THE CALL OF THE LAND 



into existence by mere notification. Loss of 

 initiative would be fatal to progress. We 

 could, indeed, no longer hold our own. 

 With all their rapacity and crimes captains 

 of industry are a colossal net good. Social 

 weal requires that they be curbed, not that 

 they be crushed. 



3. It would annihilate the power of this 

 nation to compete industrially or otherwise 

 with leading nations. Benjamin Kidd 

 rightly depicts how quickly a people which 

 conducts its life non-competitively must 

 drop behind such as continue under that 

 cruel but effective goad. On the nature and 

 amount of such loss people would differ. If 

 it meant merely lessened wealth or prestige 

 among the nations, not a few would con- 

 template it with some composure; but few 

 certainly would confront composedly the 

 likelihood of our becoming a vassal nation, 

 or of our absorption by Great Britain or the 

 German empire. 



4. It would subject society to a species of 

 mob rule at home. In what sense do we 

 believe in democracy? Not in the Athenian 



312 



