THE DECENTRALISATION OF INDUSTRIES. 7 



into ecstasy before the results achieved. " Why shall 

 we grow corn, rear oxen and sheep, and cultivate 

 orchards, go through the painful work of the labourer 

 and the farmer, and anxiously watch the sky in fear of 

 a bad crop, when we can get, with much less pain, moun- 

 tains of corn from India, America, Hungary, or Russia, 

 meat from New Zealand, vegetables from the Azores, 

 apples from Canada, grapes from Malaga, and so on ? " 

 exclaim the West Europeans. " Already now," they say, 

 " our food consists, even in modest households, of pro- 

 duce gathered from all over the globe. Our cloth is 

 made out of fibres grown and wool sheared in all parts 

 of the world The prairies of America and Australia; 

 the mountains and steppes of Asia ; the frozen wilder- 

 nesses of the Arctic regions ; the deserts of Africa and 

 the depths of the oceans ; the tropics and the lands of 

 the midnight sun are our tributaries. All races of men 

 contribute their share in supplying us with our staple 

 food and luxuries, with plain clothing and fancy dress, 

 while we are sending them in exchange the produce 

 of our higher intelligence, our technical knowledge, our 

 powerful industrial and commercial organising capa- 

 cities! Is it not a grand sight, this busy and intricate 

 exchange of produce all over the earth which has 

 suddenly grown up within a few years ? " 



Grand it may be, but is it not a mere nightmare ? Is 

 it necessary? At what cost has it been obtained, and 

 how long will it last ? 



Let us turn eighty years back. France lay bleeding 

 at the end of the Napoleonic wars. Her young industry, 

 which had begun to grow by the end of the last century, 

 was crushed down. Germany, Italy, were powerless on 

 the industrial field. The armies of the great Republic 

 had struck a mortal blow to serfdom on the Continent ; 

 but with the return of reaction efforts were made to 

 revive the decaying institution, and serfdom meant no 

 industry worth speaking of. The terrible wars between 



