The attempt will be criticised, of course, as absolutely destructive of American economic efficiency and as wickedly unjust to individuals; and there will be, from the point of view of the critics, some truth in the criticism.

No such reorganization of our industrial methods could be effected without a prolonged period of agitation, which would undoubtedly injure the prosperity and unsettle the standing of the victims of the agitation; and no matter what the results of the agitation, there must be individual loss and suffering.
But there is a distinction to be made between industrial efficiency and business prosperity.

Americans have hitherto identified prosperity with a furious economic activity, and an ever-increasing economic product--regardless of genuine economy of production and any proper distribution of the fruits.

Unquestionably, the proposed reorganization of American industrial methods would for a while make many individual Americans less prosperous.

But it does not follow that the efficiency of the national economic organization need be compromised, because its fruits are differently distributed and are temporarily less abundant.
It is impossible to judge at present how far that efficiency depends upon the chance, which Americans have enjoyed, of appropriating far more money than they have earned, and far more than they can spend except either by squandering it or giving it away.