Page:Confessions of an Economic Heretic.djvu/147

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tion between Socialism and individualism which will avoid the disastrous wastes and perils of class conflict and international strife that proceed from unregulated capitalism, may appear to denote a personal craving on my part for a justification of my economic heresies. How far such a criticism is justified I cannot, of course, be entitled to decide, having due regard to the psychological blindness which I attribute to every owner of an intellectual property. If there be such a definite movement, as I appear to find, towards the adoption of my most cherished theses, removing them from the category of heresies, I should naturally feel some exultation, or even exaltation. It is, therefore, inherently likely that I may be mistaken in my appraisal of the new trend in economics, But I think it likely that many will admit the disappearance of the competitive capitalism which prevailed throughout most of the nineteenth century, or will think unlikely a restoration of the private profiteering enterprise in industry and commerce which formed the basis of the economic science of that epoch.