RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 13 



the result that forty years of wrongly directed effort in production 

 have been largely wasted. Conservation and development under such 

 conditions are worse than useless, for they are merely instruments 

 in a scheme which has destruction as its ultimate aim; the 

 aim of Germany or rather of its military party, being to 

 destroy the development of other peoples at the risk of de- 

 stroying its own. There is no danger in our democratic coun- 

 try of such a disaster as is befalling Germany, but the pursuit 

 of material gain as a sole object is dangerous and futile, whether the 

 aim be accretion of wealth or of military power. When the object 

 of development in a state is to secure the greatest freedom and equality 

 of opportunity for the greatest number of its citizens to enjoy the 

 results of human labour, then the accumulation of wealth follows as a 

 result of that freedom, and history shows that it is only on such a 

 foundation that national prosperity can be maintained. But we 

 must direct our policies and measures with that object and notour 

 words only. 



Freedom and equality of opportunity cannot be attained on the 

 basis of what is sometimes misnamed individual liberty — the license 

 for each citizen to do as he wills whether or no other citizens suffer from 

 his actions. We recognize the principle of limiting individual liberty to 

 do wrong in regard to certain moral issues but not so freely as we 

 should in regard to matters affecting health and general welfare. 



The needs of human life are social as well as individual or per- 

 sonal. The four primary human needs are food, clothing, shelter 

 and social intercourse. All of these are essential to normal existence 

 — although the length of time a human being can dispense with any 

 one of them varies. In a civilized community provision for shelter 

 is more distinctly a social than a personal need; the family being the 

 unit corresponding to the dwelling rather than the individual citizen. 

 Social intercourse is not always regarded as a necessity of human life, 

 and yet no healthy and intelligent human being can do without it 

 for any lengthy period.* If our object be to build up real national 

 prosperity we have to see that our citizens have not only the bare 

 necessities of food, clothing and shelter; but we must also direct the 

 ends of government so as to secure that the shelter shall be healthy 

 and that the desire for social intercourse, for recreation and educa- 

 tion shall be gratified. It is after these needs are met that a pro- 



*Marshall in Economics of Industry makes a distinction between "necessaries 

 for existence" and "necessaries for efficiency," defining the latter as including good 

 sanitary conditions, some education and recreation, etc. Social intercourse is in 

 some degree necessary for existence and in a greater degree necessary for efficiency. 



