British War Administration Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from British War Administration This study of British War Administration by Professor Fairlie is one of a series of war studies organized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to lay a preliminary basis for future more thorough study of the effects of the war on economic and social life. It is hoped at some later time, after the distractions of the war are over, and the lives of men have returned to normal conditions, that we shall be able to measure more exactly and estimate more carefully the changes induced by the war in the administration of governments, and particularly the extent to which these changes are likely to be permanent. A superficial view and a hasty judgment would indicate that the world has taken great strides in the direction of state socialism. It is not surprising that the demand of the socialists for an extension of government activities in the sphere of economic life should be strengthened in war time by the added call of a large number of people who are impressed with the apparent efficiency of the management by government departments of certain industries for the purposes of the war. These new advocates of state socialism are not to be classed with what we may call professional socialists, but rather belong to that large class of the American people, to be found in a considerable number in any intelligent democracy, who are overimpressed with the temporary success of a new political or social experiment carried on under pretty definite conditions, with pretty definite ends in view. They forget that the economic and social life of the people is vastly more complex and difficult to adjust in normal times of peace activity than it is in time of war, when many of the ordinary industrial and commercial activities of the world are much reduced in scope and limited in number. Such people are impressed with the splendid success which the British Government has had in many of its wartime administrative expedients and organizations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.