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 justifiable individualism. 
 
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JUSTIFIABLE 
 INDIVIDUALISM 
 
Whether eventually men and nations will learn 
 to live together harmoniously and justly will 
 depend upon the quality of individual human 
 traits and their training in cooperate justice. 
 
JUSTIFIABLE 
 INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 BY 
 
 FEANK WILSON BLACKMAR 
 
 PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY IN 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
COPYRIGHT 1922, 
 
 By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 During the last year the author of this 
 little book gave a lecture on Justifiable In- 
 dividualism which was received by enthu- 
 siastic audiences in different parts of the 
 West and Middle West. A number of per- 
 sons whose judgment the author values 
 requested him to publish it, and therefore 
 the subject-matter of the lecture was ex- 
 panded and is presented to the public in 
 its present form. It is hoped that it will 
 meet with the approval of a large number 
 of thinking people who see that huge pro- 
 grams and super-organizations of modern 
 society will not in themselves solve the 
 main problems, and therefore greater at- 
 tention must be given to the natural traits 
 of the individual in order to train him in 
 
vi FOREWORD 
 
 responsibility and service. There is an in- 
 dividualism which is just and serviceable 
 and which must be conserved as the essen- 
 tial foundation of the normal social order. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FAGS 
 
 I. The Importance of the Individ- 
 ual 11 
 
 II. The Mass Plat of Modern Soci- 
 ety 21 
 
 III. Teachings of Social Scientists. 29 
 
 IV. A False Assumption of Reform- 
 
 ers 35 
 
 V. The Transformation of the In- 
 dividual 45 
 
 VI. The Biological Foundation of 
 
 the Indwidual 55 
 
 VII. The Psychological Foundation 
 
 of the Individual 61 
 
 VIII. The Development of Personal- 
 ity 65 
 
 IX. The Shifting of Individual Pur- 
 pose 71 
 
 X. Social Complexity 75 
 
 XI. The Selfishness of the Group.. 83 
 
 XII. Labor Organization 89 
 
 XIII. Corporate Selfishness 101 
 
 XIV. National Selfishness 107 
 
 XV. The Church as an Institution . . 117 
 
 XVI. Education 129 
 
 XVII. The Function of the Individual 141 
 vii 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 
 INDIVIDUAL 
 
"The twentieth century promises to be an epoch 
 in which man, after centuries of effort, expanded . 
 in the attempt to extend his limited knowledge 
 of the universe, will take up the study of him- 
 self in a spirit of intelligent, active interest, 
 striving earnestly, and in a measure successfully, 
 to attain self-knowledge. The truth which will 
 eventually make men free will be the truth re- 
 vealed by patient, careful study of the human 
 individual; and upon this revelation depends 
 many of the hopes for the continued existence 
 of the human race." 
 
 — Watson, in Human Behavior. 
 
Justifiable Individualism 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL 
 
 All progress starts and ends with the 
 individual being. He is the material out 
 of which the superstructure of civilization 
 is reared. This little human dynamo is 
 the source of the power in which the world 
 takes pride. While our education, our 
 religion, our social refprm have become 
 mass plays, it should be understood that 
 political, religious, or social organizations 
 will not in themselves redeem the human 
 mind from error nor establish happiness 
 among mankind. The world cannot be 
 redeemed by formula; men may not be 
 
 educated or reformed in phalanxes. 
 11 
 
12 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 Nevertheless the great organized social 
 activity of modern life seems to have thrust 
 aside the individual as an ideal. At least 
 the old theory that if the individual, sound 
 in body, sound in mind, with sterling moral 
 qualities were properly trained he would 
 carry into the world the leaven of right- 
 eousness and leaven the whole lump, has 
 been overshadowed by the gigantic mass 
 play of social reform as a means of human 
 progress. So the conclusion is reached by 
 many reformers that individualism has no 
 place in social progress and advancement 
 is conditioned by the rule of the mass. The 
 error consists in repudiation of the in- 
 dividual instead of his regeneration. 
 
 While great social movements are to be 
 commended as belonging to the higher 
 phases of human endeavor, is it not time to 
 consider, "lest we forget," that they de- 
 pend for their success upon a justifiable 
 individualism and that without it the in- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 13 
 
 dustrial, political and religious systems of 
 the world — yea the whole social fabric will 
 eventually fail? 
 
 If on a clear night one stands on a lofty 
 peak of the Sierras with the broad expanse 
 of mountain ranges extending in every di- 
 rection and with the infinite starry heavens 
 above him, the consciousness of his little- 
 ness is overpowering. Yet the individual 
 is greater than the mountains, greater than 
 a star, and a group of individuals greater 
 than a galaxy of the heavens. Likewise 
 the youth of today standing at the door- 
 way of the future and catching a vision of 
 the vast mechanism of society realizes his 
 own insignificance. He lives his little 
 round of duties according to order, — a 
 little cog in the system — and when he has 
 finished his life the great social machinery 
 sweeps on without him, and he is replaced 
 by another cog. Yet he is the material out 
 of which systems are built, the source of 
 
14 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 power whence organizations spring, the 
 germ of life that perpetuates the genera- 
 tions. This little human dynamo has the 
 capacity to receive and transmit power 
 that comes from God and he is the initial 
 unit through which it may he transmitted 
 in human achievement. 
 
 While it is inevitable that the old time 
 individualism should be thrust aside as in- 
 adequate, it is well to remember the source 
 of its creation, even though its slowness 
 to function is noted. It should not be 
 forgotten that there is a foundation for 
 this individualism which is deep-seated in 
 nature. For natural heredity has much to 
 do with the development of the individual 
 and no social formula that does not recog- 
 nize this can hope to be very serviceable in 
 the improvement of the race. It is neces- 
 sary to work with nature to secure prog- 
 ress ; even then we must be very wise, for 
 nature has no ideals, no aims, but moves 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 15 
 
 in accordance with well defined laws which, 
 in a sense, are alien to human aspirations. 
 Not only are men born into this world 
 with somewhat differentiated mental traits 
 and unequal capacities, but their effort to 
 survive makes traits and capacities more 
 divergent in their adaptation — for nature's 
 processes accentuate inequalities rather 
 than diminish them. The law of variation 
 is supreme. This same nature has im- 
 planted in man a desire for individual 
 survival. His first interest was self-inter- 
 est ; his first love was self-love. Primitive 
 morality increases the opportunity to sur- 
 vive, but does not destroy the individual 
 desires. The law of survival applies to 
 man's spiritual existence as well as to his 
 physical life, hence he desires spiritual 
 survival as well as physical. The chief dif- 
 ference rests in the fact that primarily he 
 is governed by the laws of organic evolu- 
 tion, while in the spiritual development he 
 
16 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 sets up an ideal and strives persistently to 
 approximate it. More than this he ele- 
 vates and purifies his ideals, struggling to 
 higher planes of spiritual existence. Yet 
 there are spiritual differences and differ- 
 ence in spiritual capacities. His process 
 of accomplishment is through association 
 with his fellows. The law of love is added 
 to the law of physical struggle. Even this 
 adds to his individual powers and he at- 
 tempts to solve the social paradox by gain- 
 ing strength through assisting his fellows. 
 He learns that "It is more blessed to give 
 than to receive," because it is ethical and 
 scientific as well. 
 
 The environmental conditions, social 
 and industrial, frequently determine the 
 functions of individualism. In the early 
 history of the nation, in a sparse popula- 
 tion and a simple life, great emphasis was 
 placed upon individual effort; indeed, the 
 mastery of a new country demanded it. 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 17 
 
 The Puritan conscience stimulated it and 
 moral doctrines of the time preached 
 thrift and the accumulation of property 
 as qualities necessary to righteousness. 
 The laws provided amply for the protec- 
 tion of property rights and the Constitu- 
 tion perpetuated and enforced them. The 
 idea of success, primarily based on right- 
 eousness, gradually came to be shifted to 
 the accumulation of property as a meas- 
 ure of success. 
 
 The idea of early democracy enhanced 
 the importance of the individual, for de- 
 mocracy has for its ideal his freedom and 
 independence. The arduous efforts of the 
 individual in subduing the soil and build- 
 ing homes on the frontier made this in- 
 dividualism supreme. Not until this class 
 of western pioneers expressed themselves 
 at the poEs was real democracy born in 
 America. This simple, frugal, arduous 
 life, built on thrift and conscience, rep- 
 
18 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 resents one of the best phases of Amer- 
 ican achievement. 
 
 But in the latter part of the nineteenth 
 century, with population centered in great 
 cities and the development of manufac- 
 tures by the introduction of the machine, 
 the passion for great wealth changed the 
 attitude of the individual. His glory was 
 not in achievement of moral values, but 
 success was measured by the accumulation 
 of wealth. Gradually the individual be- 
 came commercialized and group activity 
 became dominant. 
 
