er, therefore he must devote himself to
the production of things which others need, things, therefore, of social
value. He will, by preference, make that for which he can obtain the
highest price, and this will be that for which, at the particular time
and place and in relation to his particular capacities, there is the
greatest need. He will, again, find the employer who will pay him best,
and that will be the employer to whom he can do the best service.
Self-interest, if enlightened and unfettered, will, in short, lead him
to conduct coincident with public interest. There is, in this sense, a
natural harmony between the individual and society. True, this harmony
might require a certain amount of education and enlightenment to make it
effective. What it did not require was governmental "interference,"
which would always hamper the causes making for its smooth and
effectual operation. Government must keep the ring, and leave it for
individuals to play out the game. The theory of the natural rights of
the individual is thus supplemented by a theory of the mutual harmony of
individual and social needs, and, so completed, forms a conception of
human society which is _prima facie_ workable, which, in fact, contains
important elements of truth, and which was responsive to the needs of a
great class, and to many of the requirements of society as a whole,
during a considerable period.

On both sides, however, the theory exhibits, under criticism,
fundamental weaknesses which have both a historical and a speculative
significance. Let us first consider the conception of natural rights.
What were these rights, and on what did they rest? On the first point
men sought to be explicit. By way of illustration we cannot do better
than quote the leading clauses of the Declaration of 1789.[5]

_Article I._--Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social
distinctions can only be founded on common utility.

_Article II._--The end of every political association is the
conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man.[6] These
rights are liberty, property, security (_la surete_), and resistance to
oppression.

_Article III._--The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in
the nation....

_Article IV._--Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does
not injure others; thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every man
has only such limits as assure to other members of society the enjoyment
of t