[Footnote: Cf. Carter L. Goodrich, The Frontier of
Control.] Some of these require no training; some require a little
training; others can be learned only in a lifetime. And the truly
discriminating program of industrial democratization would be one
based on the proper time sequence, so that the assumption of
responsibility would run parallel to a complementary program of
industrial training. The proposal for a sudden dictatorship of the
proletariat is an attempt to do away with the intervening time of
preparation; the resistance to all sharing of responsibility an
attempt to deny the alteration of human capacity in the course of
time. Primitive notions of democracy, such as rotation in office, and
contempt for the expert, are really nothing but the old myth that the
Goddess of Wisdom sprang mature and fully armed from the brow of Jove.
They assume that what it takes years to learn need not be learned at
all.
Whenever the phrase "backward people" is used as the basis of a
policy, the conception of time is a decisive element. The Covenant of
the League of Nations says, [Footnote: Article XIX.] for example, that
"the character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of
the development of the people," as well as on other grounds. Certain
communities, it asserts, "have reached a stage of development" where
their independence can be provisionally recognized, subject to advice
and assistance "until such time as they are able to stand alone.
Pages:
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161