Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/195

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and consumer, which is problematical, would it make up for the loss of the old freedom to make mistakes in our own way and so attain to that development which is only possible to those who have a chance of doing and being wrong? To quote Mr. Stirling Taylor again: "Doing the wrong thing ourselves is often more stimulating than doing the right thing because somebody else orders it." To have all the pitfalls of life filled in and fenced off by bureaucratic efficiency would make it a very comfortable proceeding perhaps, but as exhilarating and stimulating as a journey through a tunnel in a Pullman car. If it were the only possible cure for destitution, then perhaps nine-tenths of us might submit to it, with resignation, in the interests of the now unfortunate tenth. But is there no other way of solving this terrible problem but by living in a society which at best would be a glorified and well-appointed workhouse? If there is any other way, surely those who believe that a sound and good people can only be made out of sound and good individuals, and that no individuals can learn to be sound and good except by facing life's problems for themselves, are entitled, and bound, to resist the regimentation and tyranny involved