THE MASS PLAY OF MODERN 
 SOCIETY 
 
II 
 
 THE MASS PLAY OF MODERN SOCIETY 
 
 Modern civilization is marked by mass 
 production involving mass play of phys- 
 ical and social forces. The primitive 
 simple life of the individual has merged 
 into a complex activity of closely related 
 forces. Yet closely related as these forces 
 are, life seems to be enmeshed in a system 
 of interferences. There is a constant flow 
 of social energy, but its applications are 
 so imperfect that inharmony and waste 
 on a vast scale are the result. The prog- 
 ress of civilization consists in ehminating 
 this waste and inharmony and in obtain- 
 ing the largest possible work from a given 
 amount of energy. Present-day human 
 activity manifests itself in industry, edu- 
 
 21 
 
22 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 cation, moral adaptability, philanthropy 
 and religion. Graphically considered, the 
 economic aspects of modem civilization 
 give a vision of a machine-made world. 
 Our politics, our economics and our ethics 
 are machine-made; we go to the indus- 
 trial world for our economic standards. 
 Where formerly the individual conscience 
 was sought for ethical judgment, now 
 public opinion is the criterion. Smaller 
 grows the influence of the individual, 
 greater the limiting power of the mass. 
 Even when the socialist takes up the de- 
 fense of the individual against organiza- 
 tion, he ends by making the social com- 
 pact more binding, or when the anarchist 
 preaches his theory of individual inde- 
 pendence he ends by suppressing liberty, 
 and prepares the way for increasing the 
 dominant power of authority. 
 
 The whole social movement evinces an 
 ever-developing mass formation. The 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 23 
 
 larger number of things to do, the great 
 multiplication of peoples and their close 
 relations in life cause them to move to- 
 gether to accomplish things. The prod- 
 ucts of toil of the laborer enter a great 
 economic system run by power machinery 
 and managed by endless organizations 
 before they return to him the necessaries 
 of life. The laborer becomes a cog in a 
 great industrial machine. Apart from it 
 he is powerless to create, powerless to 
 initiate. 
 
 The educational world shows the same 
 mass formation. The primitive condition 
 of the individual in a state of nature seek- 
 ing to satisfy his own desires in his own 
 way is overwhelmed by the products of 
 social heredity. Civilization has become 
 a burden to be borne. True, it is worth 
 bearing. But the old simple life of satis- 
 fying curiosity and thus satisfying life, of 
 taking the initiative in seeking his own 
 
24 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 reward for individual effort, has passed. 
 Now it is to cooperate with others, to 
 achieve together, and to enjoy the reward 
 together. No longer may the individual 
 be left to find out for himself; he is taught 
 by others. 
 
 Social service has become organized on 
 a great world plan. The stupendous de- 
 mands for the care of the less fortunate 
 members of society have quickened the 
 philanthropic spirit to do for others to an 
 extent hitherto unknown in the history of 
 the human race. The movement is repre- 
 sented by thousands of organizations and 
 societies collecting millions of dollars to 
 relieve suffering, to increase material com- 
 fort and to make a better social life. 
 While not ignoring individual culture, the 
 central purpose of this activity is to make 
 the old world a fit habitation for all mem- 
 bers of the human race. It has become a 
 world movement and the neighborhood of 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 25 
 
 the old simple life, which was confined in 
 practice to the immediate environment of 
 the individual, now has no geographical 
 limits, and neighbors may live on oppo- 
 site sides of the globe. The coin that for- 
 merly was bestowed by the giver to relieve 
 the immediate suffering of a near neigh- 
 bor now travels thousands of miles and 
 is administered by great organizations to 
 relieve distress and reform the human 
 race. Philanthropy has become a vast 
 centralized business. 
 
 So, too, the churches and other religious 
 societies are cooperating through tremen- 
 dous organizations to carry the gospel to 
 the world, and with it the by-products of 
 Christianity. To rejoice over one sinner 
 that repenteth is a worthy expression of 
 love, but religion is not satisfied without 
 spreading its institutions over the whole 
 world. 
 
 Likewise, the former simple duties of 
 
26 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 the citizen have expanded to embrace a 
 world democracy. Granted that democ- 
 racy begins in the community with the 
 home as a center, its spirit is abroad in 
 the land, and will continue its restless 
 activity until the nations of the world 
 yield to its masterful dominion. 
 
TEACHINGS OF SOCIAL 
 SCIENTISTS 
 
Ill 
 
 TEACHINGS OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS 
 
 The economists have taught that all 
 production of wealth is social in its na- 
 ture ; that at least involuntary cooperation 
 is a necessary process in the creation of 
 every form of material wealth. A food 
 product, a machine, a piece of furniture, 
 a house, a work of art, even the smallest 
 article of use, has been created directly or 
 indirectly by the work of many hands. 
 No man can say with truth, , "By my 
 hands alone have I made this or placed it 
 for the use of others." Even the market 
 gardener who tills his own little bit of 
 land, uses the hoe made by others for 
 cultivating the vegetables he brings to 
 market. There is a sense in which these 
 products belong to the community. The 
 
 29 
 
SO JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 rights in the case are a right to toil and 
 a reward for the results of labor ex- 
 pended. Also, by the traditional rights 
 of usage, he holds in possession the prod; 
 uct which his hands have finished to be 
 disposed of at will. By the established 
 legal rights of property it is his. But 
 this does not deny the assertion that its 
 existence is the cooperative product of 
 many hands and brains. The vast mechan- 
 ism of economic society demonstrates that 
 the individual is overshadowed by the arts 
 of production. This is a generally ac- 
 cepted theory of economists which the 
 facts of human industry verify. 
 
 The sociologists, discussing the general 
 laws of social being and social life, main- 
 tain that there is an organization of social 
 forces, and that society is a vast system 
 functioning as a whole and in groups; 
 that the individual finally is created by 
 social action. The personality which is 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 31 
 
 the finished product of the individual is 
 developed by the action and reaction of 
 group life. The great social achieve- 
 ments are through group activity, and the 
 individual survives and achieves only by 
 cooperating with his fellows. The ideals 
 of life, the dividends of moral conduct, 
 even the conscience of man, are estab- 
 lished by group activity. There is a pub- 
 he opinion that controls social organiza- 
 tion and social life, and individual effort 
 and life are subordinate to it. 
 
 The political scientists hold that over all 
 social activities is an enveloping democ- 
 racy which should control the actions of 
 individuals and groups; that the liberty 
 of the individual is, after all, determined 
 by the rule of the majority of the group; 
 that if democracy would only carry out 
 in practice what it advocated in theory, 
 justice and righteousness would pervade 
 all phases of human association. 
 
32 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 In the educational world all achieve- 
 ment comes from human association. The 
 contact of mind with mind, the direction 
 and leadership of others, the use of social 
 heritage, are group processes without 
 which no individual may receive an edu- 
 cation. It is on this hypothesis that the 
 educational systems of the world are 
 framed. The very idea of education in- 
 volves a social use of the same; education 
 is a social function. The individual in- 
 herits the learning of the past and society 
 puts him in touch with it. Educational 
 achievement is a group activity. 
 
 These theories of human social life ad- 
 vanced by the scientists in their several 
 fields are pretty generally accepted by all 
 right-thinking persons. In each case, it is 
 simply a diagnosis of conditions as they 
 actually exist in the various departments 
 of human activity. 
 
A FALSE ASSUMPTION OF 
 REFORMERS 
 
IV 
 
 A FALSE ASSUMPTION OF BEFOBMERS 
 
 A large number of reformers, accepting 
 the above statements as true, and without 
 a thorough estimation of values, are run- 
 ning up and down the country offering 
 nostrums for social defects, and panaceas 
 for the ills of what they deem a sick so- 
 ciety. With a meager understanding of 
 the principles advocated by the scientists, 
 they jump to the conclusion that the pres- 
 ent individualistic system cannot be main- 
 tained, and therefore we must go to so- 
 cialism, sovietism, or some other "ism" in 
 order to solve the problem. They base 
 their arguments on the theoretical assump- 
 
 35 
 
36 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 tion that individualism is selfishness and, 
 therefore, that the individual must go; 
 that society and the community are the 
 only forms of life worth considering. No 
 doubt the individualistic system, when un- 
 restrained, plays havoc in the industrial 
 and political life. But restraint is also 
 the essence of successful group activity. 
 Without it the group becomes dominant 
 and selfish, and the individuals that com- 
 pose it become slaves to selfishness of the 
 clan. The essential to success is an indi- 
 vidual with good inherited traits, imbued 
 with the ideals of efficiency and service, 
 willing to live in fair and just restraint 
 and well trained in the art of justice and 
 cooperation. 
 
