The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-04-07
ourFOrun.
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES.
Functions OF Should
Artificial Persons Corporations
be Created?

Every individual is, by virtue of
certain inalienable right. Whert
there only one person on earth then
he would be unres tricted in all things
save by the laws Of nature. No code
Of ethics could hold him res ponsible
for the discharge Of any duty save
that which he would owe himself In
fact there could be no other duty. 1t
seems fair to presume that this soil
tary individual could best Discharge
the duty TO self by conforming strictly
to the laws Of nature in their support
of his general welfare. Outside Of
this obedience to nature in the dis
charge Of duty to self there could be
no law for the further limitation of
his conduct.
But if another individual come to
earth then each of these two inuivid-
uals is under dual obligat On viz: his
duty to self and his duty to the other.
Each possesses like interest in all
the natural elements and consequent
ly in all the natural properties. Like
wise there are many immateriN
things but each must share alike with
the other. AS true as there il a
natural law levying a competent
penalty for every violation Of Mans
a natural law INJECTING penalties for
each violation Of his duty to others.
In the former case the penalty falls
upon the individual himself. In the
latter case the penalty falls not only
upon the transgresser OF the law but
upon the others as we'll. The selfish
inclination Of the individual to APP
propriate and acquire property and
advantages is the actuating principle
that has led men to form govern
ments. But governments formed
from this motive alone arc at best
nothing but compromises agreed to by
number of selfish individuals each
willing to sacrifice lew things and
! all deSIrous Of retaining as many
things as possible, while none appears
| to evidence any regard for the duty
| he owes to the others ParaGOXical as
it may seem, the cause that brings
! governments into existence is the
same that produces their decay.
History affords 10 examples where it
has been otherwise. 1t is the spirit
OF human seltishuess. In consequence
of this unfortunate tendency. the con-
situations of all countries show the
main object of the fundamental law
to be the protection Of the individual
in his reserved rights. 1t is as though
all efforts tend to the bu lding Of high
walls about each mans crop Of special
| privileges regardless of the prODa bill
| iLy that these very walls may direct
strains Of pure water from others
who furnish without them. In tniS
will be found the chlef.if not the sole,
reason why the human race has never
been able to govern itself. All forms
of human governments have been
failures and they must so continue
until shorn OF individual seltishncss.
Governments are too solicitOuS of
mans duty to himself and the protec-
tion Of the individ ual right, If gov
ernments, on the contrary, would to
do with mans duty to others, and
leave the individual to secure to him
self his own greatest ultimate good
only by and through having dis
charged his duty to others in full,
then more equally balanced system
could be hoped for.
The government has no natural
right to aid the individual in the dis
charge of duty to self. Such a doc
trinc being contrary to natural law, it
follows that the individual cannot
even delegate it to the government
Natural law is the only true founda-
ton Of rational governments; there
fore any constitutional provision VIC
lating natural law is itself unconst IT,
tutional There are many schools OF
political economy all differing as t6
the true basis for their science
JeyonS basis this highly moral ant
immaterial science upon cold abstrac,
principle OF mathematics; Others clinl
to the old inductive methods, trying
to criticse Jevons and themselve:
falling into the greater error Of hav
ing no basis save the observation OF
i'm pei fect s<stemS and that too calico
from the I'm satisfactory disclosures OF
history. Whatever may be said Of The
inductive method which tries to ge1
fixed truths for basic principles from
experience alone, 1t must be admitted
that if all this experience is the out
growth Of error then we can certainly
do no more than guess at what might
be truth. Mathematical JevonS i
too material in his methods, and to-
abstract 10 his conceptions and terms
Argyll goes to another extreme AM
tires us with an inductive meJhu(
that observes error and builds upol
it, 1t seems as though all thes'
schools have StudiOusly avoided an,
attempt to search for their principle
of political economy within the scoop
of social or moral ethics. 1t appear
that there is more justification il
searching for our fundamental politi
cal doctrines. or principles, ia TIL
teachings of Gregory on moral ethic
than in the formulas OF Euclid Or tn
: variations of Gibbon or Hume.
No person has any right to do any
; thing that Injuries himself or in any
way interfereS with the rights Of 9th
ers. 1t follows therefore that tin
citizen has no right to delegate to tn
state any authority or power the cA
{ ercise OF which would injure eithc
himself or others. Yet, the people O
, our own country are continually do
ing this very thing. Perhaps the tw
most notable instances are in allow
ing the government to create artiti
t cial persons and in giving the COY
eminent the power of enforcing cor
, tracts between individuals. The GOV
; eminent should never have been al
: lowed toexercise either Of those funC
tionS, its doing so being clearly vic
lation Of natural law. The govern
/ ment creates artificial persons, er
, dows them with multitudinOu
rights, voluminous laws for protectin
these rights. In fact the gOvernmen
seems to have gone into the specialit
OF assisting individuals to discharg
E their duties to themselves. And NJ
mi h n fnr n q 1ro1