Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/56

 must be co-ordination if we are to keep men hopeful, and ensure the steady forward and mounting path of which democracy dreams,—but the resultant will probably be a curve, not a straight line.

Let us take first the most characteristic individual factors, which, for the sake of argument, may be termed vertical, and later consider the community factors, which we shall regard as horizontal. As stated before, the logical interest of the individual is the value arising from effort; and the logical concern of the community is the provision of such order as will encourage this effort.

First.&emsp;Owing to the instinct of self-preservation, which is our first and last impulsive clutch at individuality, there was developed in man the faculty of foresight, arising from the natural desire for that assurance of continuing freedom which we call security. The desire of self-preservation lies at the base of all our motives, even though in its simpler forms it is not our most picturesque motive. Without its assurance, however, the successive motives do not come logically into play.

Second.&emsp;This desire of security, or the continued assurance of freedom, is the prime motive of extra-effort, self-denial, thrift and less worthy striving, and, if permitted by the community, leads to the accretion of capital, or stored effort, to guard against the uncertain future.

Third.&emsp;In spite of the existence in the system of money, the conventional token of arbitrary value, and its momentary acceptance as a guarantee of freedom, nevertheless, the individual control of land-area has consistently been regarded as the only valid assurance of continued individual freedom, even in the face of predatory taxation. This instinctive economic wisdom is the basis of the peasant’s “land-hunger” and has been bred in his bone.