 The success of the form of government 
 or of the form of group association is 
 determined, after all, by the ability, char- 
 acter and spirit of the individuals enter- 
 ing into it. To force people into an 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 37 
 
 organized group of a certain type is evi- 
 dence of change, but may not be a step in 
 human progress. By whatever name it is 
 called, democracy, autocracy, industrial 
 commonwealth, soviet, monarchy, com- 
 munism, or world state, the element of 
 progress must be sought in the intelli- 
 gence and character of the individual. 
 
 In a normal society which has reached 
 a fair degree of development, group ac- 
 tivities are manifested in every field. The 
 individual has his existence through a 
 multiplicity of group activities. This is 
 true in his bread-earning vocation as well 
 as in his ordinary social functions. He 
 acts with his political party in general, 
 and usually with smaller political groups 
 as well. His religious functioning is usu- 
 ally through the process of an organized 
 church; in his educational processes he is 
 a member of a university, a scientific so- 
 ciety or a literary group; for, his pleasures 
 
38 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 the golf, the hunting or the billiard club 
 takes the place of the lone fisherman or 
 the lone hunter. In the bread-earning 
 vocation a man is grouped with the men 
 with whom he works. The banker has his 
 associates, the lawyer his — so, too, those 
 of the medical and other professions. 
 All society is thus made up of a com- 
 plexity of group activities, and the man 
 is organized over and over again as an 
 individual element in different group as- 
 sociations. 
 
 Within the group the individual has his 
 liberty of opinion and action, his rights, 
 duties and privileges, but these receive 
 expression through cooperation with other 
 individuals. His welfare is wrapped up 
 more or less with that of the group, and, 
 knowing that he cannot act independent- 
 ly, he becomes loyal to the association and 
 its interests. 
 
 Here is where the member of a group 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 39 
 
 tends to lose his independent individuality 
 and to make the conscience and the opin- 
 ion of the group his own. Thus, inde- 
 pendent individuality is gradually merged 
 into group activity, but the independence 
 of the individual in his struggle for exist- 
 ence is supplanted by the independence 
 of the group, and, thus, the contest is be- 
 tween groups, for all social achievement 
 must recognize group relationships. It is 
 to be noted that the group does not func- 
 tion in the same intimate manner as does 
 the individual in reaching a judgment or 
 a program of action. Thus, the individual 
 may have a conscience while a group may 
 be lacking in it. Individuals within a 
 group may obey the Golden Rule in their 
 dealings with one another, but the group 
 which is composed of these same individ- 
 uals may, in its struggle with other groups, 
 obey the fundamental laws of organic 
 evolution; it may exhibit the fangs and 
 
40 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 claws of the struggle for existence; it 
 may be non-ethical in its relations to other 
 groups. This is the main trouble with the 
 world today. There is enough of the 
 leaven of Christianity in the world, if prop- 
 erly applied, to redeem human action from 
 selfishness, but the idealism of right and 
 wrong has not entered the group, nor 
 have ethical principles been as effective 
 in group activity as in the individual. 
 Thus, the banker may be a christian gen- 
 tleman, but a bank may be without soul 
 or feeling. Individuals who compose a 
 corporation which seeks to amass wealth 
 regardless of social welfare may be chris- 
 tians in their relations with one another, 
 but the corporation as an institution may 
 be altogether unjust in its relationships. 
 Hence, frequently a group organized eco- 
 nomically, politically or religiously seeking 
 its own survival and advantage, manifests 
 the claws of redhanded nature. It pro- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 41 
 
 poses to survive in its contest with other 
 organizations by elimination or domina- 
 tion of its competitors. Hence, a person 
 may be to all intents and purposes a 
 christian, but when he joins such an 
 organization the result of his action is 
 pagan, for he is forced to act with an 
 institution that is non-ethical. No ethical 
 social order can be; established where 
 communities are dominated by selfish 
 groups struggling with each other for 
 supremacy and destroying and trampling 
 upon the rights of individuals. Corpora- 
 tions and other organized groups must be 
 controlled by the moral standard of the 
 individual expressed through the machin- 
 ery of the organization. The organized 
 group cannot be better than the separate 
 individual units out of which it is made, 
 but usually it falls far below the moral 
 standard of the individual, simply because 
 the law of love has not yet been established 
 
42 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 between groups as it has between indi- 
 viduals, and the struggle for existence of 
 the former permits actions which are non- 
 ethical. 
 
THE TRANSFORMATION OF 
 THE INDIVIDUAL 
 
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE 
 INDIVIDUAL 
 
 Again, the problems of the practical 
 life enforce the idea of justifiable individ- 
 ualism. To make better individual men 
 and women is, after all, the universal aim 
 of the social process. If a teacher in a 
 college or university did not make better 
 men and women of those under his direc- 
 tion, he would be an acknowledged fail- • 
 ure. If a minister of the gospel did not 
 make better men and women of those 
 under his care, he would be an admitted 
 failure. But is the principle involved in 
 regard to the employer of labor different? 
 The man in control of the shoe factory 
 is doing a great public service when he 
 
 45 
 
46 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 cooperates with labor to make good shoes 
 for the public, but has he done his full 
 duty as a director of social production 
 unless he makes better men and women 
 of those in his employ? Has the great 
 railroad company fulfilled its whole duty 
 when it has furnished transportation at a 
 reasonable rate? Should it not be held 
 responsible for making better men and 
 women of those in its employ? 
 
 Before this old individualism is trans- 
 formed a social justice must prevail that 
 gives each one an opportunity for life and 
 success. It is the long-sought square deal 
 of humanity. Jealousy and envy of indi- 
 vidual rights and privileges must be re- 
 placed by zeal for social responsibility. 
 To survive in the modern social order is 
 to be the best as well as the fittest. No 
 individual may achieve real success at the 
 expense of the suffering and failure of his 
 fellows. Through the organization of 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 47 
 
 effort a great social machine has been 
 developed in which the ordinary individual 
 becomes a mere cog. Only those who by 
 insight or ruthless endeavor were able to 
 control the commercial and industrial 
 forces became dominant individuals. In 
 recent times these became the class known 
 as profiteers. With them to take profit 
 becomes the ideal of life. The simple 
 righteousness of individual thrift thus 
 becomes a menace to social order, when 
 linked with the opportunities for accu- 
 mulation which the modern industrial 
 system offers. 
 
 This incongruity in democratic life led 
 to a call for social service. But social 
 service failed to remedy the deep-seated 
 evils engendered by the exaggerated value 
 placed on the ownership of wealth. The 
 next phase of thought was to limit indi- 
 vidualism and develop socialism, commu- 
 nity ownership and equality in the pro- 
 
48 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 duction and the use of wealth. This idea 
 has degenerated into the extreme radical- 
 ism of today, which is nothing more than 
 an attempt to put into practice the spuri- 
 ous doctrines of Marxian socialism. So- 
 cialization of the conscience and the will 
 may succeed, but socialization of property 
 will not. 
 
 Instead of seeking a remedy in the 
 extinction of individualism, it should be 
 sought in creating a new regenerated in- 
 dividualism — an individualism that seeks 
 to survive only through cooperation and 
 service to others. The individual who has 
 accumulated wealth thus becomes a trus- 
 tee of that wealth with a view to the 
 betterment of society. This might be 
 extended to all powers of the individual, 
 whether inherited or obtained through 
 education. He becomes a trustee of those 
 powers for social betterment. 
 
 Capital and labor, employer and em- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 49 
 
 ployee cooperate to make a finished prod- 
 uct for the service of mankind. Should 
 they not cooperate in making better men 
 and women? Tradition has said that the 
 ; preacher and the teacher are missionaries 
 [_of moral responsibility. Are they any 
 more responsible for the welfare of those 
 associated with them in their business than 
 are those who control the great business 
 enterprises around which cluster the 
 masses of humanity? No man has a right 
 to individual control of business solely 
 for his own gain; no one is justifiable in 
 neglecting the moral and economic condi- 
 tion of those with whom he associates. 
 The only individualism that is justifiable 
 is that which is built up in the service of 
 others. 
 
