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Enhanced Eighteenth Edition
American Government
and Politics Today
American Government
and Politics Today
Lynne E. Ford
College of Charleston
Barbara A. Bardes
University of Cincinnati
Steffen W. Schmidt
Iowa State University
Mack C. Shelley II
Iowa State University
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Appendix
Appendix A The Declaration of Independence 651
Appendix B The Constitution of the United States 653
Appendix C The Federalist Papers Nos. 10 and 51 669
Glossary 675
Index 686
vi
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How Much Will the Government Spend? 416 The Vice Presidency 450
Preparing the Budget 416 The Vice President’s Job 450
Congress Faces the Budget 417 Strengthening the Ticket 450
Budget Resolutions 418 Supporting the President 451
Presidential Succession 452
Chapter 12: The President 422 The Twenty-fifth Amendment 452
When the Vice Presidency Becomes Vacant 453
Who Can Become President? 424
The Process of Becoming President 425
Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy 457
The Many Roles of the President 426
The Nature of Bureaucracy 459
Head of State 426
Public and Private Bureaucracies 459
Chief Executive 427
Models of Bureaucracy 460
The Powers of Appointment and Removal 428
Weberian Model 460
The Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons 428
Acquisitive Model 460
Commander in Chief 429
Monopolistic Model 460
Wartime Powers 429
Bureaucracies Compared 461
The War Powers Resolution 430
Chief Diplomat 430 The Size of the Bureaucracy 461
Diplomatic Recognition 430 The Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy 462
Proposal and Ratification of Treaties 431 Cabinet Departments 463
Executive Agreements 432
Independent Executive Agencies 465
Chief Legislator 433
Independent Regulatory Agencies 466
Legislation Passed 435
The Purpose and Nature of Regulatory Agencies 466
Saying No to Legislation 435
Agency Capture 467
The Line-Item Veto 438
Deregulation and Reregulation 467
Congress’s Power to Override Presidential
Government Corporations 468
Vetoes 438
Other Presidential Powers 438 Challenges to the Bureaucracy 469
The President as Party Chief and Superpolitician 439 Reorganizing to Stop Terrorism 469
Dealing with Natural Disasters 470
The President as Chief of Party 439
The President’s Power to Persuade 439 Staffing the Bureaucracy 471
Constituencies and Public Approval 440 Political Appointees 471
Presidential Constituencies 440 The Aristocracy of the Federal Government 472
Public Approval 440 The Difficulty in Firing Civil Servants 472
George W. Bush and the Public Opinion Polls 441 History of the Federal Civil Service 472
Obama and Trump: Public Approval 441 To the Victor Belong the Spoils 473
“Going Public” 442 The Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 473
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Chapter 18: State and Local Government 621 Paying for State and Local Government 644
State and Local Government Expenditures 644
The U.S. Constitution and the State Governments 623
State and Local Government Revenues 644
Why Are State Constitutions So Long? 624
The Struggle to Balance State Budgets 646
The Constitutional Convention and the Constitutional
Getting into Trouble: Borrowing Too Much 647
Initiative 625
Getting into Trouble: Poor Productivity 647
The State Executive Branch 625 Getting into Trouble: Health-Care Costs 647
A Weak Executive 625 States Recover from the Recession 648
Increasing the Governor’s Power 626 States as Policy Pioneers 648
The Governor’s Veto Power 627
Glossary 675
Index 686
xv
Americans are often cynical about our national political system. College
students in particular are at a loss to know what to do about the polarized
politics and policy gridlock occurring within the modern political system,
making American Politics a tough course to teach. This edition of American
Government and Politics Today is designed to help you move your students
from the sidelines of politics to full engagement by equipping them with the
knowledge and analytical skills needed to shape political decisions at the local,
state, and national levels. Based on review feedback, we include a strong
emphasis on the power of modern social media and its ability to engage
citizens with one another, as well as to connect citizens with political issues
and ideas. The solid content on institutions and the processes of government
included in previous editions remains. Features such as “Politics in Practice”
and “What if…?” will help you bring politics to life in your classroom, while
demonstrating to students why politics matters and how it surrounds them
each day—at times without their even knowing it. Each chapter has the most
up-to-date data and information and includes coverage of current issues and
controversies that we believe will engage students and hold their interest.
