338 THEORY AND ADMINISTRATION 



as an organism, the end will naturally be found within itself. If the 

 state be regarded as an organization, the problem of the end becomes 

 open to broader discussion. Is the state ever anything other than 

 political? Can its acts ever be other than public acts? Does the 

 state exist for other than political ends? There are varying answers 

 to such questions, though the tendency is to answer all in the nega- 

 tive. If answered in the negative, then a step toward the setting- 

 forth of the end of the state is taken. Will not the end be in line 

 of progressive public well-being, as the state is an organization based 

 upon the will of human beings ? 



Even if all these problems were set forth in proper form and 

 solved, if there is to be progress in human association and organiza- 

 tion, and such seems to be the destiny, the political theorist has the 

 great problem which early confronted Plato, the problem of formu- 

 lating such political ideas and ideals as shall cause mankind to aspire 

 to the progressive realization of the possibilities of human develop- 

 ment. 



