Page:Confessions of an Economic Heretic.djvu/142

 of labour conditions goes hand in hand with the expansion and improvement of the “social services,” both those which are directed to strengthening working-class family life and those which are more widely communist in character. It must, I think, be pretty clear that public aids in “social services,” for education, recreation, health, and pensions, once established, cannot be withdrawn, though their enlargement and improvement may be checked.

The humanist movement in economics thus interpreted fulfils two vital purposes. As a rectification of the disordered balance between production and consumption it makes for a fuller utilization of the productive resources of a nation and reduces that pressure for external markets, alike for trade and investment, which is seen to be a main stimulus to imperialism and international competition. A better and more equitable use of the national income is thus the most valuable of peace policies. Humanism within the nation makes for humanism in the world. While it is possible that this humanism in the economic sphere may be checked in a democratic country by a war emergency and a Fascist government, nothing short of a complete defeat and subjection to a foreign Power could prevent its revival and development. Thus we see that the old economic order of virtually free private enterprise has passed away. Alike in an oligarchy and a democracy the State’s relation with business has ceased to be the interference of an