MR. CARNEGIE ON THE k UllJEE. T '"E is not much
in common between the Austrian Chancellor, Count Goluchowski, and Mr. Carnegie ; but they both have the same idea, that Europe is threatened by the vastness of all things American, and must in self- defence federate herself, if not politically, at least for all material ends. The Count named America in his speech as.the overwhelming rival, and though Mr. Carnegie did not in his address at West Ham, he " dotted his ' i's " in talking to an interviewer, and admitted that this was his meaning. When a great statesman and a greater captain of industry express the same view, there must be something in it; but we are unable in this case to believe that there is much. We doubt, to begin with, the effective result of aggregation ; and even if we did not, we should disbelieve its possibility as regards Europe. The cleavage between the older nations and races of the Continent is too deeply rooted in their histories, their aspirations, and the qualities which collectively make up character. They cannot trust each other or like each other sufficiently, and they will feel that in surrendering the fierce pleasure of active rivalry they will give up too much of their individuality, which, if not part of their strength, is at least part of their pleasant pride. Nobody sincerely wishes to " merge " in some one else. A man thirsts to be master in his own house, even if the wall between him and his neighbours costs him more than he can spare. A common religion has failed to bind the races, Catholic Czech hating Catholic German as if he were a heretic ; a common language does not produce unity between Celt and Saxon in Ireland.; and where those strong bonds have failed, the hope of profit to be earned by all becoming servants alike will certainly not succeed. If the statesman and the steelmaker will consult William II., they will find that federation is difficult even among kinsfolk, and when it is needed to keep the foreigner from invading. That is the experience, too, of South America, where the dominant caste in all the Spanish States has one origin, one language, and one creed ; and in Europe there is no .unity. of any kind.
Mr.- Carnegie, whose imagination, like that of most Americans and all Asiatics, is greatly impressed by vast- ness, thinks that the European States while still divided. are . not big enough to be of much account " materially," and in his conversation with the interviewer he explains this view by remarking that no State in Europe is any- thing like the size of Texas, nor is any increase of population so rapid as that of America. His facts are correct, and his use of the word " materially " shows that he has thought upon his subject, and has not forgotten that neither Greece, to which we owe poetry, history, and art, nor. Palestine, to which we are indebted. for our creed, nor England, which originated representative government, possesses an area equal to that of many a third-rate State in the Union. But even as limited by that adverb, is the proposition true ? Does even Mr. Carnegie in his heart expect that Brazil will ever be greater in material things than Great Britain or France or Germany, any one of which would be lost in her vast bulk ? Does he really think China stronger than Japan ? He may, no doubt, point to Russia, and say that the future of the Northern' world lies in that vast Empire ; but is he sure that the note of despair whichis the weakness and the specialty of all Russian thought is not the product of that monotonous and exhausting vastness ? History certainly does not con. firm his vew. Strength in war is surely a material thing, and Alexander was ruler of a province far smaller than Pennsylvania when he effected the conquest of the Eastern world, which could have absorbed and forgotten his petty kingdom among its mountain tracts. The State which mastered civilised mankind, and kept the mastery till it rotted, was originally but a single city, and always far smaller than the Union. Our " little island" has surely displayed some " material " strength in the world, and is still felt as having at least weight among one-fifth of the world's inhabitants. Mr. Carnegie may say that he was thinking of commerce ; but who created. world-wide com- merce if we did not ? When Rome thought herself the world her commerce outside her own limits never approached that of Tyre, which possessed only a rock in the Mediterranean. Size does not make material strength, or Brazil, as we have said, would be among the greatest of Empires ; nor does multitude of people, else why should China be by her own confession so weak ? If progress in all material things is Mr. Carnegie's barometer, Germany far excels the mighty Empire by her side, which, again, if the pro- duction of wealth is his test, is a humble suppliant for aid from the purse of " little " France. Mr. Carnegie may say that he was thinking, not of the past or present, but of the future; but why does he imagine that the great laws which have raised and depressed the nations are about to be altered ? Because of the special energy of Americans ? Possibly, though we must make a deduction for the pace at which Americans are expending their reserve of nerve- power; but then the American victory over Europe will be due to the energy of her sons, and not to their multitudes or the vast area of her plains.
There is not sufficient experience yet for a final con- clusion, but we cannot help fancying that the world in its admiration of expansion is forgetting the strength which accrues in all departments of effort from concentration. Bigness often lays a heavy tax on energy, and it is not from the giants that wise doctors expect constitutional strength. Mr. Carnegie would probably admit that a city is often stronger than the county which contains it ; that London, for instance, gains " materially " as well as loses by the close packing of millions, for which, if nothing is gained by it, it would be difficult to account. No Govern. ment has ever tried to pack London, at whose growth statesmen have looked for ages with eyes of perhaps un- warranted foreboding. The tendency of every trade and almost every profession to concentrate itself on a minute district must be a natural tendency, for it is very dis- agreeable to those who obey it, and the compelling power is not difficult to discover. The concentration reduces the waste of energy, which, and not size or multitude, is the grand distributor of success. If you have much space to cover before you get to work, space is a positive diminisher of strength. The first law of modern manu- factures, modern commerce, modern effort of all kinds not exclusively intellectual, is that " association " is essential to material success, and association nine times out of ten implies concentration. Whv else are we so devoted to rapid intercommunication, or why spend. millions, as London is doing at this moment, in the effort to make concentration' easier and more perfect ? We are forbidden by the con- ditions of Mr. Carnegie's proposition to argue that city life sharpens the intellect, which is to strength what nerve- power is to muscle ; but the advantage of mobility is admitted, and is material in Mr. Carnegie's sense;' and expanse of area is not the friend of mobility, but the foe. War is the supreme test of material strength and resources, and there are generals alive who say that numbers beyond a"certain point are only beneficial through their moral affect upon the men, and that small perfected and mobile armies will yet be more formidable than the huge masses which it overtaxes all but a few to feed, or move, or guide. The "-little " States of Europe may yet develop a concen- trated energy, a perfection of organisation, a superiority to the physical obstacles of space and time, which will suffice to maintain their place in the world, and enable them, even in material things, to fear no rivalry. After all, if bigness and multitude count for so very much in material develop- ment,'Asia ought to be far stronger than Europe, and South America to be able to maintain towards the Union an attitude of kindly patronage. Instead, she has to submit to the Monroe doctrine, and to some at least of its logical consequences, one of which is acknowledgment of a superior force lodged in her smaller protector in the North.
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