on them to benefit the
condition of society. We are now fully prepared to consider the remedies
which are proposed for these evils, and to see in what direction our
hope lies for the improvement of the condition of mankind.

It would be a far larger task than we propose to attempt, however, to
discuss all the schemes which have been proposed for bettering the
condition of society. They have been numerous ever since the dawn of the
idea of popular liberty, have accompanied it all through its centuries
of growth, and to-day, despite the fact that the amount of the comforts
of life accessible to the masses of the people is far greater than ever
before, plans for further betterment of the condition of society, the
more economical production and equitable distribution of wealth, are
being pressed forward and advocated more strongly than ever. Nor does
this fact furnish any ground for pessimism. We shall have far more
occasion to deplore when men become so conceited over the advancement
which the race has already made,--so numb to the evils which still
oppress them,--that they will no longer take part in the agitation of
plans for further advancement.

In considering now the plans proposed at the present day by those who
wish to remedy the evils of monopoly, we shall find it profitable to
consider first two great opposing principles, which we will designate as
_individualism_ and _societism_. Upon one or the other of these
principles almost every scheme for bettering the condition of society is
based.

The doctrine of individualism has for its foundation the absolute
industrial liberty of each individual. By this is meant that every
person shall have "the free right of contract,"--that is, the right to
sell his labor or property or purchase that of others as he chooses. It
holds that in all matters where the production and distribution of
wealth is concerned, the desire of each man to advance his own interests
will, alone, in the long run, result in the highest good to the greatest
number. It asks the government to "let alone" the industrial affairs of
the country, and leave private enterprise to take its own course. Its
adherents are fond of asserting that each man knows his own wants and
can direct his own business affairs much better than any government can
direct them for him. It declares that free competition is the best
possible agent to regulate all industrial affairs, and it ascribes all
economic evils to the fact