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Chapter IV

The Means of Measurement

The earth on which we live has a richness in the way of differentiation of detail that has given rise to many scientific investigations; and yet when we come to study the phenomena arising from this differentiation we content ourselves with the knowledge that the earth in motion can be regarded as a self-contained unit by which we measure all phases of physical energy—volcanoes, torrents, tides, the slow movement of glaciers, the still slower changes due to sedimentation, and the effort of the horse to draw the plow.

In the same way, if we regard as economic unity, the total value of our national effort toward freedom and order, as modified by the resistances and facilities of the area in which this effort is exerted, and are large-minded enough to forget for a moment the hard-pan in a particular field, and the idiosyncrasies of some immediate neighbor, we can follow similar scientific procedure.

Driving constantly against the freedom which is defined by our national area, we have a stream of adverse factors,—asphyxiation, thirst, hunger, cold, dirt, disease, disorder, ignorance, ugliness, etc.—and this stream sweeps steadily downward toward misery and destruction. Against this merciless current we exert,—consciously and unconsciously, jointly and severally,—a countervailing series of efforts,—breathing, drinking, farming, building, sanitation, hygiene, co-ordination, education, art, etc. Owing to these countervailing efforts,—which are normally intensified as retrogression becomes obvious,—we are not swept to destruction, any more than our unanchored planet is sucked down into the flaming vortices of the sun. On the contrary, just as the earth is perpetually balked of its desire to come safely to rest, we are also balked of the vain hope of patenting our title to freedom. All the currents set too strongly in the other direction.

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