In Memoriam
Edmund Cadwalader Evans
A sound economist, one of
the few who understand
the nature of the state
Be it or be it not true that Man is shapen in iniquity and conceived in
sin, it is unquestionably true that Government is begotten of
aggression, and by aggression. -- Herbert Spencer, 1850.
This is the gravest danger that today threatens civilization: State
intervention, the absorption of all spontaneous social effort by the
State; that is to say, of spontaneous historical action, which in the
long-run sustains, nourishes and impels human destinies. -- Jose Ortega y Gasset, 1922.
It [the State] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and
responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they penetrate to
every act of the citizen, however secret; it has begun to throw around
its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion;
its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind
and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still remains, as it
was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious
and decent men. -- Henry L. Mencken, 1926.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
When OUR ENEMY, THE STATE appeared in 1935, its literary merit
rather than its philosophic content attracted attention to it. The
times were not ripe for an acceptance of its predictions, still less for
the argument on which these predictions were based. Faith in
traditional frontier individualism had not yet been shaken by the course
of events. Against this faith the argument that the same economic
forces which in all times and in all nations drive toward the ascendancy
of political power at the expense of social power were in operation
here made little headway. That is, the feeling that "it cannot happen here" was too difficult a hurdle for the book to overcome.
By the time the first edition had run out, the development of public
affairs gave the argument of the book ample testimony. In less than a
decade it was evident to many Americans that their country is not immune
from the philosophy which had captured European thinking. The times
were proving Mr. Nock's thesis, and by irresistable word-of-mouth
advertising a demand for the book began to manifest itself just when it
was no longer available. And the plates had been put to war purposes.
In 1943 he had a second edition in mind. I talked with him several
times about it, urging him to elaborate on the economic ideas, since
these, it seemed to me, were inadequately developed for the reader with a
limited knowledge of political economy. He agreed that this ought to
be done, but in a separate book, or in a second part of his book, and
suggested that I try my hand at it. Nothing came of the matter because
of the war. He died on August 19, 1945.
This volume is an exact duplication of the first edition. He intended
to make some slight changes, principally, as he told me, in the
substitution of current illustrations for those which might carry less
weight with the younger reader. As for the sequel stressing economics,
this will have to be done. At any rate, OUR ENEMY THE STATE needs no support.
Frank Chodorov
New York City, May 28th, 1946
Reproduction of all or any parts of the above text may be used for general information.
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