LAW AS A DISTURBER OF SOCIAL ORDER. 633 



science has worked more marvelous changes than the generaliza- 

 tion known as the persistency or indestructibility of force ; yet in 

 the moral and social worlds its teachings are almost entirely dis- 

 regarded. In exerting force in any form, it must be applied to 

 something, and, whenever or however applied, that something 

 will react with a force equal to and in an opposite direction to 

 that which is applied. The man who lifts a hundred pounds' 

 weight, finds the weight pulls one hundred pounds upon his arm ; 

 the man who strikes a blow, receives upon his fist a shock of equal 

 force to that which he imposes upon the body of his antagonist : 

 should he miss his aim, the direct force would react in a pull 

 upon the shoulder, and might result in the dislocation of the 

 joint. One pushes against an object until red in the face, but the 

 redness of face and exhaustion are not caused by the direct appli- 

 cation of power ; it is because the object reacts in resisting or 

 pushing with a force just equal to that which is applied ; and, but 

 for this pulling and pushing in reaction, men could apply force 

 without expending force, could accomplish work without exert- 

 ing energy, both of which are contradictions of terms and ab- 

 surdities. 



Notwithstanding this invariable law of nature, legislative 

 enactments are daily made providing for the exertion of social 

 and moral forces, without one thought of the reaction which must 

 inevitably follow ; and I may here say that Nihilism and political 

 disorders in Russia are the reaction due to laws which restrict 

 political rights; the agrarian troubles in Ireland are the reac- 

 tion due to its onerous land laws ; while our industrial unrest is 

 but the reaction due to legislative interference with natural in- 

 dustrial forces. 



The mechanic in moving large bodies secures the aid of lever, 

 screw, or inclined plane, and is obliged to apply as much energy 

 as the body offers resistance. In mechanics the principle of the 

 correlation and conservation of forces is always acknowledged 

 and obeyed ; hence the unerring certainty of performance and the 

 stability of the vast and intricate structures of the age. When 

 large bodies are to be moved, physical energy is applied in the 

 form of great power at low speed ; where parts are to be severed, 

 or fracture is sought, or where molecular instead of molar energy 

 is desired, it is obtained by impact at high velocity, as is instanced 

 in the firing of projectiles against a vessel's armor-plating: the 

 energy applied is exhausted in penetrating the armor and gener- 

 ating heat, instead of imparting motion to the vessel. 



In the social no less than in the material world, force is inde- 

 structible, and in the latter the hostile meeting of two unyielding 

 bodies in collision arrests the molar energy to reappear as molec- 

 ular with its equivalent in heat. So, if two social bodies meet and 



