Just as the individual, working on a basis of economic surplus, directs his energies to the task of insuring and of increasing the surplus, so the group, which has a similar economic advantage, devotes itself to the task of building up a surplus as soon as it realizes the possibility of increasing its returns through an increase in the energy and intelligence devoted to group purposes.
The personal comfort and the industrial prosperity of temperate zone civilizations depend, at the present moment, in great measure upon the supply of coal which is available. Certain parts of the earth, such as Wales, the Saar Basin and Newfoundland contain coal deposits upon which the entire industrial society is dependent for its survival. It is, then, a matter of the gravest importance to secure a maximum coal output, at least to the point of satisfying the minimum demands of the community. Whatever men and machinery are required to produce the ration of coal upon which industrial efficiency depends must be directed toward that goal. At the same time, waste, inefficiency and dis-employment, whether of men or of machines must be reduced to a minimum.
What volume of production constitutes a maximum of return under a given set of circumstances, experiment alone will decide, but the individual and the social effort to secure this return must be unremitting.
Such maximum returns will be obtained by society when each productive unit is operating at maximum efficiency. The efficiency of the human body depends upon the efficient operation of the digestive system, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, and so on. The stomach, the lungs, the heart must all function smoothly to maintain bodily health. The body cannot function as a body. It functions through the aggregate activities of its various organs. The same thing is true of a society. It is impossible for the economic system to secure its maximum returns as a system. It will work only through the co-operative functioning of its various constituent elements. If the efficiency (health) of the economic system is to be preserved, it will be accomplished through the effective working of the mines and other extractive units; the mills, and the other fabricating units; the railroads and other transport units. Each one of these constituent elements of the whole economic society must be self-efficient, in order that there may be a high standard of efficiency in the entire economic system.
The units of which the economic system is composed must therefore be self-motivating and self-acting. They must be "alive." If one part of the economic body is dead, the whole will eventually disintegrate and decay.
2. The Essentials for Maximum Returns
The efficiency of the economic unit—the mine, the factory, the railroad division—depends upon the attitude of the individual human beings of which the unit is composed. Just as the entire economic system is made up of an aggregate of functioning units, so each unit is made up of functioning individuals. What would a coal mine be without its pick miners, road men, drivers, door-men, dumpers? The efficiency of the economic unit cannot be maintained unless the individuals who compose it are self-acting, intelligent beings, who know what they want and why they want it; who know the ends they desire to attain and how to reach them. Without this beginning there can be no lasting efficiency in a society that is dependent for its success upon the self-generated activity of autonomous groups.
In order that society may enjoy a maximum of return for its outlay of labor and machinery, therefore:
1. The human values present in each economic unit must be maintained at a high level through an appeal to the finest qualities of the individual human being.
That appeal must be strong enough and constant enough, when coupled with the economic appeal, to provide a reason or incentive for continued activity.