We believe that part of America’s cynicism stems from the growing reality
of “two Americas”: one with opportunity afforded by privilege and wealth and
another whose opportunities, rights, and privileges seem stunted by a lack of
wealth. Does the promise of America exist for both groups or only one? How
was this theme reflected in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and
in the decision of the Trump administration? How do those who feel they have
been left behind as others have prospered regain the promise of the American
Dream? What role can political engagement play in doing so? Knowledge is
power, and in this edition we try to strike a balance between the content and
the skill building necessary for course success, while also presenting students
with current controversies in politics and opportunities to engage with those
issues. The new “Politics in Practice” feature found in each chapter highlights
the ways people engage in politics to make changes. Each chapter begins with
the popular feature “What if…?”, which presents students with an opportunity
to think through a political scenario that for now is a hypothetical, but could
actually happen.
These active learning opportunities bring alive the issues that students are
confronted with on a daily basis and give students the opportunity to apply
their knowledge and skills.
xvi
MindTap
As an instructor, MindTap is here to simplify your workload, organize and
immediately grade your students’ assignments, and allow you to customize
your course as you see fit. Through deep-seated integration with your Learning
xvii
Sincerely,
Lynne E. Ford (FordL@cofc.edu)
Barbara A. Bardes (BardesB@ucmail.uc.edu)
Steffen W. Schmidt
Mack C. Shelley, II
xviii
Whether you are a political science major, an international affairs major, or are
simply taking this course to fulfill a general requirement, we hope that you will
enjoy this book and all of its features. American Government and Politics Today
is meant to be enjoyed as well as studied. To ensure that the most relevant
topics are addressed, the book has been thoroughly revised to include the
results of the 2016 national elections, global events and foreign policy, and
Supreme Court decisions that affect your life. In every chapter, resources are
included to help you go online or use social media to investigate the issues
presented in the text that capture your interest. American politics is dynamic,
and it is our goal to provide you with clear discussions of the institutions of
national government and the political processes so that you can be informed
and understand the issues as you participate in our political system.
As a student, the federal government may seem remote from your daily
life, but that could not be further from the truth! The issues facing the nation
today are serious and require your attention, whether it seems that way upon
first glance or not. Decisions made in Washington, DC, and in your state capital
can determine, for example, the rate of interest that you will pay on student
loans, who must serve in the military, or the level of investment in higher edu-
cation relative to sustaining pensions and Medicare. You may have heard
people talking about the “1 percent” and the “99 percent”—this is a way of
capturing the gap between the very rich and everyone else. In what ways does
rising wealth inequality matter in America? Is it still possible for everyone to
achieve the American Dream? Is political equality possible in the face of eco-
nomic and social inequality? How did President Trump’s election as president
reflect a sense that some Americans have been left behind? How will politics
change as a result of new groups of political participants? These are just a few
of the questions raised by this text. The promise of America is very much alive,
but our future is far from certain. Understanding how politics works and know-
ing your rights as a citizen are critical to shaping the nation’s future. Political
questions rarely have simple answers. Political issues invite multiple perspec-
tives that can be shaped as much by gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orienta-
tion as by political party or ideology. Throughout this text, we will try to equip
you with what you need to develop your own political identity and perspective
so that you can fully engage in the national conversation about our shared
future.
This edition’s interactive features are intended to help you succeed in your
coursework as well as to understand the role of politics in the modern world.
●● Learning Objectives: These objectives begin each chapter and serve as your
“take-aways,” highlighting the most important content, concepts, and skills.
This will make it easy to check your own learning as you work through each
chapter.
xix
Sincerely,
Lynne E. Ford (FordL@cofc.edu)
Barbara A. Bardes (BardesB@ucmail.uc.edu)
Steffen W. Schmidt
Mack C. Shelley, II
xx
Students
If you purchased MindTap or CourseReader access with your book, enter your
access code and click “Register.” You can also purchase the book’s resources
here separately through the “Study Tools” tab.
Instructors
Access your American Government and Politics Today resources via
www.cengage.com/login.
Log in using your Cengage Learning single sign-on user name and password,
or create a new instructor account by clicking on “New Faculty User” and
following the instructions.
xxii
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Conclusion
We hope that this discussion has sparked your ideas about potential future
careers. As a next step, visit your college’s career placement office, which is a
great place to further explore what you have read here. You might also visit
your college’s alumni office to connect with graduates who are working in your
field of interest. Political science opens the door to a lot of exciting careers.
Have fun exploring the possibilities!
xxx
American Government
and Politics Today
Le a r n i n g O B J EC T I V ES
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
■■ 1.1 Define the institution of government and the process ■■ 1.4 Compare and contrast types of government systems
of politics. and identify the source of power in each.
