Behind these struggles between various political and economic groups, there is a broader reality in the shape of a billion and three quarters of people, inhabiting the surface of the earth,--people of various races, religions, nationalities, who, with all of their differences, have this in common: that they are seeking life, striving to improve the opportunities for its enjoyment, yearning for its enrichment, and, despite the innumerable disappointments which they have suffered in the past, willing to pay handsomely, in vast and patient effort for each tiny gain that they secure. One of the chief concerns of these human multitudes is the struggle for livelihood--for the means of continuing physical existence and of gaining the surplus and leisure out of which grow the higher life satisfactions. All men have certain simple economic needs--for food and shelter. Denied these, they perish. Given them, they are able to devote their remaining energies to one of the many lines of activity that men have developed. What are these other wants of men, aside from the primitive needs for food and shelter? Most prominent is the desire for human companionship, friendship, love. Again, mankind has accumulated a vast store of knowledge, of philosophy, of imagery, of artistic expression. Love, truth and beauty sound an appeal that finds some answering echo in each life. The leisure and the culture of the world, in the immediate past, have been the heritage of a favored few: to-day they are the objectives of the many. Heretofore it has been the belief of the aristocrats that the best of life was none too good for them. To-day that idea has spread among the people. Dimly, inarticulately, they feel that the world's advantages are for them and for their children. Before the cultural advantages of life may be enjoyed by the many, wealth must be produced in sufficient quantities to provide food and shelter. This provision of the economic necessaries is not a far goal. Livelihood, when secured, does not make of man either a saint or an artist, but it is a necessary step in the pursuit of either goodness or beauty. The body must be fed before it will function, just as the engine must be fed with fuel before it will run. The provision of a supply of economic essentials is not the ultimate object of life, but until some such provision is made, life in its fullest terms is impossible. 7. _Guaranteeing Livelihood_ The millions who inhabit the earth have a direct and immediate interest in organizing economic life in such a way that the supply of economic goods is made regular and certain. This is the premise on which all constructive thinking about economics is necessarily founded. How is this hope to be realized? What means are at hand to insure the ultimate success of these efforts to guarantee livelihood?