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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
In the foregoing chapters we have endeavoured to show how much interest, in the history of human civilisation, centres round the institution of property. Before attempting to apply our theory to the elucidation of the modern economic situation, it may be convenient to recapitulate some of the arguments that have gone before.
It is a fundamental condition of civilised life, that men must not consume the reward of their labour on the day on which it is earned. Civilisation postulates some certainty of maintenance and survival from day to day. This is assured to men by the practice of careful husbandry of resources, but even this would be of no avail, if the institution of property did not guarantee to the husbandman the enjoyment of his savings. Property, therefore, is a main condition of survival in civilised society. Religion and custom have assigned to it a dignity in proportion to its importance.
Further, not only is property a condition of survival, but it marks out for men a series of elementary responsibilities, if they would live according to the rules of civilised life.
(1) Individually, each man's survival depends on his own careful husbandry and thrift.
(2) Socially, also, man must regulate his numbers, and the disposition of his numbers, proportionately to property and to the economic surroundings of the time.
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