■■ 1.2 Identify the political philosophers associated with ■■ 1.5 Define political ideology and locate socialism,
the “social contract” and explain how this theory shapes liberalism, conservatism, and libertarianism along the
our understanding of the purpose of government and the ideological spectrum.
role for individuals and communities in the United States.
■■ 1.6 Apply understanding of the purpose of government
■■ 1.3 Describe the U.S. political culture and identify the set and the U.S. political culture to evaluate government’s
of ideas, values, and ways of thinking about government ability to meet new challenges over time.
and politics shared by all.
A
lthough it has become popular to complain about government, we could
not survive as individuals or as communities without it. The challenge is
to become invested enough in the American system and engaged
enough in the political process so that the government we have is the govern
ment we want and deserve. This is a tremendous challenge because, until you did you know?
understand how our system works, “the government” can seem as though it
The Greek philosopher
belongs to somebody else; it can seem distant, hard to understand, and diffi
Aristotle favored enlightened
cult to use when there is a problem to solve or there are hard decisions to
despotism over democracy,
make. Nevertheless, democracies, especially this democracy, derive their
which to him meant mob rule.
powers from the people, and this fact provides each of you with a tremendous
opportunity. Individuals and groups of like-minded individuals who participate
in the system can create change and shape the government to meet their
needs. Those who opt not to pay attention or fail to participate must accept
what others decide for them—good or bad.
Complicating matters further is the simple truth that although we all live in
the same country and share the same political system, we may experience
government differently. This leads us to hold different opinions about how big
or small government should be, what kind of role government should play in
our individual lives, what kinds of issues are appropriate for policymakers to
handle, and what should be left to each of us alone.
At the heart of the debate over health care and health insurance is the
question of how best to pay for, and provide access to, health care for every
citizen. In 2015, this country’s federal, state, and local governments, corpora
tions, and individuals spent $3.2 trillion, or about $10,000 for every person, on
health care.1 Health insurance costs are rising faster than wages or inflation.
Costs like this are not sustainable and drain the economy of resources needed
elsewhere. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly known
as the Affordable Care Act) was signed into law in 2010, although many of its
provisions will take several years to implement, and several delays and exten
sions were granted early in its implementation. The act is large and complic
ated because the issue it addresses is large and complicated.
Several aspects of the law are favored by nearly everyone, such as provid
ing access to insurance for people with preexisting conditions or allowing
children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. The law also requires
people to be insured either through their employer or by purchasing insur
ance so that the costs and risks are spread across the entire population.
Failure to do so results in a penalty. Because young people are typically
healthy and rarely incur expensive medical bills, their participation is neces
sary to offset the costs of caring for others and to maintain the stability of the
state and federal health exchanges. As a group, “young invincibles,” as they
have been labeled by the health insurance industry, have proven difficult to
convince of the necessity of health insurance. The law’s insurance mandate
seems at odds with the value we place on individual responsibility; yet,
health care is something everyone requires, and the costs are more manage
able if everyone is included.
We resolve these and other conflicting values using the political process, and
institutions of government are empowered to make decisions on our behalf. In
the case of health care, the conflict has been resolved by the judiciary. The U.S.
2 National Federation of Independent Business, et al. v. Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. 567 U.S. (2012).
3 House of Commons speech on November 11, 1947.
Image 1-1
Hundreds rallied near a
Detroit, Michigan, McDonald’s
restaurant in support of a strike
by fast-food workers who were
demanding a raise from their cur-
rent wages of about $7.40 an hour
to $15 an hour. Similar strikes for
higher wages took place in cities
around the country.
Jim West/Alamy Stock Photo
4 Facundo Alvaredo, Anthony B. Atkinson, Thomas Piketty, and Emmanuel Saez, “The Top 1 Percent in International and
Historical Perspective.” Journal of Economic Perspectives (2013) 27(3): 3–20.
5 Kristen Hansen, “Oregon’s Trailblazing Minimum Wage Has Geographic Tiers, Topped by Portland’s $14.75” San Jose Mercury
News, February 19, 2016.
Native-born citizens know less than ever about the very political system they
hope will restore their confidence in the future; one in three failed the civics
portion of the naturalization test in a national telephone survey.6 Can people
effectively engage in political activity to change their lives for the better when
they know so little about the governmental system?
