THE NEW LEVIATHAN 391 



V. The State as a Sphere of Cooperative Action 



We have seen that cooperative action is a universal 

 attribute of nature, rhythmic in the wave-like rise and 

 fall of its constructive impulses; and cumulative in 

 the tidal rise of world organization its petty gains en- 

 gender. It is the main spring to the growth and being 

 of every individual thing; the compelling creative 

 power which everywhere underlies the phenomena of 

 evolution and progress. 



While it has not before been recognized that pro- 

 gressive cooperation is a universal creative law, man has 

 long been cognizant of the creative power in coopera- 

 tive action. Within the narrower circles of his more fa- 

 miliar affairs, he first instinctively, or unconsciously, 

 then deliberately, or intelligently, utilizes cooperative 

 methods to augment his own powers and resources. 

 Broadly speaking, his own profits and the dimensions 

 of all his social institutions, by whatever names they be 

 called, have been commensurate with the degree of 

 intelligence utilized in directing existing agencies into 

 cooperative channels. 



But deliberately and rightly to utilize these creative 

 methods on a larger and more enduring scale, or in 

 projects that ripen in the more remote future, as in 

 agriculture, science, or education, or in kindred affairs 

 of state and nation, demands a far larger experience and 

 a broader vision than that requisite for the exploitation 

 of present opportunities. It demands at least a clear 

 enough vision of prospective profits to constitute an 

 abiding compulsory factor in the regulation of man's 

 conduct, and so regulating it in a sufficient number of 



