legislation and judicature. Christian Europe was originally a political unit with a common government, a common law and, appropriately enough, general freedom of commerce. The modern states have arisen through the creation of separate governments and distinct systems of law; but the corresponding differentiation of commercial relations has not been reached. The idea that men shall freely trade with one another regardless of their political allegiance is a relic of an outgrown past.' What is suitable to the present, Fichte argues, is an economic solidarity and exclusiveness among fellow-citizens no less perfect than the governmental exclusiveness already attained. The geographic basis of such a state, Fichte found indicated by nature herself. "Certain parts of the earth's surface, with their inhabitants, are evidently determined by nature to form political units." Set off by seas, rivers or impassible mountains and embracing diversities of soil adapted to produce all desirable varieties of goods, such a region should be the situs of a self-sufficing community. This, Fichte declared, was the point of view from which to perceive the true meaning of the term "natural boundaries," so common in modern politics. It means not, as commonly used, the line best adapted to military ends, but rather the line that marks the bounds of economic independence and self-sufficiency. Such boundaries a state must have-no more, no less. Shut up within them and rigidly excluding the poison of unregulated intercourse with citizens of other communities,3 a people will realize the ends of a rational state (Vernunftstaat). Wars will cease. It has long been the privilege of philosophers, says Fichte, to sigh over End world commerce, with the ambitions and rivalries engendered by it in the nations, and the most prolific source of war. 164 "Alle Einrichtungen welche den unmittelbaren Verkehr eines Bürgers mit dem Bürger eines anderen Staates erlauben oder voraussetzen, betrachten im Grunde beide als Bürger Eines Staats, und sind Ueberbleibsel und Resultate einer Verfassung die längst aufgehoben ist, sind in unsere Welt nicht passende Theile einer vergangenen Welt. Werke, vol. iii, pp. 453-454. 'Handelsstaat, bk. iii, ch. iii. 3 Foreign travel must be prohibited except to highly qualified persons (der Gelehrte und der höhere Künstler), duly authorized by the government. Ibid. bk. iii, ch. i. war will disappear.' Freed from the tale of distractions and woes from this source, the closed commercial state will give full scope to the capacity that it has for comfort and culture and will surely guarantee to every individual citizen that which in the profoundest sense is his own. In his later years Fichte carried his socialistic doctrines equally far in another direction. He still insisted on the duty of the state to guarantee the citizen's material existence, and he declared categorically that the government must insure to each the opportunity to work for a living, while insuring at the same time that each do his share of the work provided: there must be neither pauper nor idler in the rational state." But a different aspect of life from the physical engaged the philosopher's interest. After Prussia was crushed and dismembered by Napoleon in 1806-1807, Fichte joined eagerly in the search for the explanation of so astounding a calamity. He found it in the lack of a clear political consciousness in the conquered. His famous Addresses to the German People 3 set forth an exalted conception of the character and mission of the Germans, with eloquent appeals for political and educational institutions suited to the realization of this mission. Under the influence of his interest in Prussia's revival, his scientific conception of the state was transformed to correspond. Not the mere man, but the trained man-the man of complete moral and intellectual culture must be, Fichte now held, the center of political theory, and the development and protection of such individuals must be the real function of the state. Fichte's elaboration of this idea, with the conception of the government as primarily an educational institution, often runs parallel in many places with the lines of Plato's Republic. From such views the individualism of Fichte's early philosophy seems remote indeed! In respect to government and constitution as distinct from state (Staatsrecht as distinct from Staatslehre), Fichte's doctrines were more consistent and coherent than Kant's. Legis 'Handelsstaat, bk. iii, ch. i. Cf. Werke, vol. iii, p. 214. 'Reden an die deutsche Nation, in Werke, vol. vii. lation (Gesetzgebung) was to Fichte as to Rousseau a term denoting exclusively the will of the sovereign people. The executive function included the judicial and must necessarily be exercised by representatives, constituting the government (Regierung). The government might be monarchic or aristocratic, hereditary or elective; it could never be democratic, that is, the people as a whole could not act as administration. To insure that the sovereign will of the people, as embodied in the laws (Gesetze) forming the constitution, should not be overridden by the government, Fichte conceived an institution named the ephorate (das Ephorat) that he regarded as indispensable to a rational constitution (vernunft- und rechtmässige Staatsverfassung). The right of final judgment upon the conduct of the government must inhere necessarily in the people as a whole. To assign to any organ of the government the function of deciding whether the laws were being properly administered would be to make that organ supreme; to assign to any organ even the function of deciding when the people should be called upon to express their opinion upon the situation would have the same tendency to exalt the government over the sovereign. Hence the need for a body of ephors, wholly distinct from the government, and having no other duty than that of setting in motion, at the time they judged proper, the machinery through which the will of the sovereign people as to the constitution and laws can be expressed. Such was Fichte's contribution to the solution of the much debated problem, how to keep the government in accord with the constitution without permitting any branch of the government to shape the constitution at its will. That his ephors would not solve the problem is suggested by what we know of Sparta, whence the very name. was derived. The Spartan ephors became practically the supreme power in the state." Fichte himself, in his later years, lost confidence in his ephorate as a practicable means of preserving the constitution, and he 'Dunning, History of Political Theories, vol. i, p. 10. Ephors had figured in the theory of Althusius, but with a function only slightly resembling that assigned to them by Fichte. Ibid. vol. ii, p. 64. found nothing to suggest in its place but the purely ideal conconception that the functions of government should be entrusted only to all-wise philosophers, whose pure and unerring intelligence would never deviate from the straight line. One source of Fichte's difficulties at this point was the same that made trouble for Kant-the independent position of the hereditary monarch. Where such an institution existed, if participation in the constituent function were permitted to the government, the supreme law would tend to be at the mercy of the prince. How real is the logical need for such an organ as Fichte's ephors were intended to be may be estimated by reflection upon the constitution-making influence actually exerted by two famous governmental bodies much less powerful a priori than a princely executive-the British Parliament and the Supreme Court of the United States. [To be continued] WM. A. DUNNING. VOTING ORGANIC LAWS THE ACTION OF THE OHIO ELECTORATE IN THE REVISION OF Now THE STATE CONSTITUTION IN 1912 WOW that direct legislation, long familiar to us as a method of constitutional amendment, is beginning to be employed in matters of less fundamental importance, it is of interest to know how earnestly, fairly and intelligently the people apply themselves to lawmaking. When confronted in 1912 by the task of recasting their sixty-year-old constitution, how did the 1,300,000 voters of Ohio behave? Their attitude is especially worthy of investigation, because of the unprecedented number and unusual importance of the measures submitted to their judgment. The problems involved in the constitutional revision of 1912 were extremely complex. Some of these problems, such as taxation and judicial reform, had been inherited; others of mammoth proportions had been created by corporate wealth and organized labor. There was a growing demand that the state abandon the laissez faire policy and become the protector of the common citizen and the laborer in their struggle against organized wealth. A new sort of political thinking had also to be reckoned with, for the feeling seemed general that more political power should be given to the people themselves, through such devices as direct primaries and the initiative in legislation. All these feelings and demands pointed to a radical overhauling of the old constitution. I A vote to call a constitutional convention would normally have been taken at the general election of 1911; but while this event was still more than a year distant, several organizations began to urge the people to call such a convention. Ohio's antiquated general property tax, based on a uniform classification of property, had for years been condemned by students |