THE SOCIETY OF TO-MORROW

AN IMPORTANT TRAN8LATION.

THE ENGLISH PEOPLE:A STUDY OF ITS POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY.

By _MILE BOUTMY, Membre de l'Institut,Author of "The English Constitution"and "Studies in Constitutional Law."Translated from the French byE. ENcLismWith an Introduction by J. E. C. BODLEY,Author of "France."

Demy 8vo, cloth, I6s.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.

THE ,SOCIETY OF TO-MORROW A FORECASTOF ITS POLITICAL ANDECONOMIC ORGANISATION +

BY G__-DE I_,OLINARIk.2.--Correspondant de l'Instltut_ and Editor-in-Chief of "Le Journal des Econom|stes "

TRANSLATED BY P, H. LEE WARNER

WITH A LETTER TO THE PUBLISHER

FROM FRF.DERIC PASSY AND AN IN-

TRODUCTION BY HODGSON PRATT

LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN

PATERNOSTER SQUARE. MCMIV

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[ _411rights reserved.]

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION BY HODOSOU PRAV'r ix

LETTER TO THE PUBLISHER FROM FReDeRIC PASSY . xxviii

PREFAce--THE LAws OF NATVRE . XXX

PART I

THE 8T.dTE OF Bv.,ffRCHAP.

I. FORMATION OF PRIMITIVE COMMUNITIES AND THE

CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO THEIR EXISTENCE I

lI. COMPETITION BETWEEN PRIMITIVE COMMUNITIES AND

ITS RESULTS 6

III. COMPETITION BETWEEN STATES IN PROCESS OF

CIVILISATION . I O

IV. DECLINE OF DESTRUCTIVE ,COMPETITION 13

V, WHY THE STATE OF WAR CONTINUES WHEN IT NO

LONGER FULFILS A PURPOSE 19

VI. CONSEQUENCES OF THE PERPETUATION OF THE STATE

OF WAR. 29V

Contents

PART II

THE 8T_4TE OF PEACE

CHAP, PAGE

I. THE COLLECTIVE GUARANTEE OF THE SECURITY OF

NA_ONS 38

If. THE FREE CONSTITUTION OF NATIONALITY . 47

IIh FREE CONSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR

NATURAL FUNCTIONS 58

IV. FREE CONSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR

NATURAL FUNCTIONS (coBtinued). 6 5

V. FREE CONSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR

NATURAL FUNCTIONS (cont/nMcd) 75

Vl. SUBJECTION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL , 81

VII. IMPOST AND CONTRIBUTION 87

VIII. PRODUCTION OF ARTICLES OF NATURALLY INDIVIDUAL

CONSUMPTION 96

IX. EQUILIBRIUM OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION I OZ

X. DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTS AND THE SHARE OF

CAPITAL IN THE PROCEEDS OF PRODUCTION . ]I_.

xi. DISTRIBUTIO_ OF PRODUCTSAND THE SHARE OFLABOUR IN THE PROCEEDS OF PRODUCTION . 124.

XII. THE PROBLEM OF POPULATION. I33

XIII, CONSUMPTION . 144

XIV, THE EXPANSION OF CIVILISATION I5_.

IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION . 16 3vi

Contents

PART III

_4PPENDIXPAGE

NOTE A. THE CZAR AND DISARMAMENT I75

,, B. SYNDICATES RESTRICTING COMPETITION, OR

" TRUSTS" . I92

,, C. EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS ON THE

SPHERE OF PRODUCTION I96

,, D. CosTs AND PROFITS OF STATE COLONISATION 198

,, E. THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIALIST CONCEPTIONS

OF THE SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE . ZO.{.

vii

Introduction

IT is fortunate for the modern world that thereis a considerable number of persons who havetime, inclination, and ability to inquire howhuman communities may best secure a prosperousexistence and ultimate salvation from disasters oreven annihilation. It is fortunate that the necessityis so widely felt of making such inquiries, andthat there is so great an accumulation of facts,and of arguments based thereon, as to enablethinkers to arrive at a complete knowledge ofthe dangers which menace society, and of the bestway of dealing with them. We greatly needlight from men who are capable of giving answersto such questions as the following: "What shouldbe the definite aim of all human societies ? Whithertend the communities and nations now in exist-ence ? What are their special dangers, and howcan they best be averted ? What should be thetrue ideals of every people, so that they may bekept clearly in view and realised ? "

Such wise and thoughtful books as that of M.de Molinari, the well-known and most distinguished

ix

Introduction

economist, should be carefully studied by all whocare for the welfare of their fellow-men. Hestimulates thought and consideration regardingthese great problems, and produces masses offact and argument, which enable his readers tothink solidly and effectively.

Few can read his book without perceivingclearly how great are the problems which states-men, philosophers, and philanthropists have toface. It is madness and treachery to trust tothings " finding their level." Peoples, as wellas individuals, must know to what point in thechart of humanity they should steer--where arethe rocks and shoals, what is the best and shortestroute. At all events in these days, more thanever before, there are moral, political, and socialgeographers, eager to point the true course andto awaken their fellows to the overwhelmingimportance of the inquiry.

There are, as we know, two great schools ofsocial reformers, guides and teachersmthe Schoolof Individualists and the School of Organisers,if we may use the term: (I) Those who con-sider it sufficient to provide a fair field forliberty and free competition to all engaged in

the "struggle for life";and (2) those who saythat there is no such thing as " equality ofopportunity " for the millions, and that, withoutmost perfect organisation in the interests of thosemillions, the poor only grow poorer and the rich

X

Introduction

richer--misery for the many, luxury for thefew.

Here is the great question which should occupythe minds of all who desire that the human worldshould not be a ghastly failure. Here we havebefore us the question presented under the titleof "The Future of Society," to quote the titleof M. de Molinari's book. It may be termedthe question of realising that long-desired end,the greatest happiness of the greatest number.To bring this great problem vividly before thereader, we cannot do better than make a quotationfrom an author who puts the whole case somewhatas follows : " Half a century ago, I conceived thepossibility of coming to an understanding betweenthe two Schools, and I addressed them as follows :' What is the Ideal alike common to Socialists andEconomists ? It is surely this: the realisation ofa state of society in which the production of allgood and necessary things, advantages or welfarenecessary to maintain and embellish life, shall bethe most abundant possible, and wherein thedistribution of these things amongst those whoproduce them shall be the most equitable possible--in a word, Abundance and Justice. But weproceed to this end by different routes--you by anobscure path which you call the organisation oflabour; we, the economists, by the broad andwell-known highway of Liberty. Why do yourefuse the latter ? "Because," say you, " it is

xi

Introduction

the rule of the privileged classes interested inmaintaining the present policy of war and aggres-sion. Then, and then only, will be set free theresources and the energies of the industrial popu-lations, who, being released from the presentburdens, will all have a fair share of the resultsof their labour. In effect, he says, " carry outthis great change, and there will be no needfor such fancied remedies as are promised bySocialism."

It is, indeed, of vital importance that thepeople of every country in Europe should seeka remedy for the enormous evils from whichthey suffer,--one which shall be complete and far-reaching. A great service, therefore, is rendered,as a first step in the reform needed, when anauthoritative and trusted teacher of economicscience denounces the rule of the militarist andgoverning classes. He does so because he knowsit is hopeless to attempt the abolition of socialmisery and anarchy until the peoples are relievedfrom their present intolerable burdens.

Hear what this careful master of statistics says :"Two-thirds of the European budgets consist ofcharges for war and debts. The premium paidfor ensuring ' security' exceeds the risk." " Thetotal expenditure, direct and indirect, absorbshalf the wealth produced by the working classes."The governments must therefore be deprived oftheir unlimited power over the life and fortune

,..

Xlll

Introduction

of the citizens, and that power wiLl continue solong as the existing state of war or armed peacecontinues. The States of Europe have accumulatedmore than 13 milliards of debt, or 5,9oo,ooo,oooin pounds sterling. Yet, while these charges con-tinually rise, industrial productivity tends to fall off.

The object of the governing class has beento secure profit from fresh conquests, in orderthat the advantages may be divided between civiland military officers; while the loss involved hasfallen in an increasing degree upon industry, andthe flower of the race has been absorbed forpurposes of war. "Hence," says our author,"the most urgent reform of the present timeis to put an end to this latent state of conflict,"and he asserts that the remedy is to be found ina " collective insurance " against war. Thereshould be a joint insurance to provide for thecollective protection of States, instead of thepresent " isolated insurance." He is further ofopinion that the ruinous effects of war uponneutral and non-belligerent States gives them aright to intervene, whenever other States propose toengage in conflict. In fact, he proposes the substi-tution of "collective justice" for the present claimof each Government to be a judge of its own rights.M. de Molinari, therefore, suggests that Europeshould constitute an association strong enough tooblige any single nation to submit its disputes toan arbitral court ; and that this should be supple-

xiv

Introduction

mented by troops sufficient to enforce the verdictof the tribunal. By such provisions individualgovernments would no longer claim that theyhave the duty of providing insurance againstwar, and all excuse for unlimited disposal of thelives and property of their peoples would cease.With the great political change thus inauguratedwould come an immense increase in individualliberty, " individual sovereignty " being the re-quired basis of the political institutions of thefuture; so that the resources of a nation wouldno longer be at the mercy of a class, and theindividual would become his own master.

