734 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the past instanced above, nor only from consideration of the 

 analogies furnished by organisms of all orders ; but it is reached 

 also by observation of cases daily under our eyes. The truth 

 that the regulative structure always tends to increase in power, 

 is illustrated by every established body of men. The history of 

 each learned society, or society for other purpose, shows how the 

 staff, permanent or partially permanent, sways the proceedings 

 and determines the actions of the society with but little resist- 

 ance, even when most members of the society disapprove: the 

 repugnance to anything like a revolutionary step being ordinarily 

 an efficient deterrent. So is it with joint-stock companies those 

 owning railways for example. The plans of a board of directors 

 are usually authorized with little or no discussion ; and if there 

 is any considerable opposition, this is forthwith crushed by an 

 overwhelming number of proxies sent by those who always sup- 

 port the existing administration. Only when the misconduct is 

 extreme does the resistance of shareholders suffice to displace the 

 ruling body. Nor is it otherwise with societies formed of work- 

 ingmen and having the interests of labor especially at heart the 

 Trades Unions. In these, too, the regulative agency becomes all- 

 powerful. Their members, even when they dissent from the pol- 

 icy pursued, habitually yield to the authorities they have set up. 

 As they can not secede without making enemies of their fellow- 

 workmen, and often losing all chance of employment, they suc- 

 cumb. We are shown, too, by the late congress, that already in 

 the general organization of Trades Unions so recently formed, 

 there are complaints of " wire-pullers " and " bosses " and " perma- 

 nent officials." If, then, this supremacy of the regulators is seen 

 in bodies of quite modern origin, formed of men who have, in 

 many of the cases instanced, unhindered powers of asserting their 

 independence, what will the supremacy of the regulators be- 

 come in long - established bodies, in bodies which have grown 

 vast and highly organized, and in bodies which, instead of con- 

 trolling only a small part of the unit's life, control the whole of 

 his life ? 



Again there will come the rejoinder " We shall guard 

 against all that. Everybody will be educated ; and all, with 

 their eyes constantly open to the abuse of power, will be quick to 

 prevent it." The worth of these expectations would be small 

 even could we not identify the causes which will bring disap- 

 pointment ; for in human affairs the most promising schemes go 

 wrong in ways which no one anticipated. But in this case the 

 going wrong will be necessitated by causes which are conspicu- 

 ous. The working of institutions is determined by men's char- 

 acters ; and the existing defects in their characters will inevitably 

 bring about the results above indicated. There is no adequate 



