The Labor enquirer., 1886-03-27

ours, his terms are our property Let us
90 to him and see if the meaning Of
government" has changed in Eve years,
or even in 100 years.
In the Rights of Man. we read:
"a great part of that order which
reigns among mankind is not the effect
of government"
Why then did Paine advocate govern
ment2 Because of another great part"
which he proceeds to explain:
aNo one man is capable, without the
aid of society, of supplying his own
wants.
Government is no further necessary
than to supply the few cases to which
society and civilization are not convent
eBtly competent"
Remember that in Paine's time the
consolidation of industry into large con-
Germs had not yet begun. Services then
performed ty individuals, now require
hundreds of persons. vi
Government is nothing more than a
natior al association acting on the prln-
ciples of society"
"Man did not enter society to become
worse than he was hefore. nor to have
less rights than he had before, but to
have those rights better secured"
"The natural rights which he retains,
are all those in which the power to ex-
ecute is as perfect in the individual as
the right itself" +
what is government more than the
management of the affairs cf a nation p
"The government of a free country.
properly sp' aking, is not in the persons
but in the laws
ut government has of itself no
rights, they are altogether duties"
These duties are the carving out OF
the measures of laws which have been
decided to be just by the people. To en-
force any others, even though they be
more just, would be tyranny.
No greater errcr was ever stated, than
that, natural laws of society are self
operating, among people ignorant OF
those laws. The declaration of the
French Revolrtionists contains this:
political liberty consists in the power
of doing whatever does not iniure an
other. The exercise of the natural
rights of every man has no other limits
than those which are necessary to secure
to every other man the free exercise OF
the same rights; and these limits are
determinaole only by law"
So determinable, because an agre5,
meut must be had as to what are the
limits the limits placel by one man
would be removed by another The
man holding private property, says be
is within the limits of every other mans
right and it is this right that Socialists
W ould modify. 1t must be modified by
a mental process because arbitrary force
only fixes principle of right more firmly
in the mind of the individual opposed
When the force is re moved, the princi
pie is again dominant, demanding action
A few more quotations from Paine viii
be useful to those who mistake riot for
Revolution
"It may be considered as an honor to
the animal faculties of man to obtain re,
dress / Y courage and danger ) but 1t is
far greater honor to the rational facul
ties to accomplish the s,me object by
reason, accommodation and general con,
sent"
1T is evident that the greatest forces
that can be brought in:o the feld Of
Revolutions are reason and common in.
terest Where these can have opportu
nifty of acting, opposition dies with fear
or crum bles away by conviction. We
NAV hereafter hope to see Revolutions
or changes in governments, produced
with the same quiet operation by which
any measure, determinabla by reason
and discussion, is accomplished"
THE strength of government does not
consist in anything within itself, but in
the interest which the people feel Id sup
porting it. When this is lost, govern
ment is but child in power"
Revolutions are not within the com
pass cf political calculations"
THE remedy of force can never sup
ply the remedy of reason"
The right of reform Is in the nation
in Its origi n al character, and the con
stitutional method would be by gen.
eral convention elected for the purpose
That is, the right to change is the same
as the right to organize to meet and
agree upon what are rights of individ
uais, and functions of the state or execu
to- of public measures. l an not par
tial to the word government" but mos
words have been misused. Even "soci
ety." to some, means the fashionable
world. State" expresses the idea of g
body Of people "acting on the principles
of society,"" as far as they knew them
therefore l am State Socialist. ZENo.
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