THE END OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE

fluence over the minds of men, and, throughthem, the events of history. At any rate, theobvious scientific deficiencies of these twoschools greatly contributed to the prestigeand authority of nineteenth-century laissez-faire.

Nor has the most notable divergence intocentralised social action on a great scale—theconduct of the late war—encouraged re-formers or dispelled old-fashioned prejudices.There is much to be said, it is true, on bothsides. War experience in the organisation ofsocialised production has left some nearobservers optimistically anxious to repeat itin peace conditions. War socialism un-questionably achieved a production of wealthon a scale far greater than we ever knew inPeace , for though the goods and servicesdelivered were destined for immediate andfruitless extinction, none the less they werewealth. Nevertheless the dissipation of effortwas also prodigious, and the atmosphere ofwaste and not counting the cost was disgust-ing to any thrifty or provident spirit.

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