Page:Economic Development in Denmark Before and During the World War.djvu/13

Rh insecure unless something equivalent to the Supreme Economic Council survives in full efficiency. The agency that did so much to win the war may do as much to prevent another one, but to that end it will have to be guided by economic principles, and it is a saving fact that these still survive. The war has not abolished the law of demand and supply, though governments may forget it. In the coming era they must build better than they now know. Economic knowledge must either go in advance of action and prevent disaster or follow action and be learned from disaster. Beyond computation is the importance of attaining the knowledge and using it when evil impends and prevention is possible.

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September 27, 1920. POSTSCRIPT justice to the distinguished author of this work, it should be said that he completed it early in the year 1919, and that delays connected with the preparation of the English edition are mainly responsible for its late appearance. This will account for the fact that important events, such as the restoration of part of Sleswick to Denmark in 1920 and an interesting act on insurance against invalidity (May 1921), have not been mentioned. Moreover, in the interval since the manuscript was finished additional sources of information have been opened. The author, therefore, would gladly supplement the statements which this volume presents, although the trend of the evolution in Denmark described herein has not been essentially altered since the volume was written. But it seems best to issue it as it stands, complete as it well could be at the time when the manuscript was sent to America, and to leave for the future the task of presenting facts more recently made known.J. B. C. , September 1, 1921.