Great American Issues Political Social Economic a Constructive Study

fair opportunity. Hence the problems of government are given first place in our thesis. The primary function of government is to establish equality of opportunity, and if, through the indifference of its citizens, forms and procedure which restrict this opportunity are allowed to gain the upper hand, the government itself becomes in that degree a menace to the public welfare. Without expounding any exaggerated theory that government alone can make men happy and contented, it must be recognized that government possesses in a high degree the power to make them unhappy and discontented. It may, indeed, go far towards engendering a spirit of revolt. It is from this point of view that we shall endeavor to review some of the vital problems of government. Again, the individual depends for his happiness upon his activity. He loses his spur to activity if industrial conditions fail to insure him the opportunity to exercise his gifts and to obtain a just reward for the effort which he makes. The second phase of the problems of the day, therefore, concerns the problems of labor. We shall see here how much depends upon the maintenance and continual development of the standard of living: we shall discuss the requirements of that standard, the struggles to advance it and the obstacles which beset its upward movement. Moreover, the happiness of an individual depends not only upon his opportunity and his activity but upon the skill and wisdom with which he uses them. Nor is it...