Happiness and Justice Synonymous 369 



one will deny this from the point of view of the 

 victim of injustice. Everyone realizes that sub- 

 ject peoples, such as Filipinos, Armenians, Finns, 

 and Poles, in asking for their rights, are impelled 

 by the desire to escape from unhappiness. But 

 the tableau changes when we pass from injustice 

 suffered to injustice inflicted. If all men under- 

 stand that it is disastrous to be victims, most men 

 still think that it is advantageous to be victimizers; 

 they think it is unfortunate to have one's watch 

 stolen but fortunate to be the thief. The thief 

 is of course the better off of the two — but that is 

 not the question. It is no real gain for either an 

 individual or a nation to become relatively three 

 feet higher than another, if in the process both 

 sink six feet below the ground. 



It was long ago observed that slavery often 

 demoralized the masters even more than the slaves. 

 Now slavery is simply a series of spoliations; it is 

 continuous theft. And the result was what we 

 should expect. The old slave states of America 

 are still industrially far behind those that were 

 free. The South does not yet fully realize that 

 "if you want to keep the negro in the ditch, you 

 must stay in the ditch with him." But it is a 

 necessary consequence from the nature of injustice 

 as an act of auto-mutilation. 



The existence of conscience is an evidence of the 

 identity of justice and the expansion of life. 

 Conscience is really a lightning calculator of en- 

 lightened self-interest. Just as the human spirit 



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