The Germany of the Hohenzollerns had its mortal wound at the Marne; the Germany we fight to-day is the Germany of Krupp and Ostwald.  It is merely as if she had put aside a mask that had blinded her.  She was methodical and civilised except for her head and aim; she will become entirely methodical.  But the Britain and Russia and France she fights are lands full of the spirit of undefined novelty.  They are being made over far more completely.  They are being made over, not in spite of the war, but because of the war.  Only by being made over can they win the war.  And if they do not win the war, then they are bound to be made over.  They are not merely putting aside old things, but they are forming and organising within themselves new structures, new and more efficient relationships, that will last far beyond the still remote peace settlement.

What this war has brought home to the consciousness of every intelligent man outside the German system, with such thoroughness as whole generations of discussion and peace experience could never have achieved, is a double lesson:  that Germany had already gone far to master when she blundered into the war; firstly, the waste and dangers of individualism, and, secondly, the imperative necessity of scientific method in public affairs.  The waste and dangers of individualism have had a whole series of striking exemplifications both in Europe and America since the war began.  Were there such a thing as a Socialist propaganda in existence, were the so-called socialistic organisations anything better than a shabby little back-door into contemporary politics, those demonstrations would be hammering at the mind of everyone.  It may be interesting to recapitulate some of the most salient instances.

The best illustration, perhaps, of the waste that arises out of individualism is to be found in the extreme dislocation of the privately owned transit services of Great Britain at the present time.  There is no essential reason whatever why food and fuel in Great Britain should be considerably dearer than they are under peace conditions.  Just the same home areas are under cultivation, just the same foreign resources are available; indeed, more foreign supplies are available because we have intercepted those that under normal conditions would have gone to Germany.  The submarine blockade of Britain is now a negligible factor in this question.

Despite these patent conditions there has been, and is, a steady increase in the cost of provisions, coal, and every sort of necessity.  This increase means an increase in the cost of production of many commodities, and so contributes again to the general scarcity.  This is the domestic aspect of a difficulty that has also its military side.  It is not sufficient merely to make munitions; they must also be delivered, Great Britain is suffering very seriously from congestion of the railways.  She suffers both in social and military efficiency, and she is so suffering because her railways, instead of being planned as one great and simple national distributing system, have grown up under conditions of clumsy, dividend-seeking competition.