ADDITIONAL REFERENCES FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

1. Berry and Howe's Actual Democracy: Chapter XI.

2. Haskin's American Government: Chapter XXIX.

3. Abbott's Impressions of Theodore Roosevelt: Chapter V.

4. Tuft's The Real Business of Living: Chapter XLI.

5. Dawson's Organized Self-Government: Chapters XXVII and XLII.

6. Duggan's The League of Nations.

7. Greenan and Meredith's Everyday Problems of American Democracy: Chapter XIV.

8. The World Almanac and Book of Facts.

CHAPTER XXII

FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF GOVERNMENT

"Taxes are the Sinews of the Commonwealth."

-Cicero

Men who study science tell us stories of the wonders of the air, the sky, the earth, and the sea. Some of these are difficult for us to believe. Did you know that the pretty coral necklace many a girl hopes some day to own is made up of the skeletons of countless tiny bodies of minute sea animals? These little coral zoöids or polyps (meaning "animals with many feet") live in the shallow parts of the ocean near the equator. Here a colony of these minute animals live, eat, reproduce their kind, and die. The tiny flower-like skeletons of these little animals are made of lime. After death the action of the water cements these bodies together. The young animals cling to the bodies of the dead polyps until they too die and are in their turn cemented to the old. Gradually, slowly, this rocky pile grows larger and larger. Sometimes it becomes large enough to project above the sea level to form a long, narrow reef. Again it is so extensive that the ocean, as it washes over it, deposits there some of the mud and sand that it carries. Soon this little reef becomes the home of seeds carried to it by the wind. Then birds and animals find their way there, and mariners place a little island on their charts. These little coral animals, by uniting and building one on the other, have created such great islands as the Bermudas.

So it is with us. There are certain things we cannot do except by working together. For this reason we have united and organized government. To these governments we have

delegated certain powers. But this is not enough. Just as each little coral animal must give its life to make that reef grow larger and larger, so we must give something of ourselves to the government we have established to make that government ever more useful.

The Duties of Government. Most of the present-day

A ROAD IN ARKANSAS BEFORE IMPROVEMENT The cost of hauling over such a road must be added to the selling price of the goods.

duties of government were at one time performed by private individuals, if done at all. Thus in the time of Benjamin Franklin each householder had to keep the sidewalk in front of his own house clean. Some neglected the duty. So Benjamin Franklin proposed that all who lived on a certain street in Philadelphia should pay one person to keep the pavements clean. He found a man who was willing to do this for sixpence a week. The people discovered that the work could be done at less cost in this way and also done

better. Since these householders paid taxes, they proposed that the work be done by a city employee. And Franklin tells us that this in time "raised a general desire to have all the streets paved, and made the people more willing to submit to a tax for that purpose.' A street can be paved and kept clean at public expense at less cost than if the

THE SAME ROAD AFTER IMPROVEMENT

Four or five times as heavy a load can be hauled with the same power and the ease and comfort of driving over such a highway add enormously to its value.

residents of that street were each responsible for paving and cleaning the street in front of his own property.

Until a few decades ago the insane were kept in the homes of their families at private expense. Some of these poor unfortunates would be locked up in small rooms on an upper floor. At times their screams would terrify the neighbors. Some would escape and destroy property and even take life. It was a costly way to care for the insanecostly to the family, costly to the community. Then private

hospitals began to offer to take these people and care for them. But not all families could afford to meet this expense. So in time the people decided that it was cheaper and better to care for these unfortunates in public mental hospitals at public expense. In this way more money was paid out from taxes but the total cost to the community was much less. Moreover, all who were irresponsible could be kept from injuring the lives or property of others. Then, too, all of these unfortunates would have better care than most of them received in their homes, and many could be cured and restored to their communities as useful citizens.

The people in a small village might safely leave fire protection to the care of each householder. But when the community becomes larger, this sort of protection is so inadequate as to cost much more than it would to have the town take over the job of fire protection and pay trained firemen and buy modern fire apparatus from the public funds provided by the tax payer.

Good roads cost the tax payers money. But bad roads cost the people of a community much more. Good roads are cheaper than paths in the mud. So, too, good schools cost money to the tax payers. But ignorance costs the community more. It is good economy to have good schools.

Just because we can do many things through public employees at less expense and do them better than if they were left to private endeavor, governments are doing what they are doing today. But the more government does, the greater the cost to the tax payer.

Objections to Paying Taxes. In the days of monarchies and class rule, taxes were put on those least able to pay by those most able to pay. Those who had to submit to such unjust taxation objected, and properly, to paying any taxes at all. This objection to taxes is met in a democracy by placing taxes on those able to pay. Some people object to paying taxes because public moneys have too frequently been squandered and misspent. Such money might better