488 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 
regulation of wages, and that his energy in the future will be better directed to 
increasing the purchasing power of his sovereign, rather than to adding another 
sovereign to his weekly wage. 
6. The Development of Organisation in relation to Progress. 
By We ResScorteaeA DyPhily, Late: 
Though the name ‘organisation’ is comparatively new, the idea is old. In 
Mercantilism there was involved the conception of the organisation of States on 
a national basis instead of the medieval one of a manor or city, and a somewhat 
similar tendency may be seen at the present time in the development of the policy 
of new countries. The view that the Physiocrats represent a revolt against 
Mercantilism is erroneous. There was really continuity of thought. While the 
Physiocrats aimed at an ideal of cosmopolitanism, organisation came to be con- 
sidered as something emanating from the initiative of individuals, not from the 
State, as with the Mercantilists. Under the influence of Adam Smith this idea 
continued till biological studies gave as a by-product the conception of ‘social 
organisms,’ whence organisation acquired a new meaning in relation to the creat- 
ing of such organisms or adding new functions to them. The implied reference 
to a social organism causes organisation to be used in an analogical sense, and 
there is a tendency to abstract the mode of organising from that which is 
organised, and to hypostatise the abstraction—as when organisation is termed an 
agent of production. 
The modern conception of organisation, when duly limited and defined, is 
valuable in suggesting an organic reference; and as indicating that an organised 
body is something different from the parts which go to the making of it. But the 
term ‘organisation ’ is generally applied to small groups of persons, which may 
behave antagonistically to each other. Hence, in this use of the word, modern 
organisation is narrower than that which the Mercantilists aimed at. Socialism, 
on the other hand, presents a more comprehensive idea of organisation, but one 
which most of its advocates now believe is unlikely to be brought into existence 
as a completed whole, and which can only be approximated gradually by succes- 
sive stages. 
In addition to what is now usually called organisation, there is also social 
organisation, which is often described as social betterment, social service, or social 
reform. This movement involves united action by the whole community for 
improving the condition of some section of its members, in the belief that such 
action is for the ultimate, if remote, benefit of the State. Instances are to be 
found in State-education, State-controlled immigration, labour exchanges, sick- 
ness insurance, invalidity insurance, conciliation or arbitration in labour disputes, 
Social organisation differs from the primary form of State-activity (e.g., the 
defence of the country or the administration of justice) in that, while both are 
administered by the State, the latter concerns all citizens, while the former 
relates much more nearly to certain groups only. Modern social organisation 
differs from that of the Mercantilists in being concerned in the first instance with 
the creation of immaterial wealth, though in the end it is likely to yield a vast 
return on the labour and outlay in material wealth also. But that return cannot 
be predicted as absolutely certain. In most cases the result of social reforms 
only appears after a long lapse of time, and therefore there is the danger that, 
in the interval before actual experience yields a verification or refutation of the 
special form of organisation, social welfare may be pro tanto diminished instead 
of being increased. Therefore the conditions under which social organisation 
must be carried on render it imperatively necessary that the widest and most 
accurate knowledge of economic and social conditions should be available, aided 
and supplemented by the tact and judgment of the man of affairs. 
7. The Economic Ideal. By Professor 8. J. CHAPMAN. 
This paper was an attempt to define the main economic characteristics of the 
ultimate end that should be aimed at by social reform. On the productive side 
