it builds lighthouses, harbors, dikes, canals, roads,

* it defrays the cost of scientific expeditions,

* it founds museums and public libraries;

* at times, toleration is shown for its support of universities,
schools, churches, and theaters, and, to justify fresh drafts on private
purses for such objects, no reason is assigned for it but the common
interest. (l'interet commun)--Why should it not, in like manner, take
upon itself every enterprise for the benefit of all? Why should it
hesitate in commanding the execution of every work advantageous to
the community, and why abstain from forbidding every harmful work? Now
please note that in human society every act or omission, even the most
concealed or private, is either a loss or a gain to society. So if I
neglect to take care of my property or of my health, of my intellect or
of my soul, I undermine or weaken in my person a member of the community
which can only be rich, healthy and strong through the wealth, health
and strength of his fellow members, so that, from this point of view,
my private actions are all public benefits or public injuries. Why then,
from this point of view, should the State scruple about prescribing some
of these to me and forbidding others? Why, in order to better exercise
this right, and better fulfill this obligation, should it not constitute
itself the universal contractor for labor, and the universal distributor
of productions? Why should it not become the sole agriculturist,
manufacturer and merchant, the unique proprietor and administrator of
all France?--Precisely because this would be opposed to the common weal
(l'interet de tous, the interest of everyone)[2215]. Here the second
principle, that advanced against individual independence, operates
inversely, and, instead of being an adversary, it becomes a champion.
Far from setting the State free, it puts another chain around its neck,
and thus strengthens the fence within which modern conscience and modern
honor have confined the public guardian.

V. Direct common interest.

Direct common interest.--This consists in the absence of
constraint.--Two reasons in favor of freedom of action.--
Character, in general, of the individual man.--Modern
complication.

In what, indeed, does the common weal (l'interet de tous, the interest
of everyone) consist?--In the interest of each person, while that which
interests each person is the things of which the possessio