INVENTION AND PRODUCTION 249 



tion than in another is due to a relative disproportion of numbers 

 in the two occupations. The reason prices of food are high in one 

 place and low in another is due primarily to the operation of the 

 same law. In the solution of the labor problem we may be sure 

 that there are not too many capitalists for their return in interest 

 is great; that there are not too many captains of industry for their 

 income is enormous; that there is not too much land, for rent is 

 ever increasing; that there are not too many skilled mechanics, 

 for their wages are high. We may be sure, however, that there 

 are too many unskilled laborers, for their wages are low.^ 



A third economic law is given almost equal prominence with 

 these two and that is the law of productivity as a measure of value. 

 And here, again. Professor Carver has gone far beyond any other 

 economist, for he has elaborated Ricardo's productivity theory 

 of land value and rent, and the modern productivity theory of 

 wages and applied it as a measure of man's value to society. Just 

 as the value of any piece of land can be determined by what it 

 adds to the total productivity of the community, and just as a 

 man's wages are determined by what he adds to the total produc- 

 tivity of the concern for which he works, so a man's value to 

 society may be measured, theoretically, by the increase of eco- 

 nomic goods produced as a result of his contribution, — and this 

 holds not merely of the manual laborer but of the teacher, 

 preacher, and artist.^ That is, education, art, morals and 

 religion are not ends in themselves, nor is their end individual 

 enjoyment or perfection. The social unit is the group, and inter- 

 group competition makes group strength the criterion of the good. 

 Inasmuch as production of wealth is the sine qua non of group 

 strength, education, art, morals and religion are to be evaluated 

 in proportion as they increase the productive and competitive 

 power of the group. Just in proportion as society rightly appre- 

 ciates the utilities needed for group strength, and in harmony with 

 the law of supply and demand, will wages measure man's value to 

 society. 



* Adapted from Professor Carver's lectures; cf . Essays in Social Justice, ch. XIV. 

 2 Cf. Distribution of Wealth, chs. I and IV; " Diminishing Returns and Value,'* 

 Rivista di Scienza, iv, pp. 12-14; Essays in Social Justice, ch. VII. 



