20 THE DECENTRALISATION 



were taught, for instance, that Hungary and 

 Russia are predestined by nature to grow 

 corn in order to feed the manufacturing coun- 

 tries ; that Britain had to provide the world- 

 market with cottons, iron goods, and coal ; 

 Belgium with woollen cloth ; and so on. Nay, 

 within each nation, each region had to have its 

 own speciality. So it has been for some time 

 since ; so it ought to remain. Fortunes have 

 been made in this way, and will continue to be 

 made in the same way. It being proclaimed that 

 the wealth of nations is measured by the amount 

 of profits made by the few, and that the largest 

 profits are made by means of a specialisation of 

 labour, the question was not conceived to exist 

 as to whether human beings would always sub- 

 mit to such a specialisation ; whether nations 

 could be specialised like isolated workmen. 

 The theory was good for to-day why should 

 we care for to-morrow ? To-morrow might bring 

 its own theory ! 



And so it did. The narrow conception of life 

 which consisted in thinking that profits are the 

 only leading motive of human society, and 

 the stubborn view which supposes that what 

 has existed yesterday would last for ever, 

 proved in disaccordance with the tendencies 

 of human life ; and life took another direction. 

 Nobody will deny the high pitch of production 



