12. Return of the Hydra

CHAPTER 12 RETURN OF THE HYDRA There are a number of superior works in existence treat ing with the economics of socialism. Since this book does not purport to be primarily either an economic study or an argu ment in support of freedom in the economic. field, the area has been vacated in favor of other works. Economics has been touched upon only briefly in preceding chapters. In summation of the economic syllogism, it is sufficient if we merely em phasize that man does not produce without incentive, and 284 - THIS BREAD IS MINE that the hope and expectation of gain is a far stronger incentive than the fear of punishment or death. The free market gives us the first incentive; socialism, when it is politically activated, gives us the second. If social ism is attempted sans political means, we have a relatively harmless form of voluntary share-the-wealth and share-the poverty. From the standpoint of production, even though the association may be voluntary, it is not conducive of the most pleasing results. When individuals herd together, the tend ency is for no one of the herd to exert himself unduly. It is only when private ownership is implicit and when rewards are commensurate with effort· expended, that superior effort will be made ..Life on this planet requires superior effort. Survival may be possible without superior effort, but mere subsistence and true progress are scarcely comparable conditions.

A sound argument can be made in the economic field to abandon sharing as a principle, and rely upon individual free dom and individual effort. This, properly, should be the subject of another work or, better yet, of other authors.

RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 285 Recommended Studies The reader is referred to such splendid contemporary works as "Human Action" by Ludwig von Mises, and his "Planned Chaos," "Socialism" and "The Anti-Capitalistic Men tality." Additional support for the free enterprise position can be found in William Paton's "Shirtsleeve Economics," Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson," and F. A. Harper's "Liberty-A Path To Its Recovery" and "Why Wages Rise." It remains for us then to examine the nature of political action or political force, and to recognize that whatever its character and however it is formed, an artificial government is an instrument of political force and coercoin. But now we must ask the question: Is a use of force in evitably a violation of moral law? The answer appears to be it is not. It is not possible to believe in private ownership with out endowing the owner of private property with a right to protect that which is his. All persons would have this right in equal amount. All persons have a right to protect and defend their own lives and their own property.

286-THIS BREAD IS MINE It is not force, per se, that is immoral. It is force used aggressively that is immoral. The individual who employs de fensive force is well within his moral rights. In other words, the· use of violence is only justifiable on moral grounds when the violence is employed to meet and to cope with a priori vio lence. The aggressor cannot justify his action; the defender can. But the answer requires a most careful splitting of hairs. This is most treacherous ground on which to stand for it is almost impossible to draw the line between the two types of force, although in the abstract they. can readily be discerned. By a definitive process, it would be possible to draw a line and to insist that when force is used by one to cross that line, the action is aggressive and that when the victim counters with force which hurls the attacker back to the line and no fur ther, then defensive force has come into play. But by the same process, if the defender in· turn crosses the line in an effort to put down aggression, he is himself committing it. The dilemma which follows any effort to discover when defensive force becomes aggressive, or when aggression becomes defense, is profound and extensive.

RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 287 Here are two men. One calls the other an unpleasant name. The second retaliates in kind. The first issues a threat of violence. The second presents an even more wicked threat. The first shakes his fist. The second stoops to pick up a stone. The first grabs a stick. The second throws the stone but misses, in tentionally. The first swings his stick and connects with the second's head, unintentionally. The violence is now joined. Will someone kindly draw the line that separates defensive from aggressive force in this hypothetical illustration? Only in theory can we argue about such niceties. In prac tice, force is force. Now, in theory, if we can determine who started the aggression we can justify the defense. In practice, there are no aggressors. In warfare every hostile act is re taliatory. A useful illustration of aggressive and defensive force in contrast, is provided by the well-known "Merchant of Venice"

by William Shakespeare. Antonio, the merchant, is in desperate straits for ready cash. He borrows from Shylock the sum of 3,000 ducats, on a ninety-day note. The note is secured not. in 288 - THIS BREAD IS MINE the normal manner but by a grant to Shylock of the privilege of cutting off a pound of flesh from over Antonio's heart in the event the note is not paid in full on or before the due date. Essentially, the contract, though unusual, is voluntary on both sides. No one compels Antonio to borrow the money. No one compels him to agree to such bizarre terms. No one com pels Shylock to lend the money. The two men are each serving their own interests and the relationship thus far is wholly within the confines of the market place. But as sometimes occurs, Antonio is unable to meet the obligation within the time specified and Shylock is thus in a position to collect his bond of a pound of flesh.

