But it may be truly said that there is no such thing as universal freedom from restraint. There may be indeed freedom from restraint of man by man. But we remain under restraint to Nature owing to our natural needs. That is to say, we are not free to spend our time as we wish, for our natural needs compel us to devote our time to securing shelter, clothing, and food. So also there may be partial freedom from the restraint of Nature; but only upon the condition of restraint of man by man, a restraint which under existing conditions bestows in ordinate and generally unhappy leisure upon a few at the expense of all the rest. We have therefore to recognize two kinds of restraint:
Natural restraint due to our needs, which makes us slaves to things—shelter, clothing, and food;
Human restraint, exercised by one man over another, that puts some men under restraint to others.
Again, the kind of freedom from restraint that exists in the savage state is incompatible with two very precious things—security and leisure; and there are two kinds of insecurity, corresponding to the two kinds of restraint just mentioned:
I. Insecurity that arises from our own needs—food, shelter, clothing, etc.
II. Insecurity that arises from the needs of others—theft, slavery, despotism, etc.
The first—insecurity arising from our own needs—tends to make us slaves to things.
The second—insecurity arising from the needs of others—tends to make us slaves to people.
In the savage state or state of Nature, this insecurity is at a maximum. A savage is a slave to his needs to such an extent that in any climate save the tropics, he has to devote all his time to satisfying them. And he is liable to be robbed or reduced to slavery by men stronger than he.
It was to rescue himself from this insecurity that man created the institution of property—of priceless value, it assured to men the product of their labor and did not encourage one man to exploit the labor of another. And for the same purpose man instituted law; that is, the power for enforcing these rules—both also of priceless value so long as they furnished security and the leisure that results therefrom.