95. ENFORCEMENT OF CONTRACTS.--We have already seen that among the
members of a modern industrial society there is a high degree of
interdependence, corresponding, in an important sense, to the
interdependence between the parts of a machine. As we have seen, the
typical individual in industry is a specialist, concentrating upon one
particular kind of work, and depending upon his fellows to supply him
with goods and services which he cannot supply for himself. Now, such
a condition of interdependence could never have arisen were it not for
the fact that government fosters the spirit of confidence among
individuals. Many persons can be trusted to fulfill the agreements or
contracts which they make with their fellows, but many cannot. A prime
function of government, therefore, is to enforce contracts entered
into voluntarily and in legal form. This is clearly essential to our
material prosperity, for if men are to rely upon the word of those who
sell them goods or services, or to whom they sell goods or services,
all of the individuals concerned must be dependable.

96. COMPETITION.--A good government will shunt men into productive
activities, and it will insist upon the fulfilment of lawful
contracts. Subject to these two limitations, individuals are
relatively free to seek their own well-being. But an earmark of
economic goods is scarcity, that is, there are at a given time and
place fewer of them than are desired. Men must therefore compete with
one another for goods and services. The lower animals compete for food
with tooth and claw; among civilized men government tries to raise
competition to an ethical plane by tending to suppress all but the
productive methods of competition.

Where competition is so restricted and safeguarded, advocates of
capitalism assert that the results are overwhelmingly good. Where