ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

236

they are most of them on ground with whichthey are unfamiliar. It is doubtful, neverthe-less, whether too much conservatism on thesematters and too little of the spirit of inquiry willredound, in the long run, to their peace or se-curity. Individualistic Capitalism in Englandhas come to the point when it can no longer de-pend on the momentum of mere expansion; andit must apply itself to the scientific task of im-proving the structure of its economic machine.

(iii) February 1927 1

The voices of our old friends the Bank chair-men herald the approach of spring. They havespoken this year—with the exception of SirHarry Goschen, who sees “no reason to be down-hearted,” and, as in former years, cannot “re-member a time when, throughout the industriesof the country, there was such a feeling of ex-pectation and, indeed, optimism”—in some-what chastened tones. Mr. Beaumont Peasehas done a useful service by publishing some im-portant figures analysing the business of LloydsBank, which inaugurate a new policy of givinginformation instead of withholding it. Mr.Walter Leaf made some sound observationson the tendency of business towards amalgama-tion and, at the same time, of shareholdingstowards diffusion, and on the necessity of theState taking some responsibility for guiding thisinevitable evolution along the right lines. But1 [After the Return to Gold.]