Excerpt from Coal Iron and War: A Study in Industrialism Past and Future
Since our existing differences, both within the nation and between the nations, are based largely upon different interpretations of actual facts, there is always the difficulty that discussion of political, social or industrial movements or conditions may be biassed, in one way or another, by the underlying beliefs of the investigator. This is notably true with regard to current discussions of the growth and status and future of the existing industrial system; for here we meet with very great differences both of interpretation and of opinion.
Among critics of existing conditions - and most of the contributions of to-day are essentially critical - there is a general tendency to start with certain assumptions as to the righteousness or wickedness of private property, of individual capitalism, of protection or free trade, of competition or of government regulation, and of all the other basal factors involved in the matter. Starting in this way, there is in many cases the additional tendency to look upon industrial growth as a matter largely under human and personal control, and hence one which can be praised or blamed from a purely ethical point of view.
As a matter of fact, in dealing with the industrial development of any country, we are considering a phenomenon which I is to a very large extent a phase of purely natural evolution; and any discussion which lays undue stress upon either personal or racial factors must be regarded as being historically defective. The results of the broader industrial changes may be good or bad for the community, but they are rarely if ever due to conscious and intentional planning or direction.
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