The "individualist ideal " is that under whichall the citizens would be associated, not only forcommon security, but for all public ends connectedwith municipal life. Then State taxation wouldbe greatly reduced, local services being providedfor by rates. This would lead to a greatextension of productive enterprise, at presenthampered and impeded, and there would be agreat impetus given to individual activity throughincreased freedom. M. de Molinari has a firmfaith in the great results of unlimited "competi-tion " which would tend to reduce prices to thelevel of the cost of production; and he saysthat, with growing enterprise, new markets willbe found, and so a demand for skilled labourincrease; while the growth of machinery willdiminish existing inequalities in remuneration.

XV

Introduction

The price of the product being diminished bymachinery, new markets will grow up and, withthem, more demand for skilled labour. Thismeans an increase of consumption and increasedmeans of providing for it.

We must leave students of economics to con-sider M. de Molinari's statement of the comparativeadvantages of a condition of things where com-petition shall have freer play and where the lawsshall interfere as little as possible with the con-ditions under which industry is at presentconducted (at least in some countries). Hecompares the results which will thus be obtainedwith the results of socialistic organisation--ofcourse to the disadvantage of the latter.

His hope for the future is based not on anyfundamental change in the organisation of in-dustry, but on the greater control exercised overgovernments by the populations--in a word, onthe growth of individual liberty.

Under the action of great " natural laws" whichregulate the growth of society, civilisation hasgrown up, and M. de Molinari asks whether theprogress accomplished has not diminished the sumof human suffering ; but this question he leavesundecided. "Increased happiness for man may,"he says, "be the result of progress but not theobject. That object is the increase of the powerof the human race, in view of a destiny which isunknown to us."

xvi

Introduction

These are the finalwords of his book ; and somephilosophers may be content with that conclusion.It will not, however, satisfy the daily growingnumber of those who are in consternation atthe existing condition of society, and who findtheir own lives made unhappy by the presentorder of things ; one in which millions of men andwomen in the most "civilised "communities, leadan existence which makes them wish they hadnever been born, which makes the lot of the beastof the field seem enviable--lives, in which all thatmost distinguishes man from the animal is almostunattainable--lives from which all noble hopes andpurposes, all glorious and divine enjoyments areutterly shut out.

This is truly the age of great cities ; but whatan amount of chaotic misery that implies! Inthose great cities of London, or Glasgow, orLiverpool, or Birmingham, how many thousandsof parents rise every morning asking themselveshow their sons and daughters are to live--it is amere lottery whether it shall be success or failure.Their education is, in a vast number of cases, illadapted to their respective needs;-and theiravocations will therefore be decided by merechance. A lad will become a carpenter, a black-smith, a shop assistant or a clerk, a soldier or asailor by haphazard. "The square pegs areput into round holes, and the round into square."And in a vast number of cases nothing but failure

xvii b

Introduction

is the result. To many it must seem to be abetter lot for a man to be born in a Hindoo orBurmese village than in a London street. At allevents, in the former a child's future trade orprofession is settled beforehand by his caste orclass, and he is prepared for it designedly fromhis first years.

In view of the justifiable dismay which manyof us feel, I venture to think that M. de Moli-nari should not have dismissed the proposals ofthe Socialist schools with such scant reference asbeing simply the result of" ignorance," and the"negation of the natural laws which govern man-kind." It seems to me that any attempt to framea " Future of Society " should at least include aninquiry into the economic theory called " Col-

. . ,,lectlvlsm.What indeed is the Socialist demand, as the

fundamental condition of a human society whichprofesses to be governed by a desire for the moralwelfare of all its members--for which right eco-nomic conditions are indispensable ? The greatrevolution demanded is that of the substitutionof Collectivism for Individualism. If the latterhas quite failed to provide for the well-being of thegreat majority of the population in civilised coun-tries, the demand for the former should be heard.

The aim of every rightly constituted humansociety is the greatest possible happiness of thegreatest possible number. But under the exist-

XVllI

Introduction

ing haphazard and non-organised conditions, thereis none of that equality of opportunity whichis essential if individual liberty is to suffice forthe attainment of the end in view. At presentall is confusion and waste of means, because thereis no guarantee that each man shall do the workfor which he is best fitted, and be properlytrained for it. Unregulated competition is atpresent the only resource for the members of acommunity ignorant of the conditions which areessential to a right use of capital and labour. Theresult is that while some members of the com-munity are idle, others are the slaves of excessivetoil, and a third group are doing work for whichthey are unfitted. This is well pointed out byMr. J. A. Hobson in his admirable work on "TheSocial Problem." He reminds us of the results ofthis want of intelligent adaptation of means to theend in England. Three-fourths of our townpopulation live under unhealthy and almostintolerable conditions, and, as he says, no increaseof the total amount of material wealth can com-pensate for such deterioration of work and lifeas is going on among millions of men and women.In view of such facts is it not justifiable to assertthat there is no hope without organisation on thepart of the community ? Adoption of methodscapable of providing a decent existence, on thedoctrine of " All for each, and each for all," is animperative requirement.

xix

IntroductionThis is what the Socialist asserts, and he has a

right to say to the orthodox economist, Whatplan have you for remedying the tremendous evilsof modern society, beyond the mere affirmation ofcertain axioms ? There is no suffacient remedy inindividual liberty. A large proportion of thecommunity are handicapped by general chaos andconfusion, and are ignorant of everything neededto give certainty of remunerative labour--it isa blind struggle of rival workers and distributors.

Yet this is the competition which is to rescuevast populations from their present misery andhopelessness !

The error of orthodox economists, it seems tome, has been to consider only how the sum totalof national wealth may be increased, while dis-regarding the question of its distribution. Yet itshould be possible to provide, in a large degree,for every member of the community to do thatparticular work which best enables him to live upto a decent standard of existence. When we finda state of things exist in which needlewomen earnol_y eighteen pence a day for more than twelvehours' labour, the whole community suffers as wellas the worker, both morally and physically. It isnot true civilisation ; it is a barbarism which dis-graces every member of the community, especiallythose who have the knowledge and opportunity forbringing about a change. Those who grow richand powerful out of such an industrial r_gime

XX

Introduction

participate in robbery, and cannot justify theirposition in the world.

The realisation of the ideals of the Socialistreformers means, of course, an entire transforma-tion of existing social conditions, especially in acountry such as England. Here the monopoly ofthe land by hereditary owners involves loss to thewhole community. These owners can waste iton private enjoyment, and claim an exclusiveright to the enormous national weath lying underthe surface, for which their predecessors paid notone farthing. There can be no right conditionsof existence so long as such a monopoly exists,and there can be no means of betterment for thosewho produce the national wealth by their dailylabour, so long as this authorised injustice prevails.In the meantime the population becomes whollyurban, unable to live on the land.

It should be noted, however, that there hasappeared during the last half-century a voluntaryorganisation known by the name of" Co-operation.'It has accomplished remarkable results in diminish-ing the misery of a great number of hand-workers,and in laying the foundation of a new system ofproduction, distribution, and exchange, while givingnew hope of social and economic amelioration.This remarkable work has been carried out by themore enlightened and self-reliant members of theproletariat, aided, here and there, by a few

xxi

Introduction

servants of humanity such as Robert Owen,Leclaire, Godin, E. Vansittart Neale, CharlesRobert, and Schultze Delitsch.

In Great Britain there are two million membersof these societies, and their organisation is on avast scale, carried out with great administrativeability, and the best social and moral aims arenot overlooked. It appears to me that no studentof "the Future of Society" should neglect toappraise the true value and possibilities of suchan organisation. The great purpose to be keptin view is the realisation, in every community, ofthe highest kind of existence possible for all itsmembers ; and that object has never been lostsight of by the Central Union of Co-operators. Itdoes credit to the representatives of Labour inseveral European countries, that this movementhas made great progress. It is capable of muchfurther development, alike in spheres of productionand trade. It is the best school of training forthose who will, in the future, be charged withthe duty of conducting municipal life on anincreasing scale. It will also train men for therealisation of the changes which the Socialistsentertain.

