Einstein’s indignant reply to the editor is amusing to modern scientific sensibilities, and suggests someone quite unfamiliar with peer review:
*Dear Sir,*
*We (Mr. Rosen and I) had sent you our manuscript for publication and had not authorized you to show it to specialists before it is printed. I see no reason to address the in any case erroneous comments of your anonymous expert. On the basis of this incident I prefer to publish the paper elsewhere.*
*Respectfully,*
*P.S. Mr. Rosen, who has left for the Soviet Union, has authorized me to represent him in this matter.*
Ability to copy papers
In short Editors could no longer review on their own and could get other people to do it
Peer review is reliable
Discoveries almost destroyed by peer review The Philosophical Basis of Peer Review and the Suppression of Innovation | JAMA | JAMA Network
Peer review is how we determine what is right and wrong in science