Imagine the anxiety and the anguish
that would be caused if some commission were free to determine who
were insane or feeble or worthless enough to be put out of the way!
Or free to select a human victim for vivisection whenever experts deemed
it wise! The widespread horror and uneasiness of such a regime, the
callousness to suffering it would engender, the private revenges and
crimes that might insidiously creep in under the guise of public good,
are alone enough to render vicious such a procedure.
It is true that one person's suffering is less of an evil than the
suffering of many. The State, by universal consent, inflicts undeserved
suffering upon individuals when the social welfare seems to require
it; as when it takes away a man's beloved acre to built a railroad
or highway, or when it compels vaccination, or when it drafts soldiers
for the national defense and sends them to their death. When a man
volunteers to risk his life or to endure pain for his fellows we
rightly applaud his act. In such a case the ill effects above-mentioned
do not follow, and the gain is clear; in addition, the stimulating
value of the voluntary self-sacrifice is great. The American soldiers,
who risked their lives to rid Cuba and the world of yellow fever, by
offering themselves for inoculation with the disease, stand among the
world's heroes.
It is also true that "rights" are not primitive and transcendent; their
existence rests upon purely utilitarian grounds.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127