reduced or impeded if society is to progress or even exist. There must
be left to the individual some degree of liberty of choice and action.
An eminent American jurist, James C. Carter, vividly stated this,
though perhaps in the extreme, when he wrote that the sole function of
law and legislation is to secure to each individual the utmost liberty
which he can enjoy consistently with the preservation of the like
liberty to all others. "Liberty (he wrote), the first of blessings,
the aspiration of every human soul, is the supreme object. Every
abridgment of it demands an excuse, and the only good excuse is the
necessity of preserving it." (Carter's "Law. Its origin and growth,"
page 337.)

There must also be left to the individual some personal motives for
labor and thrift, for, after all, it is the toil of individuals that
supports society and its members. It is the surplus products, not
consumed, but stored up by the economy of individuals that constitutes
the energy of society. However it may be improved in the future, the
nature of the average man today is such that he will not toil and deny
himself without prospect of rewards to accrue to himself for his own
personal use. He will not strive to earn and then conserve his
earnings unless he can have them for his own, to control, use and
dispose of at his pleasure. However it may be with a few unselfish,
devoted souls, men as a rule are not yet so altruistic as to devote
themselves exclusively to the good of others, of society. I think it
evident that if the impelling natural desire to serve one's self be
wholly or even largely disregarded by society, little would be
produced or saved by voluntary labor and self-denial. The alternative
would be the restoration of some system of enforced labor, of slavery,
for the vast majority of men. At this day, after centuries of
exhortation to practise the virtues of benevolence, of brotherly love,
of self-sacrifice for the good of others, men do not from pure love of
humanity voluntarily endure heat and cold, expend their labor and
savings in working mines, in braving seas, in building and operating
factories, railroads and steamships, in growing corn and cotton. Even
those public offices, in which the altruist might find the best
opportunities for serving the people, are not much sought for unless
some personal honor or pecuniary profit be attached to them. Should
society decree that the laborer, whether with hands or brain, shou