The situation has now developed to a point where aggres sion is inevitable. Either Shylock will collect - his contractual privilege - and in the process commit a physical act of assault upon his debtor, or Antonio ·will take steps to prevent the collection, thereby violating Shylock's contractual prerogatives. Shakespeare solves the problem by suggesting in Portia's speech that there is a higher law than simple contractual justice, RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 289 namely, mercy. At this point Shylock abandons the part of vil lainy and says that he will now be happy with the money and will not press the enactment of the forfeiture clause in the bond. Shakespeare might have contented himself with this, causing Antonio to pay the loan, and all might have ended on a harmonious note. But Shakespeare had to carry the villainy all the way. Therefore, he has Portia play the part of a Daniel backed by lex talionis.

It now seems that in spite of the fact that the original bond was voluntarily joined on both sides, it can be construed as representing a plot on Shylock's part to take the life of An tonio. In anyplace but a stage courtroom, this would be ab surd, since Shylock, though he may have hated Antonio, could scarcely be devious in an open, voluntary agreement. Both ran a risk, the one with the loss of his money, the other with the loss of his life. But, since this is high drama, the audience, cheated of a chance to see Antonio's blood, at least expects the next best thing. Therefore, Shylock is ruined by the court, his goods and 290-THIS BREAD IS MINE wealth forfeited, and Antonio, who actually does owe the money, is excused from paying it. This is aggression and vio lence against Shylock, but the audience loves it and will join in cheering when the luckless loan shark is driven to suicide.

Some veterans of the theatre say that their sympathies have always been with Shylock. Good for them. Shakespeare did not write the play that way nor intend that it be so interpreted. Assuming a situation in real life wherein a merchant was in desperate circumstances for a loan, if he had the necessary security he could pledge it against his borrowings. And in the event· of default, his securities would be forfeited and no ag gression .would have occurred at all. Thus, by means of Shylock's call to enforce his contract, we should learn that when defense exceeds the requirements of justice, it may in tum become aggression. Aggression and Defense The problem is in discovering that somewhat mystic line of demarcation between defense and aggression. If someone RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 291 attempts to knock you down, clearly you have a right to pre vent him from doing so. But you would have no right to shoot him. To return an aggressive assault which we might arbitrarily assess as containing 10 ergs of energy, with a defense move containing 100 ergs of energy, would cause the defense to be come offense by 90 ergs.

So we are left with the moral conviction that we have a right to defend ourselves, but we face the practical fact that such defense, unless precisely controlled and limited, may constitute a use of aggressive force. The use of aggressive force constitutes an immoral action. The use of defensive force can be justified on moral grounds. But the problem of defining objectively the difference between aggressive and defensive force in each instance is thus far beyond our powers of scientific measurement. But let us continue in the moral vein. Whether or not we can always delineate defensive force, the fact would remain that man should have a right to defend himself and it would appear that he .equally has a right to· select his weapons of 292 - THIS BREAD IS MINE defense. Thus, in this theory, no weapon is barred the de fender. He may use any weapon at all-guns or other instru ments. of killing; lying, cheating or deceit; or he could even use the ballot box and socialistic devices for the purpose of defeat ing a political program which he deemed harmful to him. Of course, since the defender has a right to select his own wea pons of defense, he might elect to employ no weapon at all.

But this is another story. It might be proper to inquire whether the use of such defensive weapons as lies, theft and killing can be justified morally at all. Even though it is morally right to defend one's self, it is possible that the use of the weapons of defense may have a destructive result upon the character of the person who employs such weapons. Actually, it is difficult to hold a man in high esteem who lies to protect himself. It may be that at income tax time many people do this very thing and justify it, too. But practice with any weapon tends to create skill in the use of the weapon. And the killer who employs a gun in his own defense, not infrequently perishes by his own device.

RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 293 Whether or not he dies under arms, the use of a gun for de fense tends to make him skillful with the weapon; the use of a lie for his own defense tends to make him a skillful liar; and the use of cheating or deceit in his own defense tends to make him a skillful cheat. Once a skill is acquired, it is increasingly difficult not to employ the skill in areas other than defense. The problem mounts. Weare concerned fundamentally with socialism. And the problem of socialism is condensed to read that socialism poses an economic threat of universal sharing brought on by the coercion and violenc~ of government, which can and does compel such sharing. To combat this threat, which would not exist were it not for governmental participation, thousands of persons have endeavored to band together to take political action. Essentially, their position is one of defense, and hence can be justified on moral grounds. The socialist, to the person who believes in the sanctity of private ownership, is a thief. The practical problem, 294 - THIS BREAD IS MINE then, is: How can the pro-private ownership group combat the political intrigue of the Fabians and Marxists without employ ing political intrigue as a defensive weapon? Many thousands feel that to avoid political intrigue as a defensive weapon would be tantamount to surrender. And surely, even at this late date, surrender is unthinkable.

It is possible to advance a moral argument against the use of political intrigue. But since the individualist is committed to the rights of private ownership and of self-defense, such an argument would be most difficult for him to marshal. Rather than advancing a moral argument here, let us content our selves with an ·argument based upon practical deductions. Surely,· few will seek to claim that an unwillingness to em ploy political intrigue is immoral. Let us view political intrigue outside the moral theater. Let us view it not as either moral or immoral, but rather as it mayor may not affect the prac tical results of the conflict between the individualist and the socialist.

RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 295 Seeking a Solution Let us open this part of our study by reviewing the fact that politically speaking, our major danger comes from the Fabian approach. We do not have to concern ourselves with anarchy. The anarchist, though he is economically ignorant and wishes a shared abundance and poverty, is not one who seeks to employ politics for his own ends. Rather, he is a political individualist, seeking to minimize, reduce or even to do away with government. The Marxian approach, we will recall, centers on revolu tionary devices to overthrow existing social conditions and intends replacing existing government by a type of democratic regime which theoretically is responsive to the will of the proletariat. But Marxism is not nearly so potent a threat as is supposed in many places. To begin with, it is too violent, too militant to awaken wide support. Most people are not revolu tionists. Most people wish to make their own way in peace without participating in street fighting, picketing and cloak 296 - THIS BREAD IS MINE and dagger work. Further, one can count on the officials in almost any government banding together to put' down revolt against that government.

There may be traitors who arise from time to time within the framework of a specific government who seek to cause its overthrow. But simple selfpreservation will usually spur the non-traitors in that same government to coalesce their ener gies, to enact whatever laws are needful, to arm themselves if necessary, and to oust the villainous subverters. Should they fail to take these steps they have only themselves to blame, for the power is in their hands to accomplish such an objective. Our problem relates not to what they do in respect to traitors and subverters within their own ranks, but to the absolute necessity of retaining our rights and our property outside of the political framework. In short, government's prob lems of selfpreservation are and remain a problem within the government. The problem of the individual, which is also selfpreservation, is to insure that his government does not destroy his ability to preserve either his life or his property. ThereRETURN OF THE HYDRA-297 fore, there is an inevitable conflict, ordained by the laws of nature itself, between individuals outside of government who wish to survive and persons inside government who wish to maintain a given governmental framework and who prey upon the taxpayers outside of government to accomplish their end.

Marxism, which counts on this head-on collision between the ruling class and the proletariat, might be more of a threat than it is were it not that the socialists have found a better way than to rely upon the results of the collision. It is Fabian gradualism that is our central problem. For by the Fabian bridge to socialism, any enlargement in the size of government is a victory for socialism; any increase in taxa tion, any taking of property or the control of property, any subsidizing, any business operation by government - any of these steps advances the socialist Fabian toward his ultimate aim and objective. Therefore, from a practical point of view, the problem now comes into focus. Examples are available to illustrate, the dan ger of fighting Fabianism by means of politics.

298-THIS BREAD IS MINE You Can't Win for Losing It may be recalled that in 1958 during a particularly active three-month period, hosts of antisocialists wrote their gov ernment demanding a cut in taxes. This was one of'the heaviest inundations of mail the various Congressmen had ever received. So heavy did the mail become, in fact, that a measure was proposed which approved the hiring of an additional adminis trative assistant for each member of the lower House. Each administrative assistant was to earn $10,000 a year. Each had as his specific duty, the answering of the mail of the Congress men in whose office he was employed. The necessity for hiring the additional personnel was oc casioned by the demands of conservatives who wanted a cut in taxes. The result of the demand would have increased taxes by just short of $5,000,000per year to process the objec tions to higher taxes. The Hoover Commission performed herculean service dur ing the first and the second periods of its activity. The final report issued by the Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 299 indicated more than 70 per cent of the economy policies urged by this commission had been approved and made into law, either through legislative action or through executive action.

