ABSTRACT
In the industrial sphere change succeeded change with unprecedented rapidity. The progress in technique was only surpassed by the progress in industrial organization, in inventions of new methods of specializing and coordinating processes, and of extending this specialization to the work of administration. The “ Devil “ of Parson Malthus was “ securely chained up out of sight” and even the unskilled labourer, whose degradation had been abysmal at the beginning of the century, shared the glory of the period in a rising standard of life. But whether this economic Liberalism was a law of Nature or no, it was not to share Nature’s longevity. The promise of a speedy millennium which it cherished in Victorian hearts remained unfulfilled; and capitalist undertaking was to inform the world rather rudely that it had not said its final word.