 The independent conscience is too fre- ' 
 quently submerged in group activity. 
 The group is frequently lacking in ethi- 
 cal nature. Its conscience is not the con- 
 
50 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 science of the individual members that 
 compose it. It has not been grounded in 
 moral principle, but in a provincial group. 
 But failure of the individual conscience 
 cannot be compensated by group morality 
 or by group action of any kind. Indi- 
 vidual morality must be put on a higher 
 plane; it must be based on keen insight, 
 a quickened conscience, and a deep sense 
 of social responsibility. More of its ideal- 
 ism must be expressed in practical service 
 to mankind. Ideals must be reduced to 
 a working basis. We need a new indi- 
 vidualism, not of Adam Smith, or John 
 Locke, nor indeed the individualism of 
 the early pioneers of American achieve- 
 ment, but an individualism that shall dom- 
 inate and correct the evils of the social 
 order. This new individualism is not 
 triumphant overlordship of fellow work- 
 ers, but one whose right to exist is 
 founded on individual character and 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 51 
 
 social achievement. This individualism 
 must have a broader base than mere 
 earning capacity; it is the individualism 
 of service; it is the glory of excellence of 
 work, of accomplishing something worth 
 while; it is a disinterested attempt to put 
 value into the world, not an inglorious 
 attempt to take unto itself the products 
 that others have wrought. 
 
THE BIOLOGICAL FOUNDA- 
 TION OF THE INDIVIDUAL 
 
VI 
 
 THE BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF THE 
 INDIVIDUAL 
 
 The knowledge we have of man as an 
 animal is largely derived from the study 
 of his anatomical structure and his physi- 
 ological functions, and by comparative 
 biological studies of other animal species. 
 His historical beginning is still enshrouded 
 in mystery, yet the earliest arclueological 
 relics of man indicate a more limited 
 physical and mental capacity than he has 
 at present. The evolution of his brain 
 demonstrates a growing capacity for prog- 
 ress, and the products of his industry 
 attest the utilization of that capacity. 
 There is no evidence that early man did 
 not congregate in groups. In fact, his 
 present mental endowment indicates that 
 
 55 
 
56 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 gregariousness was necessary to survival, 
 But association for cooperative undertak- 
 ing was limited. Forced to travel the same 
 road as his fellows and largely impelled 
 by fear, companionship was imposed upon 
 him. Yet life was individualistic in its 
 physical existence, in its preservation, and 
 its perpetuation in the generations. Bio- 
 logically, man was an individual before 
 he was a social being. He did not appear 
 as a swarm, but as an individual. His 
 physical form may have changed slightly 
 through influence of social environment, 
 and of a certainty his form changed 
 through natural and sexual selection. The 
 variations occurring in the germ plasm 
 determined the greatest changes in his 
 physical and mental structure. Varia- 
 tions are the raw material for his devel- 
 opment. This variation is shown In the 
 individual differences of the most closely 
 related groups in the same family, even 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 57 
 
 in twins born of the same parents, and 
 starting from the same germ cell. It is 
 fatal to ignore these individual differences 
 which the countless generations have not 
 overcome, and which neither education 
 nor association can obliterate. Human 
 association through group activity may 
 furnish means of nutrition and growth, 
 yea, means of preservation, only to ac- 
 centuate the individual characters. In the 
 germ plasm of the individuals are the 
 factors that determine the physical and 
 mental traits of the offspring. This is 
 not a social function. No rule of action 
 of the group, no wise laws, no social co- 
 operation can change this fundamental 
 law. By social action nature may be 
 given a better chance, and that is all. 
 
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL 
 FOUNDATION OF 
 THE INDIVIDUAL 
 
VII 
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF THE 
 INDIVIDUAL 
 
 The. child begins its career with sensa- 
 tion and reflex action. He is born with 
 an equipment of primitive instincts that 
 begin to assert themselves as needed in his 
 development. ~No resolution of society 
 can initiate one new instinct or one new 
 emotion. These appear as needed. All 
 that society can do is to give them a 
 chance, to accelerate or accentuate devel- 
 opment. Social environment, social her- 
 itage, the formation of habit, each may 
 modify these primitive powers, but can- 
 not create them nor replace them if they 
 were destroyed. As the child develops, 
 intelligence appears to direct his efforts 
 
 61 
 
62 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 and society increases its aid. But the 
 inherited mental traits are all there on 
 which to build. No social order, custom, 
 will or dictum may take or add to these 
 mental traits; but environment and train- 
 ing will help to develop them. 
 
 The directing influence of society is 
 great in the modification of the mental 
 development of the individual, but that 
 does not make him less important nor less 
 real. The great social problem is his 
 survival and his efficiency. Will society 
 help him to live, help him to become effi- 
 cient, train him in helping others, and 
 thus insure human survival and progress? 
 These are the prime problems of society. 
 It begs the question to assume that this 
 can be done by eliminating the individual, 
 or refusing to recognize that he is the 
 material of which society is made, and 
 upon which its survival and progress 
 depend. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
 PERSONALITY 
 
VIII 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY 
 
 Psychologists and sociologists, in their 
 attempts to avoid recognition of the old 
 individualism of "fangs and claws of 
 redhanded nature," wisely use the term 
 "personality." No doubt a flexible con- 
 cept of the individual is needed. Some 
 sociologists have used the term "socius" 
 to represent the new and regenerated 
 individual. Undoubtedly, the personality 
 based primarily on the individual inheri- 
 tance is developed by human association. 
 Man reached his own concept of himself 
 through his fellows. His neighbor has al- 
 ways been his looking-glass. The expres- 
 sion of his native traits in certain ways 
 determines his personality, but it is also 
 
 65 
 
66 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 determined by the quality of the asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 The consciousness of self is a reflection 
 of the opinions of others. Without social 
 contact the individual would be dwarfed 
 in intellect, emotion and action. It is im- 
 possible to conceive of the personality be- 
 ing developed without human association. 
 Yet having created it, shall human society 
 absorb its own creation and destroy its 
 efficiency by not according it opportunity 
 for full expression? If society does de- 
 velop personality, shall it in turn suppress 
 it by social domination? The character 
 and will, once formed, must have full and 
 free opportunity to cooperate with other 
 characters and wills similarly formed. 
 The moral and intellectual integrity of 
 the personality is essential to its life and 
 the life of society as well. It is only thus 
 that the variation essential to progress 
 may be made possible. Uniformity of 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 67 
 
 social formula may be the "letter that 
 killeth," while the responsibility of the 
 individual may be "the spirit that maketh 
 alive." The individual must have free- 
 dom to express the unselfishness of self 
 in seeking the cooperation of others in 
 human welfare. Without this the over- 
 organized systems of society will break 
 down of their own weight. 
 
THE SHIFTING OF INDIVID- 
 UAL PURPOSE 
 
IX 
 
 THE SHIFTING OF INDIVIDUAL PURPOSE 
 
 The shifting of purpose from individ- 
 ual survival and welfare to the welfare of 
 the group is merely a change in point 
 of view, and a use of new materials and 
 opportunities presented by the changed 
 moral character of man. No doubt, if 
 it had been possible for man to have 
 lived for a time an isolated life, looking 
 after his own personal interests and fail- 
 ing to consider the welfare of others and 
 cooperating with them, he would now be 
 numbered among the extinct anthropoids, 
 or, if he survived under such conditions, 
 he would be not much advanced beyond 
 the living species of apes. Historically, 
 he has developed by social contact from 
 
 71 
 
72 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 generation to generation. The child of 
 today, possessed of inherent qualities, de- 
 velops from year to year by the stimulus 
 of social contact. As with the individual, 
 so with the race. If it were possible 
 for the child to live alone, basing his life 
 on his own individual resources, it would 
 be impossible for him to develop. He 
 might survive and retain the form of man, 
 but he would be dwarfed in mind and 
 body and lacking in personality. 
 
 Likewise, the individual that seeks to 
 endure by exploiting humanity instead of 
 existing by cooperation, is today socially 
 unfit and must fail to survive if human 
 progress continues. Such individualism 
 is not justifiable, and cannot be consid- 
 ered just, until the individual purpose is 
 changed by working for and with others. 
 
SOCIAL COMPLEXITY 
 
X 
 
 SOCIAL COMPLEXITY 
 
 Society may be considered a complex 
 mechanism; it is moved by social energy; 
 it is created by two or more people work- 
 ing together for a given purpose. The 
 complexity of the mechanism with differ- 
 ent forms and functions prevents its 
 operation without conflict and without 
 waste. Its constant changes, rendering 
 old forms and old methods imperfect, 
 and the introduction of the new to sup- 
 plant the old, wholly or in part, makes an 
 unstable equilibrium of forces; hence, the 
 waste of social energy. The purpose of 
 social engineers and reformers is to re- 
 duce the waste and to perfect the machin- 
 ery. New inventions in industry and in 
 the art of living necessitate constant re- 
 
 75 
 
76 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 adjustments to the new conditions. The 
 very complexity of social machinery sig- 
 nifies a system of interferences which de- 
 mand increased knowledge, energy and 
 patience to make the necessary adjust- 
 ments. These adjustments must be made 
 because it is impossible to return to the 
 simple life with simple social machinery. 
 The fact that the great movements are 
 found in group activity and that the in- 
 dividual desires are not lessened, causes 
 a social paradox. Hence the individual 
 seeking his own gain, trying to develop 
 his own resources, and satisfy his own 
 aspirations is frequently in conflict with 
 the social order. 
 
