desire for the general welfare. And it is also true that the general
welfare will be surest and soonest attained by cooperation, and not
conflict between classes, under the direction of those proved to be
strongest and wisest.

I have said, and I am sure you must agree, that man economically differs
from other animals mainly in his greater ability to evade the operation
of Nature's own laws and to make use of the material resources and
forces of Nature to assist him in so doing. And he does it mainly by
collective action which is displayed most effectively and beneficently
in those great economic organizations which we hate and stigmatize as
"trusts" and which every one of us longs to get into as our best
assurance of economic stability.

The problem is how to so regulate these economic regulators of Nature,
that each shall get from their beneficent operation, not that which is
his ethical due, for that we can never determine, nor would it be for
the general welfare that each should receive his due, but that which
each can receive without injury to Society.

It is certain that each will get less as the ages go by unless by our
human ingenuity we can make production keep pace with population. At
present, production greatly varies in different parts of the world, and
the condition in each country is indicated by the amount of leisure
possible to the average man. As population increases, leisure must
decrease. If we work in a crowded community but eight hours per day,
some will die among the weaker who would have lived if all had worked
nine hours. The best index of the economic condition of any country is
the amount of leisure which can be enjoyed by the average man without
noticeable increase of mortality among the least efficient. The