362 



CONSERVATION 



tion' and paving the way for 'the com- 

 ing slavery?' " 



However wise the men who have pro- 

 pounded these two sets of questions, the 

 questions themselves are by no means 

 profound. The opposing viewpoints 

 from which they proceed are ecjually 

 superficial. No one but the doctrinaire 

 nowadays insists either that the Gov- 

 ernment shall do everything in the field 

 of industry, or that it shall do nothing 

 at all. On the one hand, it is clear, as 

 set forth many years since in the En- 

 cyclopedia Britannica by a distinguished 

 British economist, that "out of the mere 

 conflict of private interests can never 

 come the well ordered commonwealth of 

 labor." Sore experience has taught the 

 civilized world that to leave all indus- 

 try to unregulated private activities 

 is to open a Pandora's box of ills. 

 On the other hand, no country, with 

 the possible exception of Ancient 

 Peru, has ever yet attempted the other 

 extreme of turning all industry over 

 to government; nor, so far as can be 

 judged, is any country likely soon, if 

 ever, to do so. 



In public afifairs, as in private, com- 

 mon sense exercises an influence 

 which, in the long run, usually proves 

 dominant. We now know that it does 

 not square with sound common sense 

 to leave individuals and corporations 

 to do absolutely as they please in busi- 

 ness. On the other hand, common 

 sense sees no reason for turning all 

 business over to government. In the 

 matter of irrigation, for example, the 

 reason for not doing so is clear, 

 We have an arid area which, not long 

 since, was greater than the entire Ro- 

 man Empire. Our Government is not 

 ready to undertake, alone, the task of 

 reclaiming this vast region. It has 

 not the funds available. There is not 

 the public demand that it shall per- 

 form the entire work. To be econom- 

 ical, its efforts must ordinarily be 

 conducted on a large scale. Yet op- 

 erations on a small scale are likewise 

 necessary. To handle these, individ- 

 uals and companies are often far bet- 

 ter adapted than is a great govern- 



ment. Again, governments are prov- 

 erbially slow of movement. While 

 they are merely pondering the ques- 

 tion of policy, and wondering whether 

 to strike out on a new line years may 

 elapse during which important inter- 

 ests will suffer. Individuals, how- 

 ever, if interested, can move quickly. 

 Under the joint stock system, to-day 

 so common, or under some form of 

 group cooperation, funds from many 

 sources can promptly be brought to- 

 gether into a single considerable fund, 

 and projects of appropriate magni- 

 tude launched and carried through to 

 success before government will have 

 even made up its mind whether to act 

 or not. 



In the present stage of industrial de- 

 velopment, and possibly for many 

 years to come, it seems probable that 

 the general good will be best served 

 through the participation in industry 

 of both private individuals and gov- 

 ernment. The two are complement- 

 ary. The one supplies the place which 

 the other leaves vacant. Each can 

 learn from the other and each can, in 

 some respects, stimulate the other to 

 good works. 



How far the present tendency to- 

 ward public ownership and adminis- 

 tration may be carried, and to what ex- 

 tent it will limit private initiative, it 

 may be difficult to forecast. Through- 

 out the world, an extraordinary drift 

 toward increase in governmental ac- 

 tivities is clearly discernible. Never- 

 theless, to infer that because govern- 

 ments are increasing their activities 

 they will continue to do so until they 

 have absorbed all industry is as logical 

 as to assume that, because one for a 

 time has been walking northwards, he 

 will not stop until he has reached the 

 north pole; or, because an infant is 

 growing, it must necessarily continue to 

 grow until it has exceeded the size of 

 the Brobdingnagians of Gulliver's 

 Travels. As stated, communities and 

 nations, like individuals, learn by ex- 

 perience. Experience has taught the 

 civilized world that government must 

 go into business in certain fields for 



