Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2878

Penned letter to Spencer MacCallum

No date

 

 

Dear Spencer —

Another card from you today. Mrs. Manning and I have mailed your Durkheim book and I’ve been through all my papers without finding any carbons of letters to Bierly, Boyden and Mrs. Kirk Miller. I’m sure you must never have typed or mailed them. I’m glad you will do it even now, for it is better late than never, especially Bierly and Boyden. The latter should have known he was not to hold the type any longer, but only the dies and cuts or plates. If my letter to him does not mention these, please add to it, by P.S. or otherwise, the following:

 It is of course understood that all the dies and plates or cuts, these having been specially paid for, will not be destroyed but will be held for further instructions if not further use.

 Tomorrow Mr. Hoiles is taking Mr. Knott and me to Campbell House for lunch and the afternoon with Ingebretsen and Greenfield & Co for a farewell. The next evening I am slated for a talk on “The Common Law” at Chapman College here in Santa Ana. And then on the 31^st for Grand Canyon, Colorado Springs, Detroit and New York all by rail.

 In reference to sovereignty, I enclose a mighty fine editorial, in two parts, taken from today’s “Register” and written by Mr. Wilkenson, I think. You can see how he is hitting close to the mark, even though largely in a negative way. He sees that all “natural” — not “artificial” — (meaning social) organization is based on contract or, at least, on consent even though he does not yet quite see how the general community organization can be so based. But he is coming along, as is also Bob LeFevre and Dr. Kershner who very specially wants to see me again soon in New York.

 Historically, I think, sovereignty, and all that it implies, developed out of slavery. It has not been stressed or made so much of in those parts of the world — at least in Europe and Asia — where mass slavery and the conquest of masses could not be carried on. North Europe and north Asia bred prowess but not political dominion. In Europe that came from the south via Rome. In Asia it was absorbed again and again by the fecundity of the Chinese and their family solidarity but established itself in the Middle East and burst through the mountain barriers to spread over India and there, much as in China, to be partially absorbed. I think history likely will credit the Teutonic tribes of north Europe as the principal seed bed and source of the proprietary and thus contractual method of public administration.

 Sovereignty always claims to be absolute but, like slavery, never quite is. There must always be some degree of voluntarism if men are to live. It is the same with anarchy. It can never be complete. There must always be some order. As in all nature, entropy is only a partial turning towards “chaos and dark night” whereas organization, order, which is Life can and must indefinitely and increasingly prevail.

And so to bed.

Affectionately

 

Sorry I can’t find Bob LeFevre’s

recent booklet on “Freedom and Anarchy”

to send you. Maybe I can later.