and fundamental laws of all civil constitutions. Whether we look at the
past or view the present, whether we study primitive communities or
confine ourselves to civilized nations, we see that common good is not,
apparently, conceived as the good of all men, however much the words
"justice" and "humanity" may be upon men's lips.

Has any modern state as yet succeeded in incorporating in its civil
constitution such provisions as will ensure to all classes of its
subjects any considerable share in the common good? Slaves and animals,
said Aristotle, have no share in happiness, nor do they live after their
own choice. [Footnote: _Politics_, iii, 9.] The pervading unrest of
the modern economic community is due to the widespread conviction that
the existing organization of society does not sufficiently make for the
happiness of all. Some states with a high degree of culture have not even
made a pretence of having any such aim. They have deliberately legislated
for the few. [Footnote: The "citizens" of the ancient Greek state were a
privileged class who legislated in their own interest. Let the reader
look into Plato's _Laws_ and Aristotle's _Politics_ and see how
inconceivable the cultivated Greek found what is now the ideal of a
modern democracy. "Citizens" should own landed property, and work it by
slaves, barbarians and servants. They should not be "ignoble" mechanics
or petty traders. Compare the spirit of Froissart's _Chronicles_, in
the Middle Ages. See what Bryce (_South America_, New York, 1918,
chapters xi and xv) says about the position of the Negro in our Southern
states, and of the Indians in South American republics.]

Even where the avowed aim is the common good of all, states have assumed
that some must be sacrificed for others. Certain individuals are selected
to die in the trenches in the face of the enemy, that others may be
guaranteed liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Grotius, the famous