SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES 



XII 



SOCIETY DEPENDS ON MAN 



THE notion that the provinces of individual and social 

 interests are relatively independent and exclusive, and that 

 neither can be extended except by invading the other, rests 

 on a metaphor, and has been adopted without examination. 

 It has blinded the Individualist to the truth that in limiting 

 the functions of Society he may be injuring himself. 



The Socialist, to whom we now turn, would not desire 

 to weaken the Individual, any more than the Individualist 

 would desire to loosen the Social order. Nevertheless, by 

 abolishing private property, he would reduce the individual 

 into a condition of tutelage and deprive him of the oppor- 

 tunity of realizing his rational nature. His aim should be to 

 strengthen the institutions of Society by moralizing them. 



How the magnitude of the modern City and modern State 

 has obscured their dependence upon the spiritual worth of 

 the individual citizen ; and how minor organizations, within 

 the State, tend to withdraw his interest from, and to destroy 

 his loyalty to, the latter. 



But the City and the State own no quality which they 

 have not drawn from their citizens, and they can be main- 

 tained only by being continually reproduced by the rational 

 activities of their members. 



This truth illustrated by reference to a private business 

 concern, which can prosper only as long as it is conducted 

 well. The stability of the City and the State depends in 

 like manner on the active loyalty of the citizens ; and they 

 will not be safe or progressive unless social obligations are 

 regarded as debts of honour to be punctually paid. 