Certainly, Herbert Hoover's integrity and desire are not open to question. He and some 700 experts produced a series of recommendations which were published in an extensive library numbering more than three score volumes. In all, it took more than 5,800,000 words to explain and describe the research that went into this endeavor. The Hoover Commis sion was originally launched in 1947 and didn't wind up its affairs until the final report of the Citizens Committee in Oc tober of 1958. Thus, it served for eleven years. There are eight major contributions to economy in govern ment claimed by the committee. These are: 1. The Military Unification Act of 1949. 2. Creation of the General Services Agency which com bined four previous agencies. 3. Complete reorganization of the State Department in ternally.

300 - THIS BREAD IS MINE 4. Consolidation of the functions in a Labor Department of full Cabinet stature. 5. The end of political appointments in the corruption ridden Bureau of Internal Revenue, which now oper ates under the merit system. 6. Regrouping of welfare activities and the creation of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. 7. Separation of "hidden subsidies" from the payments for carriage of airline mail. 8. Elimination of much delay, waste and duplication in the Post Office. These are the claims to greatness of the Hoover workers. Again be it noted that these citizens labored diligently and earnestly to bring about economy, the elimination of waste and duplication of effort. In candor, however, let us admit the truth. The econ omies intelligently, even scientifically· determined by this dedicated group have not resulted in economy nor in a shrink ing in the size or the power of the general government. The record shows two things: RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 301 1) A major part of all recommendations were accepted and have been implemented; 2) Government size has continued to expand with each passing year, and taxes have continued to rise.

The Labor Department is now more efficient and costly than before. The Military Unification of the Armed Services has boosted our budget to an annual $40 billions from less than $30 billions when the commission began working. The new Cabinet Department of· Health, Education and Welfare is sponsoring some of the most enormous drives for spending and squandering ever sponsored in this nation. The Post Office has not unloaded its deficit and postal rates have been raised. In short, in the very areas where the Hoover Commission labored most ardently, growth and cost have increased. It seems that when a government agency is operated in a loose and wasteful manner, growth and extravagance are the rule. But when the agency is disciplined and streamlined,· while it may eliminate waste, it becomes more efficient, grows even more alarmingly, and requires even more money.

302 - THIS BREAD IS MINE One further illustration should serve. From the beginning of the "New Deal" under Roosevelt until it culminated in the political victory of 1952t the Republicans labored valiantly to stem the tide of socialism which had obviously penetrated the ranks of the party of Jefferson. But when Mr. Eisenhower went to the White House, the only noticeable change in the political climate was that the socialism which had permeated the Republican camp then became visible. There has been no appreciable change in political direction since 1932. In point of fact, there has been no change in political di rection since 1789. Even Jefferson cried out against the manner in which the federal powers were enlarging and the presumed safeguards of state sovereignty were being undermined. "But the federal branch has assumed in some cases, and claimed in others, a right of enlarging its own powers .... re tained to the independent branches, mere interpolations into the compact, and direct infractions of it." (Solemn declaration and protest of the .Commonwealth of Virginia, written by Jefferson, on the principles of the Constitution of the United RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 303 States of America, and the violations of them, December, 1825.

"The Complete Jefferson," Tudor Publishing Co., N. Y.) The business of politics has been the single business in the United States which, from the inception of the nation, has never truly experienced a depression. Though there have been periods of relative calm, the government in the main has con tinued to grow larger and more costly with each passing year. Enlargement Inevitable This growth has been contrary to the intentions and the wishes of great numbers of people in this nation. Even those who vote in such a manner that they oppose an enlargement of government, inadvertently assist in enlarging it anyway, on the simple basis that their own participation makes the gov ernment that much more important· and that much more costly, whatever the result of any particular election. We are faced with the problem that confronted Hercules in his twelve labors. Sent to the marshes of Lerna. by Argos, Hercules was required to slay the nine-headed hydra. His prob304-THIS BREAD IS MINE lem almost got the better of him, for every time he cut off a head, two more grew in its place. Hercules, with the assistance of Iolaus, finally figured out what to do. Cutting off a head was not sufficient. The roots had to be burned out. And then, since one head was immortal and couldn't be slain, they buried that one under a rock.

