250 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 



This law of man's value to society is expressed by means of the 

 following formulae: — 



" The value of a man is equal to his production minus his con- 

 sumption. His economic success is equal to his acquisition [i. e., 

 his income] minus his consumption. When his acquisition is 

 equal to his production [i. e., when a man receives as income the 

 equivalent of what he has added to the total productivity of the 

 group of which he forms a working part], then his economic suc- 

 cess is equal to his value." 1 This puts a premium on merit and 

 strengthens the group in competition with other groups. The 

 function of the state, then, is to see to it that a man receives as 

 income what he produces, or in other words, to prevent the mis- 

 carriage of the law of productivity applied to wages. " That is 

 justice." x 



Civilization is interpreted by Professor Carver largely in terms 

 of productivity as it is also by Dr. Ward. " Civilization," he 

 says, " is essentially a storing of surplus energy, and is due to the 

 fact that men have had more energy to expend than was necessary 

 to procure subsistence." 2 The beginning of this process, so far 

 as the group is concerned, is considered to be due to the rise of a 

 despot, but " slavery, religious fear, aristocracy, — these have all 

 doubtless been agencies for the accomplishment of the same 

 purpose." 3 



Private property as reward for efficiency, and pride in family 

 building closely linked with it, are considered to be of primary 

 importance. Indeed the two are inseparably connected, in the 

 thought of our author, both historically and logically. Our 

 present industrial system places the responsibility for the rearing 

 of children upon the one who is responsible for their coming into 

 the world, and this is the best check yet evolved or devised for 

 limiting population to means of subsistence according to the 

 prevailing standard of living. ■■. Remove this check and popula- 

 tion would increase so rapidly as to entail wide-spread misery, 

 leaving only the natural checks of war, pestilence and famine, and 



1 Essays in Social Justice, p. 173. 



2 Sociology and Social Progress, p. 13. 



3 Ibid., p. 13; Essays in Social Justice, p. 134. 