Indeed, Co-operation is in some degree an adop-tion of socialistic principles, in so far as individualassociation can succeed, and in the absence of thedirect agency of the State. Co-operation, as in theease of Socialism, has in view a new social order,

xxii

Introduction

Its greatest object is to accomplish the equitabledistribution of the proceeds of labour amongst allwho have contributed to its result. In co-operationthe labourers provide the capital or hire it, insteadof being themselves hired by capital, as its veteranprophet, G. J. Holyoake, has declared in hundredsof speeches. The material results of a half-centuryof these societies can be shown in figures, thoughnot the moral results, which are of no small value.Looking at the last Annual Report of the CentralCo-operative Board, we find that the number ofmembers (in I67I societies) is considerably up-wards of two millions, and that they hold shares ofthe value of nearly ninety-six millions sterling;the sales for the year were eighty-five and a halfmillions, yielding profits of nine and a half millions.These represented what is called the "Distributive"part of the organisation; while the Productiveand Farming Societies embraced 34,875 members,with a capital of 881,568 , the sales amountingto upwards of three millions. The productiveoutturn of individual societies and of the wholesalesocieties of England and Scotland combined isestimated at seven millions and a half.

" The co-operative conception of life," says theorgan of the movement, the Co-operative News,"embraces the absence of all preventable wastethrough needless competition in social and politicalstrife; when realised wholly, there would be noidle shopkeepers, no strikes and lockouts. Co-

...

Introduction

operation, when applied to national life, would notstop short at distribution, production and carriage,but would apply itself to planning or replanningcities, to education, to houses. The co-operativeconception of life does not admit of any industrialhands remaining idle or of any capable mindslying fallow." It was because the Rochdale pioneersset out with the avowed aim of "making theworld better than they found it," that their suc-cessors, labouring men and artisans, have done awork unsurpassed of its kind because spontaneousand without any reliance upon outside help orGovernment interference. Necessarily there arelimits to such individual organisation ; and this isthe justification of the desire to revolutionise thewhole industry of a nation as proposed by theSocialists.

The above reference to the moral elements atwork in co-operation and to their frank recognitionby its foremost leaders brings us to the greatestquestion of all : How far will any proposed changeof economic conditions secure the truest welfare ofmen ?--in other words, How far can man's pro-gress in all that is highest and best be secured ?However ingeniously devised new schemes ofsocial and industrial improvement may be, what-ever provision may be made for individual liberty,the rule of the Moral Law is the one condition ofall true and sound progress. The Economic

xxiv

Introduction

"laws," referred to by M. de Molinari, howeverfully recognised and followed by action, will notsecure society from catastrophes, even when anenlightened self-interest may lead to the abolitionof war. It will not wholly diminish strife andviolence, either within or without, unless the morallaw is generally observed. The "old Adam "will frequently reappear without it; and it is aprofound error to ignore the fact.

The hope that the realisation of Socialism mayrescue human communities from the tremendousevils which now oppress them is based on the factthat its aim is profoundly ethical, if not religious.It recognises the essential need of justice in all thedepartments of human life. It is because rightconditions of life are necessary for the formationof human character that they are so important;and without character there is no guarantee ofright conduct ; and conduct is the basis of all well-being in society. The aim of socialism maytherefore fairly be said to be the moral welfare ofsociety. And under what other system of society,under what so-called laws is it proposed to secureright economic conditions? What other and bettermethods are suggested by those who profess to beeconomists ?

Mr. Frederic Harrison has said that the real causeof all industrial evils is to be found in the want ofa higher moral spirit in those engaged in industry."The kingdom of God," it has been said, " is on

XgV

Introduction

the earth, aaad is concerned with all departments ofhuman life." Altruism, not egoism, is the highestgood of the individual, and its realisation is to befound in making the good of all the end of ourindividual action. " All for each, and each forall "--as the Co-operators have always said. Nonobler watchword could have been adopted.

The highest self-interest, whether for indi-viduals or communities, is fidelity to moralprinciple. To realise one's own highest good wemust live for the good of others; and Christianitymakes all things subservient to Brotherhood." The toughest economic, social, and politicalquestions must be solved by ethics--which teachthat solidarity rooted in fraternity must be thebasis of social relations."_

M. de Molinari and other economists treat theirscience as a study of men's actions in the businessof life, and infer that men will at all times act inthe same way and from the same motives. But isthis true ? Are there not elements at work inmodern communities which were absent at pre-vious periods ? There exists now a widespreadfeeling of moral solidarity and fraternity whichwas once unknown, and which exercises an in-creasing influence on laws, on conduct, and oninstitutions. It is, therefore, a profound error toseparate the study of economics from that ofethical, social, political, and religious science.

"The Foundationsof Society," by John Wilson Harper.X,Xvi

Introduction

There are immense possibilities within reach ofthat future "new moral world" which will bebased on the universal recognition of Fraternity.Every man that hath that hope in him willbecome the nobler, and will work the harder forits realisation. There will be an ever-increasingapproach to a perfect state of society, " when manshall be liker man through all the cycles of theGolden Year."

HODGSON PRATT.

LE P_cq (S_INEETOIS_),FRANCE.

xxvii

Prefatory LetterTO MR. FISHER UNWIN

You are about to publish an English version ofmy friend M. de Molinari's book, " La Soci_t_Future," and you do me the honour to request afew lines of introduction from my pen. To writeadequately of such a book would require timethat my age and obligations do not, unfortunately,permit me to give. Since, however, the oppor-tunity does occur, I should be most unwilling tolet the book appear without at least testifying myesteem and admiration for the character and talentof the man who is to-day, unless I am mistaken,the doyen of our economists--I should say of ourliberal economists -- of the men with whom,though, alas! few in number, I have been happyto stand side by side during more than half acentury.

Their principles were proclaimed and defendedin England through the mouths of Adam Smith,Fox, Cobden, Gladstone, and Bright. In Francethey were championed by Quesnay, Turgot, Say,Michel Chevalier, Laboulaye, and Bastiat. Andmy belief grows yearly stronger that, but forthese principles, the societies of the present would

..

x,,xv11!

Prefatory Letterbe without wealth, peace, material greatness, ormoral dignity.

Monsieur de Molinari has maintained theseprinciples from his youth, from the day when--atthe epoch of our Revolution of I848--he firstupheld them at the Soir&s de la Rue St. Lazare.His "Conversations Famili_res sur la Commercedes Grains" gave them a new and attractiveshape. He has defended his convictions bothin his regular courses of lectures and also in thoseother lectures by means of which he has spreadhis principles even within the borders of Russia.Month by month the important Review of whichhe is editor-in-chief repeats them in a freshguise ; and annually, so to speak, a further book,as distinguished for clearness of grasp as foradmirable literary style, goes out to testify to theconstancy of his convictions no less than to theunimpaired vigour of his mental outlook and thevirile serenity of his green old age.

The book which you are about to introduceto the English public is, in some sort, a summing-up of his long studies of the past, his clear-sightedobservations upon the present, and his shrewdpredictions for the future. You, Sir, do wellwhen you endeavour to obtain for it that addi-tional publicity which it deserves; and I countmyself fortunate that you have permitted me tocontribute, in however small a degree, to soadmirable an end.

FREDERIC PASSY.xxix

Preface

THE LAWS OF NATURE

"IF," wrote Condorcet, " there is a science whichforecasts, guides, and promotes the advance of thehuman race, it must be based on the records ofpast progress."_ But we must go back" stillfurther. We must return to the first causes ofthat progress which the human race has realisedsince its appearance upon earth, and of theprogress that it is still destined to realise. Wemust have an understanding of man, the lawswhich determine and govern "his activities, thenature and circumstances of the environment inwhich he has been placed for the fulfilment of apurpose still hidden from his eyes.

I. THZ MOTIVE OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.

Man is an organism composed of vital, physical,intellectual, and moral forces. This matter andthese forces, which form the individual and the

i Condorcet, " Esquisse d'un Tableau Historiclue desProgr_s de l'Esprit Humain," p. 17.

xxx

The Motive of Human Activityspecies, can only be preserved and developed bythe assimilation, or, to use the economic term,the consumption of materials and forces of likenature. Failing this consumption, their vitalitywastes and is finally extinguished. But wasteand extinction of vitality cause pain and suffering,and it is the stimulus of pain and suffering whichimpels man to acquire the materials necessary forthe development and preservation of his life. Allthese materials are present in his environment,air, &c. ; and nature gives him a small numberfree of cost. But with the exception of thisminority they must be discovered, acquired, andadapted to the purposes of consumption. Manmust be a producer.

Man is also subject to a further necessity, onewhich is again inherent in his environment. Hemust defend both life and the means of its supportfrom the attacks of numerous spoilers and agentsof destruction. The risks to which he is exposedunder this head entail more pain and moreendurance.

It is to meet this twofold need--sustenance andself-defence--that man labours, labours to producethe necessaries of consumption and to destroythe agents or elements that menace his security.Labour therefore implies waste of vital force, andthis more endurance and more pain. Humanityis, however, compensated by the pleasure andenjoyment which it derives from consuming the

xxxi

Preface

materials that support life, and from providing theservices that safeguard it. But always, whetherthere be question of nourishment or self-defence,the pleasure of these actions is bought with a pain.It is an exchange, and, like every other exchange,it may result in a profit or loss. It is profitablewhen the sum of vitality, acquired or preserved,exceeds the amount of vital force expended in thetask. The product may be concrete or one ofservice, but it is always subject to the costs ofproduction which are inseparable from everyexpenditure of force.

