360 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



tino in personal sacrifices and self-subordination to the 

 whole, no enduring social or national structure can be 

 upbuilt by him that can sustain the more comprehen- 

 sive sacrifices of internationalism. 



II. Social Metabolism and the Conveyance of Power 



The really vital problems of state, of empires, or 

 of humanity, are precisely the same kind of problems 

 as those of a family of human beings under one roof, 

 except that in the former instances the households are 

 larger, more enduring, and contain more children. 



The only way in which any social group can in- 

 crease in numbers, in security, and welfare, is through 

 the improvement or extension of the elementary co- 

 operative machinery of smaller social groups; that is 

 by increasing the range, or volume, or speed, of mu- 

 tual services. All these social services ultimately re- 

 solve themselves into problems of the conveyance of 

 power, mental and physical, to and from social con- 

 stituents, past, present, and future. 



The more social life does grow in numbers, the 

 more complex these time, and space, and load, and 

 quality factors become; the more danger there is from 

 the rise of antagonistic, or of non-contributory groups; 

 from over-absorption in local, or class interests; from 

 the loss of social perspective and unity of purpose. 



Thus in social life, as in a growing animal organ- 

 ism, all the problems of mutual service necessarily 

 become more intricate with the progress of growth; 

 more difficult to synchronize and readjust in order to 

 preserve that sequence and equality of give and take 

 essential to the maintenance of social metabolism. 



