The wages of people, the hours of labor, railway and telegraph lines, canals, express companies, other common carriers, the various kinds of employment, and the organization of men in different branches of industry to advance their interests, are questions affecting industrial rights.  These rights underlie all efforts of people to improve their financial condition.

SOCIAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES.—­Each member of society has rights as such, and these are called social rights.  They include the rights of personal security and protection.  They underlie all efforts for the improvement of the social condition of the people.  Society is interested in better schools, in public health, in the reformation of criminals, in good highways and streets, in safe buildings, in well-lighted cities and villages, in the maintenance of charitable institutions, in the establishment of sources of harmless amusement, and in the preservation of peace and order.

The comfort and convenience of the public are even more important than the comfort and convenience of any person.  Therefore, individual rights must yield to public rights when the two conflict.  For example, the land of a private citizen may be condemned by the proper authorities, and be used for public highways or other public purposes.  The government pays the owner of the property condemned, but usually less than his estimate of the value.

This right of society, existing above the right, of any of its members, is called the RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN.  By it individual rights must yield to the rights of society, of the government, or of a corporation.  A corporation is an association of individuals authorized by law to transact business as a single natural person.  Railway companies, banks, chartered cities and villages, and the counties of some States are corporations.

MORAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES.—­Man is a moral being; that is, he is conscious of good and evil.  Therefore he has moral rights and duties.

He has rights of conscience, with which it is not the province of government to interfere.  He naturally worships a Being superior to himself, and feels the obligation to deal justly with his fellow-men.  He has a right to do and say all things which are not unlawful or wrong within themselves.  It is his right to worship when he pleases, whom he pleases, and as he pleases.

The moral rights and duties of the people are concerned in the maintenance of religion, the support of churches, in reverence for things sacred, in acts of charity and benevolence, in living an upright life, and in teaching lessons of morality, honesty, industry, and usefulness.  Whatever is implied in the word ought, correctly used, is a moral duty.

POLITICAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES.—­By the social compact, men also agree to abandon a part of their natural rights in order to participate in the government.  They agree in part to be governed by others, in order that in part they may govern others.  The rights of participation in the government, such as voting and holding office, are called political rights, because they affect the public policy of society.