as a whole of having every branch of its labour directed by those men, and by those men only, whose ability would raise it to the highest pitch of efficiency, and cause it to produce only such goods and such quantities of them as would satisfy from moment to moment the needs and tastes of the population, would, under a regime of socialism, be even more general and immediate than it is at the present day; and yet at the same time, for reasons to which we will now return, the difficulty of securing the requisite ability would be increased.

It is impossible to illustrate in detail the situation which would thus arise; for the state, as sole capitalist and sole director of labour, is an institution which imaginably might take various forms; and socialists, in this case exhibiting a commendable prudence, have refrained from committing themselves to any detailed programme.  The socialistic state, however, having to perform a double function—­namely, that of political governor and universal director of industry—­would necessarily be divided into two distinct bodies.  One of these, consisting of statesmen and legislators, would, we may assume, be elected by the votes of the people.  But the other, consisting of industrial experts—­the inventors, the chemists, the electricians, the naval engineers, the organisers of labour—­might conceivably be in the first or the second of the two following positions:  They might either be left free, as they are under the existing system, to do severally the best they can, according to their own lights, in estimating what goods or services the population wants, and in satisfying these wants with such increasing economy that new goods and services might be continually added to the old.  They might be left free to promote or dismiss subordinates, to fill up vacancies, and take new men into partnership, very much as the heads of private firms do now.  Or else they might be liable, in greater or less degree, to removal or supersession, and interference with their technical operations, on the part of the political body, whose members, while representing the general ideas of the community, would presumably not be experts in the direction of its particular industries.

Now, let us suppose first that the official directors of labour are left practically free to follow their own devices.  The situation which will arise may be illustrated by the following imaginary case:  The nation, let us say, requires two sister ships.  They are built in different yards, under two different directors, and a thousand labourers are employed in the construction of each; but while the labourers who work under one director take a year to complete their task, those who work under the other complete theirs within ten months.  This would mean for the community that, through the inferiority of the former of these two officials, two months’ labour of the national shipwrights had been lost; and the public interest would require that the industrial regiment commanded