THE WAR AND INDIVIDUALISM 195 



inducements, and by officials frequently among the 

 humblest and least well-paid in the State. To ensure 

 a higher respect for law rather than for the legal 

 profession, it should not be so apt to shut up like a 

 steel trap to the humble wayfarer, and open of its 

 own accord to the gilded coach-and-four. 



In feudal times, again, vast powers and privileges 

 were acquired by territorial magnates in return for 

 the distinct duty of maintaining on their estates, in 

 times of peace, the people from whom, in times of 

 war, armies could be raised for the defence of the 

 realm and the king's external adventures. These 

 rights survive, but we do not now raise armies in 

 this manner. On the very lowest ground of expedi- 

 ency, and apart from ethical considerations altogether, 

 a State that calls on fit men to serve in time of war 

 must, in time of peace, provide conditions of existence 

 capable of producing an Ai instead of a 3 army. 



It is impossible to reconcile the cold, unrestricted 

 operation of soulless economic law, the beggar- 

 my-neighbour, devil-take-the-hindmost competitive 

 individualism associated with nineteenth - century 

 industrialism and commerce, with the supreme 

 socialism and self-sacrifice for the common weal 

 which is asked of a section of the population in time 

 of war. It seems impossible that we should say to 

 these men, "Good fellows! upon you has fallen the 

 nobler and better portion of sacrificing, for the 

 national good, that individualism which we prize so 

 highly as essential to efficiency, enterprise and 

 progress. At home we will carry on as usual and 

 expect to make fortunes, as individuals, out of the 

 nation's necessities. It is for you to display the 

 communal virtues of loyalty and devotion to the 

 common weal, which we personally loathe, abominate 

 and fear " ; at least, it is impossible to say so more 

 than once. 



