Michiganensian. [1900]

among a peol)e incompatible with a choice of monarchical forms. Democracy is not merely a pIolitical form, but constitutes an element in the
general life of the present age."
O( the Ed(ltcation of,Statesmern appeared in the Princeton Review for
January, 1,84. In this article Professor Adams took the position that
among a peolle that has adopted laissez faire as the maxim of control in
its public policy, a higher political education can hardly flourish, inasmucl as amongl such a people all thought tends to effect a negation of
activity. Professor Adams was of the opinion, however, that a change
was taking lplace in this regard in the United States, and the past few
years have seen a verification of his prophesy.
Thle Plornit of July, 1886, contained Shall we Muzzle the Anarchists? in
which lie emphasizes once more a favorite idea, by arguing that danger
comes not from too great freedom of speech, but from too little sense of
personal responsibility. About this time the demand for a paper read
before the Constitution Club of New York, lead to its expansion and publication under the title the State in Rlelation to Industrial Action. This treatise begins with a consideration of laissez faire as a maxim of control, and
states that, while much the doctrine contains seems true, the authority of
tle English Economy is shattered beyond recovery, its fundamental error
b)eing tlhat it reg-ards the state as a necessary evil. But the German
political philosophy, he argues, is as erroneous in considering the state
an organism complete within itself. The problem is to harmonize governmental activity and private enterprise, society being the entity about
which all our reasoning should centre. The social harmony may be
restored by extending the duties of the state, especially along two lines;
by allowing it to determine the plane of competitive action, and by allowing it to realize for society the benefits of monopoly. The choice, he
says, lies between individualism and socialism, compromise being impossible. To the former of these Professor Adams is willing to adhere,
believing that the solution of the problem lies in an extension of the old
)rincille of l)ersonal responsibility, which must be accepted fearlessly
and applied without reserve.
Inasmuch as this idea of laying' greater emphasis on the principle
of lpersonal responsibility is a favorite one of Professor Adams, it may
not be out of place to define the meaning of responsibility as here used.
It does not mean such responsibility as that of all of us before the law
the responsibility of the public officer guilty of embezzlement, or of the
student who rides his bicycle on the walks. It means something more