sion of law, as such, proved to be just an empty cry about
an abstraction; a bogey of his imagination. Of course, he could cite
bad laws, unjust laws, as I could have done; but that would simply
show that some laws are not right--a proposition upon which most
people will agree. My Anarchist friend quoted Herbert Spencer in
support of his contention. He referred to Spencer's well-known summary
of the social legislation of England. So I asked my friend if he
thought the Factory Acts were oppressive and tyrannical, and he
replied that, from an Anarchist viewpoint, they were.

Think of that, Jonathan! Little boys and girls, five and six years
old, were taken out of their beds crying and begging to be allowed to
sleep, and carried to the factory gates. Then they were driven to work
by brutal overseers armed with leather whips. Sometimes they fell
asleep at their tasks and then they were beaten and kicked and cursed
at like dogs. Little boys and girls from orphan asylums were sent to
work thus, and died like flies in summer--their bodies being secretly
buried at night for fear of an outcry. You can find the terrible story
told in _The Industrial History of England_, by H. de B. Gibbins,
which ought to be in your public library.

Humane men set up a protest at last and there was a movement through
the country demanding protection for the children. Once a member of
parliament held up in the House of Commons a whip of leather thongs
attached to an oak handle, telling his colleagues that a few days
before it had been used to flog little children who were mere babies.
The demand was made for legislation to stop this barbarous treatment
of children, to protect their childhood. The factory owners opposed
the passing of such laws on the ground that it would be an
interference with their individual liberties, their right to do as
they pleased. _And the Anarchist comes always and inevitably to the
same conclusion._ Factory laws, public health laws, education
laws--all denounced as "interferences with individual liberty."
Extremes meet: the Anarchist in the name of individual liberty, like
the capitalist, would prevent society from putting a stop to the
exploitation of its little ones.

The real danger in Anarchism is not that _some_ Anarchists believe in
violence, and that from time to time there are cowardly assassinations
which are as futile as they are cowardly. The real danger lies first
in the reactionary principle that the int