National Power and Prosperity. By Conrad Gill. (T. Fisher Unwin.
4s. 6d. net.)—The main idea of this notable little essay is that national power does not promote national prosperity, and that wars waged for economic ends can yield no profit. The contrary belief, in Mr. Gill's view, is an offshoot of the obsolete mercantile theory and a complete delusion. He thinks that the German scheme for acquiring a world- Empire by violence was based on a mistaken conception of the growth of the British Empire. Mr. Gill would revert from the modern theory of the State to the "benevolent policeman" of the mid-Victorians. He looks forward to the rule of international law, based rather on ex- perience and reason than on any new system. It is a well-meaning and provocative little book. As a lecturer on economics, Mr. Gill greatly underestimates the strength of non-economic factors in inter- national relations.
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