Excess of expenditure over receipts means, onthe other hand, loss, so that man is only stimu-lated to work when he expects that his receiptswill exceed his expenses, that the pleasure willoutweigh the pain. The degree of the stimulusnaturally varies with the sums involved and therate of expected profit ; the prime motive ofhuman activity, no less than that of all othercreatures, is, therefore, the hope of profit. Thismotive, or motor-power, has been called interest._

x The economist must not confound interest with selfish-ness, still less with the satisfaction of such needs as arepurely material. It signifies rather the sum of the require-ments of human nature, material as well as moral. A mandoes not impose upon himself the sufferings which areinseparable from effort, nor abstain from enjoying the fruitsof his toil, for the sole purpose of satisfying selfishwants,whether present or future. Altruistic intention is a frequentand often the more powerful factor in determining laboursorabstentions. Altruism includes the love of family and the

xxxii

Law of the Economy of PowerII. THE NATURALLAw OF TUE ECONOMYOV

POWER, OR THE LAW OF LEAST EXPEN-DITURE.

From the motive of which we have spoken, theroots of which lie deep in human nature and theconditions of human existence, we derive a firstnatural law, the Law of Economy in Production,or the Law of Least Expenditure. Under thespur of interest, man first satisfies his most press-ing needs, those that appeal with the greatesturgency, or penalise deficient supply with thegreatest amount of suffering. It is only afterthis that he endeavours to decrease expenditureby selecting the more remunerative spheres ofactivity, and by setting himself to perfect pro-cesses, or invent tools, which enable him toenhance the profits of production. By increasingrace, of truth and justice ; and its scope is only limited bythat of the moral sentiment. Under its spur men have diedfor each other, acause, even a cherished idea. There is noreal warrant for the opposition between interest and duty,a contradiction that has been too often reiterated. Duty isno more than the obligation to act in conformity with justice,the criterion of which is the general and permanent interestof the species. The sense of justice--in other words themoral sense--naturally predisposes us to conform action toduty. This sense is, no doubt, distributed most unequally.Certain individuals find that obedience to its dictates yields ajoy which outweighs any pain, and such men pursue duty atall costs and in face of every obstacle; others are lessconscious of the stimulus. A sense of obligation is oftendisobeyed, but every lapse is followed by that feeling of painwhich is called remorse. Finally, there are many personswhose moral sense, the sense of justice, is quite rudimentary ;

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the margin of gain, enlarging the excess ofmaterial acquired or saved over the outlay ofvital force, he also insures the preponderanceof compensatory pleasure over the discomfort,which is inseparable from effort.

The individual whose income exceeds expendi-ture, who possesses a profit, may sink it in thepurchase of immediate enjoyment, or collect it ascapital to be employed in a further increase of hisproductive capacity. He may, also, simply hoardit against future need. It, then, serves the pur-pose of a twofold reserve, drafts upon whichmay obviate privations, or furnish the means ofrepelling such chances as may, hereafter, menacevitality. When individuals of the same, or ofalien races, join issue as to who shall obtain thematerials of subsistence, the victor is he who has

they commit every kind of injustice or immorality to satisfytheir passions or vices, and are a menace to society and therace. Mere self-defence compels society to supplement suchenfeebled sense of the obligations. It therefore imposespenalties, regulating their incidence in such a way that theamount of pleasure obtained by committing an injustice ismore than neutralised by the punishment which follows.

Society's first duty is, therefore, to foster the sense ofjustice--the moral sense. And it is equally imperative todefine the distinction between just and unjust, moral andimmoral, since the hurt or benefit of society and the speciesis bound up with the opposition between these two ideas.The interests of the individual and the species are, in theirregard, identical. (See the present author's "La MoraleEconomique," book i.wThe Relation of Morality to PoliticalEconomy ; see also his "Religion," chapter xii.--Religionand Science.)

xxxiv

The Law of Competitiondevoted most profits to remunerative ends, tomeasures best fitted to conserve, or augment, hisvital force.

III. T_E NaTURaL LAw oF COMWTITIONFOR A SUBSISTENCE.

I. Animal Competition.--A struggle to acquirethe means of living has been called competitionfor a subsistence. It invariably appears so soon asthe natural supply of material ceases to suffice forthe demands of every member of the community,the weak and strong alike. Early man, as yetuninstructed in artificial production, dependedsolely upon the provision of nature, and theconsequences of a deficit were soon felt in asociety living on the products of hunting andthe natural fruits of the earth. The more effec-tive members, the fleet hunter and skilled forager,excelled and lived; the feeble and less fitted forthese tasks languished and passed away. Hencethe original struggle, first manifestation of aprinciple which rules all created things, and whichwe have named Animal Competition.

2. Destructive Competition, or the 8tare of [Tar.uA progressive restriction in the natural sourcesof supply soon compelled even the most effectiveindividual to pay a higher price for his accus-tomed share, and increased cost entailed increasedsuffering. With the amount of labour and effort,required for the purchase of a livelihood, in-

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creasing in inverse ratio to the shrinkage ofsupply, palliative measures became inevitable.Two alternatives presented themselves--to re-strict competition, or to multiply the sources ofsubsistence.

Now the sum of knowledge required for arti-tidal production of the material necessaries of lifeis such that the highest intelligence fails unlessaccompanied by long experience. This is sotrue that, to this present day, it is beyond thecapabilities of many backward tribes. Verysimple, on the contrary, is the alternative asviewed by a strong man. Strength knows itsown value as against a weak competitor. When,more, we see how incapable is the rest of brutecreation to grasp this elementary calculation, wemay find the first glimmering of man's supe-riority in his early appreciation of its truth.

The enterprise did, without doubt, involve acertain amount of labour and a certain risk.But victory in the struggles of unequals--andnowhere is there greater inequality than betweenmembers of the human race--does not alwaysentail profound exertion, or the taking of dan-gerous risks. In any case, the strong soonlearned that it was more profitable to prey uponthe weak than to continue the previous system ofsharing an inadequate food supply. Where itwas customary to devour the actual body of thedefeated, the new system was by so much the

xxxvi

The Law of Competitionmore productive. In other words, the effort orsuffering involved in destroying an inferior washeld preferable to the alternative of dwelling inamity but eating insufficiently. The invariablechoice of this alternative measures the expecta-tion of profit which it offered. Where canni-balism intervened as an accident, the person ofevery victim was at once a meal gained and ameal--very many meals--saved.

This second form of destructive competitionis the pure State of War. First originating inman's struggle for mastery over the beasts, theissue became one as between man and man. AState of War was, thenceforward, inseparablefrom human existence. As the prime motiveof the construction of a vast armoury ofdestructive agencies, it directly assured thetriumph of humanity over the beasts, thoughnature had often endowed them far more effi-ciently. Indirectly, it determined those indus-

: trial discoveries which have enabled man tomultiply and artificially supplement nature's pro-vision of the material bases of existence, insteadof bowing his head with the beasts when spon-taneous production lags in the race with hisdemands. Thus it came to pass that the strongno longer found it profitable to massacre, despoil,or yet devour his victims. Instead, obligationsare imposed, and the victim survives as a serfor slave. Political States are formed and eom-

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petition in the form of war is waged betweencommunities, possessing territory and subjectpeoples, against the hordes, still in a state ofsavagery and dependent upon the chase or pillage.The communities afterwards compete amongthemselves, seeking in territorial expansion eitheran extended area of supply or an increased holdingin slaves, serfs, or subjects. Self-aggrandizementand self-protection are practically the sole ends ofmodern warfare.t

Progress, under the direct or indirect impulseof this second form of competition has engen-dered a third form--Productive or Industrialcompetition. A brief survey of its historyshows us that a continual menace of destruc-tion, or at least of dispossession, compelled thecommunities which founded, and owned, poli-tical States, to apply themselves to the improve-ment of their instruments, and the consolidationof the material bases of their power. Theseinstruments, and this fabric, may be dividedinto two categories. Their first constituent isa destructive apparatus, an army ; their secondis a productive apparatus, capable of assuringsubsistence to the proprietary community withinthe State, and also to its dependents. It must,in addition, furnish those advances which arenecessary, first for the erection, and subsequently

See the author's "Les Notions Fondamentales de l'Eco.nomie Politique," Introduction, page 5.

..

_xxy111

The Law of Competitionfor the maintenance in working order, of thedestructive apparatus. Under pressure of theState of War--and the more so as that pressuregrew and increased--State-owning communitieswere impelled not merely to improve the artand engines of warfare, but also to promote theproductive capacities of industries whose func-tion was not merely to provide sustenance, but,through the support of the defensive establish-ment, to become the final foundation of theirpowers of political aggrandizement. Now ex-pansion in the productive capacity of any in-dustry depends upon two conditions--Security,and Liberty.

