… is from page 121 of the 1969 Arlington House edition of Ludwig von Mises’s 1944 Yale University Press book, Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War (available free-of-charge on-line here):
Now the greatest accomplishment of reason is the discovery of the advantages of social coöperation, and its corollary, the division of labor.
DBx: That modern society features specialized organizations and workers is clear to the naked eye. How this specialization emerges and serves the interests of everyone who is a part of it, however, is not remotely clear. Relatively few people ‘see’ how and why specialization works and why, in any group of people larger than a small band, the specialized tasks must be coordinated by a system of market prices, profits, and losses. The reasons for specialization, and the indispensability of market-determined prices, are not visible to the casual inspector. Reason – here, specifically, the economic way of thinking – is required.
