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well as to show what I conceive to be the plain and irresistible logic of the principle itself.
That this purely economic point of view is fully justified is clear when we consider to how great an extent all social wants are material and can only be satisfied by the possession of material objects rendered useful by human labor. Such objects are "goods" in the economic sense. In societies at all advanced scarcely anything has value which does not belong to this class. It is true that air, water, and standing room are the primary essentials to existence, and if withdrawn would leave nothing to dispute about, so that the disputanda are exclusive of these. But these alone will not sustain life, so that they are not the only essentials. Since man emerged from his animal and most primitive human stages, his chief energies have been directed to the acquirement of these artificial goods.
There are some who will say that to civilized man the most important possessions are immaterial and spiritual, such as social position, the approbation of others, and lofty aspirations. Although we here abandon the domain of the essential social forces, still it may be answered that even these things almost wholly grow out of the other material class. One of the chief bases of social position is wealth, and nothing is so potent in securing the approbation of others as an ample supply of this world's goods. As for aspirations, what value have they to those who cannot satisfy them? For this there must be oppor- tunity, and opportunity to satisfy the highest aesthetic and intel- lectual yearnings comes through emancipation from physical toil and the possession of a sufficient amount of life's substantial gifts to insure leisure for the pursuit of ideals. Art cannot be prosecuted without not only time for prolonged unremunerative study, but also a fair supply of the material appliances necessary to aesthetic culture. In any purely intellectual pursuit books at least are always requisite, not to speak of the means implied in the preparation for a career, be it literary, professional, or scientific. Everything, therefore, seems to rest ultimately on an economic basis.