Without some assured title to the fruits of hisprogress, a producer has no motive for under-taking such costly labours as the discovery ofnew processes, or the invention of tools andmachines, which will increase his output. It isfurther essential that a manufacturer should befree to devote himself to that particular industryto which his abilities are best fitted, and to offerhis wares in those markets which yield the highestreturns. The highest place in the hierarchy ofthe nations has gone to that State which securedthe fullest liberty, and the greatest security, toits industrial population. The dominion ofsuch a State increases with its strength, and thesecurity and liberty which it guarantees initiatedand developed the third form of competition--

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_Productive or Industrial competition. This formdisplaces the State of War as naturally as thatreplaced its predecessor in the series.

3- _Productive or Industrial Competition.mCom-petition in the field of production, as in allothers, benefits the species by affirming that:" The race is to the fleet, the battle to the strong."But if the rivalries of war and of peace leadto one goal, it is by very different roads.

The means by which competition of thedestructive, or warlike, kind proceeds, are direct.Two starveling tribes come to blows over apatch of vegetation or a tract of hunting ground,and the stronger--driving off, if it does notactually destroy, the weakermseizes the meansof subsistence which were the cause of theirstruggle. At the later stage, when mankindhas learned artificial production of the materialneeds of life, the communities of strong men,which founded the commercial enterprises calledStates, fight for the possession of a territory andthe subjection of its inhabitants. They, liketheir predecessors, seek the means of subsistence,and they hope to obtain them by appropriatingthe entire nett profit earned by the labour oftheir slaves, their serfs, or their subjects. Theymay annex this in the guise of forced labour,or under the name of taxes, and they may styletheir conduct political competition, but it differsin no single particular from the actions of

xl

The Law of Competitionhunting or of a marauding tribe. Both movealong the straight road of direct competitivedestruction, and both actions are of the classof destructive or warlike competition.

Very different are the processes of industrialcompetition, although they too issue in thesurvival of the strongest, of the fittest. Themost powerful rival still takes the first place,but it no longer rests with the victor to proclaim,or to assess, his own victory. This function haspassed to a third party--to those who consumethe products or services which the competitorsoffer. The consumer always buys in the cheapestmarket. When he has once ascertained theprecise nature of the wares competing for hiscustom, his own merchandise--and this may beactual produce, service, or the monetary equiva-lent of either--invariably selects that market inwhich it can command the highest return. Whentwo markets are equal in this respect, the balanceof trade inclines to that in which the purchaser'sneeds, or demands, are supplied with goods ofthe better quality.

The cheapest seller--all else being equal--commands the market, and the cheapest selleris the most powerful or effective producer.Productive or industrial competition, therefore,acts upon the producer by stimulating his powersand capacities of production. The less effectiveproducer--whether of merchandise or services_

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Preface

is penalised by failing to sell ; he cannot, that is,obtain those other services and goods which hehimself needs, and upon which his very existencedepends. To increase their powers or capacitiesof production, producers apply the principleknown as the Division of Labour. They alsoseek to invent, and make practical use of, pro-cesses, tools, and machines, by the use of whichan identical expenditure of labour and sufferingare enabled to return products, or services, in aconstantly increasing ratio.

Productive competition is supported by theLaw of the Economy of Power, and these twoco-operate in furthering the advance of produc-tive capacity. But while acting as a propeller,this same rivalry fulfils a second, and no lessuseful, function. /ks the pivot of a balance, itsupports the scales that maintain equilibriumbetween supply and demand, between outlay andreturn, at the level of the price required toinduce the creation of products or services.The motor-force, of our first view, now appearsas a "governor," and its supporter in this regardis a new lawDthe Law of Value.

IV. THE NATURAL LAW OV VALUE.

Value is a power whose source resides in manhimself. Its seat is the sum of those forces, vital,physical, and moral, with which man is endowed_

_;lii

The Law of Value

and which he applies to the purposes of produc-tion or destruction. Applied to destruction, itconstitutes military or war value, and while warwas the sole sanction of security in the worldthis (aspect of) value was of most use to thespecies, and thus the most esteemed./ It doesnot, however, appear in the guise of an agencywhich regulates competition, until viewed fromthe standpoint of production.

Production acts through labour, and labour isan outlay of vital force, consequently of suffer-ing. Also, the motive of this outlay is theexpectation of profit. Profit is thus seen as aproduct of labour, which enables a man to pur-chase enjoyment, or to obviate a sum of sufferingwhich is greater than the similar factor in hisoriginal outlay. Vital power expended in thismanner is not lost, but re-embodied. It reappears,plus profit earned, in the product, and it consti-tutes the value of that product.

An isolated man consumes this value so soonas he has produced it. But to-day is the day ofdivision of labour and of exchange--systems

' It need scarcely be added that destruction in theinterests of security is a necessary factor in production. Theability to destroy constitutes military value. Whether mani-fested in clearing a territory of the wild beasts whichinfested it, or as a guarantee against the incursions of pre-datory tribes, it roots itself in the soil, and forms, so tospeak, the first grounds for attaching value to that soil.(See the author's "Les Notions Fondamentales d'EconomiePolitique," chapter iv.--The Produce of the Earth.)

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Preface

under which the producer offers commodities, inwhich value has been invested, for other com-modities which he does not possess, or for thatwhich will enable him to obtain those commoditiesmfor money.

The ultimate motive of all exchange is identical,being the hope of obtaining a greater amount ofvital power than was expended in producing thecommodity offered by the seller. In economicallanguage, it is the hope of recovering the costsof production plus a profit. The product offeredby the seller must also furnish the consumer, thepurchaser, with sufficient vital powermcertainlywith a sufficient restorative of his vitality, toinduce him to purchase it with an equivalentsufficient to replace the vital power expended inproduction plus a profit. The degree of thisprofit varies with the relative value of theproducts in question. The producer seeks toraise it to the highest possible point, and thepurchaser struggles to limit it to a minimum.The rate of profit is, however, determined by thepoint at which the comparative intensity of theneeds, or desires, of the two parties to a bargainmeet_the intensity of the seller's desire to selland the intensity of the purchaser's desire to buy.These measures of desire translate themselves intoterms of exchange as the quantity of his product,which either party offers_the amount of waresoffered by the seller, and the amount of money

xliv

The Law of Value

offered by the purchaser. At this point we mayconceive several variations in the position of sellerand buyer.

One producer may meet one consumer.One consumer may be met by several producers,

or the position may be exactly reversed.There may be sufficient consumers and suffi-

cient producers to erect real competition oneither side.

In every one of these hypothetical markets,prices, or the rate of exchange, will be determinedby the comparative urgency of opposing desires.We shall, at the present moment, confine ourattention to the third alternative. Then, if thereare several sellers, and each carries a more or lessfull stock, the fear of being undersold by a rivalwill compel the merchants to successively increasethe amounts which they offer at a given price.But the purchasers, having no fear of a failure insupply, will continually reduce the price whichthey are willing to pay. Prices will fall sincethere is no approximation of demand to supply.In a seller's market, where the sum of the desireto purchase outruns that of the desire to sell--of supply, a buyer's refusal to increase his bidsmay result in his failure to complete a purchase,and the tendency of price is upwards.

It is most essential to note that market pricesdo not solely follow the quantities offered, butdevelop according to a geometrical progression.

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A short supply not only reduces market offers,but it also increases the effectiveness of demand ;a glut in supply produces the opposite result,since the urgency of the seller increases whiledemand slackens. In one case the value of theproduct offered rises to a point which yieldsmore than the required profit, over and abovethe actual costs of production ; in the other,prices fall until profits may vanish and anactual loss set in. t It is now easy to understandthe regulative action of competition. It iscontinually tending to " fix" exchange-value--inother words, to maintain prices at a point whichis equal to the cost bf production plus theamount of profit necessary to induce the producerto create the product, or service, which he seeksto sell. Adam Smith characteristically termedthis the natural price. Over-supply and over-production cause a fall in the price-current, andas this fall results from an impulse which developsaccording to a geometrical progression, it verysoon drops below the natural price. As soon asthis point is reached production naturally tendsto diminish, and the consequent gradual rise inthe price-current frequently repasses the naturalprice and erects a surplus profit. But themovements of capital and labour invariablyfollow profits. As soon as a particular industry

z gee the author's" Cours d'EconomiePolitique," ThirdLesson--Value and Price.

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The Law of Value

promises to return more than the normal rate ofprofit, capital and labour flow in; production isforced up by leaps and bounds, and the marketsare once more filled to repletion. The socialisticcry for regulation, whether by the State or anyother artificial authority, is therefore entirelyabsurd. Regulation is essential, but the twonatural laws of Production and Value have longsince joined to secure it. We need only refrainfrom throwing obstacles in the way of theirregulative operation; or, if an artificial obstruc-tion opposes that action, to guarantee theirfreedom in removing the obstruction, accordingto their own methods. Their action must besecured, but it is to be secured only by refrainingfrom all interference.