 The old time laborer seeking a living 
 wage for himself and his family took pride 
 in the product of his own hands. He was 
 likewise interested in the success of his 
 employer. He had the inspiration of good 
 workmanship. Gradually as the distinc- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 77 
 
 tive work of his hands was taken over by 
 machinery he became less interested in 
 quantity and quality production. His 
 personality was swallowed up in the indus- 
 trial mass and his contribution to public 
 good was lost sight of. Nothing but a 
 return to the position of individual respon- 
 sibility will prevent the laborer from 
 continuing an irresponsible cog in the 
 machinery of society. The consciousness 
 of worth, the restoration of his interest in 
 the product of his hand and brain as an 
 independent member of society will restore 
 a normal life. Likewise in the great mass 
 play of social and political affairs the 
 individual shifts his responsibility to the 
 group. If things are not going to his 
 liking in public affairs he is ready to place 
 the blame on the group. Improper hous- 
 ing, bad sanitation, poor pavements, in- 
 sufficient lighting, the dead church and the 
 dead town are all subjects of his com- 
 
78 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 plaints and his invective. "Why do not 
 they improve these things" is his common 
 question. If he is asked "Why do you not 
 do your part?", he is liable to answer 
 that he is powerless or that it is not his 
 business. 
 
 , To restore the individual conscience, 
 i responsibility and initiative through edu- 
 cation would do much to improve the 
 (defects of society. Training men to co- 
 operative life, imbuing them with a sense 
 of social welfare and at the same time 
 giving them the requisite qualities of mind, 
 character and resolution will form a basis 
 of social reform. First of all let a man 
 be a man, developing his being to the 
 highest working capacity and holding 
 himself as trustee of his inherent and 
 acquired powers for the good of society 
 in which he lives, and for the larger 
 humanity. "Let a flower be a flower, a 
 swallow a swallow, a rock a rock, and let 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 79 
 
 man be a man and not a fox, a hare, a hog 
 or a bird of prey; this is the sam of the 
 whole matter." 1 
 
 If the quality of the individual may be 
 assured, the social fabric will be improved 
 without the harangue of the orator, the 
 frenzy of the reformer, the coercive law 
 of the public. For indeed, "True life is 
 the realization of higher virtues, — justice, 
 love, truth, moral power, — in our daily 
 activities, whatever they may be, and this 
 life is possible in social conditions, the 
 most divine, and with natural gifts the 
 most unequal. It is not fortune or per- 
 sonal advantage, but our turning them to 
 account, that constitutes the value of 
 life." 2 These personal qualities may be 
 turned to full account only through service 
 to humanity. Yet they are the starting 
 points, the necessary conditions of social 
 reform and social justice. 
 
 1 Wagner. 2 Ibid. 
 
THE SELFISHNESS OF THE 
 GROUP 
 
XI 
 
 THE SELFISHNESS OF THE GROUP 
 
 While the individual finds development 
 and self-expression through the group 
 he frequently loses his own personality 
 through the misdirection of the power that 
 makes him what he is. The group that 
 gives him contact with life may become 
 institutional in its character and subordi- 
 nate every personal aspiration to the law 
 of survival. The group becomes self- 
 centered, self-interested and altogether 
 selfish in its contact with other groups. 
 My fraternity, my church, my university, 
 my social group first. Of course there is 
 a feeling that my group is right or more 
 nearly right than others, but frequently 
 this faith and loyalty leads us to promote 
 
 83 
 
84 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 the welfare of the institution right or 
 wrong. This spirit results in a mass 
 morality based on survival. It is not above 
 the old race morality of primitive times. 
 The right or wrong of a deed, — the ideal 
 of righteousness — is frequently established 
 by a non-ethical group. The freedom of 
 conscience of the individual is lost in the 
 ambition for institutional survival. The 
 Golden Rule has made some progress with 
 individuals, but little with organized 
 groups. The members of an organization 
 may, taken separately, exercise the chris- 
 tian virtues, but they belong to a non- 
 ethical pagan group that sets the standard 
 of moral action. While it is not neces- 
 sarily so, yet it is true that the individual 
 now throws the responsibility upon his 
 group for his own acts. He says, "They 
 do it, let them do it. I am helpless, I am 
 not responsible." Thus the over-respon- 
 sible group spells deterioration of individ- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 85 
 
 ual character. The remedy is to emphasize 
 in education the idea of social service, not 
 only as a principle of survival, but as an 
 element of individual morality. The in- 
 dividual conscience and moral judgment 
 must be quickened until a majority change 
 the group from a non-ethical to an ethical 
 personality. Right first and the institu- 
 tion after, or else the dominance of the in- 
 stitution through right action, is the basis 
 of moral social progress. 
 
LABOR ORGANIZATION 
 
XII 
 
 LABOR ORGANIZATION 
 
 Perhaps the labor organization of today 
 is a good illustration of the over-emphasis 
 of a legitimate aim, that of justice and 
 freedom to labor. The organization has 
 devoted itself too much to the purpose of 
 building an institution and the surrender 
 of fundamental principles of human life 
 to the good of the order. Perhaps outside 
 of the christian church no other organiza- 
 tion has been of so much importance in the 
 defense of humanity against the greed of 
 corporate groups as the labor organization 
 with its vast hierarchy of officials, its high- 
 salaried leaders and its numberless agita- 
 tors, largely of a radical type. Yet it has 
 lost much of its power for human justice. 
 It has looked to its own interests with such 
 
90 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 zeal and loyalty to dictate wages and 
 shorter hours, that it has forgotten the 
 larger issues of human justice that should 
 have retained its support. Its vision has 
 been limited to the bread-earning propo- 
 sition and it has forgotten the larger issues 
 of life. In the struggle to maintain the 
 closed shop, it as an institution brought 
 about a closed mind. It has the same old 
 world cry against capitalism, the same old 
 weapon of attack and defense — the strike 
 — a weapon that has become obsolete in 
 a measure so far as producing salutary 
 results is concerned. Had its leaders and 
 agitators possessed a larger spirit of hu- 
 man justice, they would have discovered 
 long ago a new instrument of warfare far 
 superior to the strike, but no intention of 
 fair dealing and justice is ever conceded to 
 the employers and no criticism is tolerated 
 of the labor group by its agitators. 
 Thus, the organization has become fos- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 91 
 
 silized and its power weakened because it 
 did not consider for an instant the larger 
 claims of humanity. This seems evident, 
 for as long as the labor organization held 
 the sympathy of the public it succeeded, 
 but when it matched its institutional self- 
 ishness against the institutional selfishness 
 of the organized operators, it launched a 
 warfare between groups and went back to 
 the principle of the survival of the fittest. 
 Labor organizations have denied the 
 right of the public to interfere in any con- 
 test between labor and capital just as for 
 a century the organized operators have 
 denied the same right, but the development 
 of human society has now reached the 
 stage when the larger democracy refuses 
 to be ruined by the contention of minor 
 groups. This is not a desirable situation, 
 because the perpetuation of the labor 
 organizations on a basis of justice and 
 right is essential to the peace and pros- 
 
92 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 perity of the community and the establish- 
 ment of justice among citizens. Clan- 
 nishness, which is another name for group 
 selfishness, has become the ruling spirit 
 among many organizations. To a large 
 extent leadership of a liberal kind is fast 
 passing away because a large corps of 
 agitators is sent up and down the country 
 to mingle with the men, to perpetuate and 
 exalt the organization and to agitate for 
 strikes. These labor agitators are usually 
 shortsighted, possessed of one idea and 
 careless of results. They are obsessed by 
 the Marxian theory of war against capi- 
 talism. It appears as if their controlling 
 purpose is to keep and perpetuate not 
 only the existence of the order but their 
 own jobs. In the face of such agitation, 
 conservatiVe'Teaders have very little to 
 say as to when a strike should be called, 
 as the rank and file are already primed 
 to vote for it on the slightest provocation. 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 93 
 
 An attempt to establish a Court of 
 Industrial Relations in which questions 
 arising between employer and employee 
 could be settled on a basis of justice, when 
 they could not be settled amicably outside 
 of court, has met with the bitterest opposi- 
 tion. This opposition has arisen because 
 of the agitation of leaders who say that 
 such a court would signify a transfer of 
 the power that they now have to the larger 
 democracy which should control justice 
 between groups. This opposition is draw- 
 ing a line between the radical agitators 
 who care not a straw for justice, and a 
 large body of working men who are anx- 
 ious to abide by the laws of the country, 
 and willing to let the larger democracy 
 determine what is justice in the settlement 
 of quarrels between them and the opera- 
 tors. The radical element is fast losing 
 the confidence of the people, while the 
 conservatives at present are powerless to 
 
94 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 act. The situation is deplorable, but it 
 looks as if the ultimate result would be 
 the reorganization of labor on a sensible 
 and rational basis, or else the entire reor- 
 ganization of industry on a cooperative 
 basis. 
 
