© WILL-POWER IN BUSINESS
The question is—can an easy-going nation
bestir itself, and regain what it lost ? Can the
grandsons work as hard as the grandfathers ?
Can a new virile generation spring up, after
forty years of slackness ? Can Great Britain
once more become great, and lead the world,
not only in the art of living, but in the hard
pursuits of trade and commerce ?
Nooneknows. Thestruggleisnow onbetween
the energetic and the idle—between the com-
petent and the easy-going amateurs. This
struggle is going on in every town in Great
Britain—in almost every firm.

In all three political parties, weak-willed,
hesitating men are at the top. They yield to
the Bureaucracy, which has become since the
war almost unbeatable. They yield to pressure
from little groups of malcontents in Egypt and
India. They have allowed the Dominions to
cut loose and go their own way. The Empire
is now held together only by the white ribbon
of lovalty to the King.
We have become soft. We follow the line of
least resistance. Formerly, our usual policy
was to compromise, but to-day our policy is to
surrender.
After a war, the nation that wins usually
relaxes and becomes soft and easy-going. It
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