There are also some hopeful signs. According to the Center for the Study
of the American Dream at Xavier University, a majority of Americans surveyed
(63 percent) remain confident that they will achieve the American Dream des
pite the current challenges. More than 75 percent believe they have already
achieved some measure of it. Those surveyed defined the American Dream in
terms of a good life for their family (45 percent), financial security (34 percent),
freedom (32 percent), opportunity (29 percent), the pursuit of happiness
(21 percent), a good job (16 percent), and homeownership (7 percent). How
does this definition fit with your own? Are you surprised that homeownership
is last on the list? How might the mortgage crisis and the persistent economic
recession influence how we define our future dreams? As the nation pulls out
of the long recession and jobs become more plentiful, will people aspire to
own a home again? The U.S. economy added nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2017,
dropping the unemployment rate to 4.1 percent. However, five years after the
Great Recession, many families still feel financially vulnerable and have doubts
about their chances of attaining the American Dream. A 2014 New York Times
Poll found that only 64 percent of respondents said that they still believed in
the American Dream, the lowest result in two decades. In early 2009 as the
recession and financial crisis reached its peak, 72 percent of Americans still
believed that “hard work could result in riches.”7
Interestingly, the Xavier study found that Latinos and immigrants are most
positive about the possibility of achieving the American Dream and are more
optimistic about the future of the country than the population as a whole.
Finally, a majority of Americans view immigration as an important part of keep
ing the American Dream alive and believe that immigration continues to be one
of America’s greatest strengths. In his 2014 State of the Union address,
President Obama said, “What I believe unites the people of this nation, regard
less of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, pro
found belief in opportunity for all—the notion that if you work hard and take
responsibility, you can get ahead.”8
What is the state of America today? Given the economic and educational
disparities evident in the United States today, are we one America or two? Are
you confident that your life will be better than that of your parents and
grandparents? Can the problems we face as a nation today be addressed by
the political system? Voters in 2016 demonstrated their anger at the
“establishment” by electing “outsider” Donald J. Trump, believing that he
could shake up the political system. President Obama concluded his final
State of the Union address by saying, “Fifteen years into this new century, we
have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun again the work of
6 “U.S. Naturalization Civics Test: National Survey of Native-Born U.S. Citizens, March 2012,” conducted by the Center for the
Study of the American Dream, Xavier University. http://www.xavier.edu/americandream/programs/National-Civic-Literacy
-Survey.cfm
7 Andrew Ross Sorkin and Megan Thee-Brenan, “Many Feel the American Dream Is Out of Reach, Poll Shows,” The New York
Times, December 10, 2014. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/many-feel-the-american-dream-is-out-of-reach-poll-shows
8 State of the Union Address, January 28, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/president-barack
-obamas-state-union-address
through taxes, fines, and the power to send you to prison, or worse—to death institution
An ongoing organization that
row. The inherent power of government is what led the founders of the United performs certain functions for
States to impose limitations on this power relative to the rights of individuals. society.
Likewise, the power of government leads Americans to be wary of too much
government when less will do.
Fundamental Values
■■ 1.3 Describe the U.S. political culture and identify the set of ideas, values, and
ways of thinking about government and politics shared by all.
The authors of the U.S. Constitution believed that the structures they had cre
ated would provide for both democracy and a stable political system. They also
political culture believed that the nation could be sustained by its political culture. A critical
The set of ideas, values, and ways question facing America today is to what extent do all citizens continue to
of thinking about government and
politics that is shared by all citizens. share in a single political culture? Does the widening wealth and income gap
threaten to undermine our shared political values as well as our confidence in
government? We live under one republic, but are we increasingly two
Americas? There is considerable consensus among American citizens about
11 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan: (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Revised Student Edition, 1996).
concepts basic to the U.S. political system. Given that the population of the
United States is made up primarily of immigrants and descendants of immi
grants with diverse cultural and political backgrounds, how can we account for
political socialization this consensus? Primarily, it is the result of political socialization—the pro
The process through which cess by which beliefs and values are transmitted to successive generations.
individuals learn a set of political
attitudes and form opinions about The nation depends on families, schools, houses of worship, and the media to
social issues. Families and the transmit the precepts of our national culture. With fewer people going to
educational system are two of the
church and a widening educational gap that strongly correlates with economic
most important forces in the political
socialization process. disparities, we may need to reexamine the ways in which our political culture
is transmitted. On the other hand, you can find these fundamental values reaf
firmed in most major public speeches given by the president and other impor
tant officials in American politics. We will return to these important questions
throughout the book, but particularly in Chapter 6.
Like many figures, tables, and photographs, this visual Big business 3%
20%
presents you with descriptive data. Descriptive information
provides an answer to “what” or “who” questions but does
not typically answer “why” or “how” questions. Analysis
(determining why or how) is a form of critical thinking. The
Congress 22%
accompanying text may provide theories or results from
10%
other research, and sometimes you will find questions for
critical analysis. Other times, as in this case, you are left to
ask your own questions based on the data presented. Banks
suffered the largest decline in public confidence in the last
decade—why? Synthesizing all of the information to create
0%
a new explanation or understanding is the most important
Source: Gallup
skill you can develop in college.
