the other hand, the
invention turns out to be a failure, the wage-capital is wasted, and, so
far as the general welfare is concerned, the state might just as well
have thrown the whole of it into the sea. Since, then, the opportunities
which the state would have at its disposal, would consist at any moment
of a given amount of capital, and since any portion of this which was
used unsuccessfully would be lost, the number of opportunities which the
state could allocate to individuals would be limited, and each
opportunity which was wasted by one man would diminish the number that
could be placed at the disposal of others.

Now, any one who knows anything of human nature and actual life knows
this--that the number of men who firmly and passionately believe in the
value of their own inventions, or other industrial projects, is far in
excess of those whose ideas and projects have actually any value
whatsoever. When the _Great Eastern_, the largest ship of its time, had
been built on the Thames by the celebrated engineer Brunel, its
launching was attended with unforeseen and what seemed to be insuperable
difficulties. Mr. Brunel's descendants have, I believe, still in their
possession, a collection of drawings, sent him by a variety of
inventors, and representing all sorts of devices by which the launching
might be accomplished. All were, as the draughtsmanship was enough to
show, the work of men of high technical training; but the practical
suggestions embodied in one and all of them could not have been more
grotesque had they emanated from a home for madmen. To have given an
equality of opportunity to all this tribe of inventors of putting their
devices to the test would have probably cost more than the building of
the ship itself, and the ship at the end would have been stranded in the
dock still. This curious case is representative, and is sufficiently
illustrative of the fact that opportunity of this costly kind could be
conceded to a few only of those who would demand, and believe themselves
to deserve it; and the state, as the trustee of the public, would have,
unless it were prepared to ruin the nation, to be incomparably more
cautious than any private investor.[28]

Of the general doctrine, then, that the opportunities of all should be
equal, we may repeat that, as an abstract proposition, it is one which
could be contested by nobody; but we have seen that, when applied to
societies of unequal men, and to the vario