Front Matter

The Case for Capitalism

Hartley Withers

THE CASE FOR CAPITAIIISM j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j J THE CASE FOR CAPITALISM BY HARTLEY WITHERS AUTHOR OF •'THE MEANING OF MONEY," "POVERTY AND WASTE," ETC. "For men, and not walls, make a city." THUCYDIDES. NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & CO. 681' FIFTH AVENUE COPYRl~HT, 1920. By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY All ~ig"ts Reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE To make a better world we want better men and women. No reform of laws and institu .. tionsand .economic systems will bring it unless it produc'es them. Institutions and systems that turn men and' women into machines working under the control of officials or of monopolies will not make them better even if, as is very far from likely, they make them better off. It is only through facing life's problems {or ourselves, making our own mis takes and scoring our own hits, that we can train and hammer ourselves into something better. Individual freedom" initiative and enterprise, have been the life-blood of the Anglo-Saxon race and have made it what it is, pre..eminent among the races of the world because its m'en and women can think and act for themselves. If we throwaway this heri tage because we think that regulation and regimentation will serve us better, we shall do a bad day's work for ourselves and for human progress. And yet this seems to be the object v vi PREFACE to which many earnest and sincere reformers are now trying to lead uS,when they ask us to accept nationalization of industry or its organi zation under Guild monopolies, as a remedy for the evils which are evident in our economic system. If they succeed life will cease to be an adventure and become a drill; the· tendency to variation which, as science teaches us, is the secret of development, will be killed or checked, and .we shall be standardized, like Government boots.