h 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