A B C of modern socialism

I2

treads on the corn on the little toe, the heart promptly demands functional harmony. Indeed, if the heart should chance to be weak, it might suffer severely.

Viewed in this light, we easily perceive an analogy between the biological and economic systems. To obtain the best results in either category, there must obviously be functional harmony, a knowledgeable correspondence amongst the parts, a common purpose. In this country the biological necessity of this is recognised by our expenditure of £500,000,000 a year to keep in good health.

And we spend ten times that amount to maintain functional discord in our economic system. Perhaps some day some philosopher will draw notable conclusions from our national habit of maintaining a sound body in unsound economic conditions. Also this curious fact: that we take endless trouble to maintain the sound working of the unseen functions and stupidly let the seen and more easily controlled functions in the body politic become jangled and out of tune.

Function in Industry

The meaning, then, of function in industry begins to see itself. Observe that it must be controlled or co-ordinated action, directed to the public weltare. Not action personal to the individual; perhaps, even, action detrimental to the general good. That is why the words ordinarily in use—such as trade, craft, vocation—do not yield the same meaning as function. They are personal; function implies that trades or crafts or vocations must be related