e to appeal to this
conscience of individuals, making every soul a law to itself. Such
theorists assume that every human being will be wise and virtuous, or take
the consequences of his failure. They forget that all organizations for
constraint are a part of the natural consequences of failure in
self-control.

Under the name of "anarchy" groups of people all over the world have
united to destroy what they consider arbitrary rules in government.
Anarchists differ from autonomists in putting foremost the destruction of
existing governments. Their ideals of right and wrong and their methods of
individual action for individual welfare are left for the future to
develop, after the rule of the present has become no-rule. Their present
organization, as far as it is public, appears to be, in almost direct
contradiction of their principles, an absolute despotism. The same idea
has gained followers in some countries, particularly in Russia, under the
name of "nihilism."

While in some instances such movements may be but a natural reaction
against tyranny, the view of human wants and human welfare which all these
advocates present is far from being correct. The grand economic fact that
groups are superior to individuals in actual efficiency is beyond dispute;
and it is equally true, though not so often stated, that groups gain
greatest satisfaction for a given consumption of wealth. It is only when
great numbers share in satisfaction that the highest range of wants can be
gratified. Moreover, even individual wants are largely social. Each finds
his highest pleasure in the society which nature has provided. The chief
reasons for accumulating wealth are in what men can do for each other. Any
individualism which overlooks these principles is opposed to welfare, and
so self-contradictory.

The famous French phrases, "laissez faire" and "laissez passer," which
represent the individualistic side of economic theory, are often extended
beyond the intent of the phrase makers. They mean essentially, let do, let
go, and have their proper application in an appeal to conservative society
to so modify laws and customs that individual enterprise, ingenuity and
thrift shall be stimulated to its best by freedom. Freedom from
restrictions in right-doing, under the evident motive furnished by general
welfare, is an ideal for society. In economic directions it has great
importance. No thinker can fail to see the trend of civilization toward
such