In time a reaction came. Social control developed. The more thickly populated a country becomes, the more complicated do the relations of individuals grow, and the greater is the need for general restraint. Social control, however, is not merely negative in its purpose. Its object is not simply to restrain individuals in their freedom of action but to encourage them in the thing which the general welfare demands. The government is the chief agency through which social control is exercised, but it is by no means the only one. Religious, fraternal, professional, and benevolent organizations do a good deal in the same general direction. Their function is to promote collective interests as distinguished from the interests of individuals; they protect the collective interests against the avarice or selfishness of individuals. The government exercises social control by means of laws and administrative orders; other organizations exercise it by their own rules or by customs which the members obey. [Sidenote: The limits of social control.] There is always a danger, of course, that social control may proceed too far. It is not the object of government and of social organizations to run all men in the same mould, making them mere automatons without individuality or initiative. Government should aim to give sufficient scope for every individual to use his abilities in the best possible way. Control over the acts and discretion of individuals is justified only where such control promotes, in the long run, the well-being of the greatest number of individuals. The state is not an end in itself. Society is not an end in itself. The individual is the end. Society and the state are merely means to the promotion of the general welfare and the welfare of the individual. Their activities in the way of exercising social control should go no further than this. General References C. H. COOLEY, _Social Organization_, pp. 3-22; H. G. WELLS, _Outline of History_, Vol. I, pp. 3-103; C. A. ELLWOOD, _Sociology and Modern Social Problems_, pp. 7-59; F. S. CHAPIN, _Social Evolution_, pp. 3-101; VERNON KELLOGG, _Darwinism Today_, pp. 10-57; 129-157; J. A. THOMSON, _Darwinism and Human Life_, pp. 181-237; D. S. JORDAN and V. L. KELLOGG, _Evolution and Animal Life_, pp. 1-56; T. N. CARVER, _Sociology and Social Progress_, pp. 174-270; E. A. ROSS, _Social Control_, pp. 1-105. Group Problems