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��Local Self-Govermnent.
��an issue can endure ; that familiarity with pubhc debate and pubHc concerns which broadens the mind and makes its action more intelHgent ; that per- sonal responsibihty which is put upon every man to vote understandingly ; that watchfulness against cunning schemes ; that meeting of combination by coun- ter-combination ; that jostle, stir, and freedom which are always found in a thorough democracy, — all tend to make the participants better citizens and better managers of their local affairs.
It is equally true that failure to take part in the local meeting results in a disuse of the political faculties, which in turn is an added temptation to fur- ther abstention. So, instead of having the right to manage its own affairs be- cause it can manage them best, the degenerate town may either drag along under its own misgovernment, or the State may step in, as a matter of self- protection, and insist upon a more vig- orous administration.
A more lamentable catastrophe to the State than the loss of the virility of the town democracies cannot be im- agined. If in all the towTis there is a synchronous growth of the disinclina- tion to take part in affairs, then the State has no material at hand with which to procure the enforcement of good laws in the towns. Political strength has been lost by disuse. That constant exercise in which lies the only safety of the political body has been discon-
��tinued, until flabbiness has succeeded firmness, indecision has supplanted a fixed purpose, ignorance and inexperi- ence have taken the place of thorough familiarity and trained skill. A few managers will control politics for their own advancement. Watchful corpora- tions and keen business- men will pro- cure the election of their creatures to the legislature. Laws will be enacted for the benefit of the few to the loss of the many tax-payers, and bad will go to worse, until the conscience of the community is at last awakened, and there is a political reformation.
Wherever the town democracies have maintained their right of self-govern- ment by making it right that they should govern, this political deteriora- tion has not made progress. It cannot begin as long as the governing faculty is constantly exercised. Dr. Edward Hitchcock, head of the department of physical culture in Amherst College, says to his students : " Young men, you cannot exercise enough on Saturday afternoons to last you a week." It is with the political faculties of a self- governing community as it is with the muscles of the body. Frequent exer- cise is necessary for their highest efficiency ; and the time spent in that exercise, and its cost as reckoned in time taken from money- making work, is the most economical outlay of the year. This is the practical corollary to the true proposition regarding the right of local self-government.
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