Note 871 — Chapter II · : STATE SOCIALISM

A similar idea is contained in Liberty, where it is stated that “trade is a social act,” that the conduct of every merchant “comes within the jurisdiction of society,” and that “as the principle of individual liberty is not involved in the doctrine of Free Trade, so neither is it in most of the questions which arise respecting the limits of that doctrine; as, for example, what amount of public control is admissible for the prevention of fraud by adulteration; how far sanitary precautions, or arrangements to protect workpeople employed in dangerous occupations, should be enforced on employers.… But that they [people] may be legitimately controlled for these ends is in principle undeniable.” (Chap. 5.)