 Labor organizations have been a neces- 
 sary factor in the history of modem 
 civilization. The breaking down of the 
 guild system, the development of power 
 manufacture necessitating the building of 
 great factories, and the helplessness of the 
 individual in bargaining and defending 
 himself against the heartless greed of the 
 corporation made it necessary, for the sake 
 of survival, to organize. It was self-in- 
 terest of the group, but humanitarian in 
 its motive. It began as a human institu- 
 tion to obtain a living wage, to relieve its 
 members of the misery of life caused by 
 disease and poverty. 
 
 The labor-capital problem is still un- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 95 
 
 solved. Indeed, under present conditions 
 it is a menace to social order and progress. 
 How little we know about it, how little the 
 contending parties know of each other! 
 The main difficulty is found in misunder- 
 standing. There is too much mass treat- 
 ment of humanity, and too little opportu- 
 nity for the exercise of individual choice 
 and responsibility. All our social work 
 with the laboring population has left the 
 great problem unsolved. Irregularity of 
 employment, subservience to forces be- 
 yond individual control and insecurity of 
 life make the laborer an irregular and ir- 
 responsible worker, and an irregular and 
 irresponsible man. 
 
 The great problem of the relation of 
 organized capital and organized labor to- 
 day hinges on the status of the individual 
 laborer. What does he want? True, he 
 wants a living wage, but greater than this 
 is his desire for opportunity to be some- 
 
96 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 body. With him, the job with a living 
 wage is a means to an end. He wants 
 approbation; he wants the human touch 
 more than anything else; he wants an 
 opportunity to show his fellows the kind 
 of workman he is and not to be a mere 
 cog in a complicated machine. Until he 
 has an opportunity for this appreciation 
 he will not be a successful individual. He 
 must appreciate the importance of his 
 work and be made to feel that he is render- 
 ing an appreciated service. Fundament- 
 ally a living wage and shorter hours are 
 necessary, but this will not solve the labor 
 problem. 
 
 The desire to become part manager in 
 the business does not dominate the individ- 
 ual laborer to the extent which agitators 
 and writers seem to indicate. Deep in his 
 heart he wishes a friendly cooperation with 
 others in making better living conditions, 
 and liberty of action as a man. He does 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 97 
 
 not want charity, he does not want philan- 
 thropy, he does not want to he patronized, 
 — he wants to be a man among men. 
 Wherever this fundamental motive does 
 not exist among laborers it should be in- 
 culcated, for only through this can self- 
 respect and character be developed. 
 
CORPORATE SELFISHNESS 
 
XIII 
 
 CORPORATE SELFISHNESS 
 
 It is common to talk of public service 
 corporations without considering the true 
 interpretation of the phrase. The public 
 looks to the corporation for service; the 
 corporation looks to the public for a mar- 
 gin. From the standpoint of the latter 
 a more fitting name would be a "public 
 exploitation corporation." I have known 
 good men, officials of a company, to seek 
 the good of the company without consid- 
 ering the welfare of the public. This fre- 
 quently happens, because the ideal of life is 
 frequently obscured in a clamor for profit 
 that can be measured in dollars and cents. 
 Undoubtedly these officials are faithful 
 servants of their master, the corporation, 
 
 101 
 
102 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 but the latter has forgotten the public 
 service end of the real or implied contract 
 it has with the public. How much better 
 it would be if the idea of public service 
 were placed first, and the margin of profit 
 given second place. Evidently such pur- 
 pose honestly carried out would yield a 
 larger and more certain margin of profit. 
 The telephone company is a public service 
 corporation which' exists for the sake of 
 the corporation alone. A short time since 
 the superintendent of the company, in a 
 Western town, gave the worst possible ser- 
 vice in order to show his patrons the need 
 of an advance in rates. Good service is a 
 difficult problem at best and when the 
 superintendent determined to make it 
 worse he succeeded, and, marvelous to 
 relate, he forced the higher rates, and the 
 public will be served for a time until the 
 superintendent again gets out his sandbag 
 of inefficiency to increase the margin of 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 103 
 
 profit. Having succeeded in one town he 
 tried the same tactics in another town and 
 openly announced his purpose to give 
 better service only after the rates were 
 raised. The margin of profit is sufficient 
 but not great enough to satisfy the de- 
 mands of his master, the telephone 
 company. 
 
 In banks and other corporations there 
 is a certain amount of business ethics, but 
 the system that does not permit, because 
 of its nature, sympathy, generosity, and 
 sacrifice in its employees, does not tend to 
 develop sterling qualities in the individual. 
 Many corporations taking the human atti- 
 tude in regard to the public which they 
 serve, have by exercising liberality, gener- 
 osity and sympathy, secured a larger mar- 
 gin of profit and increased prosperity as 
 a dividend on the sympathy and interest 
 invested. Truly the great margins of life 
 may not be measured in dollars and cents. 
 
104 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 The dollar is too narrow a base for human 
 progress to rest on, securely. Justifiable 
 corporate existence like justifiable individ- 
 ualism should save its life in seeking the 
 public good. 
 
NATIONAL SELFISHNESS 
 
XIV 
 
 NATIONAL SELFISHNESS 
 
 The wars of mankind have been based 
 on selfishness of at least one of the two 
 parties to the strife, usually both. 
 Whether religion, sex relation, plunder, 
 territory or nationality was the cause of 
 war, selfish survival or aggrandizement 
 has always been a fundamental cause. 
 Feudal wars were the outcome of attempts 
 to hold land obtained by robbery. Robber 
 barons and their followers fought with 
 other robber barons while their followers 
 were pawns in the game of war. When 
 the feudatories became amalgamated into 
 states, to the feudal idea of land and the 
 feudal spirit there was added the idea of 
 nationalism. Loyalty and patriotism in- 
 spired people to give their lives for their 
 country. Taken in a spirit of idealism this 
 
 107 
 
108 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 was an added inspiration to a better and 
 more lofty conception of life. Yet the 
 nobility of patriotism and loyalty was de- 
 graded by the selfish greed for territory 
 and national supremacy. National selfish- 
 ness has stifled the best aspirations of the 
 race. It has stifled the individual con- 
 science. 
 
 In the social ethics of the business world 
 the German people ranked high, but Ger- 
 many as a political entity was non-ethical. 
 The spirit of feudalism when joined to 
 national consciousness and loyalty became 
 national selfishness. Germany was caught 
 red-handed in a ruthless struggle for 
 supremacy. She taught and practiced 
 dominance at the expense of others. As 
 a nation she became a type of moral 
 apostasy. The individual life was ab- 
 sorbed by the state and the individual 
 conscience was submerged in the selfish 
 greed of the group, and there is no hope of 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 109 
 
 a regenerated Germany until the individ- 
 ual conscience is again free to act. Even 
 then there must be a willingness to follow 
 high ideals into national life. The condi- 
 tion of the whole world in the recent war, 
 and more especially since it has closed, 
 has revealed the supreme economic and 
 political selfishness of nations. The only 
 redemption is the leavening influence of 
 the quickened conscience and the conse- 
 crated will of individuals, cooperating with 
 one another. 
 
 The other states of Europe exhibit a 
 national group selfishness. Out of the 
 chaos following the decline of Greek cul- 
 ture and, subsequently, the fall of the 
 Roman Empire, new states were founded 
 upon a feudalistic basis; all of Europe 
 passed through the feudal regime. The 
 rise of new nationalities from the conflict 
 of tribal and racial groups represented a 
 compromise between the conqueror and 
 
110 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 the conquered. The feudal chiefs emerged 
 as kings and petty tyrants, and by a con- 
 tinuous process of war and intrigue the 
 more powerful became dominant over the 
 rest. The traditional right to the soil 
 claimed by the rulers and the standing 
 army completed the national unity. From 
 this time on the power of the state became 
 the chief concern of rulers. The right of 
 might became the only law existing be- 
 tween states. To increase the domain of 
 the state, strengthen the standing army 
 and exercise power over others was the 
 ruling passion of the time. 
 
