the expenses of the
management of democratic governments, the waste on account of imperfect
administration, and the failure of the laws to operate.

Consideration of these points brings us to the conclusion that the
perfection of democracy or republican government has not been reached,
and that while liberty may be an expensive affair, it is so on account
of the negligence of the people in qualifying for self-government. If
a democratic form of government is to prevail, if popular government is
to succeed, if the freedom of the people is to be guaranteed, there
must be persistent effort on the part of the people to prepare
themselves for their own government; a willingness to sacrifice for
liberty, for liberty will endure only so long as people are willing to
pay the price it costs. They must govern themselves, or government
will pass from them to others. Eternal vigilance is the price of good
government.

_Modern Political Reforms_.--Political reform has been proceeding
recently in many particular ways. Perhaps the most noticeable in
America is that of civil service reform. Strong partisanship has been
a ruling factor in American politics, often to the detriment of the
financial and political interests of the country. Jealous of their
prerogative, the people have insisted that changes in government shall
occur often, and that the ruling party shall have the privilege of
appointing the officers of the government. This has made it the almost
universal practice for the incoming party to remove the officers of the
old administration and replace them with its own appointments. To such
an extent has this prevailed that it has come to be known as the
"spoils system."

But there is now a general tendency for the principles of civil service
to prevail in all parts of the national government, and a growing
feeling that they should be instituted in the various states and
municipalities of the Union. The {422} federal government has made
rapid progress in this line in recent years, and it is to be hoped that
before long the large proportion of appointive offices will be put upon
a merit basis and the persons who are best qualified to fill these
places retained from administration to administration. Attempts are
being made in nearly all of our cities for business efficiency in
government, though there is much room for improvement.

The government of the United States is especially weak in
administration, and is far