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 126 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

stituted. From this point of view rent is the price of labor substitutes (p. 121).

Dr. Patten reaches the climax of his philosophy of substitution when he says : " An increased power of substitution is the only remedy for an unequal distribution of wealth" (p. 140).

In the discussion of economic freedom with which Part II opens, Dr. Patten applies his philosophy of substitution, making the power of substitution the great factor in freedom, both of production and consumption.

Labor is free where there is a complete power of substitution. It is the doing or not doing, consuming or not consuming, being active or passive at will, being social or not social, that constitutes freedom (p. 152).

In his explanation of how the exploited in a society consent to the exploitation, Dr. Patten has recourse to the theory put forth in The Development of English Thought, that environments change rapidly, while codes of morality that is, customs, traditions, habits, laws, and institutions persist. Hence, motor reactions developed in one environment continue after the situation is so changed that other forms of activity would be more advantageous (p. 159).

The real source of exploitation lies, not in political causes nor in competi- tion, but in old traditions, habits, and prejudices. Had not antecedent con- ditions created contentment in bad environments, exploitation would be impossible in better situations (p. 162).

Exploitation, we are told, is, however, merely a necessary stage in social progress, rather than an enduring part of national life. This interpretation of the subject is certainly unique, but will hardly be universally accepted.

The next chapter, "Income as Increased by Adjustment," is per- haps the hardest reading in the book, while it is at the same time the most important to the sociologist in the discussion of the subject of impulse. The treatment is psychological and must be followed with the closest attention, or its fine points will escape the reader's notice. Dr. Patten himself tells us, on the fifth page of the chapter, after the word impulse has been used several times, that he has heretofore used the word in a way that suggests a variety of meanings, among which a common thought is apparently absent (p. 185). But the confusion is more apparent than real, he continues, and the thread of the argument, with a little care, can be followed. But without doubt more than "a little care" must be used to follow the discussion. Basing his argu- ment on Dr. Ward's philosophy of desire, which he does not seem to