VII

REMEDIES

249

we avoid the perpetual friction and opportunity ofimproper pressure arising out of Treaty clauses whichare impossible of fulfilment, and we render unnecessarythe intolerable powers of the Reparation Commission.

By a moderation of the clauses relating directly orindirectly to coal, and by the exchange of iron ore, wepermit the continuance of Germany 's industrial life,and put limits on the loss of productivity which wouldbe brought about otherwise by the interference ofpolitical frontiers with the natural localisation of theiron and steel industry.

By the proposed Free Trade Union some partof the loss of organisation and economic efficiencymay be retrieved, which must otherwise result fromthe innumerable new political frontiers now createdbetween greedy, jealous, immature, and economicallyincomplete, nationalist States. Economic frontierswere tolerable so long as an immense territory wasincluded in a few great Empires; but they willnot be tolerable when the Empires of Germany ,Austria - Hungary, Russia, and Turkey have beenpartitioned between some twenty independentauthorities. A Free Trade Union, comprising thewhole of Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe ,Siberia, Turkey, and (I should hope) the UnitedKingdom, Egypt , and India, might do as much forthe peace and prosperity of the world as the Leagueof Nations itself. Belgium, Holland, Scandinavia ,and Switzerland might be expected to adhere to it