lO 



not co-operation, it is coercion, it is not self-government, it is (;ov- 

 ERNMENi I'.v FORCE, it is tyranny, it is invasion of the rights of the 

 individual. 



Why we demand that all restrictions, which interfere with free 

 banking and free exchange of service or products shall be removed, 

 is because the prime factor m human happiness is existence, and the 

 prime factor in existence is to supply your own wants. If in your 

 effort to do this, you are restricted, you cannot attain happiness. 

 Hence, the removal of all restrictions on production, or the free ex- 

 change of service or products, is indispensable to human happiness, 

 whether that restriction be in the form of a tax on the products, in the 

 methods of furnishing the medium of exchange or in the amount fur- 

 nished. To deny this is to deny the right to associate or co-operate 

 for mutual good I 



N^ature thinkers on these subjects know that to co-operate or as- 

 sociate to lessen the burdens of life, we must have freedom to act. 

 Majority governments are no more infallible than autocratic govern- 

 ments. Are not majorities aliuays 7c>rong first, he/ore they ore right f 

 Does the individual suffer any less because wronged by a majority than 

 he would if wronged by any other usurper < What excuse will this 

 majority usurper have for assuming guardinship ovg^kJM^ther when, 

 his conscience (demands a reason ? It is patient, unceasing experiment 

 alone that can teach us better ways. Hence, the i^ril that threatens 

 our country inheres in the folly of the idea, that twenty-six men, most 

 of whom have studied nothing but their own selfish ends, have a right 

 to govern — make laws for — seventy-four men and women out of every 

 hundred (but even this projjosition only holds good in cases where 

 laws are submitted to popular vote for approval. In most cases it is 

 a few individuals making laws governing the whole population of a 

 State, or the entire nation), many of whom are earnestly and con- 

 sistently devoted to the improvement of the physical and moral con- 

 ditions of the whole race. Not presuming, however, to be infallible, 

 and loving liberty more than wc do to govern, prefer even to suffer 

 wrong rather than make laws for others lest we should i '^ i wrong. 

 Not willing then to dictate to others, but simply comri^'uir onriTRn 

 experience w.- nwait the triumjih of reason. 