 Whatever principles of justice and 
 right were exercised among the members 
 of the nation, the state was non-ethical in 
 the treatment of its fellow state; it was a 
 ruthless struggle for survival and domin- 
 ion. War, extension of territory, com- 
 mercial supremacy, were the prime mo- 
 tives. True, rules of warfare were slowly 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 111 
 
 established and international law was de- 
 veloped, but these were not based on 
 humanitarian motives but on the rights of 
 national defense. National ethics in time 
 of peace gave way to dishonor in time of 
 war. 
 
 These principles of social heritage ex- 
 tended through the centuries. The light 
 of liberty burst forth, illuminating the be- 
 nighted governments, but to subside over- 
 powered by the tradition of authority. 
 Except in Switzerland, the United States 
 and, more slowly, in England the old 
 medieval group selfishness prevailed. 
 These nations have developed international 
 ethics of a sterling quality. 
 
 The lurid flames of the Great War 
 were sufficiently brilliant to light up alt 
 the dark corners of the European systems. 
 Governments crumbled, states disinte- 
 grated and, crowns fell from the heads of 
 humiliated monarchs. The greatest reve- 
 
112 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 lation of it all was in the extreme selfish- 
 ness, even in war and suffering, expressed 
 by the nations of the world. 
 
 But the old order passeth and recon- 
 struction must be had on a new basis. 
 The recognition that each nation is entitled 
 to just, human and ethical treatment from 
 every other, that before a nation enters 
 upon an important action it must consider 
 the welfare of others, must be a basic prin- 
 ciple of that reconstruction. The humani- 
 tarian idea of cooperation must prevail 
 and human rights be respected. A square 
 deal in regard to commerce and territory 
 and the general welfare of humanity must 
 be considered if human civilization is to 
 be continued. The Congress to establish 
 a League of Nations was a beginning and 
 the conference for Disarmament is a long 
 step in advance. Yet they reveal a be- 
 nighted condition of national selfishness 
 and greed. 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 113 
 
 Applying the same law to nations as to 
 individuals, it may be maintained that the 
 only justifiable national government is 
 the one that lives and works not only for 
 self-preservation, but for the welfare of 
 nations. Its strength, its prosperity, in- 
 deed, its reason to be, will be founded upon 
 its willingness to work for the good of all 
 in friendly cooperation with other nations. 
 Humanitarian principles must dominate 
 group selfishness if human progress is to 
 be assured. No league of nations or asso- 
 ciation of nations may succeed so long as 
 the characters of men remain as they are, 
 nor until the ideals of nations improve. 
 Mr. Wells' world state could not exist 
 without the elimination of selfishness from 
 the individual members. The development 
 of the mechanism of society will not in 
 itself insure a reform; we must look to the 
 quality of the individual for salvation. 
 
THE CHURCH AS AN 
 INSTITUTION 
 
XV 
 
 THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION 
 
 The simple societies which represented 
 the organization of the early christian 
 church, meeting for mutual improvement 
 and mutual aid, brought together prima- 
 rily by a similar belief, gradually devel- 
 oped by the process of integration into one 
 great organization. From the beginning of 
 the small organizations to the development 
 of the hierarchy of the great church organ- 
 ization, propaganda of doctrine was more 
 and more emphasized. The church has 
 thus become an institution seeking to 
 magnify and perpetuate its own existence. 
 Organized for the purpose of the regen- 
 eration of man it developed a powerful 
 machinery for institutional growth and 
 
 117 
 
118 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 protection. Having acquired power, it 
 assumed authority over both spiritual and 
 temporal affairs and went so far in its 
 control of the destinies of man as to assume 
 authority over the individual conscience. 
 Thus the independent conscience became 
 absorbed in the will of the church. In- 
 dividual thought and independence of re- 
 ligious action thus became stifled. The 
 church assumed a monopoly of religion 
 and of moral standards. 
 
 The reformation led to the establishment 
 of the right of individual belief and of 
 action in conformity with conscience. It 
 was the first herald of religious freedom 
 after the long submergence of the individ- 
 ual in ecclesiasticism. It is true that for 
 many years religious freedom existed only 
 as an ideal, because in the development of 
 separate organizations the churches had to 
 put forth great energy for institutional 
 survival. They, in turn, became more or 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 119 
 
 less dogmatic in exercising doctrinal au- 
 thority and dominance over the individual. 
 
 This struggle for institutional survival 
 continued down to the present day in a 
 more or less intensified form. Each new 
 church organization, assuming that it had 
 a belief superior to others, began to 
 struggle not only for its own existence but 
 to propagate its doctrine in competition 
 with other institutions. So there followed 
 a long period of religious institutional 
 competition and conflict which in the pass- 
 ing centuries has gradually faded out as 
 the lines of demarkation between the be- 
 liefs of ecclesiastical institutions became 
 less vivid and as there developed a feeling 
 that no one of those institutions had a 
 monopoly on religion. 
 
 Under these changes the individual con- 
 science has been gradually freed and the 
 independent sanction of the religious belief 
 of the individual is becoming recognized. 
 
120 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 This has been brought about slowly. Re- 
 ligious ideals from New England, backed 
 by the institutional authority of the church, 
 extended in the western movement of the 
 population, and carried with it the habits 
 and practices of the old Puritanism. Puri- 
 tanism survived in the mastery of the 
 West because each succeeding church or- 
 ganization was a type of the old. The 
 long struggle of denominationalism but 
 enhanced the institutional idea, and even 
 now one may hear proclaimed frequently 
 from the pulpit "the glory of the church 
 as an institution and its great saving 
 power." In some churches today one-half 
 of the sermons are preached to develop 
 institutionalism of the church, but gradu- 
 ally the ministry is trying to get out from 
 under the cloud of medieval theology and 
 medieval practises and preach a religion 
 pure and undefiled for the redemption of 
 the individual. 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 121 
 
 It was inevitable that the growth of 
 political liberty and universal education 
 should destroy the authority of the church 
 as an institution. Gradually, in spite of all 
 of the propaganda, people are losing their 
 reverence for the church as a saving insti- 
 tution. They regard it as a very necessary 
 institution to modern religious, moral and 
 social development, but in their own minds 
 they are reducing it from a traditional to 
 a working basis. In the mind of the gen- 
 eral public, if the church does good, it is 
 good, and if it does evil, it is evil; that is, 
 public opinion is applying the doctrine, 
 "By their works ye shall know them," and 
 is less and less influenced by dogmatic 
 authority and traditional assumption of 
 power. The church is a human institution 
 built about a divine principle, indeed, but 
 it must satisfy ordinary human needs to 
 appeal to enlightened communities. 
 
 The law of adaptation to environment, 
 
122 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 so obvious in the development of plants 
 and animals, applies to institutions as well. 
 Likewise, institutions that fail to adapt 
 themselves to environments perish. How 
 clearly this is illustrated in some of our 
 smaller towns and cities where — for ex- 
 ample, in a town of seven hundred people 
 — there will be five churches of different 
 denominations. These churches were 
 planted in the old days of denominational 
 struggle for position — a position of course 
 for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel. 
 Nevertheless their strong appeal for mem- 
 bership frequently was for institutional 
 aggrandizement. When practical needs 
 were ignored, the attempt to perpetuate 
 the institution of the past failed. Instead 
 of cooperating, churches were contending 
 against each other. Fountains of inspira- 
 tion were dried up and outsiders could see 
 no object in attaching themselves to insti- 
 tutions so feeble in teaching and so dere- 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 123 
 
 lict in practise. The sum total of the result 
 was that moral life of the community was 
 not elevated through the churches and re- 
 ligious strifes actually appeared. 
 
 Gradually churches are seeing this and 
 understanding that belief must be backed 
 up by service, and faith by common sense 
 in order to adapt the preaching of the 
 Word to the environment. They are re- 
 alizing that they can no longer rest upon 
 the authority of the church or the sanctity 
 of the cloth for their success; they must 
 demonstrate that they are meeting a real 
 human need. Thus, individual conscience 
 regarding religious belief has found its 
 freedom, but, like all freedom, this must 
 be wisely utilized through cooperative ser- 
 vice to render it valuable. The church 
 thus becomes what the cooperation of free 
 moral individuals make it. Re-building 
 on this new foundation of service the 
 church is adapting itself to the moral, 
 
124 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 political and economic environment in 
 which it exists. 
 
 One of the results of the church clinging 
 tenaciously to its institutionalism, with its 
 inflexible creeds and methods, has been to 
 force the development of a good many 
 non - ecclesiastical christian institutions. 
 Among these are to be found the Y. M. 
 C. A., Y. W. C. A., The Red Cross and 
 the Salvation Army. All of these have 
 been necessary because the church repre- 
 sented a monopoly of religion by a selected 
 class, set apart, who determined the terms 
 of admission into the Kingdom of God. 
 It will be remembered that the Great 
 Teacher made it quite easy for people to 
 enter the Kingdom of God, but made it 
 quite difficult after they were in to follow 
 His teachings. The church for many 
 years made it very difficult for a person to 
 enter the church and very easy after he 
 was in. A regular pew-warmer who paid 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 125 
 
 regularly and liberally could neglect every 
 other religious function and have a stand- 
 ing as a "pillar" of the church. 
 
