The fact is that our nation is yet too young to be fully conscious of its opportunities and responsibilities.  A democratic form of government from its very nature must develop slowly towards its ideals.  It must expect at first to be much less certain and efficient in its action than is a highly centralized government.  This inability on the part of popular government to attain its ideals is reflected also in its subordinate civic units; neither state nor city governments have yet solved the problem of efficient and economical administration, although it is a pleasure to note that some cities are making real progress in this direction.  In many communities, however, the weakness of decentralized government is most apparent.  This is particularly true in many towns; here is seen too frequently a lack of civic pride, inefficient officers and failure to enforce the law.

The humiliating fact obtains that frequently a few lawless individuals often not more than from 3 to 5 per cent of the population, are permitted to set the moral pace, while the 95 per cent, of law-abiding citizens are either asleep to their duties or else fail to see that the remedy is in their own hands.  In many instances a few persons are allowed to undermine the morals of the community.  In one town of our state a single individual was permitted for 25 years to corrupt the morals of many young men of the community through illegal traffic in liquor.

Parents should realize that next to heredity the social factors in a community are likely to be the chief influence at work moulding and shaping the lives of their children, and in the long run they must not expect the average child to be better than the community in which he lives.

But the remedy for inefficient, free government is not far to seek; universal education will solve the problem provided it includes, as it should, instruction and training in civic and social duties.  There is no need to argue the superiority of democratic government over that of all other forms; the freedom which we possess is worth all the suffering and bloodshed of all the patriots that have ever lived.  But nothing will run itself; perpetual motion is a myth, and even a small town to be well governed, must receive conscious, expert attention.

Unquestionably, a free government is the most complex and difficult of all forms of government to administer, but the problem can be solved, and the secret of success will be found in the individual himself.  He must become educated to realize his full duties and responsibilities as a free citizen, in other words, he must become socialized.  He must get over the notion that the school is the only educational agency and must understand that every influence that modifies conduct is educative in nature.  Especially must he learn that the community itself is the chief civic and social educator of children, and as such it should be consciously organized to perform well this responsibility.