242 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 



trast between a pain and a pleasure economy is reflected also in 

 religion, the former being linked with a religion of fear, sacrifice, 

 etc., the latter with a religion of love, worship and service. 



Professor Patten finds that the classical economists, in fact 

 nearly all up to the present, have built theories on a pain or 

 deficit economy and he pleads now for a reconstruction of eco- 

 nomic theory based on a pleasure or surplus economy. He holds, 

 also, that the practical problems of social science can be solved 

 only by increasing the surplus of the mass of wage earners and by 

 guiding them in wise consumption. The surplus in the case of 

 the rich should be drawn off in social service. 1 



Passive adaptation, both material and spiritual, finds large 

 place in Patten's social philosophy especially in his early writings. 

 Nearly all of his Theory of Social Forces and Heredity and Social 

 Progress is from this point of view, so, too, much of his Theory 

 of Prosperity. The key-note of The New Basis of Civilization 

 and Reconstruction of Economic Theory, however, is active adap- 

 tation. The resources of nature under man's control should 

 provide for all his increasing needs. 2 Surplus and leisure for the 

 lower classes will lead to culture and efficiency 3 and tend to break 

 down social classes and distinctions. 4 Reflective morality, ideali- 

 zation, and religion are needed to inspire to productivity, self- 

 control, efficient consumption, and social service, and social 

 control has a most important function in bringing about such an 

 industrial and social reorganization as shall make widespread the 

 surplus that tends to issue in growth, variation, pleasure, ideali- 

 zation and progress. 6 



The law of rhythm as manifested in the phenomenon of growth 

 and decay in nations is not necessary according to our author, but 

 it can be prevented from operating only on the condition that 

 consumption is controlled with reference to future efficiency. 

 " The normal man seeks to establish a direct relation between his 

 consumption and production, and forms of consumption that do 

 not result in the creation of surplus energy are dissipation and 

 hinder him in his struggle for existence and superiority. The 



1 Theory of Prosperity, p. 168. 



2 The New Basis of Civilization, ch. I. 



• Ibid., pp. 63, 156, 160 f. « Ibid., ch. IV. ' 6 Ibid., ch. VTII. 



