d enterprise, or for the lack of
them, was built upon the theory that "competition is the life of trade."
Thus, while the present economic system, in its earlier stages tended to
stimulate initiative, its form made co-operation difficult or
impossible.

The ideal economic unit would be one capable of generating its own
driving power, and given a legitimate exchange of commodities and
services with other units, one that could maintain its own energy and
efficiency. A society composed of such units would have great vitality
because its energy would be generated in a large number of more or less
independent localities. A study of the agricultural village of Central
Europe or of the Mexican Indians shows how workable and how stable such
a form of society really is.

The only practicable method of maintaining efficiency and of reducing
the friction incident to social function is to erect a form of local
self-government that will make possible both the stimulation of
initiative and effective co-operation between groups.

5. _Rewarding Energy_

The issue of economic self-government resolves itself into two
questions, which the average human being will sooner or later ask:

1. What do I get out of it?

2. Who is to be the boss?

The intelligent man or woman cannot be expected to exert himself freely
for the building of a palace at Versailles, on whose grounds he can
never set foot, or for the maintenance of a Palm Beach that he sees only
on the screen. The economic necessities are too immediate and the
economic urge is too strong.

Before the individual will expend his maximum energy upon the economic
process, he must see tangible results such as bread, shoes, schools, and
holidays. One of the strongest arguments that the present economic
system advances in favor of its continuance is the showing of large
tangible returns in the form of economic goods. To be sure these results
have not been secured by everyone, but there is neighbor Pitt who
started as a stable boy, and who now owns the largest garage in the
city; there is neighbor Wallace who began life as a grocery clerk and
to-day is master of many acres of coal and timber. Besides, yonder store
is filled with the good things of life, ready for anyone who has the
money to buy them. Many persons, under the present system, make enough
to buy all of them and others beside. So the argument runs, and those
who advance it can give a wealth of instances to prov