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, ^ — 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,^ 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.^ 



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



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



