“No,” the Altrurian assented, somewhat to my surprise, I confess.
I resumed: “There was no one else to look after his interests, and it was not only his right but his duty to get the most he could for himself and his own, according to his best light. That is what I tell people when they fall foul of him for his want of public spirit.”
“The trouble seems to be, then, in the system that obliges each man to be the guardian of his own interests. Is that what you blame?”
“No, I consider it a very perfect system. It is based upon individuality, and we believe that individuality is the principle that differences civilized men from savages, from the lower animals, and makes us a nation instead of a tribe or a herd. There isn’t one of us, no matter how much he censured this man’s want of public spirit, but would resent the slightest interference with his property rights. The woods were his; he had the right to do what he pleased with his own.”
“Do I understand you that, in America, a man may do what is wrong with his own?”
“He may do anything with his own.”
“To the injury of others?”
“Well, not in person or property. But he may hurt them in taste and sentiment as much as he likes. Can’t a man do what he pleases with his own in Altruria?”
“No, he can only do right with his own.”
“And if he tries to do wrong, or what the community thinks is wrong?”