Order and the Rule of Law As noted earlier, individuals and communities
create governments to provide stability and order in their lives. Locke justified
the creation of governments as a way to protect every individual’s property
rights and to organize a system of impartial justice. In the United States, laws
passed by local, state, and national governments create order and stability in
every aspect of life, ranging from traffic to business to a national defense sys
tem. Citizens expect these laws to create a society in which individuals can
pursue opportunities and live their lives in peace and prosperity. People also
expect the laws to be just and to apply to everyone equally. The goal of main
order taining order and security, however, can sometimes run counter to the values
A state of peace and security. of liberty and equality.
Maintaining order by protecting
members of society from violence and
criminal activity is the oldest purpose
Individualism The Declaration of Independence begins with a statement
of government. on the importance of the individual in our political culture: “When in the Course
of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with one another, and to assume among
the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of
Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them . . . .” By a “separate and equal sta
tion,” Jefferson was distinguishing the belief in the rationality and autonomy of
individuals from the traditions of aristocracies and other systems in which indi
viduals did not determine their own destiny. Individualism asserts that one of
the primary functions of government is to enable individuals’ opportunities for
personal fulfillment and development. In political terms, individualism limits
claims by groups in favor of the individual. Therefore, it should come as no
surprise that a universal right to health care is not a part of the U.S. Constitution.
14 Gary B. Nash, The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America (New York:
Viking, 2005); and Alfred F. Young, ed., Beyond the American Revolution: Explorations in the History of American Radicalism
(DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1993).
15 British common law known as “coverture” meant that once married, a woman’s identity was “covered” by her husband’s,
leaving her no independent rights.
Routledge sat long in meditation after Rawder and his master had
taken up their journey. Time passed unmeasured over his head until
he was aroused by the guttering of a candle-wick. In quite an un-
American fashion, he believed the prophetic utterances which the
night had brought. The more a man knows, the more he will believe.
The mark of a small man is ever his incapacity to accept that which
he cannot hold in continual sight. Still, Routledge endured a reaction
for the high moments of the recent hour. Sekar and Rawder and the
power were gone from Rydamphur. He even felt abashed because of
his outbursts to Rawder, so long had he been accustomed to the iron
control of his emotions. It was not that he was sorry for what he had
said, but torrential utterance leaves depletion. He did not feel the
strength now to make men laugh at wars, nor to stay the tide of the
world’s wars by painting the volcanic wrath of nations in all its futile
and ferocious significance.
That he was to be hurt in the new war was in itself but a vague
anxiety, dull of consideration except for its relation to the foretelling—
that another was to come to help him!... He wondered if the wound
would come from his enemies. Once before, a night in Madras, as he
was entering a house of hiding a noose of leather dropped upon his
shoulder. It was jerked tight with a sinister twang. Routledge had just
escaped the garrote in the dark. He could not always escape; and
yet he was not to die next time. Rawder said: ... “To fall wounded,
apart from the battle-field, to lie helplessly regarding men and events
from the fallen state, instead of face to face—this was but one of the
tossing tragedies of cloud in his mind. Yet there was a radiant light in
the midst of it all—only one woman in the world’s half-billion would
come to him.”
Any suffering was cheap to prevent her coming—but he could not
prevent! One cannot run from a vision or a prophecy. It is well to
obey when one is ordered up into Nineveh. Even Sekar had cast him
off, because he was a counter-attraction to the soul of Rawder. He
could not forswear war—and so avoid the promised wound, which
would enable her to find him—since he was not to meet the levelling
stroke during a collision of troops, but somewhere apart. It was a
chain of circumstances in which he was absolutely powerless—and
she was coming to him!
First, it would mean that Jerry Cardinegh, the man he had preserved,
was dead. If he were dead with his secret, Noreen would find him—
Routledge—identify herself with the most loathed of outcasts, fleeing
forever before the eyes and fingers of England. There was rebellion
against this in every plane of the man’s consciousness. He could not
suffer his love, nor hers, to be tested by such a tragedy. He would
flee again from her.... But if old Jerry had remembered the truth at
the last—if the fates had willed him to tell the monstrous truth—and
the Hate of London were lifted from the name of Routledge, to
become a heritage of Noreen Cardinegh—and then if she should
come to him! He could not cover his eyes to the flash of radiance
which this thought brought him.... He would have died to prevent
such a thing from coming to pass. For more than a year, he had kept
out of the ken of the world, to forestall any efforts on the part of the
Cardineghs, to find him. He was worn to a shadow, hunted,
harrowed, hated, lost to himself in disguises, ever apart from the
gatherings of men and the decent offerings of life—all to prevent the
very thing which, in thinking of now, lit every lamp of his being. Quite
as readily would he have performed the treachery for which he
suffered as return to the father of Noreen Cardinegh, saying: “I am
tired, Jerry. Give me back my name.” But if, after all he had done to
spare her from the truth, the fates ruled against him—then he would
not flee from her!
