210 NO STRUGGLE NO SELECTION 



modern weapons wielded by modern science ; and that 

 the peoples of Europe are both becoming tired of their 

 burdens of military expenditure, and apprehensive of the 

 consequences that may ensue to themselves and their 

 prosperity in any conflict the issues of which are at 

 all doubtful. All the trend of material progress, of 

 developing political interests, of the enlarging ideas 

 and thoughts of men, is in the direction of civilised 

 nations drawing closer the bonds of friendship 

 and mutual confidence, in their increasing recognition 

 of the community and interlocking of their material 

 interests. 



The ancient Greeks had a saying that events and 

 issues still in the womb of the future lay on the knees 

 of the gods. Certainly unexpected happenings arise 

 from time to time to confound the calculations of men. 

 What human sagacity, for instance, could half a century 

 ago have foretold the advent of the Empire of Japan 

 to its present position among what the Germans call 

 World Powers, or the probable if not certain recon- 

 struction of the Empire of China ? 



In the forecast that I have made, I have merely 

 given my individual convictions, and conclusions 

 derived from a long study of the trend of the forces 

 that I have discerned operative during the past half- 

 century. Nevertheless, those conclusions, I freely 

 admit, lie upon the knees of the gods, and may 

 remain there in ceternum. In the following forecast 

 I speak of the inevitable. 



For the sustenance of by far the major part of her 





