Ebook A Politician in Trouble About His Soul

I wish to call attention to two points. First, as regards the employment of the word force in the last chapter of this work. I wish it to be understood that the sense in which the word is used is that of physical coercion of one man by another. Thus if a man ties my hands, or by means of legal penalties directs me what I am to do or not to do, he is employing force against me. In these matters I am left without choice on my part. I am not a free mental agent. I must simply and absolutely obey the force that is superior to me, if those who possess it choose to exert it to the full. But it should be noticed that the word, as I have employed it, does not include that indirect and conditional coercion which all men by the mere act of living must exert upon each other. An employer says to a workman, You must do such and such things, if you are to receive the wages I offer and a workman says to an employer, You must pay such and such wages, if you are to obtain my services and both workman and employer are conditionally and indi.