Such is the motive, and such the laws, whichgovern human activity. The motive is Interest,and the laws are those of Least Expenditure, orEconomy of Power, of Competition in its severalforms, and of Value. Under the spur of thismotive, and guided by these laws, man hasachieved that progress which has raised himfrom the level of the brutes to civilisation, andhas advanced through the State of War to theState of Peace.

As long as the State of War was an integralcondition of existence, and of progress, thismotive, and these laws, worked for the adaptationof political and social economics to that state.

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Preface

When civilisation became the guarantee ofsecurity, and the State of War yielded to theState of Peace, the motive and the laws remained,but they worked to another end. And, from thepoint at which to-day stands on the long high-road of evolution, we may already look forwardand prophecy concerning the political and econo-mical organisation of the Society of To-morrow.Earlier volumes from my pen have foreshadowedthat future. The arbitrary conceptions of theSocialist will have no part in it, for it will not befounded on laws which issue from the brain ofman, but upon laws which are of one origin withthose that govern the physical world. Of themQuesnay, one of the fathers of Political Economy,has said, " These Laws of the Physical Worldwere ordained for good alone, and there mustbe no attribution to them of ills which are thejust and inevitable penalty for their violation."

xlviii

PART I

THE STATE OF WAR

CHAPTER I

FORMATION OF PRIMITIVE COMMUNITIES AND

THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO THEIR

EXISTENCE

T_E formation of primitive communities has beenascribed to a peculiar feeling in man of sympathytowards his kind, but more careful observationproves that humanity owns no such innate senti-ment. The appearance of such a feeling resultsfrom a need for mutual support, and from theinterests evoked by this need. A community ofinterests and needs is the foundation of humanfriendship, while the opposition of needs andinterests is not only capable of provoking anti-pathy, but it is notorious that nothing on earthhas the same power of moving a man to violent

I B

The Society of To-morrowand implacable hatred as a member of his ownspecies. Human associations were, in fact, theproduct of simple necessity. Thus, and onlythus, could man realise pleasures and avoid suffer-ings which he must otherwise have been satisfiedto imagine or endure.

When, on the other hand, any living creaturewas best adapted to a solitary existence, it adoptedthis mode of life, as do the carnivor_e. The needof mutual assistance led other orders to a gregarioushabit, and human society was originated in thisway. Social life imposed itself upon men as theone means to their desired end--first in their duelwith the beasts, of which they were at once com-petitors and a prey ; later, when individual foughtindividual and tribe opposed tribe. The physicallyinferior unit, possessed of sufficient intelligence tomake common cause with his like, was enabled toarbitrarily incline the balance, and survive for theprofit of the race.

This first step led naturally to others, for themere capacity to combine under actual threat ofdestruction by the more powerful was insufficient.The new confederacy had to learn the means ofperpetuating itself, and how to organise andcombine those means so as to yield the greatestobtainable power, whether for offence or defence.

2

Formation of Primitive Communities

Hence arose an organisation which can be tracedthrough the most backward societies, and is visible,in a rudimentary form, even among the beasts.This is government.

A cursory survey of the conditions under whichprimitive societies were able to maintain their unityand to consolidate their forces, at once exhibits thepart played by this organisation and the nature ofits growth. These conditions can be summarisedas the guarantee of internal and external security.In other words, those acts which are harmful tothe community must be distinguished from thosewhich are beneficial to it ; the two categories mustbe clearly defined and maintained by a penalty asbetween man and man. An organisation intendedto assure the integrity of the associationman in-tegrity with which the welfare of each memberwas bound up--could only be formed by combiningall individuals capable of discerning the oppositionbetween the socially harmful and the socially profit-able with those members, the individually strong,who were most capable of repressing such acts aswere judged injurious to the body politic.

Doubtless the rules called laws, which distinguishthe useful from the harmful, good from evil, arepurely the fruit of observation and experience,and always more or less adapted to their purpose.

3

1 The Society of To-morrowThey are by so much the more valuable, so muchthe more "just," as they contribute more to themaintenance of the community by augmenting itsstrength. In any case they were, even from thefirst, a far better guarantee of their intendedobject than those individual rules to which theysucceeded.

Similarly, however unjust or imperfect mightbe the government of an early state, it secured agreater security to the individual than he couldever have obtained for himself. In place ofdefending himself single-handed against thoserisks which were the common burden of eachmember, corporate protection became a personalright, while it was also secured at a far lessproportionate cost. Before the advent of a"State" the isolated individual maintained a mostprecarious existence at the price of the major partof his time and labour. Henceforward much ofthat time and labour was set free, and the" member of a State" was enabled to expend iton the satisfaction of minor desires, or in the dis-covery of material, or the invention of instrumentsand processes, by which he at once obtained agreater return for his outlay and an increase ofenjoyment or a diminution of suffering.

Members of one society are united by common4

Formation of Primitive Communities

interest, whether it be mere personal security orthe guarantee of their livelihood. This commoninterest naturally excites, and later develops, afeeling of sympathy between the associates, andnext between them and the community. Itembraces nothing beyond the limits of the asso-ciation, horde, clan, or tribe. Individuals outsidethose limits, and the communities to which thoseindividuals belong, are regarded with the scorn orhatred naturally due to a competitor in matters sovital. And competition between individuals orStates is vital at this time, for until man haslearned how to supplement the natural supply ofthe materials of subsistence his existence dependson that supply, and his own share can only beincreased at the expense of a rival.

CHAPTER II

COMPETITION BETWEEN PRIMITIVE COMMUNITIES

AND ITS RESULTS

As population began to outgrow the means ofsubsistence, which mankind had not yet learnedto increase by artificial methods, primitive societywas compelled to choose between the eliminationof excess population, or the seizure of huntinggrounds, or sources of agricultural supply, belong-ing to some neighbouring tribe. The strong againsurvived and the weak disappeared. But the newsystem of association was already securing a certainleisure and a degree of relief from the need forcontinuous effort. The more intelligent amongthe inferior powers seized their opportunity, andunder the continual spur of the need of survivalinvented arms and methods of destruction whichaltered the natural balance of power. Victoryinclined to their side, at least until the men of

6

Competition and its Resukssinews had learned to profit by their superiorwisdom and to imitate their skill.

But a second result had occurred in the mean-while. Engines of destruction were as useful inthe field as in actual strife, and an improved artof war soon decreased the numbers of the wildanimals. Here was a novel stimulus, at least forthose tribes whose strength was insufficient todispossess a neighbour. Habits of observationand the creative faculty, responding to the motiveof need, realised that decisive step on the road ofprogress which, once and for all, lifted humanitybeyond the regions of mere animalism. For thesystematic destruction which he shared with thebeasts, and which limited his numbers to thenatural means of subsistence, man substituted theproductive industries and, by acquiring the powerof indefinitely expanding the means of subsistence,stood forth lord of creation.

Great nations, amply furnished with all that isneedful for the maintenance of life, now succeedthe tribes of a few hundred individuals whichsnatched a precarious existence from vast terri-tories. But the identical causes which made theirrise possible placed these nations face to face witha new peril. Every advance was accompanied byfresh danger at the hands of tribes still subsisting

7

The Society ot To-morrowby war and the chase. The spectacle of theirwealth was irresistibly attractive, and the prospectsof a successful foray, as measured in the expecta-tion of loot, became more and more desirable.Nations, on the other hand, depending uponagriculture and those arts of peace, whose creationaccompanies the growth of industry applied toproduction of the material bases of life, lost theirancient aptitudes for the practices of war andthe hunting field, if only because they ceased touse them.

In these unequal conditions civilisation musthave perished in the bud had not the same processwhich determined the substitution of agriculturefor the chase manifested itself anew. Instead ofmurdering and robbing, one nation imposed itselfupon, and exploited, another. A raid is a tempo-rary expedient, and the renewed harvests ofviolence yield a continually diminishing crop.Lands of plenty returned to the desert fromwhich they had been wrested, for the toiler laydead in his furrow. But no sooner did the moreastute spoiler of his neighbour comprehend theposition than he devised effective means for per-petuating his supply, and even for increasing itsyield. Those who had previously ravaged nowconquered the land to possess it ; where they had

8

Competition and its Resultsdestroyed they enslaved, and the victim boughthis survival by a surrender of the entire, or a partof, the nett profit of his labours.

The conqueror now became interested in pro-tecting his sources of supply, and began to devisesystems for the better exploitation of territoriesand of the populations which were enslaved.These systems are the first POLITICAL STATES,and their guarantee against further violation fromoutside was their subjection to those who had firstseen the value of the new system. Thus wasconstituted a further pregnant advance, one whosenatural process eventually guaranteed civilisationagainst the risks of destruction and a return tobarbarism.

