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A Text Book on Civil Government in the United States (1875)
A Text Book on Civil Government in the United States - 1875 Author:George Henry Martin Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VI. OBLIGATIONS OF THE GOVKBNMENT (CONTINUED). In securing justice, the government is taking the best possible means to promote the public hap- ... more »Promotionof . , . General Wei- pmess and improvement. Civil liberty is fare" the ground of national prosperity. In states like Mexico, where anarchy and misrule have long prevailed, the people are poor, and the country is unproductive. Yet there are means by which the government may Measures of at Hi ore directly to this end. Among Public Utility. these are, educating the people, and carrying out measures of public utility and convenience. The most obvious of these are the establishment of means of communication, as roads and bridges, postal arrangements, and the coining of money. In all these, that uniformity which is so necessary can only be secured by having the government assume the control. The government can do much to foster the industries Fostering of the nation. Thus the United States, in industries, the interest of commerce, surveys its coast, provides maps and charts, clears its rivers and harbors, builds breakwaters, enacts pilotage laws, prepares and publishes weather reports, and sends its officers and ships of war to foreign ports to protect its seamen. Itpromotes agriculture by giving farms to actual settlers, and by collecting and scattering new seeds and plants, and disseminating information of new and improved modes of carrying on the business. It has given bounties to persons engaged in certain kinds of fishing. It aims to encourage manufactures by placing duties upon foreign goods, so that home productions may have an advantage in the market. It has given lands and money to aid in building railroads and canals, and in establishing steamship lines to foreign ports. The duty of the ...« less