INVENTION AND PRODUCTION 263 



the wisest of English social philosophers have seen the inevitable 

 outcome of such commercial rivalry and have called their country- 

 men to rally to the industrial and political defence of their father- 

 land, 1 and these two are peculiarly linked in England. The 

 commercial rivalry between these two sovereign groups has 

 resulted in the development in each of a strong national con- 

 sciousness and in methods of education and social control having 

 as their aim the strengthening of the group and the securing of 

 greater efficiency and well-being among the people. The war has 

 called attention to various forms of waste of human energy, as 

 from the excessive use of alcohol, and thought is being given to 

 a solution of the problem. It is almost certain that one of the 

 results of this war will be to make acceptable to all western 

 nations a program of social control very similar to that outlined 

 by Professor Carver, 2 and if so, it will not take many years to 

 secure for the people of these nations a degree of well-being which 

 might not have come otherwise in centuries. Should the other 

 nations of Europe adopt a program of expansion like that of 

 Germany, the inter-group struggle will become as acute as 

 portrayed by our author and in that event the nation -with the 

 most efficient standard of living will win out. This, in the view 

 of our author, will probably be the basis of the final conflict. 2 



1 Cf. Pearson's, National Life from the Standpoint of Science. 

 * Essays, ch. X, " Constructive Democracy." 