So, if we may compare the American political scene to the labors of Hercules, it could be suggested that our problem is not simply to vote against socialism, but to burn out the roots. And should it prove that one of the heads of the monster is immortal, a rock must be found under which to bury it. At the moment, every time we seek to lop off one of the heads of our own governmental hydra, two more grow in its stead. Clearly, the reason for this is that we imagine that by employing the socialism of government against some particular kind of socialism being· advocated by government, ·we can eliminate socialism. Clearly, we cannot. So long as we employ the weapon of government to perform services for us, we will have to pay for the use of that weapon.

RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 305 The only course open to us relates to the socialism within each of us. Since each one of us controls his own energy and cannot possibly control the energy of any other human being, it is futile to organize to fight socialism. Organization of this kind creates a social unit and tends to nullify the effectiveness • of the individual. One can scarcely oppose collectivism by embracing col lectivism. Yet the collective can never conquer the individual for the simple reason that nature has seen to it that only in dividuals can control their own energy. Our problem, then, begins and ends with ourselves and not with government. The process is one which involves education and not elections, as Plato properly saw, although he was look ing in an opposite direction. If each of us can elevate our own minds; if each of us can discipline our own· desires; if each of us can extend maximum efforts into the field of production and distribution; if each of us can practice freedom and support individualistic and capitalistic free enterprise, socialism will have no chance at all.

306-THIS BREAD IS MINE Socialism's big opportunity always comes when we as individuals give up the struggle and tum to the government to do things for us which we should properly do for ourselves. And at this point we will ask: What are the things that we should ask the government to do for us which we cannot do for ourselves? The answer is: NOTHING. Government has neither a mystic nor a magic power. It is simply a collective, a socialized group of men seeking equality, which is impossible, and endeavoring to control individuals which is also impossible. The dedicated individualist will examine himself and seek to control himself, fully. He will endeavor to weed out of his consciousness any feeling of defeatism, for it is defeatism which causes him to turn to the government for help. Turning Away from Socialism In other words, the dedicated individualist will be one who will turn away from government at every opportunity. He will not participate in political action. He will not attend mass meetings in an effort to elect some candidate. He will not write RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 307 letters to his Congressman. He will not beseech the govern ment, either for aid or for an end to aid. Each time he turns to government, even for a conservative desire, the government grows larger under the pleasure of his attention.

The individualist will not listen to government officials speaking on radio, on television, nor read about these speeches in newspapers. He will busy himself with enterprise and con centrate upon his own business, profession, vocation and avo cation. Most of all, he will endeavor to weed out traces of collectivism, socialism, dependency and similar shortcomings from his own character. Of course, the individualist knows that he cannot com pletely ignore government, even if he would. The government has the guns and will come upon him for tribute. The individ ualist will not imagine that he can lie or cheat his way out from under government domination. He will surrender to the government when he has to surrender. But he will not sur render beforehand. He.will, in every sense of the word known to him, be an individualist and not a socialist.

308 - THIS BREAD IS MINE Perhaps the best advice to individualists who wish to op pose the onward march of socialism under the guns of the government, is to be found in Ayn Rand's great book, "Atlas Shrugged." Although this work is in novel form, and conse quently is frequently spurned by serious students of liberty, it is possible that it may play a decisive part in the struggle against socialism. Miss Rand causes one of her leading charac ters to utter this telling statement, on page 479: ". . . I choose· to be consistent and I will obey you in the manner that you demand. Whatever you wish me to do, I will do it at the point of a gun. If you sentence me to jail, you will have to send armed men to carry me there - I will not volun teer to move. If you fine me, you will have to seize my prop erty to collect the fine - I will not volunteer to pay it. If you believe that you have the right to force me - use your guns openly. I will not help you to disguise the nature of your action."

The practical results of this type of resistance to govern ment coercion should be readily discernible. First. of all, so far RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 309 as the individual is concerned, it should mean a burst of new energy available to him for his own endeavor, whatever it is. If he minds his own business and avoids all political and govern mental activity of any kind or description within his power, he should go far. Nor should he wait to take this step for himself until he has assured himself that others, too, plan to take it. The true individualist does not concern himself with the affairs of others. But as the doctrine of individualism grows - as it must grow if the hydra of socialism is to be defeated - the govern mentalists will discover a strange phenomenon developing. Fewer and fewer people will interest themselves in political activity. Instead of an increase in letter writing to politicians, there will be a decrease. Thus, there will be reason to let go administrative assistants who will finally have nothing to do.

