LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



it is pointed out that " the end to be achieved 

 by the society in its corporate capacity, that 

 is, by the state, is the welfare of its units ; 

 for the society having as an aggregate no 

 sentiency, its preservation is a desideratum 

 only as subserving individual sentiencies." 

 This is a most important principle, which 

 should always modify the modern evolution- 

 ary conception of society as an organism, 

 and prevent that subordination of the indi- 

 vidual which must result from the application 

 of socialistic principles to governmental af- 

 fairs. The modern state, Mr. Spencer shows, 

 is in process of evolution from the militant 

 type, in which successful aggressive activities 

 demand and develop the principle of centrali- 

 zation, toward the industrial type, based upon 

 contract. In its final development the con- 

 stitution of the state " appropriate to that 

 industrial type of society in which equity is 

 fully realized, must be one in which there is 

 not a representation of individuals but a rep- 

 resentation of interests. For the health of 

 the social organism and the welfare of its 

 members, a balance of functions is requisite ; 

 and this balance can not be maintained by 

 giving to each function a power proportion- 

 ate to the number of functionaries." This 

 principle, which constitutes, perhaps, the 

 most suggestive and original part of Mr. 

 Spencer's discussion of governmental meth- 

 ods, will doubtless meet with much opposi- 

 tion and criticism in our own and similarly 

 constituted communities. It is evidently, 

 however, the product of a most careful study 

 of existing societies, and a judicial consid- 

 eration of their obvious merits and defects. 

 It is worthy of the thoughtful attention of 

 all students of society and government. 



In discussing the duties of the state, Mr. 

 Spencer argues that as societies advance 

 from the militant toward the industrial type, 

 state functions will be less and less adapted 

 to repelling external aggressors and more 

 and more to the maintenance of the condi- 

 tions of justice against the assaults of in- 

 ternal enemies the ignorant, vicious, and 

 depraved, who constitute abnormal elements 

 in all large societies. For the better fulfill- 

 ment of this obligation, he believes it to be 

 the duty of the state to administer justice 

 without cost to arbitrate between citizens 

 gratuitously. His arguments in this behalf, 

 and replies to anticipated objections, are 



forceful and worthy of the serious attention 

 of our statesmen and philosophers. A fur- 

 ther duty of the state is to act as trustee for 

 the supervision of the inhabited territory, 

 with reference to the building of roadways, 

 canals, and railroads ; the establishment and 

 repair of water, gas, telegraph, and kindred 

 appliances, etc. The actual introduction and 

 maintenance of public works should, howev- 

 er, usually be left to private enterprise. The 

 paternal theory of government contradicts 

 the fundamental principles of justice by in- 

 troducing into the state the contrary ethics 

 of the family. " The only justification for 

 the analogy between parent and child and 

 government and people," he says, "is the 

 childishness of the people who entertain the 

 analogy" (page 217). 



No candid and thoughtful man, unbiased 

 by socialistic preconceptions, can read the 

 concluding chapters of this book without 

 being convinced that the true progress of 

 governmental institutions must lie along the 

 lines which Mr. Spencer has indicated. The 

 philosophical evolutionist can but agree with 

 him that " all-embracing state-functions char- 

 acterize a low social type ; and progress to a 

 higher social type is marked by a relinquish- 

 ment of functions " (page 230). The vices 

 and inefficiencies of the civil service, so lu- 

 cidly described in these chapters, are defects 

 of our American institutions no less than of 

 those of the mother-country. Wherever they 

 exist they are largely due to the failure to 

 comprehend and apply the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of equity and justice, so well defined 

 by Mr. Spencer. So far as these false meth- 

 ods are defensible at all, they are habitu- 

 ally defended by arguments avowedly based 

 on considerations of custom and immediate 

 utility. It should be evident, however, none 

 the less to us than to Mr. Spencer, that 

 "this empirical utilitarianism, which makes 

 happiness the immediate end, stands in con- 

 trast with the rational utilitarianism, which 

 aims at the fulfillment of the conditions of 

 happiness." The excellence and sufficiency 

 of Mr. Spencer's ethical theory nowhere 

 appeal so conclusively to the enlightened 

 understanding as under the crucial test of 

 its practical applications. The thoughtful 

 moralist who is thoroughly acquainted with 

 the facts of our existing socictary condi- 

 tions can hardly avoid the conclusion thus 



