well-being of humanity. It is true we
have not yet been able to carry out our ideals in this matter, but
slowly and surely industrial liberty and justice are following in the
wake of the freedom of the mind to think, the freedom of religious
belief, and the {442} political freedom of self-government. We are
to-day in the fourth great period of modern development, the
development of justice in industrial relations.

Moreover, all of this quickening of industry has brought people
together from all over the world. London is nearer New York than was
Philadelphia in revolutionary times. Not only has it brought people
closer together in industry, but in thought and sympathy. There have
been developed a world ethics, a world trade, and a world interchange
of science and improved ideas of life. It has given an increased
opportunity for material comforts and an increased opportunity for the
achievement of the ordinary man who seeks to develop all the capacities
and powers granted him by nature.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. Show that land is the foundation of all industry.

2. Compare condition of laborers now with conditions before the
industrial revolution.

3. Are great organizations of business necessary to progress?

4. Do railroads create wealth?

5. Does the introduction of machinery benefit the wage-earner?

6. How does rapid ocean-steamship transportation help the United
States?

7. If England should decline in wealth and commerce, would the United
States be benefited thereby?

8. How does the use of electricity benefit industry?

9. To what extent do you think the government should control or manage
industry?

10. Is Industrial Democracy possible?

11. Cutting and hammering two processes of primitive civilization.
What mechanical inventions take the place of the stone hammer and the
stone knife?

[1] See Chapter XXI.

{443}

CHAPTER XXVII

SOCIAL EVOLUTION

_The Evolutionary Processes of Society_.--Social activity is primarily
group activity. Consequently the kind and nature of the group, the
methods which brought its members together, its organization and
purpose, indicate the type of civilization and the possibility of
achievement. As group activity means mutual aid of members, and
involves processes of co-operation in achievement, the type of society
is symbolic of the status of progress. The function of the group is to
establish social order of its members