VII

REMEDIES

239

Europe. Those readers who, chiefly mindful of theBritish conditions with which they are familiar, areapt to indulge their optimism, and still more thosewhose immediate environment is American , mustcast their minds to Russia, Turkey, Hungary , orAustria , where the most dreadful material evilswhich men can suffer — famine, cold, disease, war,murder, and anarchy—are an actual present experi-ence, if they are to apprehend the character of themisfortunes against the further extension of whichit must surely be our duty to seek the remedy, ifthere is one.

What then is to be done ? The tentative sug-gestions of this chapter may appear to the readerinadequate. But the opportunity was missed atParis during the six months which followed theArmistice, and nothing we can do now can repairthe mischief wrought at that time. Great privationand great risks to society have become unavoidable.All that is now open to us is to re-direct, sofar as lies in our power, the fundamental economictendencies which underlie the events of the hour, sothat they promote the re-establishment of prosperityand order, instead of leading us deeper into mis-fortune.

We must first escape from the atmosphere andthe methods of Paris . Those who controlled theConference may bow before the' gusts of popularopinion, but they will never lead us out of our