INVENTION AND PRODUCTION 241 
In the ideal commonwealth under a pleasure economy there 
must be the elimination of all such rivalries and conflicts as pro- 
duce fear. In such a commonwealth “the economic forces would 
constitute the first and elementary bonds uniting the members 
of such a society,” leading to division of labor, the storing of 
energy in the form of capital, and, as a result of differences in soil, 
climate, and universal products, to commerce. Self-interest would 
call for co-operation and organization. The conditions of con- 
sumption as well as of production would assist in uniting men.? 
Increase in standard of living with variety in diet results in 
greater social interdependence as well as in increased individual 
well-being. Increasing range of desires and the demand for 
harmonious groups of utilities are potent factors in the formation 
of social organizations. “The economic forces, therefore, are 
sufficient to create powerful bonds uniting the individuals into a 
social commonwealth even if they feel no other motives than 
those due to the pursuit of pleasure.” > ‘“‘ The race ideals are an 
outgrowth of the same process through which harmonious groups 
in consumption are formed.” ® The aesthetic ideals are the first 
to be formed, then the moral and finally the religious.” 
Thus according to our author, up to the present man has been 
dominated largely by fear and pain due to lack of adjustment with 
his environment and this failure, in turn, has been due primarily 
to lack of productive power. With increased power over his 
environment (active material adaptation) there results normally 
a surplus of energy, motor activity and pleasure, the process of 
industrial evolution leading to ever increasing social bonds and 
institutions, these being supplemented by associations arising out 
of consumption. The greatest danger in this process arises from 
the tendency to expend this surplus energy in wasteful consump- 
tion, i. e., consumption not resulting in health, growth, and in 
those forms of activity that increase individual and social well- 
being. Such wasteful consumption is dissipation leading to 
degeneration and elimination by the law of selection. The con- 
1 Theory of Social Forces, p. 83. 5 Tbid., p. go. 
2 Ibid., pp. 85 f. § [bid., p. 91. 
3 Tbid., pp. 86 f. 7 Tbid., p. 94. 
4 Ibid., p. 89. 8 Theory of Prosperity, pp. 166 £., 180. 
