The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1896-02-20
LIVE QUESTIONS.
A Series Of Articles Contributed TO These
Columns by Advanced Thinkers.

An error prolific Of evil consequences
to society and also to the state is the
failure to distinguish the one from the
other.
The tendency to confound them may
be due to the fact that the state COM
prises the same individuals as those
composing society, and is strengthened,
no doubt, by the manner in which popular
knowledge or social progress in the past
is chiefly cquired-namely, through
the study of histories devoted for tho
most part to narration of the rise and
fall Of states. Nor is the error confined
to merely vulgar opinion. Students of
sociology are subject to its influence.
Even so able and analytical q thinker
as Herbert Spencer speaks of the state as
'society in its corporate capacity" and
says that political speculation, which
sets out with the assumption that the
state has, in all cases, the same nature,
must end i'll profoundly erroneous con-
illusions" " implying that the nature Of
the state changes as society advances,
being merely a mode of social action no
lOSS uuluTdl Ildu SOClblN lISell.
To this misconception of the real ma
ture of the state is largely due that
practical disregard of the limits of state
duties of which Mr.. Spencer himself
justly complains. Society is natural
organism the state, an artificial mech
anism. The former is in no way depend
ent upon the will Of man for its exist
ence or progress, which are but the ag-
gregates of individual being and ad-
vancement; its development is subject
to the universal law of evolution. The
state, ON the other hand, is entirely the
result of mans will; it is established
and maintained by him, and, unless for
reasons sufficient to warrant his action,
without authority emitting it to respect.
A clear conception of those reasons, Of
that warrant and authority, would
greatly simplify this inquiry. 1t is plain
enough, however, that there must be
some urgent reason, amounting to a ne
cessity, to warrant the compulsory ac-
tion which gives rise to the state, and
through which it makes its existence
known and felt. We talk of self govern
ment; we do not, however, govern our
selves, but each other. With respect to
any one man the action of the state is
but the action of other men, which is
none the less true when they compel
him to contribute to the support of that
power which they use to coerce him.
Time has been when government was
administered in conformity to the will
Of one man, who might indeed and in
IL 4.
rule of an individual we have advanced
to that of a majority, the only advan-
tage gained thereby being the proba-
bility of wiser use of power. Wisdom
and power have been styled the attri-
butes of sovereignty, but it would be in
teresting TO know with how little wis
dom a government could maintain it.
self, provided only it had sufficient pow
er. The essential element of govern
ment is power, but good government
, consists in its just and efficient use,
not only as regards the manner of ac-
complishing the legitimate ends for
which it is maintained, but also in re-
spect to methods Of maintaining it.
There has doubtless been in every age
at least one man of so great integrity
and wisdom that, given the requisite
power, he would have maintained a
better government than any majority of
his time could ever have agreed upon,
and, having such power, any man would
have the right to maintain just govern
ment even in opposition to any major
ity, no matter how great, advocating an
unjust government.
Let us, then, conceive of q state in
which some man has absolute control
of the civil power, which he uses only
for legitimate purposes, and always uses
efficiently. Such q state would approach
more nearly to perfection than any the
world has ever seen or is likely soon to
see, and yet how clear it is that the ac-
tion of such state would be in no
proper sense the action of society, whose
members might or might not approve
the government to which they were sub
jected.
But instead Of one man exercising
the sovereign power, let the number be
increased to two or more, to a majority
even Of the members of society, and yet
their relation to the state and to society
would III no way differ from that of the
one man; nor would the relation Of the
state to society be changed from what
it was under the rule Of one man. But
by what authority is any one man or
any majority Of men warranted in as
suming to control and direct the con-
duct of members of society, at the same
time compelling them to contribute to
the support of the power necessary to
such control? 1t is idle to talk of q So
cial contract" whereby society as a
whole surrenders certain natural rights
in exchange for the advantages of civil
government
If it were possible for such contract
to be made, it would have to be renew
ed every hour, for it could have no
binding force upon a man born after it
was made. Even the maxim that gov
ernments derive their just powers from
the consent of the governed is not true
in the sense that consent" or "agree
mpntD nan offact tho iustica of ony oot