Instead of having more and more people voting on more and more issues, there will be fewer and fewer people voting, and, consequently, fewer issues. This is the only way, without a violent revolution, for the tide of socialism to be halted. And 310-THIS BREAD IS MINE there is no assurance that a violent revolution, even if successful, would halt the tide. In other words, the roots of socialism must be burned out. And the roots of socialism are in yOU. Compulsion or Cooperation Let us look at it this way for a moment. There are two great agencies in which men have learned to pool their energies for the accomplishment of major undertakings. These two agencies are: 1) government; 2) market place. All use of force comes from the government; all production, from the market place. Let us assume a society consisting of 100 persons, each of whom has ten units of energy. If 100 persons were free to pro duce, and if no force was exerted to prevent them from producing, this society could produce 1000 units of production.

This would be a society which would be using its maximum productive energy. Such a society would be producing at 100 percent of capacity.

RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 311 Let us now suppose the opposite. We will imagine a society consisting of the same number of persons, each of whom has ten units of energy. But this society will put all of its energy into government. It will concentrate on using force. How much production will occur in this society? The answer is zero production. However noble the members of this 100 percent governmental community might feel, they would all quickly starve to death. Men cannot live without produc tion. They can live very wen· without force. Now we get to the practical aspects of the matter. Produc tion is the important factor. Our concern is to find ways and means of coming as close as possible to 100 percent produc tivity. Anything less than 100 percent is a risk which lessens our chances both of survival and of civilization. Let us suppose this same society of 100 has 500 units of energy devoted to government and 500 devoted to production.

The units of energy devoted to government would be para .sitical in nature. They would consume only. The only thing they could consume would be the· production provided by the other 500 units.

312 - THIS BREAD IS MINE This society would destroy itself, though not as Tapidly as the 100 percent governmental society. There would not be enough production to keep both producers and government personnel alive. Survival becomes possible only in those societies where something more than 50 percent of all available energy is de voted to production. Thus, government must be reduced in size to less than 50 percent of the total amount of energy available. The point is made by Lewis C. Ord in his book, "Politics and Poverty" (Mayflower Publishing Company, Ltd., London - 1948). He is contrasting the Russian system, which relies so firmly upon government energy, with other systems not so relying. "Ultimately Russia would have been as completely equipped with the tools of industrial production as any other nation. When this had been accomplished in full, the failure of the great experiment could not have been concealed. As well equipped as any other nation, using large quantities and stand ardization in greater degree than anyone else, all industries RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 313 nationalized, using scientific management and planning by the state to their maximum extent, the workers of Russia would nevertheless have remained poorer than the workers of any other great industrial nation. That would have been the final, the inevitable result.

"That their efforts failed, is not the fault of the Russians. The bureaucracy that is government in Russia absorbs vast numbers. The bureaucracy they have made of industry absorbs more. Their security police requires immense numbers. Their fighting forces require many more. With all these calls on man and woman power, the percentage of the total popula tion in Russia left to do productive work is relatively small. It is the shortage of people left to do productive work that keeps the workers in Russia poor today. The same situation has developed to a less degree in other countries of Europe." The same situation now confronted the western world including America. If it intinges upon our lOO-unit society, the same result will manifest.

314-THIS BREAD IS MINE The margin of profit in a competitive market is so small, the dependence of productive expansion upon that narrow margin so great, I would like to hazard a guess that if more than five percent of a given society devote themselves to gov ernment, that society will begin to move down grade. Rather than stating such a conclusion categorically, I am going to say this. A primitive society, having a simple economy and using only a small amount of specialization, can afford to carry a fairly large bureaucratic overhead. While it is true that most primitive communities carry a small bureaucracy, there is such enormous waste of time, so much waste of energy in supersti tious observation, witchcraft, games, dances and the like, only a relatively small portion of the society's energy is ever ex pended in productive effort. When a society begins to advance, when specialization occurs and tools improve, the amount of wasted energy which is permissable begins to diminish. I submit that the more ad vanced the social structure, the less that structure can manage to survive the loss of energies misdirected into governmental RETURN OF THE HYDRA - 315 channels. When large amounts of available energy are so di rected, the society will begin to retrogress toa point equiva lent to its more primitive forebears.

A highly evolved social structure can only come about through the diminution of governmental energy. The highest and most perfect form would occur at that point where pro ductive energies achieved the 100 percent mark, and the gov ernmental energies to be wasted reached zero.