ABSTRACT
The question "How should society impose its will?" is equivalent to "How can society tell the good weapons in its armory from those that are worn out or obsolete or unserviceable?" This summons us to lay down criteria for judging an instrument of control as good or bad. The control of the person's will by precept or example is, therefore, preferable to the control of it by the employment of sanctions. The best guarantee of a stable control from within is something that reaches at once feeling, reason, and will. The diffusion of control is, in fact, the chief security against its excess. The best control is that which rises afresh whenever a handful of persons associate, which, therefore, cannot be cornered and monopolized by a scheming class or profession. The diffusion of control is, in fact, the chief security against its excess.
