source of any nation is the productive energy of the people themselves, it follows that the conservation and development of that productive energy is the most constructive policy that any government can pursue. It also follows that the worst form of waste that any government could permit or encourage would be the waste of the productive energy of the people.

The repression of destructive and deceptive action. The first and most obvious thing which the government must do is to prohibit and prevent all the destructive and deceptive forms of conflict as outlined at the beginning of the last chapter. It is of the utmost importance that this shall be accomplished; and, what is equally important in determining the duty of the government, law and government are the only agencies which can accomplish it. He who has no moral scruples against pursuing his selfish interests by destructive or deceptive methods can be restrained only by the superior force of the many as it is exercised through the government. If he is allowed to pursue his selfish interests by these methods, he not only wastes his own powers in unproductive efforts but also tends to destroy the products of other people; and, what is more important, he discourages them from further productive effort and thus causes their productive powers to go to waste. It may, therefore, be said that, whatever other functions government may have, its primary function is to repress the destructive and deceptive methods of pursuing self-interest.

The first effect of this repression of the destructive and deceptive methods is to transform the struggle for self-interest from the brutal struggle for existence, where the strong prey upon the weak and the ferocious upon the gentle, into a struggle wherein the persuasive and the productive triumph over the unpersuasive and the unproductive. If it were possible (and it probably is) to carry this repression still farther, and not only to eliminate all destruction and deception but also to eliminate from persuasion all demagogy, all appeal to passion, everything, in fact, except the appeal to reason and justice, then it would be literally true that reason would everywhere

triumph over unreason, justice over injustice, usefulness over uselessness, and productiveness over unproductiveness. Under such a government each and every one would succeed in getting what he wanted in exact proportion as he contributed to others what they wanted; the most useful would be the most successful, and the indispensable man would be the great man. In that situation we should have a literal fulfillment of the words "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." And a servant is not necessarily one who comes at your beck and call to do your bidding; he may be merely the one who does you a service or who produces what you need.

Nothing could be more favorable to the prosperity of a nation than a general following of such a rule. If we could conceive of a nation in which no one could gain anything except by producing an equivalent or by contributing an equal amount to the prosperity of someone else, then the more ardently everyone strove to better his own condition the more ardently would he be striving to better the condition of someone else, driven thereto not by benevolence or philanthropy but by self-interest. Then the more people there were striving to acquire wealth the more there would be striving to produce it and the more ardently they desired to acquire it the more ardently they would labor to produce it. Such a nation would certainly prosper out of all proportion to a nation in which destructive and deceptive methods were practiced by a large proportion of its people.

Two ways of promoting the productive life. There are two conceivable methods by which such an ideal might be realized: one is such a perfection of the moral nature of every person in the nation as to make him unwilling to gain anything without producing it or its equivalent or rendering a service of equivalent value; the other is such perfection of law and government as to make it impossible for anyone, however much he desired to do so, to gain anything without producing it or its equivalent or rendering an equivalent service. In neither case would it be necessary for men to cease caring more for themselves and

their own families and neighbors than for other men and their families and neighbors. In neither case would it be necessary to do away with competition or the struggle for individual gain. It would only be necessary so to hedge men about, either by moral restraints or by positive laws, as to compel them to compete fairly, always giving an equivalent for everything they get. It must not be hastily assumed that the repression by the government of the destructive and deceptive methods of acquiring possession of desirable things is merely negative work. By this kind of repression every producer is protected in the possession and enjoyment of the fruits of his own productive effort. Knowing that he will enjoy the full advantage of his own industry, enterprise, and foresight, he will have the strongest kind of motive for exercising these virtues to their full capacity. This lets loose the productive energy of the people in a way which would be impossible without the protection of law and government. The kind of people who build civilizations can be trusted to take the initiative and start all sorts of productive enterprises if they are thus safeguarded. There is nothing any more positive and constructive than the free spirit of a vigorous race of people when they are left to direct themselves in the field of production, but are restrained from entering the fields of destruction and deception. They can safely be intrusted with the task of looking after themselves if those who are criminally inclined can be prevented from interfering with them. Give the people confidence in the justice and efficiency of the government and in one another, and their own productive virtues will develop, their industrial power will multiply itself, and the prosperity and power of the nation will be assured.

Confidence and economy. Confidence is one of the greatest of all economizers of human energy. Its greatest value is not in the stability which it brings to the financial market, though that is very important; it is found rather in the unshackling of enterprise which results from confidence in the government and in one's neighbors and fellow citizens. The average citizen has more points of contact with his neighbors, his associates in

business, and his fellow citizens than with the government or the financial market. It is in these numerous points of contact and in the vast sum of these dealings of man with man that confidence produces its greatest economies, and its lack the greatest waste.

Professor E. A. Ross, in his book entitled "The Changing Chinese," mentions certain bad neighborhoods in China where the farmer must guard his rice field every night to keep his crop from being destroyed or stolen. The energy that is wasted when so many people stay awake every night must be stupendous, but this waste is a trifling matter compared with the discouragement and lack of enterprise which result from the feeling of uncertainty which such lawless conditions beget. Unless we have at some time been confronted by the same or a similar situation, we can hardly realize how much energy we save by being able to sleep at night in confidence that the products of our labor will not disappear before morning.

Before we expend too much sympathy on those Chinese farmers we should consider the condition of the fruit growers, gardeners, and farmers in the neighborhood of some of our large towns. Unless one is very favorably situated with respect to police protection, one is frequently compelled to keep a watchman or else to expose the entire produce of his toil to the depredations of town marauders. Even though these marauders are generally thoughtless rather than vicious, their work is just as expensive to the producer as though they were degenerate criminals. They occasion the same economic waste and discouragement; they therefore detract just as much from the national efficiency and add just as much to the cost of the necessaries of life for all classes, the very poor as well as the very rich. Their depredations are especially disastrous to the family garden, where the owner cannot afford to hire a watchman and is himself engaged in other work which makes it necessary for him to sleep at night.

Observance of law a patriotic duty. There are three reasons for choosing the orchardist and the gardener as examples of

producers who gain through a government and a community in which they can have confidence, and lose through a government and a community in which they can have no confidence. In the first place, it is so obvious that it does not have to be proved that these men are producers who contribute certain vital necessities to the prosperity and well-being of the whole community, and that the community gains when they are successful and suffers when they are unsuccessful. In the second place, certain young persons who read this book may know something at first hand about the troubles and discouragements which those producers have. In the third place, it ought to be easy for the average person to understand that any act of his which makes it uncertain whether or not the producer will reap the rewards of his labor is an injury not only to the producer but to the consumer and to the whole nation as well, and that, in consequence, the observance of law and the preservation of order are as truly patriotic duties as fighting the battles of one's country.

Standardization and economy. Aside from police protection there are certain other important functions which law and government can perform better than private individuals or voluntary groups of individuals. One of the most important of these is the standardizing of coins, weights, and measures. Whatever differences of opinion may exist with respect to other functions of government, little is said or to be said against coining money and fixing the standards of weights and measures.1 Though these two functions are grouped together in the same clause of our federal constitution, it is doubtful if it is generally understood what a close connection there is between them. Both result in great economy of effort in the transfer of goods. The economy involved in transferring coined money instead of uncoined metal is apparent. Coining the metal by a reliable and responsible government merely gives the public confidence in its weight and fineness. When it is once coined it is enabled to pass from hand to hand without the labor of in

1 See the author's articles on "Standardization in Marketing," Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1917.