fy it, has unquestionably a large measure of truth,
and the explanation is not difficult to discover. For the wise taking
of risks in industrial development of an experimental character,
peculiar conditions and special qualities are required. First, it is
necessary to envisage distinctly the promising though risky
opportunity, and this calls not infrequently for imagination of a none
too common order. Then it must be studied with insight and expert
knowledge and weighed by processes which are as much intuitive as
intellectual. The reasons for or against taking a particular business
risk are seldom such as can adequately be expressed in terms of
arithmetic, or even by clear arguments the soundness of which is
proportioned to their logical cogency. The mysterious faculty of
judgment enters in; and from mental processes which defy analysis
there emerge ultimately conviction and the will to act. But it is
precisely here that Government Departments are apt to fail. It is here
that the individual, who need consult no one but himself, has a pull
over any form of organization, where decisions are reached by the
method of debate and agreement among a heterogeneous committee. Hence
it is that we have come to regard exceptional risk-taking as the
peculiar province of individual enterprise. It is probable that these
deficiencies of corporate organization are tending to diminish, and it
is an interesting question how far it may be found possible to
eliminate them in the future.

Meanwhile the above considerations have an important bearing on the
rewards which can often be obtained from risky enterprises. The number
of individuals who are in a position to envisage a business
opportunity, and to assess with some confidence the chances of success
and failure is very limited. Not only must they possess special
knowledge, ability, imagination, confidence in their own judgment, and
the capacity to act on it; they must also have at their disposal
considerable financial resources. To combine all these advantages
represents a union of circumstances which is distinctly rare. The
fortunate few, who do combine them, are thus generally able to extract
in the form of profits a high price for their services, a price which
covers not only the strict reward of risk-bearing, and the necessary
remuneration of their own service, but a handsome payment for the
special qualities and advantages which have been indicated. Profits,
moreover, may vary betwe