Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/279

Rh the monarch. The monarch had served the very useful purpose of welding heterogenous tribes into a more or less unified whole. Through several centuries of this type of nation-making the peoples finally broke their customs of faction and their tribal habits. They became accustomed to living in the larger nation under a common language and a common law. This type of the strong man’s work was then done. Under the changed circumstances his functioning appeared to the governed as tyrannical. The idea of political liberty grew. Liberty and government seemed to form a paradox. And that government which governed least was believed to govern best.

With a government owned by the people, tyranny and government ceased to be the same thing. Government and liberty were no longer incompatible. But the idea persisted, as is usual in social evolution, long after the conditions which produced the idea had changed. It persisted perhaps somewhat longer in the United States than elsewhere because of the strong individualism developed by a nation of pioneers, conquering the wilderness in small groups with little aid from the government.

Government now appears as collective organized effort. Individuals can do little acting singly, but acting through collective organized effort undreamed-of achievements may be made. The world has hardly begun to see the possibilities of organization. Hence more government is desired. This is particularly true in modern society with its tremendous complexity and heterogeneity. This is the conception of the state from the point of view of government. How is it from the point of view of the individual and liberty? The older notions of liberty meant freedom from an overbearing government, freedom to pursue life, liberty and happiness, and especially to own property. Several years of this unrestrained liberty have resulted in liberty for some, but not for others. The socially strong and the lucky have been successful, but with their success the liberties of the socially weak and the unlucky have fared very badly. The liberties of many must therefore be protected by the government. This is what is meant by the term "social justice." Furthermore, with the conception of government as the collective organized effort of all the people, the idea of the common good" is being emphasized more than "individual rights" and the term social freedom is replacing the term "liberty." Therefore, from the point of view of government and of liberty an extension of governmental functions is desired. And the advice of political science on state-building is that modern society demands a government developed beyond the narrow limits of the past to the aims of social justice and collective effort. It will be interesting to observe the developments on the Pacific coast under the light of this new theory of the state.

Perhaps the reader will argue that this new theory is, after all, only