NATIONALIZATION OF UNIVERSITY EXTENSION. 505 



ency, it seems to me, on the American side of the Atlantic, to 

 misinterpret this principle, and to discredit too much the immense 

 power for good in proper governmental activity. And even 

 Herbert Spencer himself, gazing too steadily upon the slavery of 

 socialism and the mischief of protection and prohibition, warrants 

 in a measure such a misinterpretation. It is true that govern- 

 mental activity run wild is as harmful as a thunderbolt, but, when 

 chained to the right sort of service, it is as useful as the electric 

 current. It is possible to apply the salutary principle laid down 

 in the volume on Justice in a manner that will avoid the evils of 

 both paternalism and of too great passivity. Nor is this playing 

 with fire. The line between legitimate and illegitimate govern- 

 mental activity is easily drawn. What is mandatory in govern- 

 ment must not much exceed the Decalogue, or it trespasses on 

 that individual liberty which it is the sole function of govern- 

 ment to promote. But the field of action is not so narrow as this. 

 There is a large region of what may be called permissives, in 

 which an intelligent Government may with perfect propriety 

 make individual actions possible, which would otherwise be quite 

 impracticable, and this is very different from the spirit of the 

 Decalogue. Every free Government does at the present time 

 extend a large measure of mere verbal permission to its citizens, 

 but this is rather a gratuitous bit of graciousness, if it do nothing 

 to see that adequate means are obtainable. 



We have, then, an easily applied test of the propriety of any 

 governmental action. If it comj^el, beyond the primal social 

 necessaries — the prevention of murder, theft, adultery, and the 

 like — it is mischievous, and is to be resisted as an encroachment 

 upon individual liberty. But if it render intelligent assistance in 

 making desirable individual action possible, it is to be hailed as a 

 legitimate extension of individual liberty, and is to be utilized as 

 a fruit of the progress of civilization in precisely the same spirit 

 that we would utilize the inventions of Siemens or Edison. One 

 is free, for instance, to write a letter to any one in any place, but 

 he is the more free in that Government delivers it for him at a 

 cost so small that the very poorest may write. There is much 

 that is most desirable to be accomplished in America through 

 national action, and it seems to me that we cheat ourselves 

 sadly if we hesitate to use so powerful a means out of fear 

 that it shall be misused. The more it is properly used, the 

 better will its function be understood, and the less likely to be 

 abused. 



Viewing the function of Government in this light, I still be- 

 lieve that the nationalization of university extension is highly 

 desirable, for I believe that, by supplying adequate means for the 

 carrying out of a great idea, it would add immensely to that indi- 



