CORRESP ONDENCE. 



411 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE STATE AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



IT would probably be hard to find an 

 expression around which so many 

 false and confused ideas have gathered 

 as we find clustering around the term 

 "the state." In the course of an oth- 

 erwise excellent article which we read 

 lately in one of our educational contem- 

 poraries, we find "the state" described 

 as being " simply society organized." 

 Now, we can only understand by this 

 that, apart from political government, 

 there is no social organization; yet 

 surely nothing could be wider of the 

 truth. 'The fact is, that true social or- 

 ganization is seen at its best precisely 

 where the state is not — that is to say, 

 in those regions of social activity with 

 which political government does not 

 interfere. Think of our churches, our 

 charities, our clubs and institutes of one 

 kind and another, our commercial sys- 

 tem with its constant tendency to high- 

 er and more complete organization, the 

 newspaper press, the railway and tele- 

 graph systems, our multitudinous social 

 arrangements, and the thousand and 

 one purely voluntary agencies by which 

 human intercourse is facilitated and im- 

 proved ; and at once it becomes obvious 

 how misleading it is to speak of " the 

 state " as being " society organized." 

 It would be nearer the mark, in our 

 opinion, to say that true social organi- 

 zation begins just where state action 

 ends. The essential function of the cen- 

 tral power is to preserve the integrity 

 of the community by shielding it from 

 external attack and internal disruption, 

 and so to provide the conditions for so- 

 cial organization. In other words, the 

 state maintains order as the condition 

 of progress ; but progress, if it is to be 

 worth anything, must result from the 

 innate powers and aflfinities of the units 

 composing the social mass. 



It should never be forgotten that the 

 state, as such, proceeds by coercion. It 

 does not ask for taxes; it demands and 

 takes them. It does not use moral sua- 

 sion on recalcitrants, but applies at once 

 the ultima ratio of baton and handcuffs. 

 If the state, for example, makes itself 

 the champion of temperance reform, its 

 language is : Do this, refrain from that, 

 or — go to jail. But social organization, 

 in the true sense, is not a matter of 

 compulsion, and can not proceed from 

 compulsion ; it is a matter of growth ; 

 it means the sorting out and aggregation 

 of like social elements, and the weaving 

 by the whole body of society of such 

 forms, usages, customs, principles, and 

 institutions as are most in harmony with 

 its character and conditions. "What is 

 eflfected by legislation simply can be 

 overturned by legislation just as easily ; 

 but what is accomplished by a spon- 

 taneous growth of sentiment is really 

 wrought into the very structure and 

 fiber of society. There exists the gravest 

 doubt to - day whether the state of 

 Maine has gained anything whatever by 

 its legislative prohibition of the liquor- 

 traffic ; many, indeed, hold that the cause 

 of temperance itself has suffered through 

 the measures adopted to promote it, and 

 that the whole moral tone of the com- 

 munity has been lowered by the un- 

 ceasing spectacle of the conflict between 

 the prescriptions of State authority and 

 the claims of individual liberty. Our 

 form of government tends greatly to 

 disguise the truth that social organiza- 

 tion is a product of freedom. If a mon- 

 arch or other autocrat were to enact 

 certain laws that find favor in different 

 parts of this country, there would be an 

 outcry against his tyranny, and he would 

 certainly be suspected of many a sinister 

 motive. But, because these laws ex- 

 press the will of the majority, they pass 



