ditions and processes out of which a new order is arising. The study of government thus becomes a working partner with history, philosophy, psychology, economics, sociology, statistics, and numerous other sciences which together are "closing in on the total meaning of life." IS THE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT A SCIENCE? A query which frequently arises and on which there has been much discussion is whether the subject of government may be called a science. It is customary to point to the waste, the weaknesses, and the inefficiencies in government administration, and to speak disparagingly of the science of government. Or perchance the waywardness of politicians, the prevalence of graft, and the uncertainties of popular majorities are used to cast reproach upon government as a science. But despite the somewhat common conception that government is not a science, but an art in which the wiles and wary methods of the politician and his inner circle of satellites alone find employment, the words political science have come into general use. What, then, is Political Science? The term political science has been used for various purposes, to which brief reference must be made. When about thirty and forty years ago the study of such political subjects as history, politics, economics, public law, and jurisprudence began to receive systematic consideration in the universities of Europe and America, it was not uncommon to use the term political science in a general sense as comprising all of these subjects. As these studies began to be more clearly differentiated into separate departments of history, economics, and sociology, the phrase political science came to be applied to the more specialized study of government and politics. It is the latter meaning which is now accorded almost universally to the words political science. Even in this somewhat restricted sense, the subject has come to be separated into well-marked divisions: first, courses in descriptive and comparative government, in which an effort is made to give the historical setting and the present analysis of the more important governmental systems of the world; second, courses in political theory, in which the history of political theories is traced in order better to understand and interpret the present tendencies in political thought; third, public law, including international law, constitutional law, commercial law, and jurisprudence; and fourth, functional studies, in which such subjects as political parties, legislative methods, judicial procedure, and the regulation of public utilities and of social and industrial affairs are given thorough consideration. For convenience in defining the present scope of political science, the following table is suggestive: A. Descriptive and Historical. 1. American government. a. National. b. State and local. c. Municipal. 2. Comparative government. 3. Party government. 4. Colonial government. B. Theoretic. 1. General political science-theory and analysis combined. C. Legal. 1. Constitutional law. 2. International law. 3. Elements of law and jurisprudence. 4. Commercial law. D. Miscellaneous. 1. Foreign relations and world politics. 2. Legislative methods and procedure. 3. Public administration and administrative methods. 4. Regulation of public utilities. 5. Regulation of social and industrial affairs.1 1 See report on The Teaching of Government by the Committee on Instruction of the American Political Science Association (The Macmillan Company, 1916), p. 199. Another meaning given to political science is that which is frequently applied in European countries, where administration is distinguished from politics and where the term is restricted to the science of administration. Here, entrance to the administrative service requires, as a rule, a thorough secondary education, the equivalent of a college course in the United States, and frequently advanced instruction leading to a higher degree with a rigorous type of work throughout. The subject of administration is regarded in the universities, as well as among men of administrative affairs, as calling for just as much thoroughness, study, and accuracy as any other branch of university education. In the administrative service, there is developed a real political science. Since the study of government has been separated from the other social sciences, the subject has been approached from several different points of view. One type of course deals with the theory of the state, its origin, basis, and general nature. Sovereignty, the forms of government, and the theories and political principles involved in the departments-legislative, executive, and judicial—are discussed with an analysis of the ends and aims of the state. This method of study had its highest development in Germany under the title Allgemeine Staatslehre, and was introduced into the United States in certain treatises on political science. These works deal largely with political theory and with some facts and conclusions gathered from a study of several systems of government. Other courses in political science aim to give the historical basis of modern governments and a descriptive analysis of existing governments. Such courses as American government, or, more accurately, the government of the United States, the government of England, the government of France, municipal government, and state government are courses which are largely historico-descriptive in character and the informational purpose is dominant. Frequently the historico-descriptive courses deal with a number of governments, and are designated as comparative government. In such courses an effort is made to form conclusions and judgments by the method of comparison and analogy. Few of these conclusions are definite enough or of sufficient validity to give a scientific character to these courses. Introduction of the Scientific Method. That the scientific method may be applied to research in governmental affairs has been demonstrated in the exhaustive studies made by political scientists, economists, sociologists, and statisticians as to the operation of governmental agencies. By inductive studies in which the influences affecting governmental action are analyzed, conclusions which approach the certainty and accuracy of science may be formed and be used in the making and the enforcement of laws. As a result of studies of this character, some branches of government can now be based upon recognized principles of administration; and in a few fields, such as health, finance, and public-welfare departments, a technic has been prepared which may guide the government administrator just as the engineer is guided by the manual of technic in his work. Government is a great business involving the expenditure of billions of dollars, the purchase of millions of dollars' worth of goods and of property, and the handling of enormous sums of money collected as taxes and expended through appropriations. It involves, therefore, the science of finance and accounting. As the method of cost accounting comes to be applied to this great business undertaking, there will be greater fields of usefulness for the trained financier and the cost accountant. In the administration of public health, government makes use of the contributions of the science of medicine; and in bringing about the conditions which make for better health, the new science of public sanitation is being developed. In departments 1 1 Cf. E. B. Rosa, "The Economic Importance of the Scientific Work of the Government," Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. x, no. 12, June 19, 1920. of charity and corrections, governments employ such principles and practices as are followed by the semiprivate organizations of charity and philanthropy. In administering the workmen's compensation acts, the work of actuaries and their scientific results are employed. In the erection of government buildings architects and sculptors are called into service and in the establishment of parks and playgrounds the landscape gardener has an opportunity to render his highest and best service. In the building of great public works, the science of engineering renders its public service. In the collection of masses of information and the preparation of the decennial census, a veritable science of statistics has been developed. The statistical method has, in fact, been applied to almost every branch of governmental activity, and with striking results, from the standpoint of scientific accuracy. Thus, a large part of the work of government is scientific in character, and involves the methods, the principles, and the practices of virtually all of the sciences. The prosecution of war called into the government service the leaders of all of the great sciences. To the discoveries of the physicists and the chemists were added the astonishing progress of inventions and the constructive genius of the engineer. The highest accomplishments of medical science were employed to care for the soldiers in training and in warfare, and to save and restore to health again the wounded. To classify the men and to place them where they would be most efficient, the developing science of experimental psychology was brought into the government service. While the government needs all of these agencies in war times, it likewise finds most of them indispensable for efficient government service since the nations are again restored to a condition of peace. It remains to call attention to the fact that government is essentially legal in character, and that most public functions are involved in the process of lawmaking and lawenforcing. Government, as a lawmaking and law-enforcing |