LAW AS A DISTURBER OF SOCIxiL ORDER. 639 



ment. A cow-boy's fitness consists of quickness of sight and dex- 

 terity of hand. The savage depends upon skill in hunting and 

 success in war. Fitness may reside in the longest purse, the low- 

 est cunning, or the basest treachery, according to environment. 

 The very fact that the possessor of wealth absorbs the profits of 

 discovery, of invention, and of handicraft is sufiicient reason to 

 demand an inquiry as to what legislation has given us so dis- 

 torted an environment. 



The forces required for the industrial age are, first, capital, and, 

 second, as in every other progressive step, an extension of trust 

 or confidence ; or, to use another form of expression, first, the indi- 

 vidual forces, in which are found aggressive action or energy, 

 thrift and prudence, all of which are implied in capital, but in 

 such characters are often found wanting the true sense of justice — 

 hence strong individuality may exist and. still be distrusted and 

 itself distrusting ; second, the social forces, which are permis- 

 sive, fair, honest, and just, all of which are essential to confidence — 

 but these may all exist without energy, thrift, and prudence, 

 which are implied in the possession of capital. Co-operation, 

 then, is dependent upon a union of the social virtues which reside 

 in confidence, and those personal morals which are typified in 

 capital. Had these qualities been developed in the same indi- 

 vidual, no laws would have been necessary to encourage combina- 

 tions of capital to enter wider fields of production. The incentive to 

 action is the expected reward, and in this case the inducement could 

 •be found in the large profits which combinations made possible. 



If, then, at the beginning of the present century, the rich re- 

 turns promised to those who would co-operate were fairly dis- 

 cerned, and in spite of such discernment men failed to enter into 

 co-operative action, it is evident that moral and not material 

 growth was essential to the true progress of the race, and any 

 law looking to the stimulation of material agencies could not but 

 impair and weaken the moral forces of development. 



The fact that men of wealth would not combine for the carry- 

 ing on of great projects which promised enormous profits, is evi- 

 dence that they lacked confidence in each other, and to their minds 

 treachery would surely follow trust. Upon the other hand, we 

 find the artisans and mechanics then, as now, bound by the closest 

 ties of fraternal friendship, born of mutual dependence and mutual 

 trust ; but they were wanting in those individual elements of char- 

 acter typified in the possession of capital : hence, so far as indus- 

 trial pursuits were concerned, their trust and social qualities were 

 without avail for want of money to make their combined efforts 

 effective. We thus find that the rich men of that time, although 

 able, were unwilling to combine, while the mechanics were per- 

 fectly willing, but unable for want of means. It must be plain to 



