Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-15
Question Discussed by S. G. W. Ben
iamin, Ex-Minister to Persia.
Tendency TO Magnify the State at the
Expense Of the IndiYidual-The
Example Of Sparta.
Principle on Which Our Government is Based
The state Founded for the People, Not
the People For the State.


7--,,, the beginning of the world to the pres
49,. 5sy no question has received more constant
---- General attention than the solution of the
--.ffer7 Of government. The happiness of every
nan is I stake in this question. Strange to say,
Notwithstanding that some approximation to-
,.,.-7-s satisfactory solution of this perplexing
s-rfrgt appears to have been reached by several
CATIONS. thus offering a model for others to fol-
rr vet the question has never been more ear
-.s.rZ discussed than now; this may be in part
bs~sase Of the greater general freedom permitted
-o-re people IN the direction of government af-
s.--s But in this country at least it is also due
IN mart 10 the fact that, while the true princi-
niles of government are better understood at
--.sant. many details relating to the practical
l77ltcation Of those principles are still in a
ra5ulous or experimentatstate.
There have been few sovereigns who would be
rrfnfr. TO admit that they were inspired by other
-go-fyes than the welfare of their people even in
.r.r- most arbitrary acts. Even the car Of
r-.s.a. when he undertakes, in this nineteenth
carrrrv. TO force all his subjects, under the
stress Of horrible penalties, to bow at one
shrine. to speak but one language, and to avoid
-u-s-fcal discussion or the seeking after lndl-
,.EraI liberty would doubtless vehemently as
s.-t that he is moved by strong patriotic mo-
r.gav alone. Most sOverelgns, whether good or
lad have been blinded by such specious pre-
fences. ignorant OF the tricks Whlch our nyS-
tesgus human nature will play on US.
1IAGNIFYING THE STATE.
The fact remains, however, that government
been almost everywhere in all ages, a mag
rffyfus of the state and a minimizing of the peo-
ME and the individual. The state has been
everything and the individual nothing. This
MIGHT not always have resulted in evil, espec-
ia..v in small or new communities, like the
creek republic or Rome in its early days. But
the trouble has been that IN most cases the
hereditary sovereign has been de tacto II not IN
theory an eDit0me of the state. Il etat, c'eSt
moi 81 am the state-the famous diCtum of
Tnri- the EIV-if somewhat TOO fatty put, IS
Sill I'D point Of fact correct definition of gov
eminent as IL has been praCtiCed the world over
during these thousands OF years past.
Even the so-Called republics Of Greece and
italy were actually OhgarChies IN which the
government was really. vested in the hands OF
q few ruling families who lived off the state and
for whom the state practically existed.
THE EXAMPLE OF SPARTA.
The most remarkable example of this form Of
government, in which the identity and the
rights Of the individual citizen OF subject were
merged IN the state, was that of Sparta.
This example is the more noteworthy, be-
cause before the declaration of independence by
the continental congress of the United States
there never was any more deliberate, more care
fully considered or more thoroughly tested
experiment in formulating theory OF govern
meut than the plan said to have been invented
bv Lvcurgus and put into practice during sew
tral centuries at Sparta.
Although uominally a monarchy, the govern
weut Of Sparta was really an armed camp,
whose sovereign was a hereditary generaI-ln
chief. and whose citizens were soldiers who sur
rendered their very identity as 1t were TO the
state They sat at common public mess tables;
both sexes. belonging from birth to the state
which had arranged the selection OF the parents,
were obliged to exercise naked at the vigorous
public exercises of the gymnasium, while those
who We're Constitutionally feeble or uetormed,
were killed lest they become a burden to the
state. To such an extreme was this principle OF
the supreme Importance of the state carried,
that during the prOtraCLed Messlnlan war, when
MANY of the adult males were slam, q number OF
vigorous Young men were selected from the
army and ordered to return to Sparta Tor the ex-
press purpose Of rearing 4 new generation OF
soldiers; for the good of the state the women,
whether married or single, submitted to this
prOmisCuOuS Intercourse. In Sparta, then, the
state was everything the individual nothing.
The state. which is merely an abstract ngment
OF the brain. elevated to be the cnlet END or
government. The same error was made IN the
case of the Pharisees, who assumed that man
was made for the Sabbath. What was the re-
suite Sparta left no arts, no sciences. no Htera-
ture; she made no lasting impression IN the pro-
greSs of the race. and when she fell, her citj-
7ens were the most selfish and corrupt in Greece.
They had been taught but one principle, phys
state.
OTHER EXAMPLES.
Most governments existing since then, which
have shown evidence of vigor on the part of the
rulers, have practically treated the people as il
they sted only for the state, just the
church has too often treated the world, as
though the people were for the church and not
the church for the individual soul. Enormous
crimes. appalling CruelteS, have been peTpe-
trateo by both church and state for the purpose
offorcing men to accept this principle of civil
and spiritual government.
This is all wrong. Society exists for the ben
elf %! every unit that COmpOSeS 1t. Government
or the state exists not for itself, but for the in
dylduGl. and is then only what it should be
WNa0 II allows the greatest possible liberty con-
slSient with order TO every individual citizen.
The state should be like the heart; man does not
exist for the heart. but the heart for man; so
long as the laws Of hygiene are observed, the
heart performs its duty of sustaining the life OF
:1e individual in a quiet, invisible way, never
interfering with the thought or the action of the
being whose action It sustains. The Sabbath is
made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So
government Is ordained for man individually
ana not man for the government. Only this
neorT can that liberty be preserved for which
u-g ia.herS fought and without which life is
Vel nlEh IntO!erable to the thinking men and
women of this generation.
q, .l was exactly for the purpose of formulating |
t-.N basal principle Of government that the col |
oneS rehellad and formulated the constitution
whose adoption marked the greatest era in the
progress or free government since the decline of
sP2r,a. II is the rights of the individual and
not the E0rv of the state which the constitution
laws down as the foundation principle of good |
governmental government 'by the people for
The people -
These facts are so patent to our people who
nave now for generations imbibed clear and
generally correct notions concerning the right
lheeTE OF Government. that il almost seems alb
s-f0 To rec7 pitulate them again. And vet it is
necessary from time to time to recall them, for
we reason that there IS a real and growing dam
81 'hat those very liberties which have been
assured 10 rs in this way may be stolen from US
-louEn thCughtleSSness or failure to perceive !
SIll1e ~ the dangers which threaten our dearly
so4IAI Independence. There Is unquestio1able
Ha9ger that we NAV driftback 10 tn mistaken
snl most deplOrable theory that man is for the
.tse ana not the state for man. 1t is not likely
.-sl outside Of the ranks of the organized hier-
&C ~ some branches of the church, anyone
S1.A De found TO admit such notion. And vet
,-e .-i considered eff rtS and practice of too
i.tlF are leading precisely to such q result. If
:, zones. we rs individual citizens cannot evade
81 ~ TtSponSlbilIty Of contributing TO bring it
'l. ether bv negligence or by not sufficiently
=, llnl7lng the character Of the men who make
@-- administer the laws for US.
TOO MANY LAWS.
without looking at other causes, let as reflect
-1f moment that besides the two houses Of
congress there are no less than forty-two legis-
-1'aTes grinding out laws for this long suffering
people: most OF them engaged in this tremen-
uOls task annually. Forty three legislatures
Steadily making new laws or tinkering with old
- ~ LOT a nation having not twice as many peo-
=: as france! Law is good and necessary
mig ms SO Is medicine; but one may have too