VI.

THE STATE.

To us who live in the twentieth century, nothing will appear more simple and natural than the existence of the state, so much so that few of us can imagine that there ever was a time in which such an institution did not exist. Much less are they able to apprehend the possibility of the ending of this institution. To them social and civil order has ever appeared in the form of state government, they are unable to conceive of any other order, and the absence of state government is in their minds equivalent to anarchy. To the student of history and ethnography, however, the state is not more than one form in the evolution of the organization of human society. It had a beginning and may have an end. The student easily comprehends that at some future time the State may be supplanted by another and probably higher and better form of organization.

The State is an agglomeration of human individuals, located and domiciled within a certain territory, under laws and regulations having force only within that territory, irrespective of the personal relations of those individuals. It owes its birth to the growth of the institution of private ownership in land, and the increase of chattel property and private property interests in general, the protection of which became its principal function. The ancient gentile organization, based upon personal relations only, was efficient enough for the pro

tection of persons, but was too feeble for the protection of property interests which at the beginning of civilization had become vast, numerous and complicated. It must by no means be supposed that the State supplanted the ancient personal organization at a given moment in a perfected condition. On the contrary, it grew up by degrees. It took centuries of wrestling and battling with the evils of the time until the solution of the, what we might call social problem, was found in the creation of political government, founded upon territory. In all probability the solution of our own social problem will likewise not be the result of a sudden discovery or invention, but rather of continued successive application of many remedies with more or less incomplete effect.

The transition from an organization founded upon person to an organization founded upon territory, was too great a revolution, as to have by any possibility taken place all at once. One of the steps leading up to the creation of the state was the recognition of the economic classes by the law, making them political classes by distributing among them in different proportions the powers of government.

The ancient purely democratic institutions had disappeared long before the creation of the state. With the introduction of private ownership in land and of slavery complete democracy became an impossibility. Grecian democracy, which we hear so exultingly praised by historians, was really no democracy in the modern sense of the word, because it embraced only part of the people. Those who did the work of the nation did not belong to the "demos," that is the people, but were property. So it was with the "populus romanus." Slaves and those belonging to subjected tribes or nations be

came no part of the ruling tribe and were accorded no civil rights in the state for a long time.

The state started out with political classes already existing, their creation was a step preparatory to its own creation. The economic class is not like the political class the manifestation of the human will, it is the creature of conditions. Whenever and wherever the economic conditions are of such a nature that they create differences of wealth, those possessing great wealth grow into power and influence by the mere operation of conditions, whereafter by the mere effect of human nature, they use their power and influence toward preserving the institutions from which they derive both wealth and power. They shape legislation in their own favor and create political classes by recognizing the economic classes. The economic class is the fundamental basis of the political class. Whenever an economic class receives governmental prerogatives by legislation, it becomes a political class.

In England, the political classes were called states, in France états, in Germany Stände. "The lay part of his majesty's subjects, or such as are not comprehended under the denomination of clergy, may be divided," says Blackstone, "into three distinct states, the civil, the military, and the maritime. The civil state consists of the nobility and the commonalty. The nobility consists of dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons," the commonalty of knights of the garter (and some other kinds of knights), esquires, yeomen, tradesmen and so forth.

Already in the mythical time of Theseus, long before the establishment of the Athenian state, the Athenians were divided into three classes, the Eupatridae or "well

born," the Geomori or husbandmen and the Demiurgi or artisans, with the rights and powers of each well defined. But under Solon a new division was made, not according to callings, but according to property owned. The people were divided into four classes according to the measure of their wealth; each class was invested with certain powers, and upon each were imposed certain obligations. Of these four classes, those only belonging to the first were eligible to the high offices, the others performed different grades of military service, and were eligible to minor offices. Military services in those times were considered more of a privilege than a duty, only freemen being allowed to bear arms. To the first class, called "Pentakosiomedimnoi" (500measure-men) belonged those who harvested at least five hundred measures (medimnoi) of barley or a quantity of oil or wine of the same value, which was estimated equal to a taxing capital of six thousand drachms. To the second class belonged those harvesting from three hundred to five hundred measures of barley, considered equivalent to a capital of thirty-six hundred drachms; they were called Hippeis (knights, horsemen). The third class, the Zeugitai, harvested from a hundred and fifty to three hundred measures of barley and possessed a team of mules; eighteen hundred drachms was considered the value of their possessions; the fourth class, the Thetes had a yield of less than one hundred and fifty measures. The division into districts of the Athenian territory followed soon after by the legislation of Cleisthenes.

Rome entered upon its state career in a quite similar manner. By the legislation, known as that of Servius Tullius in the sixth century before Christ, and very soon.

after the legislation of Solon in Attica, the people were divided into five classes, and the city was divided into districts for governmental purposes. The division into classes was made according to the value of their property, and each class was possessed of a certain number of votes in the popular assembly. The people voted by centuries, each century having one vote. The number of centuries, of which there were altogether one hundred and ninety-three, was arbitrarily fixed for each class, without regard to the actual number of members, and it was so arranged that the wealthiest class had the largest number of centuries and a majority of all the

votes.

The first class consisted of those who had a fortune of one hundred thousand aces, equal to about sixteen hundred dollars, and formed, together with eighteen centuries of equites, or heavily armed horsemen, ninetyeight centuries; they had that many votes out of one hundred and ninety-three. The second class, with a fortune of seventy-five thousand aces, counted twenty centuries; the third, to which belonged those with a fortune of fifty thousand aces, counted also twenty centuries; the fifth with twelve thousand five hundred aces was divided into thirty centuries. All these centuries had to serve in war and provide for their own armaments, which were according to the class of different character. To the second class belonged also two centuries of artisans; namely, sword-smiths and carpenters, and to the fourth class belonged two centuries of hornblowers and trumpeters. The rest of the people, called proletarians (possessors of children), all of them together formed one century, had consequently only one