THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE.*
AT a moment when the outlook for a political League of Nations is somewhat gloomy, Mr. Garvin has produced an ardent and lengthy plea for a League which is to be an economic as well as a political combination—a world-partnership more elaborate in its structure than the Grand Alliance which has won the war. This formidable proposition is defended on the ground that a purely political League would be unequal to the teak of making war impossible. Mr. Garvin is one of those thinkers who attach supreme importance to the economic factor in world-history. He talks of the " imponderables "—national sentiment and moral feeling—but he does not really value them very highly. He is deeply impressed by a popular German theory, in- vented to justify the militarist party in its bid for supremacy, that Germany was cut off from the supplies of raw materials in the tropics, and must therefore seize the Neer East and Central Africa in order to assure the future of her industries. This leads him to devise a new economic system under which Germany may, he thinks, become placidly content. The system is a continuance and extension of the Allies' Supreme Economic Council, controlling, or at any rate supervising, the distribution of food and raw materials to all importing and manufacturing countries, including Germany and Russia, and guaranteeing to each a fair share. If this system were in operation for some years, no country, Mr. Garvin contends, would venture to break with it by declaring war, because that would mean instant and overwhelming economic disaster under the boycott that would be imposed. Mr. Garvin has worked out this argument in great detail, discussing the immediate problems of peace and the possible developments of the coming generation, and laying great stress on the various forms of international co-operation before 1914 as precedents for the larger enterprise of the future. I have tried to hammer this argument right out," he says in one place, " in the mood of the man in Toletoi, who reasoned not so much to convince his neighbour as to clear his own mind." The method imparts a certain vivacity to the style ; on the other band, it leads to a great deal of repetition and to some inconsist- encies and obscurities. After reading the book through with some care, we are doubtful whether the author really believes in the moral regeneration of Germany. As for Russia, Mr. Garvin argues very forcibly for an Allied expedition to destroy the Bolsheviks. It would, he thinks, be a comparatively simple matter. Yet many passages in his book suggest the fear of a Russo-German affiance against the rest of the world. If there is one thing that the war has taught us, it is that mere numbers without a good organization of supply and transport behind them can effect little in modern warfare. The pitiful collapse of the Russian " steam-roller " is so recent that we cannot attach much importance to Mr. Garvin's forebodings of what the hundred and fdty million people in the former Russian Empire might do under an entirely efficient despotism, whether Bolshevik or not.
Mr. Garvin's description of the work done by the Allies' supply organization during the war is of great interest. He points out that this organization must be maintained for a long time to come, until the devastated Allied countries have been set on their feet, and until Central Europe and Russia have been revictualled. The Allies cannot allow Germany to bid against them in the world's markets and send prices to a still higher level, nor can they permit Germany to resume manu- facturing for export on the old scale until the factories of Belgium and Northern France, which the Germans deliberately destroyed in order to put an end to Belgian and French competition, have been re-established. The economic control set up during the war must be continued for the present. Mr. Garvin would have it continued indefinitely, under the auspices of the League of Nations. He thinks that a political League would tend to be dull, and therefore unpopular. He is convinced of the necessity of a League of Nations, but he wants to give it plenty of work, so that it may become an essential part of our every- day life. This is a shrewd argument, apart from the question whether it is practicable. People who would pay no attention to a Council of Diplomatists registering Treaties and discussing • The Economic Poundothms of Pears ; or, Woriel•Partnerthip as the Time Basle of the "'coque of :Cations, By J. L. earth. London : 1Laendllon. Ills. nerd
boundary disputes would show a lively interest in a League whose decisions might affect the price of sugar or cause a tempor- ary local scarcity of meat or cotton. Indeed, the danger would be lest the League's economic proceedings should excite too mush interest and controversy among traders, workmen, and consumers in the several countries. Mr. Garvin inclines, we think, to attach an undue importance as precedents to inter- national concerns like the Berne Postal Union, which, after all, was only a public convenience and not a vital matter. Yet ho is right in contending that international labour problems must be taken seriously, and that the modest machinery existing before the war must be improved, so that labour conditions in foreign countries may be levelled up, as far as possible, to the standards of Great Britain and America, instead of being levelled down to a common ruin, as the Bolsheviks desire. Mr. Garvin reminds us that by international agreement forty. four States prohibited the use of white phosphorus in matches, Sweden and Japan alone refusing, and that twenty-five States abolished night-work for women. These reforms need to be followed up, otherwise the countries where workmen receive high pay for a short working-clay will feel the competition of the countries where labour is still cheap. Mr. Garvin does not think that the protective tariff is a panacea for this evil. He looks to international regulation to curb the operations of Treats, like the Meat Trust, which now take the whole world for their province. He foresees the rapid development of flying, and goes so far as to say that the airman has changed the whole basis of international relations. We are not so sure as Mr. Garvin seems to be that the Atlantic is virtually ceasing to be a barrier between America and Europe, now that it may perhaps lie crossed by an airship or aeroplane. Louis XIV. once committed himself to the assertion that the Pyrenees had ceased to exist, but after two centuries France and Spain are still distinct entities as they were at the accession of Philip V.
The best and most eloquent chapter@ of the book are those in which Mr. Garvin pleads for the full participation of America in the work of the League of Nations. Without America, as he says, the League would be of little value. With America, it might be a most potent instrument for the improvement of the human lot. America and the British Empire together could make the League's economic control entirely effective.' Without America, the attempt could scarcely he made. Mr. Garvin proposes that America should assume responsibility for the Middle East, including apparently all the old Turkish possessions, partly on the ground that her missions in Asia Minor are highly afficient, partly too because she would not excite international jealousies. He reminds the Americans that Smyrna and Jerusalem are not so far away from them as the Philippines. It seems improbable that America will act on the suggestion. President Wilson is understood to have declined to accept one of the mandates, under the League of Nations, which the Peace Conference at his instance is distributing among the Allies in respect of the ex-German colonies and the former Turkish terri- tories. As Mr. Garvin says, the German and Irish intriguers are trying to make Americans believe that this proposal for an American mandate in Turkey is not disinterested, but that it is an attempt on the Allies' part to shift an unwelcome burden on to American shoulders. He points out that this is a complete misapprehension. The Allies are naturally anxious to have American help in Asia Minor, and to give America her share of the honour to be gained in restoring peace and prosperity to those ancient lands. If America declines, the Allies can do the work themselves. But America would then be rejecting a great opportunity, not only of purifying the Near East, but also of strengthening her influence in Russia. She would confirm her reputation and profit her trade by taking a bold course. She would also give additional security to the Peace settlement. America has yet to decide on the question of the League. Mr. Garvin is hopeful because he sees the vast potentialities of the English-speaking peoples as peace-makers. "They alone can provide the practical economic means for giving full efficiency, whether preventive or creative, to a World-Partnership for peace."
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