relative pressure of the forces that urge to activity. Alike in mental
and in physical activity there is a union of all the causative
factors. In an act of the will impulse, feeling, and reflection all
have their part; in physical activity it is difficult to determine how
compelling is any one of the various forces, such as heredity and
environment, that enter into the decision.

6. =The Valuation of Social Activities.=--The importance to society of
all these activities is not to be measured by their scope or by their
vigor or volume, but by the efficiency with which they perform their
function, and the value of the end they serve. Domestic activities,
such as the care of children, may be restricted to the home, and a
woman's career may seem to be blighted thereby, but no more important
work can be accomplished than the proper training of the child.
Political activity may be national in scope, but if it is vitiated by
corrupt practices its value is greatly diminished. Certain activities
carry with them no important results, because they have no definite
function, but are sporadic and temporary, like the coming together of
groups in the city streets, mingling in momentary excitement and
dissolving as quickly.

The true valuation of activities is to be determined by their social
utility. The employment of working men in the brewing of beer or the
manufacture of chewing-gum may give large returns to an individual or
a corporation, but the social utility of such activity is small.
Business enterprise is naturally self-centred; the first interest of
every individual or group is self-preservation, and business must pay
for itself and produce a surplus for its owner or it is not worth
continuing from the economic standpoint; but a business enterprise
has no right selfishly to disregard the interests of its employees and
of the public. Its social value must be reckoned as small or great,
not by the amount of business carried on, but by its contribution to
human welfare.

Take a department store as an illustration. It may be highly
profitable to its owners, giving large returns on the investment,
while distributing cheap and defective goods and paying its employees
less than a decent living wage. Its value is to be determined as small
because its social utility is of little worth. When the value of
activity is estimated on this basis, it will be seen that among the
noblest activities are those of the philanthropist who gives