cheap automobile. Others, by the exercise of restraint and by wise choices, make life rich and keep it wholesome.

Unsatisfied wants often lead to discontent. Discontent should make us work hard and spend our time economically. Many of the proverbs that you know express this ideal. Benjamin Franklin said, "It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright." Discontent loses its usefulness when it leads to unhappiness, for then one is not at his best. Happiness lies in achievement. Our needs and desires are the motive for the farms and the factories and all the busy industrial life you see about you.

We

Why We Have Government. We all naturally prefer life in a community to one apart from our fellows. protect the groups to which we belong as freely as we protect our own lives. The young men of all nations have ever stood ready to sacrifice their lives, if need be, to preserve the ideals of their country. Many, too, have given

Committee on Public Information. From U. & U., N. Y.

A BIG GUN OF THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE

The young men of the United States were quick to respond to the call to arms when our country entered the World War.

their lives for their church or for the well-being of their families. More important still, the normal individual gives freely of his time to the preservation and betterment of the groups which mean most to him.

One group toward which loyalty is ever displayed is one's country. The nation or the state is the normal outgrowth of social life. The state is an institution that is as natural and inevitable as the family, or the church, or the school.

AN OLD-FASHIONED TOLL GATE AND COVERED BRIDGE Many bridges were built by private capital and the owners were granted the right to charge toll for their use.

The will of the people in the nation finds expression through government. Through government we together decide what many of our most important group policies shall be, and through government we carry these out.

Civic Services. There are many services that can be provided collectively more cheaply than they can be provided individually. Among these services are good roads, post offices, sewers, libraries, museums, parks, and playgrounds. All these services contribute much to our needs and pleasures. We regard these aids as too important to be

left to the chance of private endeavor. We want them open to all on equal terms.

owners.

Roads once were private property to a large extent, and he who traveled on them had to pay toll to their private But not all could equally afford to pay toll. Moreover, there was no relation between the value of the load on a wagon and the size of the toll. For convenience and simplicity tolls had to

be levied on each person, or on each one-horse vehicle, or on each two-horse vehicle, or on each automobile. This virtually denied access of the poor to their market for goods of little worth. For the public good, roads were freed from tolls by the states and supported by taxation. A city without free streets is unthinkable.

It has long since been held unfair for private companies to have access to the

mail of private individuals.

THE POSTMAN

Hence the postal service is His salary is paid from taxes collected carried on by the governfrom all the people. ment. And the postal service aids us in countless ways to realize many of our needs and desires.

It is not to the interest of the public health that only those should have access to the sewers who can afford to pay for the service. When many people live close together, sewers are essential to public health. They must be provided as cheaply as possible and must be used by all. Hence they are built from taxes. And so with schools, and libraries, and museums, and parks, and playgrounds.

Not all of such aids are provided at public expense. Water, gas, electricity, and other services may be supplied by private companies. But these services are so important to those living in cities that the city, or the state, or the nation regulates the means, the quality, and the price of these services.

We work and save; but our work would be without avail if others could take the products of our toil for themselves without our consent. And we certainly would not save to supply our future wants if others could at will steal those savings. Hence also we have government to protect us. Other Aids to Our Needs and Pleasures. We aid ourselves, and others, to attain our needs and satisfy our pleasures, through institutions and organizations other than government. The home, the neighborhood, the school, the church, and numerous private organizations all combine to secure for us the elements of civic welfare. In later chapters we shall learn about the services of business, labor, and other industrial and civic organizations. Whatever the human need or desire, institutions and organizations arise to fulfil it. And of all these institutions or organizations, government is but one, though always one of the most important.

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION

1. Make a list of your wants which are satisfied only by the work of others.

2. Show how the Indians were fighting for their food supply in their wars with the white settlers.

3. Write a statement of the law of Malthus. Show the influence of this law in China; in India. Why has it not been felt in a similar way in England?

4. What changes in agriculture improve the prospect for ample food for our increasing population?

5. How do you benefit from the property owned by others?

6. "We save to spend." Illustrate.

7. What inventions lighten your father's work? your mother's work?

8. In what ways is man the most dangerous enemy men have? 9. Discuss the increasing advantages and opportunities in meeting human needs and desires due to the knowledge, invention, and use of the following:

(a) A club; a stone ax; a bow and arrow; a rifle.

(b) A cave; a hut; a log house; a stone house.

(c) A pack animal; a cart; a steam train; an automobile.

(d) A flat boat; a sail boat; a steam boat.

(e) Fire; coal; gas; electricity.

(f) Writing; printing; telephone; telegraph; wireless.

10. Read the description in Dickens' Christmas Carol of the home life of Bob Cratchit's family.

(a) What things could Bob Cratchit and his family enjoy that they did not pay for?

(b) Why was it possible for the Cratchits to have such a good time, in spite of the fact that they were compelled to roast their Christmas goose at the baker's because their own oven was too small and the goose smaller than might be desired?

11. Tell what each of the following does to help us satisfy our needs and desires.

Food: Farmer, baker, grocer, butcher, milkman, iceman.

Clothing: Farmer, manufacturer, merchant, tailor, dressmaker, shoemaker.

Shelter: Farmer, woodsman, manufacturer, plumber, painter, carpenter, bricklayer, stone mason.

Fuel: Miner, operator, coal retailer, wood dealer, gas manufacturer, gas company.

Health: Teacher, druggist, physician, school nurse, Red Cross nurse, social service worker.

12. Using the table on page 41, compare the tenure of homes in your state with that of other states, and of the United States as a whole, as to

(a) The percentage of families owning their own homes free of mortgages.

(b) The percentage of families with mortgaged homes.

(c) The percentage of families with rented homes.

Why does your state differ from others?

13. From what you have read in Chapter II explain what Theodore Roosevelt meant by the quotation that heads the chapter. In what way did he influence the moral and intellectual life of his fellowmen? How did he better the industrial life of America?