230 h'ri>/iifioii of Society. 



lias taken up and is now piirsuinj; the study ol Spencer's "First 

 Principles." Continuiujj:, he said: The princiide involved in se- 

 curing tliat balance of egoistic and altruistic forces which consti- 

 tutes social equilibrium is the principle of justice. Spencer, in 

 his "Social Statics," makes a grand endeavor to elucidate this 

 principle. The egoistic force is now in the ascendant in society, 

 butwith the growth of altruism we shall become desirous of spend- 

 ing ourselves in benevolent effort even beyond the recjuirements of 

 justice. When this is done, social misery will disappear. 



I)i{. Lewis G. .Janes: — 



Mr. Skilton has given us an eminently suggestive paper. To 

 follow out all the lines of thought indicated would involve much 

 time and study. Instead of commenting on any of them, I will 

 endeavor to supplement them in a single particular. 1 think 

 no one has referred to Mr. Spencer's position as to the tem- 

 porary nature of all governmental forms. The end of life, 

 the purpose of all social organizations, in his view, is the 

 perfection of the individual; not, as the socialists would have 

 it, the perfection of society under a government of force. Note 

 the bearing of this conception on the social theories of our 

 own time. In all our civilized communities, w^e have to meet the 

 theories of the socialist on the one hand, and of the anarchist on 

 the other: — the one aiming at the complete subordination of the 

 individual to society, the other at the abolition of all governmental 

 control. The evolution philosophy, as applied to society, should 

 enable us to choose a wise middle path between these extremes: 

 to avoid the anarchistic error of seeking the reformation of social 

 abuses by revolution and the resolution of society into its individ- 

 ual elements, seeing that society can be no better than the indi- 

 viduals of which it is composed; — and to avoid also the equally 

 serious error of obliterating individuality in a homogeneous, pa- 

 ternally-governed, or communistic form of social organization. 

 We should recognize the present utility of government in securing 

 justice, while we insist that its forms shall be yielding, plastic, 

 readily receptive of improvement, adapting themselves easily to 

 the needs of the hour, and tending always toward individual per- 

 fection and ultimate emancipation from external and artificial re- 

 straints. 