Hours passed. Every little while, through the piling cumulus of
disorder, would flash the reality, and for the interval he ceased to
breathe.... To think of looking up from some half-delirium and
discovering her face! To feel the touch of her hand—this woman—
attuned to respond to every vibration of his voice and brain and
heart.... Sometimes he fell into a heresy of manhood and demanded
of himself what significance had England, the world, compared with
the rest of his days with Noreen Cardinegh, in the glory of their union
which formed a trinity—man and woman and happiness....
He laughed bitterly at the starry distances. “It would be a fitting end
for a man who is supposed to have betrayed the country he served
—to allow a woman to share such fortunes as mine, and take up the
trail of an outcast.”
Routledge rose to go to the Rest House, but reflected that it must be
nearer dawn than midnight. He was curiously disinclined to seek his
room at this hour. With his face to the doorway, he sank down upon
the matting and rested his chin in his palms.... The touch of
Rawder’s hand awoke him, and he stared in wonder at the chela, his
own eyes stinging from the East. The figure of a woman was prone
before him.
“Routledge, my brother, here is work for you. I found her far out on
the road. She was crawling into Rydamphur, carrying the child. I
could not leave her. She is close to death. Sekar waits for me, and
so again, good-by.”
Rawder had turned with a quick hand-clasp, and hurried away in the
dawn-light to his master. It was all over quickly and strangely—as
some psychic visitation. Routledge was already weary of the pitiless
day. The blazing temple of dawn had shone full upon his eyelids as
he slept, and there was an ache deep in his brain from the light....
The woman raised her head from the ground waveringly, like a
crushed serpent, and plucked at his garments. There was a still,
white-lipped babe at her breast. Her voice was like dried sticks
rubbing together. He held the cup of water to her lips.
“I am the widow of Madan Das, who is dead since the drouth,” she
told him. “The white holy man carried me here, leaving the other on
the road. This is my son—the son of Madan Das. There were two
others, both girls, but they are dead since the drouth. Also the
brother of my husband, who was a leper. My husband worked, but
there has been no work since the drouth. First we sold the cow——”
“My good mother, don’t try to talk,” Routledge said, as he lifted her
into the hut, but she could not understand. As soon as he had placed
her upon the matting, she took up the tale, thinking that she must tell
it all. Her face was like dusty paper; her lips dried and stretched
apart. Her hair had fallen away in patches, and her throat was like an
aged wrist.
“First we sold the cow,” she mumbled, trying to find him with her
eyes, “then we sold the household things. After that we sold the
doors and door-posts. Even after that the food was all gone, and my
husband, whose name is Madan Das, gave his clothing to his
brother, who is a leper, to sell in the village for food. A neighbor lent
my husband a cotton cloth to put about his loins. The chaukadari tax
was due. Madan Das could not pay. We were starving, and one of
the babes, a girl, was dead. The tahsildar” (a collector for the
English) “came and took away from the second babe, who was in the
doorway of our house, a little brass bowl for the tax. There was in the
bowl some soup which my babe was eating—a little soup made of
bark, flower-pods and wild berries.... Since then there has been no
food. Madan Das is dead, and the two girls are dead, and the brother
of Madan Das, who is a leper, died last night. The white holy man
carried me here, leaving the other on the road. This is the son of
Madan Das——”
Life was going out of her with the words, but she would not stop. Her
heart was pounding like a frightened bird’s. The weight of them both
was but that of a healthy child—an armful of dissolution.
“Listen, mother,” Routledge said. “Do not talk any more. I am going
to the Rest House to get food for you and the son of Madan Das. Lie
here and rest. I shall not be long.”
Even as he left her, she was repeating her story. He returned with a
pitcher of hot tea, strong enough to color and make palatable the
nourishment of half a can of condensed milk. He brought a servant
with him, and a sheet to cover the woman. Routledge handed the
child to the servant, and lifted the mother’s head to a cup. Afterward
he cleansed her face and throat and arms with cool water, and bade
her sleep.
