Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/612

 596 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Under the state there are recognized both rights and duties. So long as the law is not violated there is liberty of action, and the foundations of human freedom are laid.

Another great institution takes its rise at this stage, viz., that of property. With the establishment of the state, with its recog- nition of rights under the law, it becomes possible, as never before, to enjoy undisturbed any object that has been rightfully acquired. Such an object then becomes property, and belongs to its owner even if not in his immediate possession. He need no longer fear that, unless it is constantly watched and forcibly defended, it will be wrested from him by others who have no other claim than that of superior strength. The immense sociological importance of this cannot be too strongly emphasized. For a man's posses- sions need no longer be confined to what he can himself consume or enjoy; they may greatly exceed his wants, or consist of objects for which he has no need, but which are needed by others who have other things that he does want and for which he can exchange them. He can manufacture a single product many thousand times in excess of his needs, and exchange it for a great variety of other objects similarly produced in excess by others. We thus see that the instituion of private property was the foundation at once of all trade and business and also of the division of labor. But property was not possible until the state was established, whose most important function was at the outset and still remains the protection of the citizen in his proprietary rights.

With the establishment of the state, or even before, there begins a differentiation of social tissues. The analogy with organic tissues is here particularly clear and useful in helping us to understand the process. All well-informed persons are now familiar with the fact that the tissues of all developed animals consist of an ectoderm, or outer layer, an endoderm, or inner layer, and a mesoderm, or intermediate layer, and that out of one or the other of these fundamental tissues all the organs of the body are formed. Now, the evolution of the metasocial body is exactly parallel to this. The conquering race, or superior clnss or caste, represents the social ectoderm; the conquered race, or