, it formerly having
been regarded as the proper thing for a woman
to make her teeth black after marriage but among
the young generation the custom is unknown. In
China woman has not only lagged behind man in
education, but she has been subjected to a tor
ture known as foot-binding which is to be found
nowhere else. Societies aro now being formed to
discourage tho practice but it is sad to learn how
slowly this reform has grown. In both Japan
and China plural marriage, or what has been
equivalent to plural marriage, has been common.
The man has been allowed to take unto himself
as many wives as ho could support without asking
the consent pf former wives a practice which
seems strange to those who have been brought
' up to regard the marriage vows as mutually bind
ing and to consider man and. woman as stand-
ing upon an equal plane when entering upon the
relation of husband and wife.
In India child marriage is one of the worst
customs that has afflicted these unhapply people.
Girls have boon given in marriage when only
nino or ton years old, and a widow of twolvo
or tfilrtcon is not unusual. Ite-marrinco of
widows is not permitted under Hindu ctmtom
bu tee, or tho burning of tho widow formoHy'
mem ami Aiabla tho women aro still vollnii nmi
excluded from tho society of men It Is dinicul
Mr10."10 I08B that hn como to Hode y rom
S civilization co-operation In tho work
goodiXTT m"V8 pofi,Uon lB not
thn nil, J" ,n tho Un,tG(1 States, although In
tho Christian countries her rights are moro re-
MaxCt O'nen 'thoL lZ&
8av fhV ir fc ty, Ironch lcctrer, used to
say that if he was going to bo born a woman
ho would pray to bo born in tho United States'
n ? a hap?y ,xnrc8B,n. 'or surely there is
l CUntry In wh,ch B0 hIh an oatlmato
is placed upon woman or whore sho moro fully
shares In both tho joys and responsibilities of
nhH-iSV110 8,l11)01r,or,tr of her position sho has
Christianity and education to thank; Christianity
lias ever recognized woman's equality with man
and education has fitted her to bo a real help
mate In life.
A third nuestlon which one meets ovorywhoro
s the labor question. In Europo It Is a question
between labor and capital and tho laborer Is or
ganizing for the advancement of his welfare. The
guild and the labor organization havo long sought
to enlarge tho laborer's share of tho joint profit
of labor and capital and to improve the condi
tions which fonn his environment. Tho efforts
of these societies have mainly boon directed, first,
toward the Imnrovoment of sanitary conditions;
second, toward the shortening of hours; and third,
toward an increase in wages. It looks like a re
flection on mankind in general to say that labor
ing men should have to ask legislation to protect
their lives while at work. It would seem that
employers would of their own accord regard tho
safety and tho health of employes as of para
mount Importance, and yet, it has been necessary
even in the United States to compel tho build
ing of air-shafts in mines and to force tho use of
safety appliances on railroads and street car
lines and in tho operation of machinery. Still
more strange Is It that It should be necessary to
fix a minimum age at which children can bo em
ployed. Tho very sight of little boys and girls
working in factories at tho expense of thejr
physical growth and their mental development
Is so revolting that one can hardly understand
how such legislation can be necessary, and yet,
throughout Europe and the United States labor
ing men through their organizations havo been
compelled to fight for the protection of the chil
dren of the poor. la Asia tho inauguration of
factories has not yet been followed by the pro
tection of the children.
Reforms advanco In groups. It Is seldom that
one real reform is achieved alone, so the limita
tion of hours of labor has, as a rule, accompanied
legislation for the protection of children and for
"the improvement of sanitary conditions in mines
and work shops. Those who now enjoy an eight
hour day can remember the nine-hour day arid
tho ten-hour day, but can, hardly recall tho days
of twelve or fourteen hours. In the factories that
are starting up in the Orient long hours are tho
rule and with long hours ihfre Is the attendant
degradation of the toiler. , The demand for the
eight-hour day is an international one and the
laboring man Is gradually winning his fight, partly
by an appeal to conscience, and partly bv proof
that tho highest efficiency is inconsistent with long
hours.
In the raising of wages two factors have been
at work the labor organization and the higher
efficiency that has come with more universal edu
cation. Tho educated workman can earn more
than the Ignorant one and he soon demands a
compensation commensurate with his services.
The labor saving machine has played no un
important part in Increasing the workman's com
pensation. It has raised the quality of' the work
done and has brought into use a higher grade of
skill than was formerly employed. While the
labor saving machine Is by some regarded as an
tagonistic to the welfare of the laborer, no far
sighted observer can fail 'to note that It has In
creased rather than diminished the number em
ployed at the work into which it has been Intro
duced, while it has Introduced a higher skill which,
in turn, has secured a higher compensation. Tho
handling of a railroad locomotive requires more
skill than tho handling of a freight team and
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