The morning times., 1896-07-26
! SIag!sTszC 2|!' Cg!saa On
The Times undertakes no responsi-
bility for any views expressed in

The Times undertakcs no responsi
blllty for any views expressed In
this cOlum n.
ECONOMIC VALUE OF SOCIETY.
writer's have accounted for the fact anf
necessity cf human society In various
ways, some OF which are contradictory.
Blackstone considers the wants and fears
of individuals as the primary cause ol
organized society. This seems to cove
about ali that Herbert Spencer has told
US OF the cause OF the, social organism
1 Other writer's content themselves with tn
mere statement that man is u gregariou'
animal in accounting for society. This Il
equivalent to saying That the character ol
Socrates was causea by his having so much
'socratity'' 10 his blood. Herbert Spencer
has been critised fOri emphasizing militancy
as fundamental 20 social development, ane
| the relation of the sexes has been urged as
the more primitive canse.
| The Hedonist would get over this diff
Guilty, as he does various others, by simply
saying that men live In societies because
they find the greatest amount Of happl.
ness in SO living 1t is not OF SO much
Importance for US to know why savages
lived In tribes, as 1t Is to appreciate the
reasons for our. living and working to
gether now. II society be good thing
for civilized mah, every one should be
made conscious Of what the gool consists
! In order to avoid any tendency that may
| exist to offset tire good, whereby dis
1 integration may follow.
The rise and faIl Of empires; the birth,
| maturity, and decay OF civilizations: tht
| life and death of social organisms, are
| ing analOgies between these and the life
| and death OF the individual, have led to a
vague belief. seemingly quite general. that
4 social death Is inherent 10 the very nature
OF society, regardless of physical environ
ment or aggression from abroad.
We believe nothing OF the kind. For so
ciety, there is no assignabie period OF Ion
| gevity. The death OF a society is not coin.
cident with the death of its members
When Rome fell, Romans continued to live
and propagate their, species M
China has been considered dead civil
| cation, but Cinnamon are still numerous
| We are accustomed ta attribute the fall o.
the Roman empire to the fact of her being
invaded by barbarians. But we have only
10 think of her former greatness and power
as . Mistress OF the world" to realize thai
| few ignorant, semi-civlized or barbarian
tribes were not the efficient cause of her de
cline and fall
In Egypt We find evidence OF petrified
civilization, where even art assumed a con-
ventionai and inflexible form. This sug-
gets some cause tending to suppress in
dividuality-freedom of thought and ac-
tion-without which art dsscends to mere
imitation. Yet the Copts, from whose an
| cesto-s Pythagoras learned philosophy.
still live In Egypt, degenerate sons Of
ancient sires."
LIFE OF SOCIETY,
Are tile descendants OF living Americans
inevitably m a SIR W, ar
| not inevitably; but just as certainly, II
We ever fall into the habit of thinking
that society has. a HE OF It's OVID, with
which the Individuals successfully con-
shutting II, have nothing to do. IL is no
less true now than it was in the days OF
Jefferson, that eternal vigilance is the
price OF liberty; once lost, is seldom re-
gained by the same people or nation. Apart
from external causes, the decay or a civil
iizaion can be due to nothing else than
the neglect OF moral principles relating
to individual nights and the economies
which society alone makes possible.
No nauon on earth has eyer realized
the enormous economy possible to the social
state. We indicated something of this in
our last article. in speaking OF the economy
or trade. We taere touched upon tile
loss TO the Individual, deprived OF oppor-
tunity, wholly or partially, to exchange
goods. This was amply sufficient for
proper guidance To the man who has.
grasped the idea that simple justice is
the sure and onl = ihss.ns means TO econ
omy. g.r.z-,1,5, =
! But for one whois bewildering his mind
in the ceaseress1tse5rchr for that incoml
putabie something, known as the greatest
happiness of the .greateSt number here
or some where, now living or yet to live
IN the numher!efs cantnries TO come, it
may be necessarylio show that society. us
a whole, suffers "a loss whenever il per-
mits a part OF itsnumbers to be deprived
of economic opportunities TO which justice
entities them. HdweTer, in the attempt
to show this, we must be excused from
giving strict defTittons. as to individual
numbers and duration of society as a
whole" The mostywe propose by legis-
lation is to secure to the individuals COM
posing that infintesffbai part OF society
as a W hole,' who are now in existence. the
equitable rights and Economics possible of
|. attainment, leaving. future generations free
to legislate for themselves
In the first place, everyone can see. that,
however free the people be to produce goods
somewhere, the nation would be very Door
if they could exchange surplus products
nowhere. Bearing in mind that trade has
its origin in the fact OF its economizing the
VI tuoSC thBSEtd III, IL DeCOttfeS
manifest that if any portion of the produ.
GERS are situated SO far away from the
Others as to make the exchange Of their
products unnecessarily expensive, the loss
must fall on those who need the products
OF the pioneer settler, rs well as on him.
To illustrate. We once knew a pioneer
who had taken pubic land aud settled with
his family fifty nfSles from the nearest
grocery At that time the country be
trvo sonI ha
ness, and he had to camp out over night in
going to and from the grocery or Course
he wns poor and could not buy much It
time, and this made bis wearisome and ex.
pensive journeys the more frequent.
WHO ARE EMPLOYERS?
There was then an abundance OF vacant
land near that grocery, just as welIadapted
by nature to the pioneers business as that
which he occupied, buthe preferred to go off
into the wilderness rather than pay the
price demanded blythe men engaged in the
vacant land industry, residing hundreds
OF miles away.
The pointisthat others besides thispioneer'
suffered loss because of bis remoteness
from civilization. Had he lived in sight
OF the grocery he could have bought more
goods, because he could have produced
more through the saving OF time involved
in the two days Journey to the store.
This increased detnand would have in
creased the grocer,s demand upon the
wholesaler, and SO on around the circle
of commerce to laborers again, employed
in producing raw materials, making boxes,
packing, canning andevery thing Imaginable
mediately OF Immediately connected with
the grocery business. The stupid notion
that none but the rich are employ oyers, is
akin TO the antiquated notion that princes
and noblemen. living on taxes make good
eDr thnco yrhn