CHAPTER III

THE RELATION OF THE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT TO OTHER SUBJECTS AND THE METHODS OF THE STUDY OF POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

THE RELATION OF THE STUDY OF GOVernment to OTHER SUBJECTS1

POLITICS and government form a branch of an ancient study, as well as an art, which has engaged the attention of many intellects. Since the time of the Greeks, the study of subjects connected with government has formed a part of all programs of liberal studies. Not until comparatively recent times, however, have the extension of government functions and the increasing complexities of public administration demanded such consideration of political affairs as to require the establishment of schools, departments, and bureaus to deal with government both as a science and as an art. At the same time that interest in public functions has received special attention from educators and statesmen, a number of other subjects dealing with man in his social relationships has also received increased consideration. The relation of the study of government to the subjects which have grown with it and to which it is closely affiliated will be briefly sketched.

Government and History.-A field of human thought and investigation to which the study of government is intimately related is that of history. Human events and institutions have from time immemorial engaged the attention of the historian. First, we find the mere efforts of

See H. G. James, "The Meaning and Scope of Political Science," The Southwestern Political Science Quarterly, vol. i, no. 1, June, 1920, p. 3.

story-telling; then, the culling from the past of those things which were designed to support a theory or develop a principle, such as the defense of monarchy, the support of democracy, or the more recent effort to glorify the spirit of nationalism; and then, finally, the genetic method of patiently and laboriously investigating how man's thoughts, feelings, and institutions have evolved. In the latter method, the scope of history becomes as broad as human interests and human actions-so broad,, in fact, and so extensive that it has been found necessary to subdivide the field, with the result that we now have histories of political institutions, histories of literature, histories of art, histories of chemistry and of other sciences, as well as the historical setting for numerous other human interests and activities.

For a long time, history gave primary attention to the origin and development of political institutions, to the rise and fall of cities and states, to the doings of kings, diplomats, and ministers, to the development of law and legal institutions, as well as to war and methods of warfare. To this type of political history have now been added the specialized branches, such as the development of constitutions and constitutional government, diplomatic history, economic history, legal history, the history of colonies, and an account of many other interests which affect the life of mankind.

Though it is the function of political science to analyze political institutions, to describe their organization and working, and to forecast their probable development, it is primarily the function of history to trace the origin and development of the state and all of the political institutions connected therewith. Government and history must then be closely related throughout.

It is impossible to consider a topic in political science without giving some attention to the historic background and the political antecedents. And not a little knowledge of government is of necessity involved in the courses now

devoted to the history of nations and to the growth of political institutions. It suffices to say that the historian is chiefly interested in how an institution or a political practice sprang into existence and how it came to be what it is, whereas the student of government is primarily concerned with the present status of the institution, how it actually operates at the present time, what are its effects upon human relations, and what are its probable purpose and future development. History furnishes material for comparison and induction and for a comprehensive view of government; hence it is necessary for the student of politics not only to analyze existing political institutions, but also to trace their origin and evolution.

For a long time history and politics together comprised those studies which dealt with man's development and the institutions which were created in his social progress. In the apt words of Professor Seeley, "Political science is the fruit of history and history is the root of political science." Frequently the two were treated together or in closely correlated courses. And it is only in recent times that politics and government have been separated from history and have been given an independent status in educational curricula. In Europe, where there was a greater demand for those trained in public affairs than in the United States, this separation was accomplished several decades earlier by the establishment in the large universities of schools of political science and in the formation of departments devoted to the branches of government and administration. In the United States, the first school of political science was established in Columbia University in 1880. It was more than a decade before the department had grown so as to be accorded definite recognition. At the same time, instruction in public affairs was begun in Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and Princeton universities. The growing complexity brought about by the rapid social and industrial changes of the nineteenth century, and the need of special training in many new fields,

led to the introduction of new subjects along with history and politics—namely, economics and sociology. As these courses have been introduced and expanded, the instruction has been organized under four divisions-namely, History, Political Science, Economics, and Sociology. These divisions constitute the general field known as the Social Sciences. The relation of the study of government to these newer divisions of the family of the Social Sciences requires some attention.

Government and Economics and Sociology.-While the relation between government and history is singularly close, the study of these subjects is also intimately connected with the problems and content of the allied fields of economics and sociology. Economics, as the science of wealth, has begun to deal not only with private and commercial activities in the satisfaction of human wants, but also with individual interests in relation to the state. Thus, such fundamental matters as money and banking, protective tariffs, the regulation of international trade, the regulation of wages and labor, of trusts and monopolies, of prices and business conditions, and the consideration of public finance and taxation, of socialism and social reform, as well as of the regulation of public utilities, are discussed not only in their relations to individual conduct, but also with respect to the public policies of the state. These discussions are similar in character to the consideration of these same subjects in government instruction. As a matter of fact, the relation between government and economics is very close indeed, since the two subjects comprise in large part a consideration of the same content and material with merely a difference in point of view and method of approach. The student of economics approaches government control and regulation from the standpoint of its effect on the individual and his activities in the satisfaction of wants, whereas the student of government approaches such control primarily from the point of view of public interests and from that of the state as a social

unit organized to attain co-operation in public affairs. Most of the problems of government control and regulation involve political and economic factors, and it is eminently necessary that each science render its contribution to their solution. An economist without a background of politics and of a study of government, and a political scientist ignorant of economics, are equally unprepared to render the best service to the public and to comprehend the main elements of community welfare.

Sociology, as the science of men in their associated processes, is one of the most recent branches of social study. Along with the anthropologist and the ethnologist, the sociologist has rendered a distinct service in tracing the origin of human institutions, such as marriage and the family life, property and primitive forms of government, and social control, as well as the evolution of religious and moral ideas. Thus, a background much more thorough and comprehensive than that furnished by history has been made available to the student of politics. Besides sociology has not only enriched our knowledge of the evolution of social and political institutions, but it has aided in furnishing a more complete analysis of the factors which now affect the life of man in society. The geographic and economic factors which influence man, as well as the psychological causes which affect society, have been subjected to critical analysis. With the aid of biology, psychology, and other sciences, the various factors in heredity and environment which surround man and influence his life and thought have been given more adequate consideration. Similarly, the relation of the individual to the social order and the principles of social control have been discussed from a standpoint more comprehensive than that of either economics or political science. "To have insisted upon seeing the social process whole," says a leading sociologist, "to have influenced the spirit and method of all the social sciences, to have oriented them in a new directionthese are enduring services in which the sociologist may well