International Relations

Recent trends show the United States alternating between isolation and independence, between sharply marked economic nationalism and notable international initiative in cooperation, moving in a highly unstable and zigzag course. Immigration restrictions and high tariffs on the one hand, and a World Court, a League of Nations, and outlawry of war on the other.

American Democracy

Our country is cited as the great exemplar of democracy. Do the changing social conditions make the adaptation of democracy a problem? We note lines, which if projected into the future would lead in opposite directions, one away from democratic control and the other toward a more perfect realization of its principles.

Structure of Government

The authority of government in the United States has traditionally been weakened by the division of powers between the national government and the states, between states and localities, and further by the three-fold division of powers between legislature, executive and judiciary.

Government Representation

The question of who pays the taxes leads naturally to the question, whom does the government represent. The theory of democracy is that the people own the government, but practice does not always follow theory.

Government Finances

Few governmental functions are self-supporting; most are paid for by the taxpayer. The question of the costs therefore is fundamental, particularly in the present depression when it is very difficult to pay the money with which to run the government.

Relationship of Government to Business

The increasing complexity and interdependence of social life precipitate more sharply than ever the problem of the interrelations between industrial and political forms of organization and control, and this has been accentuated by the rise of large scale industrial units resembling in form while rivaling in magnitude some of the governmental units to which they are technically subordinate.

Government Functions

Governments in general have been increasing in size and power. The only other great social organizations to compare with them in rates of growth are our economic institutions. This growth seems to have occured despite conflicting views as to what the functions of government should be.

Public Welfare and Social Work

Much ameliorative effort in the United States has been concentrated in social work and public welfare, the extension of social work under governmental suspices. Other agencies, however, share in these activities. Many of the services now rendered by social workers were once the responsibility of the family.