If a nation is essentially disunited, it is left to the government to hold it
together. This increases the expense of government, and reduces
correspondingly the amount of economic resources that could be used for
developing the country. And it should not be forgotten how small those
resources are in a poor and backward country. Where the cost of government is
high, resources for development are correspondingly low.#
This may be illustrated by comparing the position of a nation with that of a
private business enterprise. An enterprise has to incur certain costs and
expenses in order to stay in business. For our purposes, we are concerned only
with one kind of cost - the cost of managing and administering the business.
Such administrative overheads in a business are analogous to the cost of
government in a nation. The administrative overheads of a business are low to
the extent that everyone working in the business can be trusted to behave in a
way that best promotes the interests of the firm. If they can each be trusted
to take such responsibilities and to exercise such initiative as falls within
their sphere, then administrative overheads will be low. It will be low
because it will be necessary to have only one man looking after each job,
without having another man to check upon what he is doing, keep him in line,
and report on him to someone else. But if no one can be trusted to act in a
loyal and responsible manner towards his job, then the business will require
armies of administrators, checkers, and foremen and administrative overheads
will rise correspondingly. As administrative overheads rise, so the earnings
of the business after meeting the expense of administration, will fall; and
the business will have less money to distribute as dividends or invest
directly in its future progress and development.#
It is precisely the same with a nation. To the extent that the people can be
relied upon to behave in a loyal and responsible manner, the government does
not require armies of police and civil servants to keep them in order. But if
a nation is disunited, the government cannot be sure that the actions of the
people will be in the interests of the nation; and it will have to watch,
check, and control the people accordingly. A disunited nation therefore has to
incur unduly high costs of government.&