第 32 节
作者:热带雨淋      更新:2021-02-20 05:17      字数:9322
  pain to any one。
  I have reserved for the last place a large class of questions
  respecting the limits of government interference; which; though
  closely connected with the subject of this Essay; do not; in
  strictness; belong to it。 These are cases in which the reasons against
  interference do not turn upon the principle of liberty: the question
  is not about restraining the actions of individuals; but about helping
  them; it is asked whether the government should do; or cause to be
  done; something for their benefit; instead of leaving it to be done by
  themselves; individually or in voluntary combination。
  The objections to government interference; when it is not such as to
  involve infringement of liberty; may be of three kinds。
  The first is; when the thing to be done is likely to be better
  done by individuals than by the government。 Speaking generally;
  there is no one so fit to conduct any business; or to determine how or
  by whom it shall be conducted; as those who are personally
  interested in it。 This principle condemns the interferences; once so
  common; of the legislature; or the officers of government; with the
  ordinary processes of industry。 But this part of the subject has
  been sufficiently enlarged upon by political economists; and is not
  particularly related to the principles of this Essay。
  The second objection is more nearly allied to our subject。 In many
  cases; though individuals may not do the particular thing so well;
  on the average; as the officers of government; it is nevertheless
  desirable that it should be done by them; rather than by the
  government; as a means to their own mental education… a mode of
  strengthening their active faculties; exercising their judgment; and
  giving them a familiar knowledge of the subjects with which they are
  thus left to deal。 This is a principal; though not the sole;
  recommendation of jury trial (in cases not political); of free and
  popular local and municipal institutions; of the conduct of industrial
  and philanthropic enterprises by voluntary associations。 These are not
  questions of liberty; and are connected with that subject only by
  remote tendencies; but they are questions of development。 It belongs
  to a different occasion from the present to dwell on these things as
  parts of national education; as being; in truth; the peculiar training
  of a citizen; the practical part of the political education of a
  free people; taking them out of the narrow circle of personal and
  family selfishness; and accustoming them to the comprehension of joint
  interests; the management of joint concerns… habituating them to act
  from public or semi…public motives; and guide their conduct by aims
  which unite instead of isolating them from one another。 Without
  these habits and powers; a free constitution can neither be worked nor
  preserved; as is exemplified by the too…often transitory nature of
  political freedom in countries where it does not rest upon a
  sufficient basis of local liberties。 The management of purely local
  business by the localities; and of the great enterprises of industry
  by the union of those who voluntarily supply the pecuniary means; is
  further recommended by all the advantages which have been set forth in
  this Essay as belonging to individuality of development; and diversity
  of modes of action。 Government operations tend to be everywhere alike。
  With individuals and voluntary associations; on the contrary; there
  are varied experiments; and endless diversity of experience。 What
  the State can usefully do is to make itself a central depository;
  and active circulator and diffuser; of the experience resulting from
  many trials。 Its business is to enable each experimentalist to benefit
  by the experiments of others; instead of tolerating no experiments but
  its own。
  The third and most cogent reason for restricting the interference of
  government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power。
  Every function superadded to those already exercised by the government
  causes its influence over hopes and fears to be more widely
  diffused; and converts; more and more; the active and ambitious part
  of the public into hangers…on of the government; or of some party
  which aims at becoming the government。 If the roads; the railways; the
  banks; the insurance offices; the great joint…stock companies; the
  universities; and the public charities; were all of them branches of
  the government; if; in addition; the municipal corporations and
  local boards; with all that now devolves on them; became departments
  of the central administration; if the employes of all these
  different enterprises were appointed and paid by the government; and
  looked to the government for every rise in life; not all the freedom
  of the press and popular constitution of the legislature would make
  this or any other country free otherwise than in name。 And the evil
  would be greater; the more efficiently and scientifically the
  administrative machinery was constructed… the more skilful the
  arrangements for obtaining the best qualified hands and heads with
  which to work it。 In England it has of late been proposed that all the
  members of the civil service of government should be selected by
  competitive examination; to obtain for these employments the most
  intelligent and instructed persons procurable; and much has been
  said and written for and against this proposal。 One of the arguments
  most insisted on by its opponents is that the occupation of a
  permanent official servant of the State does not hold out sufficient
  prospects of emolument and importance to attract the highest
  talents; which will always be able to find a more inviting career in
  the professions; or in the service of companies and other public
  bodies。 One would not have been surprised if this argument had been
  used by the friends of the proposition; as an answer to its
  principal difficulty。 Coming from the opponents it is strange
  enough。 What is urged as an objection is the safety…valve of the
  proposed system。 If indeed all the high talent of the country could be
  drawn into the service of the government; a proposal tending to
  bring about that result might well inspire uneasiness。 If every part
  of the business of society which required organised concert; or
  large and comprehensive views; were in the hands of the government;
  and if government offices were universally filled by the ablest men;
  all the enlarged culture and practised intelligence in the country;
  except the purely speculative; would be concentrated in a numerous
  bureaucracy; to whom alone the rest of the community would look for
  all things: the multitude for direction and dictation in all they
  had to do; the able and aspiring for personal advancement。 To be
  admitted into the ranks of this bureaucracy; and when admitted; to
  rise therein; would be the sole objects of ambition。 Under this
  regime; not only is the outside public ill…qualified; for want of
  practical experience; to criticise or check the mode of operation of
  the bureaucracy; but even if the accidents of despotic or the
  natural working of popular institutions occasionally raise to the
  summit a ruler or rulers of reforming inclinations; no reform can be
  effected which is contrary to the interest of the bureaucracy。
  Such is the melancholy condition of the Russian empire; as shown
  in the accounts of those who have had sufficient opportunity of
  observation。 The Czar himself is powerless against the bureaucratic
  body; he can send any one of them to Siberia; but he cannot govern
  without them; or against their will。 On every decree of his they
  have a tacit veto; by merely refraining from carrying it into
  effect。 In countries of more advanced civilisation and of a more
  insurrectionary spirit; the public; accustomed to expect everything to
  be done for them by the State; or at least to do nothing for
  themselves without asking from the State not only leave to do it;
  but even how it is to be done; naturally hold the State responsible
  for all evil which befalls them; and when the evil exceeds their
  amount of patience; they rise against the government; and make what is
  called a revolution; whereupon somebody else; with or without
  legitimate authority from the nation; vaults into the seat; issues his
  orders to the bureaucracy; and everything goes on much as it did
  before; the bureaucracy being unchanged; and nobody else being capable
  of taking their place。
  A very different spectacle is exhibited among a people accustomed to
  transact their own business。 In France; a large part of the people;
  having been engaged in military service; many of whom have held at
  least the rank of non commissioned officers; there are in every
  popular i