VII

REMEDIES

277

compete with us for the produce of the New "World.The more successful we are in snapping economicrelations between Germany and Russia , the more weshall depress the level of our own economic standardsand increase the gravity of our own domesticproblems. This is to put the issue on its lowestgrounds. There are other arguments, which themost obtuse cannot ignore, against a policy ofspreading and encouraging further the economic ruinof great countries.

I see few signs of sudden or dramatic develop-ments anywhere. Riots and revolutions there maybe, but not such, at present, as to have fundamentalsignificance. Against political tyranny and injusticeRevolution is a weapon. But what counsels of hopecan Revolution offer to sufferers from economicprivation, which does not arise out of the injusticesof distribution but is general ? The only safeguardagainst revolution in Central Europe is indeed thefact that, even to the minds of men who are desperate,Revolution offers no prospect of improvement what-ever. There may, therefore, be ahead of us a long,silent process of semi-starvation, and of a gradual,steady lowering of the standards of life and comfort.The bankruptcy and decay of Europe , if we allow itto proceed, will affect every one in the long-run, butperhaps not in a way that is striking or immediate.

This has one fortunate side. We may still have