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The Influence of Socialist Writers 
How did politicians ever come to believe this weird idea
that the law could be made to produce what it does not con-
tain—the wealth, science, and religion that, in a positive sense,
constitute prosperity? Is it due to the influence of our modern
writers on public affairs? 
Present-day writers—especially those of the socialist school
of thought—base their various theories upon one common
hypothesis: They divide mankind into two parts. People in gen-
eral—with the exception of the writer himself—form the first
group. The writer, all alone, forms the second and most impor-
tant group. Surely this is the weirdest and most conceited notion
that ever entered a human brain!
In fact, these writers on public affairs begin by supposing
that people have within themselves no means of discernment;
no motivation to action. The writers assume that people are inert
matter, passive particles, motionless atoms, at best a kind of veg-
etation indifferent to its own manner of existence. They assume
that people are susceptible to being shaped—by the will and
hand of another person—into an infinite variety of forms, more
or less symmetrical, artistic, and perfected.
Moreover, not one of these writers on governmental affairs
hesitates to imagine that he himself—under the title of orga-
nizer, discoverer, legislator, or founder—is this will and hand,
this universal motivating force, this creative power whose sub-
lime mission is to mold these scattered materials—persons—
into a society.
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These socialist writers look upon people in the same man-
ner that the gardener views his trees. Just as the gardener capri-
ciously shapes the trees into pyramids, parasols, cubes, vases,
fans, and other forms, just so does the socialist writer whimsi-
cally shape human beings into groups, series, centers, sub-cen-
ters, honeycombs, labor-corps, and other variations. And just as
the gardener needs axes, pruning hooks, saws, and shears to
shape his trees, just so does the socialist writer need the force
that he can find only in law to shape human beings. For this pur-
pose, he devises tariff laws, tax laws, relief laws, and school laws.
The Socialists Want to Play God
Socialists look upon people as raw material to be formed
into social combinations. This is so true that, if by chance, the
socialists have any doubts about the success of these combina-
tions, they will demand that a small portion of mankind be set
aside to experiment upon. The popular idea of trying all systems
is well known. And one socialist leader has been known seriously
to demand that the Constituent Assembly give him a small dis-
trict with all its inhabitants, to try his experiments upon.
In the same manner, an inventor makes a model before he
constructs the full-sized machine; the chemist wastes some
chemicals—the farmer wastes some seeds and land—to try out
an idea.
But what a difference there is between the gardener and
his trees, between the inventor and his machine, between the
chemist and his elements, between the farmer and his seeds!
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And in all sincerity, the socialist thinks that there is the same dif-
ference between him and mankind!
It is no wonder that the writers of the nineteenth century
look upon society as an artificial creation of the legislator’s
genius. This idea—the fruit of classical education—has taken
possession of all the intellectuals and famous writers of our
country. To these intellectuals and writers, the relationship
between persons and the legislator appears to be the same as the
relationship between the clay and the potter.
Moreover, even where they have consented to recognize a
principle of action in the heart of man—and a principle of dis-
cernment in man’s intellect—they have considered these gifts
from God to be fatal gifts. They have thought that persons,
under the impulse of these two gifts, would fatally tend to ruin
themselves. They assume that if the legislators left persons free
to follow their own inclinations, they would arrive at atheism
instead of religion, ignorance instead of knowledge, poverty
instead of production and exchange. 
The Socialists Despise Mankind 
According to these writers, it is indeed fortunate that
Heaven has bestowed upon certain men—governors and legis-
lators—the exact opposite inclinations, not only for their own
sake but also for the sake of the rest of the world! While
mankind tends toward evil, the legislators yearn for good;
while mankind advances toward darkness, the legislators aspire
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for enlightenment; while mankind is drawn toward vice, the
legislators are attracted toward virtue. Since they have decided
that this is the true state of affairs, they then demand the use of
force in order to substitute their own inclinations for those of
the human race.
Open at random any book on philosophy, politics, or his-
tory, and you will probably see how deeply rooted in our country
is this idea—the child of classical studies, the mother of social-
ism. In all of them, you will probably find this idea that mankind
is merely inert matter, receiving life, organization, morality, and
prosperity from the power of the state. And even worse, it will be
stated that mankind tends toward degeneration, and is stopped
from this downward course only by the mysterious hand of the
legislator. Conventional classical thought everywhere says that
behind passive society there is a concealed power called law or
legislator (or called by some other terminology that designates
some unnamed person or persons of undisputed influence and
authority) which moves, controls, benefits, and improves
mankind.
A Defense of Compulsory Labor
Let us first consider a quotation from Bossuet [tutor to the
Dauphin in the Court of Louis XIV]:
One of the things most strongly impressed (by
whom?) upon the minds of the Egyptians was patrio-
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