9

CHAPTER III

COMPETITION BETWEEN STATES IN PROCESS OF

CIVILISATION

No sooner did the exploitation of conqueredterritory and subject populations become general,with the consequent rise of Political States--0fthe States--than the conquering communities be-came involved in two other forms of competition.Certain particularly warlike tribes persisted in thepractices of destruction and of pillage, while theStates, as between themselves, sought every pos-sible means of expansion.

Like the founders and proprietors of any otherbusiness, the owners of a political State desired toincrease the profits of the industry from whichthey obtained a livelihood. They might achievethis either by increasing the nett yields of theirenterprise, the exploitation of subjects, or theycould expand, win new territory, and, in conse-quence, new subjects. But the first methodrequired a degree of progress which was not realis-

Io

Competition Between Statesable in a day : the labour of their employ_s hadto be rendered more productive by better adminis-tration and by improved methods of exploitation.An enlarged measure of liberty, and the enjoymentof an increased proportion of their own earnings,must also be secured to the workers. Now theabsolutism of those who owned the States, sanc-tioned by right of appropriation and conquest, noless than by the overwhelming superiority oforganised power, allowed them to use theirsubjects as mere chattels. Natural cupidityallotted to this "human cattle " no more than themere necessaries of existence, often far less, and itwas only long and cosily experience of the losscaused by their own greed which forced statesmento recognise that the surest and most e_caciousmeans of enlarging their nett profit--whethertaken in guise of forced labour or as taxes, in kindor in money--was to encourage the producer toincrease his gross output.

To obtain new territory and more subjects wascomparatively easy. It was a conception appealingnaturally to the spirit and capacity of a con-quering caste, and it appears, in every age and inall cases, as the first, often the sole, aim of theirpolitical system.

But there were latent consequences in this race1I

The Society of To-morrowfor territory and subjects to exploit, which thecompetitors never guessed. The owners of aState, liable to total, or partial, dispossession at thehands of a rival, maintained their position subjectto neglecting none of the many activities whichconsolidate and guarantee the integrity of a poli-tical association. They had to learn that theperfection of the material, art, and personnel ofarmies, is of little value when unaccompanied bya similar development of political and civilinstitutions, of the fiscal and economic systems.

Everywhere and in every age, it is this form ofcompetition which stimulated men to perfect theinstitutions of politics and war, of the civil, fiscal,and economic State. Always and in all ages, also,the more progressive communities--those whichdevelop their destructive and productive institu-tions to the highest degreeubecome the strongestand win the race. Our earlier volumes have seenthis process at work. We have seen that improvedagents of destruction advance production bycontinually enlarging its outlets. The security ofcivilisation has been assured neither by the artsof peace nor yet by those of war, but by the co-operation of both._

z See the author's "l'Evolution Economique du XIXmeSi_cle," and also "l'Evolution Politiqu et la R_volution."

I2

CHAPTER IV

DECLINE OF DESTRUCTIVE COMPETITION

SIncE profit is the motive of war no less thanof all other human actions, an alliance between thearts of production and destruction soon lessenedthe inducement which prompted tribes to live bypillage and violence alone. Raiding a civilisedcommunity became less and less profitable as theart and rear,rid of war came to require a moralforce, an amount of knowledge and capital, whichonly civilisation can command. Expeditions,undertaken for the sake of pure pillage, thereforeceased to return those enormous profits which hadmade them the favourite occupation of barbarianhordes. Tribal incursions tend to bring noprofit, or to secure such hazardous and unsatis-factory returns that what was hitherto a rulebecomes increasingly rare, occurs only on the mostdistant and least guarded frontiers, and is finallyabandoned. Then the old order is reversed, for

I3

The Society of To-morrowthe civilised State becomes the aggressor, subduesthe barbarian, and occupies his place. Thisexpansion of civilisation at the expense of theuncivilised began many centuries ago, and when itsmotive is naturally exhausted--probably withinthe present centuryBthe cause of many wars willhave passed away.

Indeed wars, undertaken on this account, arealready of secondary importance, since they seldomcall for the exercise of more than a most insigni-ficant portion of the resources of a State. It iswhen State meets State that the full power ofmodern military equipments is seen, and theseoccasions are the grand motive of their establish-ment. So immense and so costly is this apparatusthat there is scarcely a State which does notexpend upon its upkeep more treasure, morelabour, and even more intelligence, than is allottedto any productive industry, agriculture aloneexcepted.

It has always been difficult to define the actualprofits derived from a war, but, until the integrityof civilisation was finally ensured from barbarianaggression, these profits were of two kinds. Everyconqueror in war is rewarded with material gainsand moral satisfaction, but victory in those timeslikewise secured a higher degree of security. This

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Decline of Destructive Competitionbetter security of civilisation was the measure ofits advance in the arts of war, for war was itssole possible criterion.

Whether moral or material, the gains of warhave always been practically monopolised by theproprietary and governing element within thevictorious State. These profits were never sohigh as when conquest was followed by a partitionof the newly conquered territory and its inhabi-tants, for the victors thus gained an extra gloryand prestige--over and above the common gloryof victory--in that they had escaped the fatewhich they now meted out to the vanquished.Meanwhile, their victory had also screened theirown slaves, serfs, or subjects, from the ills of apossible invasion, with its inevitable change ofmasters, of whom the new were often the morebrutal and rapacious. Finally, every war whichresulted in an advance, however feeble, in the artof destruction, marked the achievement of onemore step upon the long road of that progresswhose goal was the establishment of civilisation.

But, as victory ceased to be synonymous withthe act of massacring the vanquished, even ofenslaving them, these several profits diminished.The defeat of a State now entails little more thana nominal alteration in the quarter to which

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The Society of To-morrowallegiance is owed. Also, since the safety ofcivilisation is established, the profits derived froma war no longer include this count. But suchprofits as do remain are the perquisite of thegoverning power in the State, and they are sharedbetween the military and the civil arms. A warbenefits the military hierarchy by acceleratingadvancement in grade and pay ; by those extraor-dinary "votes," or honorariums, which a gratefulnation accords to successful leaders; and by theglory acquired, although this has diminished invalue with the constant diminution in the damagesand dangers from which victory saves a nation,and the benefits which it bestows. A successfulwar benefits the politician by increasing hispower and influence, but it cannot be said toappreciably affect the precarious tenure of hisoffice.

A warwsuch wars at least as enlarge the nationalboundaries--brings profit to a third class in theState, the officials, for it enlarges the scope oftheir activities. But it must be confessed thatprofit of this kind tends to be somewhat temporary,for it is certain that the new territory mustultimately produce its own aspirants to adminis-trative positions, who will dispute the field withthe subjects of the conquering State. Finally,

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Decline of Destructive Competitionprofit is sometimes taken in the form of a mone-tary indemnity in place of actual territorialaggrandizement. Such an indemnity is usuallydevoted to repairing the inevitable waste anddamage of war, or to enlarging the victor'sarmaments.

But, besides winning profits for the victor, everywar occasions loss and injury to the masses whoare engaged in the productive industries, andthese evils are felt by the subjects of neutral Statesno less than the subjects of actual belligerents.The very transformation which has been effectedin the machinery of destruction has likewiseincreased the sphere of its effects, and the gravityof the ills which it entails.

The direct losses of war are those of life andcapital, and these losses have grown side by sidewith that increase of power which has followedthe growth of population, of wealth, and of credit,particularly among the States of the Old Worldand in the course of the last century. Nor is lossof life felt less directly than losses of capital, for itis the physical flower of a population which entersthe army, and their destruction entails the per-petuation of a less effective type. Direct loss ofthis kind primarily affects the combatants, thearea of indirect damage follows the extension of

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The Society of To-morrowinternational interests. Markets are curtailed,the bulk of exchanges is diminished, the demandfor capital and labour is arrested. In fact, whileexpenditure is suddenly increased, a check is putupon the action of those agencies which supplythe means, nor are these losses and damagescounterbalanced by any corresponding augmenta-tion of the general security.

But, worst burden of all, the persistency ofwar obliges every nation to maintain a vastpermanent machinery of destruction, and everyprogress in the art or science of war now augmentsthe cost of this establishment.

Every State must keep pace with the arma-ments of its neighbours. It must, in the verymidst of peace, devote a continually increasingproportion of revenue to maintaining the race ofthe present and redeeming the debts of the past.Nor is this all. More and more men are takenfrom the ranks of industry and consigned to alife of idleness and demoralisation, until, or incase, it may be necessary to employ them in thework of destruction.

Having accomplished its natural task of assuringsecurity, war has now become harmful. We shallsee that it is doomed to give place to a higherform of competitionwproductive or industrialcompetition.

