MAINSPRING OF HUMAN PROGRESS

I was very impressed by this book (published in 1947) regarding the free enterprise success of the United States. In addition to the review below, a point that stood out to me was the author’s recognition of the importance of abundant fossil fuel resources for continued success. In the years since its writing we have indeed increased our available energy supplies, and have also added other sources of energy. Plus I appreciated his mention of the importance of a moral code, personified by the Christian faith.

Book Review: The Mainspring of Human Progress by Henry Grady Weaver

                                      By William H. Peterson                  1997

“There can be no progress except through the more effective use of our individual energies.”

The emblazonment of this quotation on the front cover of the new edition of Henry Grady Weaver’s classic is timely; for the thought gets to the heart of the concept of methodological individualism. This is a counterpoint to the macroeconomic approach that requires national planners in Washington to manage our economy, which ignores the role of creative, risk-taking individuals who are the mainspring of human progress.

Henry Grady Weaver (1889–1949), a General Motors marketing executive who made the cover of Time in 1938, saw the role of the individual as central in American business. That role can be highly constructive, cautioned Weaver, only if two conditions are met—limited government and people who adhered to an ethical code.

He hailed the concept of natural law and extolled the Founders’ political structure because it “unleashed the creative energies of millions of men and women by leaving them free to work out their own affairs—not under the lash of coercive authority, but through voluntary cooperation and moral responsibility.”

That record would not have been possible, Weaver argues, without the basic legal framework of private-property rights and tightly constrained government. Nor would it have been possible without a moral framework of respect for the rights of others. Freedom cannot be separated from personal accountability. The Ten Commandments and the biblical injunctions against covetousness, and to “love thy neighbor as thyself” go far to explain the triumph of laissez-faire capitalism.

As Weaver wrote: “Your natural freedom—your control over your own life-energy—was born in you along with life itself. It is a part of life itself. No one can give it to you, nor can you give it to someone else. Nor can you hold any other person responsible for your acts. Control simply can’t be separated from responsibility; control is responsibility.”

Weaver came out strongly for “unplanned planning” as the secret of American economic success. Free men and women have the opportunity to live their lives, plan their own activity, work with one another, and pursue their own happiness— all without any overriding forced authority of government. Unplanned planning worked.

But Weaver is writing about much more than just the United States. What makes this book so powerful is its historical sweep. Progress occurs whenever you have the ingredients previously mentioned. Freedom has always and everywhere been the mainspring of human progress.