vii REMEDIES 251

the industrial population of her towns. But if thisview of nations and of their relation to one another isadopted by the democracies of Western Europe , andis financed by the United States , heaven help usall. If we aim deliberately at the impoverishmentof Central Europe , vengeance, I dare predict, willnot limp. Nothing can then delay for very longthat final civil war between the forces of Eeactionand the despairing convulsions of Revolution, beforewhich the horrors of the late German war will fadeinto nothing, and which will destroy, whoever isvictor, the civilisation and the progress of ourgeneration. Even though the result disappoint us,must we not base our actions on better expecta-tions, and believe that the prosperity and happinessof one country promotes that of others, that thesolidarity of man is not a fiction, and that nationscan still afford to treat other nations as fellow-creatures ?

Such changes as I have proposed above mightdo something appreciable to enable the industrialpopulations of Europe to continue to earn a liveli-hood. But they would not be enough by themselves.In particular, France would be a loser on paper (onpaper only, for she will never secure the actualfulfilment of her present claims), and an escape fromher embarrassments must be shown her in someother direction. I proceed, therefore, to proposals,first, for the adjustment of the claims of America