THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF PROGRESS 199 



alone iu nature. But his freedom of opportunity in- 

 creases with society. Organization furnishes him 

 with a vastly wider range of possibilities. The 

 hermit, it is true, can follow his caprice, but there are 

 very few things that he can do. The member of the 

 civilized community cannot follow every caprice, 

 but he has far greater possibilities than the hermit 

 with his absolute freedom. In the society he is 

 still free to follow his own will, provided this will 

 be in accordance with certain rules which have been 

 determined as best for the mutual advantage of all. 

 These rules are generally made by the central author- 

 ity, frequently by the despot for his own purpose; 

 but as man is gaining political power he makes rules 

 for his own government. With organization, then, 

 his freedom of following caprice is lost, but his 

 freedom of opportunity is immensely increased. 



Society Offers Opportunity in the Place of License. — 

 Thus, while the individual's independence has dis- 

 appeared, his welfare has advanced, and, though cen- 

 tralization has been constantly increasing, it is less 

 and less at the expense of the interests of the individ- 

 ual. This has been the history of the past few cen- 

 turies and is to-day seen in every political move. It 

 has been seen in the destruction of older absolute 

 monarchies and equally well in the building of new 

 monarchies out of the fragments of the old. Both 

 have been, ostensibly at least, for the masses. We 

 see it in all political moves which endeavor to estab- 

 lish democracy. We see it again in the attempts to 

 debase the currency by paper or free silver. All 

 these, and hosts of other political moves, have as an 

 underlying principle the feeling that the individual is 

 suffering at the expense of the favored few, and each 



