of
some kind.

Recent generations have devoted their attention to the fostering of
political self-government, and to the organization of a multitude of
voluntary associations based on the self-governing principle. Generation
by generation the peoples have been prepared to assume an
ever-increasing authority over the complicated mechanism of public
affairs. Self-government in the clan or in the agricultural village was
a simple matter compared with the management of public affairs in a
modern economic society. It is this task, however, that confronts the
present generation. The principle of self-direction, extended into the
complex field of economic relationships, must be relied upon to pull
together the scattering threads of economic activities. That this task
involves an immense amount of propaganda and educational activity, goes
without saying. That it is the only sound basis for social procedure
seems to be the conclusion inevitably arising out of a careful
examination of the premises.

The organization of sound economic groups is a problem in the field of
social engineering. The preparation of the industrial populations for
economic self-government is a problem in the field of education. Both of
these problems lie at the root of any effective reorganization of the
world's economic affairs.

V. A WORLD PRODUCERS' FEDERATION

1. _World Outlook_

An organization of producers into groups corresponding with their
occupations lays the basis for world thinking and world federation. Each
active member of society would then be directly associated with a group
that was world wide in its scope, so that transport workers, miners,
farmers and other producers would be in constant touch with similarly
occupied men and women on every continent.

One of the principal disadvantages of the present organization of
society is the sectionalism arising out of the political divisions
established by national boundary lines. In a world where all of the
producers were organized along lines corresponding with their
occupations, sectionalism would have much less chance to play a role in
the lives of the people. To be sure issues would arise between the
various economic groups, but each individual would be affiliated with a
world organization, and the scope of his interests and of his thinking
would therefore be much broader than it is under the present system of
political divisions. World thoughts and world views on a hithert