ue of
Nations will gradually be equalized, and tariffs will become things
of the past. "The axiom will be established," says Mr. Webb, "that the
resources of every country must, be held for the benefit not only of its
own people but of the world.... The world shortage will, for years to
come, make import duties look both oppressive and ridiculous."

So much may be said for the principle of Democratic Control. In spite of
all theoretical opposition, circumstances and evolution apparently point
to its establishment. A system that puts a premium on commercial greed
seems no longer possible.

The above comments, based on the drift of political practice during
the past decade and a half, may be taken for what they are worth.
Predictions are precarious. The average American will be inclined to
regard the program of the new British Labour Party as the embodiment of
what he vaguely calls Socialism, and to him the very word is repugnant.
Although he may never have heard of Marx, it is the Marxian conception
that comes to his mind, and this implies coercion, a government that
constantly interferes with his personal liberty, that compels him
to tasks for which he has no relish. But your American, and your
Englishman, for that matter, is inherently an individualist he wants as
little government as is compatible with any government at all. And the
descendants of the continental Europeans who flock to our shores
are Anglo-Saxonized, also become by environment and education
individualists. The great importance of preserving this individualism,
this spirit in our citizens of self-reliance, this suspicion against too
much interference with personal liberty, must at once be admitted. And
any scheme for a social order that tends to eliminate and destroy it
should by Americans be summarily rejected.

The question of supreme interest to us, therefore, is whether the
social order implied in the British program is mainly in the nature of
a development of, or a break with, the Anglo-Saxon democratic tradition.
The program is derived from an English source. It is based on what is
known as modern social science, which has as its ultimate sanction the
nature of the human mind as revealed by psychology. A consideration of
the principles underlying this proposed social order may prove that it
is essentially--if perhaps paradoxically--individualistic, a logical
evolution of institutions which had their origin in the Magna Charta.
Our Declaration