 The result of the liberalizing of the au- 
 thority of the church has been for people 
 to realize that religion is an essential part 
 of every-day life. That, indeed, it is some- 
 thing that cannot be taken off and put 
 on according to a rule or creed, but is a 
 necessary part of life. 
 
EDUCATION 
 
XVI 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 Modern educators have been appalled 
 at the results of their own work. Many 
 scientific educators for many years have 
 pointed out individual differences of stu- 
 dents, and urged that a school curriculum 
 should be fitted to the different hereditary 
 characters of individuals; that persons 
 having different talents, tastes and capac- 
 ities should receive a training based, in 
 part, upon these differences. Meanwhile, 
 school administrators working out the 
 economy of instruction have developed 
 school machinery, based on the assumption 
 that all minds are alike and should have 
 the same training to fit them for different 
 positions in life. 
 
 129 
 
130 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 Back of the school administrators was 
 the board of education, and, behind all, 
 the tax-payers, who usually assent only to 
 a system of education which requires a 
 teacher to instruct fifty or sixty pupils at 
 once in mass formation. More recent 
 investigations as to the results of education 
 have caused universal resentment against 
 mass education, and a demand for a system 
 of education that recognizes the individual 
 differences of pupils and an adjustment of 
 the curriculum to the native interests and 
 the needs of the pupil. In a general way 
 wider opportunities are given for educa- 
 tional selection by the expansion of the 
 educational bill of fare. This gives op- 
 portunity for the student to make an early 
 start toward a business or professional 
 career, and in many instances the oppor- 
 tunity for selection is sufficiently wide to 
 admit of specific preparation for a special 
 business or a special profession. Yet this 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 131 
 
 does not reduce the mass instruction. The 
 time element still may be practically the 
 same for all. What is needed is to classify 
 students according to superior, mediocre 
 and inferior mental capacities, and also 
 according to environment and training. 
 Having done this, opportunity for in- 
 struction may be given to the individ- 
 ual on a basis of economy and efficiency. 
 Such a system will not force the superior 
 student to wait for the mediocre or in- 
 ferior student. The school will no longer 
 be a place for the enforced idleness of 
 superiors. While it is necessary and right 
 to give mediocre people and even in- 
 feriors all the education they can grasp, 
 it is not right that the system should force 
 the neglect of superiors. For it is this 
 latter class that makes human progress 
 possible for all. 
 
 It is refreshing to know that this ten- 
 dency in education is from the mass back 
 
132 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 to the individual, from quantity education 
 to quality education. Not only will it 
 recognize superior qualities and put them 
 in touch with opportunity, but it will en- 
 hance individual responsibility and free 
 the individual for real social service. 
 
 To assimilate the learning of the past 
 will not suffice ; to develop intellectual and 
 moral integrity is an essential of educa- 
 tion. To fit the individual into the social 
 life he is to live is one of the essential 
 functions of education. The great mass 
 play in education has centered on this 
 social function. But here as elsewhere, 
 it must be remembered that the individ- 
 ual is the beginning and the end of edu- 
 cation. People cannot be educated in 
 masses without attention to the individ- 
 ual. The teacher well knows how true this 
 is when he observes the individual initia- 
 tive, the individual inventiveness of his 
 pupils. Society is made of the actions of 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 133 
 
 individual minds. Educators are endeav- 
 oring to individualize education. Efforts 
 are being undertaken to make a mental 
 and physical examination of pupils to de- 
 termine the natural traits each possess and 
 to work with intelligence in giving the 
 training best adapted to each individual 
 according to his traits. This requires not 
 only a knowledge of the inborn traits but 
 a knowledge of the environment and train- 
 ing that have shaped their development to 
 the time instruction begins. After deter- 
 mining as far as possible the vocation for 
 which the individual is fitted the school at- 
 tempts to give the training that will best 
 fit him for his specific life work. This re- 
 quires skill in scientific diagnosis and a 
 curriculum adapted to the needs of the 
 student. The most useful knowledge, the 
 most adaptable training, the most specific 
 direction possible are sought. To impart 
 knowledge, and to teach pupils rather 
 
184 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 than subjects, is the modern motive in 
 education. 
 
 It is common talk that colleges develop 
 leadership, but, as a rule, the selection 
 and training of leaders is not intelligently- 
 practiced. Too many of the thousands 
 who attend our colleges are there because 
 it is a fashionable mode of life, or because 
 of a desire "to develop capacity for mere 
 money-making. Each year the tide of 
 high school graduates rises ; each year more 
 flow into the universities and colleges. The 
 remedy is found in more and better equip- 
 ment, better teachers, fewer students per 
 teacher, individualized instruction, and a 
 better system of weeding out those who 
 are not fitted for the higher learning. A 
 college education is a sacred thing, some- 
 thing to be cherished in itself, something 
 to be consecrated to the service of others. 
 In the school as elsewhere in life there are 
 two classes of people, those who work and 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 135 
 
 those who get in the way. Too much 
 energy is spent on the latter class and too 
 little on the former. 
 
 It is truly maintained that leaders are 
 necessary in a democracy, but the degree 
 of progress depends upon the type of 
 leadership. Leaders of moral and intel- 
 lectual integrity, leaders of power with a 
 conscience and a will to sacrifice, these are 
 the ones valuable in progress. These are 
 the only justifiable leaders. In science, 
 art, religion, politics, industry, social en- 
 gineering, leaders of the right type will 
 point the way of progress. 
 
 Our education should set up moral 
 progress and achievement as the criterion 
 of success. There is danger in excessive 
 vocational training because the emphasis 
 is on the dollar as a measure of success. 
 To develop intellectual honesty, teach 
 people to see straight, foster a love for 
 right action — in short to set higher ideals 
 
136 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 and to teach men to follow them, — is more 
 important than to teach them the process 
 of the accumulation of wealth. Our 
 schools are teaching much sociology which, 
 after all, is for the purpose of understand- 
 ing society and of learning how to live 
 together harmoniously and justly without 
 waste of individual or "social energy. All 
 should be prepared to serve society and 
 many should be trained in the principles 
 and practice of social direction. There is 
 need today of social engineers as well as 
 civil, mechanical, and chemical engineers. 
 Society has become such a great machine 
 that it must be directed by experts. We 
 need to know how to live together in 
 harmonious cooperation. The World War 
 with all its horrors is but a brutal acknowl- 
 edgment that we have not yet learned how 
 to live harmoniously and justly. Social 
 revivals, humane laws, social service, 
 sweeping reforms, religious propaganda, 
 
JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 137 
 
 all good in themselves, will not suffice. 
 The individual material out of which the 
 social superstructure has been reared is 
 the crux of the whole matter. If we would 
 build wisely we must have better material. 
 
THE FUNCTION OF THE 
 INDIVIDUAL 
 
XVII 
 
 THE FUNCTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL 
 
 The social system because of its imper- 
 fection has a tendency to suppress individ- 
 ual effort and to reduce each to a status 
 of slavery. We are bound to the wheel of 
 the social car. The remedy for this is not 
 in abolishing the social system, not in the 
 substitution of a system that may be 
 worked according to formula, but in the 
 development of the individual with oppor- 
 tunity for a larger service and an increased 
 responsibility. What is needed is a regen- 
 erated individual — one that seeks survival 
 through service to others, one whose per- 
 sonality has been moulded through an 
 intelligent, a socialized, education of his 
 distinctive traits and capacities. Call it 
 personality or individuality; it is the tim- 
 
 141 
 
142 JUSTIFIABLE INDIVIDUALISM 
 
 bre, the tone, the very essence of social 
 life. A system of politics, or religion, or 
 social order that fails to recognize this is 
 doomed to failure. The world needs not 
 fewer benevolent enterprises, not fewer 
 beneficent laws, not fewer group activi- 
 ties but a better utilization of all these 
 and more, through the development of 
 an intelligent and unselfish individualism. 
 Human progress demands that we depend 
 on a justifiable individualism, that seeks 
 the fullness of life in devotion to the 
 common good. 
 
 Let our education see to it that this 
 individual shall be well born, well trained 
 in body and mind, sound in moral ideals, 
 effective in moral practice and filled with 
 a spirit of service to others. Let him pride 
 himself in his individualism as an instru- 
 ment for the betterment of the race and 
 he will be endowed with a justifiable 
 individualism. 
 
.