SAYS GOVERNMENT IS SCIENCE OF LIFE

"Power" wrote the great French novelist, Balzac, in "The Country Doctor", "is, as it were, the heart of the State. Nature, in all her creations, shuts in the vital principle to give it greater stamina; so with the body politic." This is the key to the study of government. The national State is the most powerful creature in the modern world. Hence, even if its study were not a matter of importance, it would be a fascinating diversion for educated men. But it happens to be a study of the greatest importance. We live in a world which is mostly out of sight, so far as a particular individual is concerned, and largely out of mind, except when things go wrong. It easily gets beyond control. The methods by which it may be, or at least has been, controlled, and by which the power necessary to control it may be made to serve instead of exploiting mankind, form the substance of the science of government.

Like other sciences, that of government must begin with the description of specimens. The body politic takes strange shapes and forms. Government 1, which describes the government of the principal peoples of the world, is the introduction to the other courses which are offered by the Department. Government 17 and 31, dealing with Municipal Government, Government 9, dealing with State Government, Government 7 and 18, dealing with Federal Government, Government 11, dealing with the government of colonies and dependencies, and Government 8, dealing with the principal European countries, are courses which describe different types of government more in detail, and com- pare their structure and functions, as developed under different conditions, with particular reference to their actual workings. All these courses treat the practical problems of politics and administration as well as more theoretical questions of organization and activity.

The relations between different states are considered in Government 4, 15, and 23, dealing with International Law, and in Government 14, dealing with American Diplomacy. The relations between the different parts of the American Federal State and the rights of individuals are dealt with most fully in Government 12 and 13, and, from the technical standpoint of the lawyer, in Government 19, American Constitutional Law. A closely related course in another department is History 13, which deals with the development of the American Constitution. Problems of a more theoretical nature are considered in Government 3a and 6. A closely related course in another department is Philosophy 5, Professor Hocking's Philosophy of the State.

Government, indeed, is a subject which should not be studied without reference to other fields of study. The student of modern politics who had no knowledge of social psychology and economic history would be unable to go far in the analysis of political organizations and activities. The student of public administration who was ignorant of such subjects as accounting, statistics, and public finance would fail to penetrate the depths of his subject. Above all, the student of government should read history, especially the biographies of statesmen, for the data of politics are the acts of men. History and biography form the bodies of data, which the student of government must utilize as the basis of his study. The admirable short collection of biographies and autobiographies in the Farnsworth Room at the Library furnishes a most convenient foundation for the study of politics in its broader aspects. Its usefulness should be more widely appreciated, especially since under our tutorial system all such material is grist for the student's mill.

Every scientist is bound to believe that his is the most important of all sciences. Unless he were an enthusiast, he would weary of the drudgery entailed in the collection of the quantities of facts which are necessary for the business of scientific inquiry. Political scientists have the least excuse for weariness, since theirs is the science of life itself in its most highly developed form, that of the citizen. But unfortunately theirs is the most imperfect of all the sciences. To some that leads to impatience with politics, since it is so baffling and too often also so insincere. But to others the very difficulties of the subject form its greatest attraction