“The little one is quite well, mother,” he told her softly. “All is well with
you now. The English will be here to-day with much food, and you
have only to rest. The child eats.”
“He is the son of Madan Das,” she mumbled, “and I am his mother....
Do not forget.”
She sank into a half-stupor. The servant had spooned a few drops
into the babe’s mouth. Routledge took the child—a wee thing, light
as a kitten, numbed from want, and too weak to cry. Its body had the
feel of a glove, and the bones showed white under the dry brown
skin, and protruded like the bones of a bat’s wing. The servant went
to fetch a basin of water.
“Why must you, little seedling, learn the hunger-lesson so soon?”
Routledge reflected whimsically. “You are lots too little to have done
any wrong, and if your bit of a soul is stained with the sins of other
lives, you are lots too little to know that you are being punished for
them now.... I should have asked Sekar of what avail is the karmic
imposition of hunger upon the body of a babe.”
He sponged and dried the little one, wrapped him in a cloth, and fed
him again—just a few drops. The son of Madan Das choked and
gurgled furthermore over a half-spoonful of water.
“Oh, you’re not nearly so far gone as your mother, my son. She was
already starving before your inestimable fountains dried.... And so
they took away your sister’s little brass bowl—and the soup made of
bark and flower-pods and wild berries. The poor tahsildar must have
been very tired and hot that day.... And so your worthy uncle who
was a leper sold the clothing of Madan Das, who borrowed a loin-
cloth from a neighbor, and did not need that very long.... Curl up and
sleep on a man’s arm, my wee Rajput.”
Between the two, Routledge passed the forenoon. At last, miles
away across the dusty sun-shot plain eastward, a bullock-cart
appeared, and long afterward behind it, faint as its shadow, another
—and others. Almost imperceptibly, they moved forward on the
twisting, burning road, like crippled insects; and the poles of the
native-drivers raised from time to time like tortured antennæ. There
was a murmur now within the huts of stricken Rydamphur. Routledge
had sent his baggage west to the railroad and settled his account at
the Rest House. He would leave with the coming of the famine relief.
The child was better, but the woman could not rally. The nourishment
lay dead within her. The bullock-carts merely moved in the retina of
his eye. He was thinking deep, unbridled things in the stillness of
high noon.
The great law of cause and effect had brought the answer to his
whimsical question of a few hours before. Why did karma inflict
starvation upon the child before the tablets had formed within him on
which the lesson might be graven for his life’s direction? The son of
Madan Das was but an instrument of punishment for the mother....
What wrong she must have done, according to Hindu doctrine, to
him in one of the dim other lives—when she was forced to bring him
into the world, the famine-world of India, forced to love him, to watch
him waste with hunger, and to crawl with him in the night.
Incomparable maternal tragedy. The sins of how many lives had she
not expiated up yonder in the withered fields!
The woman’s arm flung itself out from her body, and lay in a
checkered patch of sunlight. It made Routledge think of a dried and
shrunken earth-worm which the morning heat had overtaken upon a
wide pavement. Her eyelids were stretched apart now.
Sierras of tragedy are pictured in the eyes of the starving. Processes
of decay are intricate and marvellous—like the impulses of growth
and replenishing. There is no dissolution which so masterfully paints
itself in the human eye as Hunger. The ball is lit with the expiration of
the body, filled with a smoky glow of destroying tissue. The
unutterable mysteries of consummation are windowed there. The
body dies, member by member; all flesh save the binding fibres
wastes away, and the hideous hectic story of it all is told in the
widening, ever widening eyes—even to the glow of the burning-ghats
—all is there.
And the mother’s eyes! She was already old in the hunger-lesson.
The husband, Madan Das; the leper, his brother; the two little girls;
the little brass bowl—all were gone, when this child ceased to feed
upon the mother’s flesh. And still she crawled with the last of her
body to the town—all for this little son of Madan Das, who slept the
sleep of healing within reach of her arm.
Routledge gazed upon the great passion of motherhood. In truth, the
little hut in Rydamphur had been to him a place of unfolding
revelations. He had seen much of death in wars, but this war was so
poignant, so intimate.... Why did the woman sin? Routledge’s tired
brain forged its own answer on the vast Hindu plan of triple
evolution. Countless changes had carried this creature, as he
himself had been carried, up from a worm to a human. It is a long
journey begun in darkness, and only through error, and the pains of
error, does the soul-fragment learn to distinguish between the vile
and the beautiful. In the possession of refining senses, and the
travail of their conquering, the soul whitens and expands. Often the
wild horses of the senses burst out of control of the charioteer of the
soul; and for each rushing violence, the price must be paid in pangs
of the body—until there are no longer lessons of the flesh to be
learned, and the soul puts on its misery no more.... Routledge came
up to blow, like a leviathan, from the deeps of reflection, and
wondered at the feverish energy of his brain. “I shall be analyzing
presently the properties which go into the crucible for the making of a
prophet,” he declared.
