268 THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE ch.

and, above all, the unintelligibility of the European problems, is easily understood. No one can feel moreintensely than the writer how natural it is to retortto the folly and impracticability of the European statesmen,—Rot, then, in your own malice, and wewill go our way—■

Remote from Europe ; from her blasted hopes ;Her fields of carnage, and polluted air.

But if America recalls for a moment what Europe has meant to her and still means to her, whatEurope , the mother of art and of knowledge, in spiteof everything, still is and. still will be, will she notreject these counsels of indifference and isolation, andinterest herself in what may prove decisive issues forthe progress and civilisation of all mankind ?

Assuming then, if only to keep our hopes up, thatAmerica will be prepared to contribute to the processof building up the good forces of Europe , and willnot, having completed the destruction of an enemy,leave us to our misfortunes,—what form should heraid take ?

I do not propose to enter on details. But themain outlines of all schemes for an internationalloan are much the same. The countries in a posi-tion to lend assistance, the neutrals, the UnitedKingdom , and, for the greater portion of the sumrequired, the United States , must provide foreignpurchasing credits for all the belligerent countries ofcontinental Europe , allied and ex-enemy alike. The