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CHAPTER V

WHY THE STATE OF WAR CONTINUES WHEN IT

NO LONGER FULFILS A PURPOSE

WAR has ceased to be productive of security, butthe masses, whose existence depends upon theindustries of production, are compelled to payits costs and suffer its losses without either

receiving compensation or possessing means toend the contradiction. Governments do possessthis power, but if the interests of governmentsultimately coincide with the interests of thegoverned they are, in the first instance, opposedto them.

Governments are enterprises--in commerciallanguage, "concerns "--which produce certainservices, the chief of which are internal andexternal security. The directors of these enter-prisesmthe civil and military chiefs and theirstaffs--are naturally interested in their aggrandize-ment on account of the material and moral

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The Society of To-morrowbenefits which such aggrandizement secures tothemselves. Their home policy is therefore toaugment their own functions within the State byarrogating ground properly belonging to otherenterprises ; abroad they enlarge their dbminationby a policy of territorial expansion. It is nothingto them if these undertakings do not proveremunerative, since all costs, whether of theirservices or of their conquests, are borne by thenations which they direct.

If, now, we consider a nation as the consumerof what its government produces, we see that itis to the interest of the governed to take fromgovernment only such services as the latter isable to produce better and at a less cost thanother enterprises, and to purchase what it takes atthe lowest possible price. Similarly, a nationrequires that an annexation of territory shouldresult in such an enlargement of its markets aswill be sufficient to enable it to recover all the

costs of acquisition, besides a profit; and thisprofit must not be less than the returns whichcould have been secured by any other employ-ment of its capital and labour.

But this relation of government and nation,as producer and consumer, is not a free market.Government imposes its services, and the nat!on

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Why the State of War Continueshas no choice but acceptance. Certain nations,however, possess constitutional governments, andthese nations have a right of assent and ofarranging the price. But despite the reformsand revolutions which have been so frequentduring the last hundred years, this right hasaltogether failed to establish an equilibriumbetween the positions of consumer and purveyorof public services. More, the governments ofto-day are less interested than were their fore-runners to refrain from abusing the powers andresources of their nations, while the nations arealso less interested in, and perhaps less capable of,guarding against such abuse.

Under the old system the political establish-ment, or the State, was the perpetual property ofthat association of strong men who had founded,or conquered, it. The members of this asso-ciation, from the head downwards, succeeded byhereditary prescription to that part of the commonterritory which had fallen to their share at theoriginal partition, and to the exercise of thosefunctions which were attached to their severalholdings. Sentiments of family and property,the strongest incentives known to the humanrace, combined to influence their action. Theydesired to leave to their descendants a heritage

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The Society of To-morrowwhich should be neither less in extent nor inferiorin condition to that which they had received fromtheir fathers, and to maintain this ideal the powerand resources of the State must be increased, orat least maintained in all their integrity. Therewas also a fiscal limit to the imposts which theyexacted from their subjects, any overstepping ofwhich involved personal loss, often personaldanger. If they abused their sovereign poweras possessors, whether by exhausting the taxablepotentiality of the population or by squanderingthe product of an impost which had becomeexcessive, their State fell into poverty and decay,and they themselves lay at the mercy of rivalswho were only too alert and ready to seize anyopportunity of enrichment at the expense of thedecadent or defenceless. The governed were ableto check any abuse of sovereign power on the partof government through the pressure which wasexerted on the ruler by his hope of transmittinghis power to his children, and by that form ofcompetition which constituted the State of War.

Meanwhile, as external dangers decreased anda continual evolution in the machinery of warfarerequired yet larger expenditure, competitionceased to exert continuous pressure. Hence themeasure of its stimulus declined. But at the same

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Why the State of War Continuestime the masters of States abated nothing of thoseimposts and services which they exacted fromtheir subjects, but without the previous justifica-tion of danger. Hence a growing discontentsprang up in those classes whose power hadadvanced with their progress in the arts ofindustry and commerce, and this process con-tinued until it resulted in the fall of the oldorder.

The chief feature which distinguishes the neworder and separates it, in theory at least, fromthat which preceded it, is the transfer of thepolitical establishment, of the State, to the peoplethemselves. With it, naturally, passed thatsovereign power which is inseparable from owner-ship of the domain and the subjects of the State.This power which was exercised by the chief,generally hereditary, of the government of thepolitical association, and which included a powerof absolute disposition over the lives and goodsof subjects, was justified by the original State ofWar. Under the conditions which then prevailedit was essential that the chief who was responsiblefor the safety of a State should have unlimitedpowers to requisition the person and resources ofevery individual, and to use them in any waywhich he might judge good, whether for actual

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The 8ociety of To-morrowdefence of the State or for the purpose of increas-ing its resources by territorial expansion. Theownership of the political establishment mightpass into the hands of the nation, but the needfor such a power remained. Just as long as theState of War was the dispensation which regulatedthe world, so long was a power of unlimiteddisposition over the individual, his life and goods,an essential attribute of governments responsiblefor national security.

But as experience had already shown howliable this delegation of the sovereign power wasto abuse, it was necessary to devise measureswhich should ensure its proper exercise. Also,as experience showed that the nation was not ableto fulfil the office of ruling itself, the theoristsresponsible for erecting the new order withdrewfrom it all powers beyond that of nominatingthose delegates to whom the exercise of sovereignpower was to be entrusted. Such delegationinvolved the risk of unfaithful service on thepart of those who were chosen, and it was alsoforeseen that discrepancies might arise betweentheir policy and the national will, if for no otherreason than their too long maintenance in power.A more or less restricted period was thereforeplaced upon their mandate.

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Why the State of War ContinuesExperience also foreshadowed another difficulty.

Delegates are no more capable than their consti-tuents of fulfilling the whole office of a govern-ment. It is not possible that they should organise,carry on the necessary machinery for guaranteeingexternal and internal security, and fulfil thoseother duties which, rightly or wrongly, are re-quired of "government." The new "constitu-tions," then, limited the sovereign power delegatedto government to the exercise of the legislativeprerogative, with a further right of deputing theexecutive power to ministers who should beresponsible to it and who should be compelledto conform their conduct, under penalty of dis-missal, to the will of a majority in the assemblyof delegates.

This method or dividing the sovereign poweramong various executive agencies was capable ofmany variations. In a constitutional monarchythe chief office in the State remained subject tohereditary transmission, but its occupant wasdeclared irresponsible and his action was limitedto the sole function of nominating, as responsibleminister, the man chosen by the majority of thenational representatives. These representativesare nominally chosen by the nation, by thosemembers of the nation who possess political rights,

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The Society of To-morrowbut in point of fact they are no more than thenominees of associations, or parties, who contendfor the position of" State-conductors" on accountof the material and moral benefits which accom-pany the position.

These associations, or political parties, areactual armies which have been trained to pursuepower ; their immediate objective is to so increasethe number of their adherents as to control anelectoral majority. Influential electors are for thispurpose promised such or such share in the profitswhich will follow success, but such promises---generally place or privilege--are redeemable onlyby a multiplication of "places," which involves acorresponding increase of national enterprises,whether of war or of peace. It is nothing to apolitician that the result is increased charges andheavier drains on the vital energy of the people.The unceasing competition under which theylabour, first in their efforts to secure office, andnext to maintain their position, compels them tomake party interest their sole care, and they arein no position to consider whether this personaland immediate interest is in harmony with thegeneral and permanent good of the nation. Thusthe theorists of the new order, by substitutingtemporary for permanent attribution of the

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Why the State of War Continuessovereign power, aggravated the opposition ofinterests which it was their pretended purposeto co-ordinate. They also weakened, if they didnot actually destroy, the sole agency which hasany real power to restrain governments, in theircapacity of producers of public services, from anabuse of the sovereign power to the detriment ofthose who consume those services.

The constitutions were, nevertheless, lavish intheir promise of guarantees against this possibility,the most notable of which has, perhaps, been thepower of censure vested in the press--a rightwhich has too often proved quite barren of result.For the press has found it more profitable to placeits voice at the disposal of class or party interestsand to echo the passions of the moment ratherthan to sound the voice of reason. Nowhere has

it been known to act as a curb on the govern-mental tendency to increase national expenditure.

Economic reasons, the advances of industryand expansion of credit, have actively furtheredthe same tendency. During last century indus-trial activity increased by leaps and bounds, andthe continual advance in the wealth of nations

enabled them to support charges which wouldhave crushed any other age. The developmentof public credit has also provided a device by

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The Society of To-morrowwhich posterity has been burdened with a con-tinually increasing proportion of the expenditureof to-day, and, in particular the costs of war havebeen almost entirely defrayed thus. Nor is thisall. The present generation, or at least an im-portant and influential part of it, has beeninterested in the system of spending borrowedmoney, since they reap the entire profits whichresult from the consequent increase in business,but are only required to furnish a mere fractionof the funds which must ultimately redeem theseliabilities.

This is the true reason why that sovereignpower, which is still the attribution of govern-ment, has increased the liabilities of nations to a fargreater extent than was ever known under the oldorder. And it has done this no less by enlargingits functions in a manner utte