The servant had brought a doctor, but it was mere formality.
Routledge bent over the dying woman. Her heart filled the hut with
its pounding. It ran swift and loud, like a ship’s screw, when the
clutching Pacific rollers fall away. In that devouring heat, the chill
settled.
“Do not forget.... He is the son of Madan Das, and I am his mother
——”
“I shall not forget, good mother,” Routledge whispered. “A worthy
man shall take care of him. This, first of all, shall I attend.”
“Madan Das was a worthy man——”
The rest was as the rattle of ripe seeds in a windblown pod....
Routledge turned his face from the final wrench. There was a foot-
fall in the sand, and a shadow upon the threshold, but Routledge
raised his hand for silence. The moment of all life in the flesh when
silence is dearest is the last.... The child stirred and opened its eyes
—roused, who can tell, by its own needs of a metaphysical
sympathy? And what does it matter? The man covered in the sheet
the poor body which the soul had spurned, and turned to feed the
child again. The American was at the door.
“And have you been specializing in famine at first hand, Mr. Jasper?”
Routledge inquired.
“Yes, and I see, sir, that you have been doing more.”
“The task came to me this morning. A little touch of motherhood
makes the whole world kin, you know.... This baby seal is the son of
Madan Das. He is sleepy, having ridden all night bareback—and the
bones of his mount were sharp.”
“Allow me to say, rather from necessity than any notion of being
pleasant,” Mr. Jasper observed slowly, “that I think you are a
wonderful man.... I have found myself weak and cowardly and full of
strange sickness. I am going back to the railway filled with a great
dislike for myself. The things which I find to do here, and want to do,
prove a physical impossibility. I want to leave a hundred pounds in
Rydamphur. It is but a makeshift of a coward. It occurred to me to
ask you how it would be best to leave the money, and where.”
“Don’t be disturbed, Mr. Jasper,” Routledge said, struck by the
realness of the other’s gloom. “I know the feeling—know it well. A
white man is not drilled in these matters. God, I have been ill, too! I
am ill now. See the soaps and water-basins which I have served with
my ministrations—and I am old in India. It is the weakness from
hunger which makes the people a prey to all the atrocities of filth and
disease. First famine, then plague.... A hundred pounds—that is
good of you. I know a missionary who will thank God directly for it—
all night on his knees—and he will not buy a can of butter for himself.
I will lead you to him if you wish.”
They passed through the village. The English were coming with the
bullock-carts, and the people, all those who could crawl out of their
huts, were gathered in the blazing sunlight on the public threshing-
floor. Mr. Jasper quickened his step and averted his face....
Routledge had been several days in Rydamphur, and a guest in
most of the huts, but there were many upon the threshing-floor now
(the old in agony, borne there by the young; loathsome human
remnants moving upon the sand) that he had not seen before. It
profited not to look deeply into that harrowing dream of hell, in the
light of the most high sun, lest the spectacle remain in the brain, an
indissoluble haunt.
“Yes, I know, Mr. Jasper,” Routledge muttered. “It is shocking as the
bottom of the sea—with the waters drained off. It is the carnal
mystery of a famine.”
There was but one thing left in Rydamphur for Routledge to do. It
concerned the servant of the Rest House, whom he had found good,
and the little son of Madan Das.
“This is to be your child,” he said to the man. “The mother is dead,
and the others of the family lie dead in the country. I am leaving
Rydamphur now, but by chance I shall come back. You shall attend
the mother’s body—and take the child for your own. It is the wish of
the very holy man who tarried here a few days. It was his chela who
carried the woman in from the country during the night. It is also my
wish, and I leave you money. More money will be forthcoming in due
time. First of all, I want you to buy a little brass bowl, which shall be
the child’s own. Remember the name. He is the son of Madan Das.
And now give me your name.”
It was done in order. An hour after, when all the village was attracted
to the threshing-floor, and the bullock-carts were creaking in, and the
sweating, harried Englishmen were pushing back the natives, lest
they fall under the wheels, Mr. Jasper perceived the man who had so
fascinated him set out, alone and without conveyance, along the
sandy western road toward the railroad.