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the former question is to be found in the fact that the great
business concerns as well as the smaller ones are all bound by
the limitations of the price system； which holds them to the
pursuit of a profitable price； not to the pursuit of gain in
terms of material goods。 Their vested rights are for the most
part carried as an overhead charge in terms of price and have to
be met in those terms； which will not allow an increase of net
production regardless of price。 The latter question will find its
answer in the well…known formula of the economists； that 〃human
wants are indefinitely extensible；〃 particularly as regards the
consumption of superfluities。 The free income which is
capitalised in the intangible assets of the vested interests goes
to support the well…to…do investors； who are for this reason
called the kept classes； and whose keep consists in an
indefinitely extensible consumption of superfluities。
Chapter 6
The Divine Right of Nations
This sinister fact is patent； that the great war has arisen
out of a fateful entanglement of national pretensions。 And it is
a fact scarcely less patent that this fateful status quo ante
arose out of the ordinary run of that system of law and custom
which has governed human intercourse among civilised nations in
our time。 The underlying principles of this system of law and
custom have continued to govern human intercourse under a new
order of material circumstances which has come into effect since
these principles were first installed。 These enlightened
principles that go to make up the modern point of view as regards
law and morals are of the eighteenth century； whereas the new
order in industry is of the twentieth； and between these two
dates lies an interval of unexampled change in the material
conditions of life。
To all this it will be said； of course； that warfare is not a
new invention； and that the national ambitions and animosities
out of which wars have always arisen are of older date than the
modern point of view and the machine industry； but it will also
not be denied that the great war which is now coming to a
provisional close is the largest and most atrocious epoch of
warfare known to history； and that it has； in point of fact；
arisen out of this status quo which has been created by these
enlightened principles of the modern point of view in working out
their consequences on the ground of the new order of industry。
The great war arose within that group of nations which have
the full use of the industrial arts； which conduct their business
and control their industries on the lines of these enlightened
principles of the eighteenth century； and whose national
ambitions and policies are guided by the preconceptions of
national self…determination and self…assertion which these modern
civilised peoples have habitually found to be good and valid。 The
group of belligerents has included primarily the great industrial
nations； and the outcome of the war is being decided by the
industrial superiority of the advanced industrial peoples。 A host
of slightly backward peoples backward in the industrial
respect have been drawn into this contest of the great powers；
but these have taken part only as interested outliers and as
auxiliaries to be drawn on at the discretion of the chief
belligerents。 It has been a contest of technological superiority
and industrial resources； and in the end the decision of it rests
with the greater aggregation of industrial forces。 Frightfulness
and warlike abandon and all the beastly devices of the heathen
have proved to be unavailing against the great industrial powers；
partly because these things do not enduringly serve the
technological needs of the contest； partly because they have run
counter to that massive drift of sentiment which animates the
great industrial peoples。
The center of the warlike disturbance has been the same as
the center of growth and diffusion of the new order of industry。
And in both respects； both as regards participation in the war
and as regards their share in the new order of industry； it is
not a question of geographical nearness to a geographical center；
but of industrial affiliation and technological maturity。 The
center of disturbance and participation is a center in the
technological respect； and in the end the battle goes to those
few great industrial peoples who are nearest； technologically
speaking； to the apex of growth of the new order。 These need be
superior in no other respect； the contest is decided on the
merits of the industrial arts。 And in this connection it may be
in place to call to mind again that the state of the industrial
arts is always a joint stock of knowledge and proficiency held；
exercised； augmented and carried forward by the industrial
community at large as a going concern。 What the war has
vindicated； hitherto； is the great efficiency of the mechanical
industry。
But the ambitions and animosities which precipitated this
contest； and which now stand ready to bring on a renewal of it in
due time； are not of the industrial order； and eminently not of
the new order of technology。 They have been more nearly bound up
with those principles of self…help that have stood over from the
recent past； from the time before the new order of industry came
into bearing。 And there is a curious parallel between the
consequences worked out by these principles in the economic
system within each of these nations； on the one hand； and in the
concert of nations； on the other hand。 Within the nation the
enlightened principles of self…help and free contract have given
rise to vested interests which control the industrial system for
their own use and thereby come in for a legal right to the
community's net output of product over cost。 Each of these vested
interests habitually aims to take over as much as it can of the
lucrative traffic that goes on and to get as much as it can out
of the traffic； at the cost of the rest of the community。 After
the same analogy； and by sanction of the same liberal principles；
the civilised nations； each and several； are vested with an
inalienable right of 〃self…determination〃； which being
interpreted means the self…aggrandisement of each and several at
the cost of the rest； by a reasonable use of force and fraud。 And
there has been； on the whole； no sense of shame or of moral
obliquity attaching to the use of so much force and fraud as the
traffic would bear； in this national enterprise of
self…aggrandisement。 Such has been use and wont among the
civilised nations。
Meantime the new order of industry has come into bearing；
with the result that any disturbance which is set afoot by any
one of these self…determining nations in pursuing its own ends is
sure to derange the conditions of life for all the others； just
so far as these others are bound up in the same comprehensive
organization of trade and industry。 Full and free
self…determination runs counter to the rule of Live and let live。
After the same fashion the businesslike manoeuvr