ACTION OR INACTION 117 



cannot tolerate in this connection the argument that 

 any action of the State is so sure to be mistaken and to 

 he mismanaged in the actual undertaking that we had 

 better let things alone and trust to private enterprise. 

 The State may seem to have made blunders enough in 

 the conduct of the present war to justify such pessimism, 

 but it has been this very negation in the past of the duty 

 of forethought and the value of deliberate preparation 

 that has brought about our difficulties. We have trusted 

 to individual enterprise and self-interest as the only 

 principles of action ; let us at least acknowledge their 

 failure and resolve to take thought for the future. 



