48 National Life 



competition lessen the China trade, if a bad 

 harvest or a flood check the import of 

 Egyptian or American cotton, it is the 

 Lancashire operative who feels the pinch. 

 The day when we cease to hold our own 

 among the nations will be the day of catas- 

 trophe for our workers at home. We could 

 return to the condition of medieval England, 

 to the condition of Norway or Denmark, but 

 only by a process of intense selection, re- 

 ducing our millions in a manner which the 

 imagination refuses to contemplate. Being 

 as we are, we cannot give up the struggle, 

 and the moment dearth of ability, the want of 

 brains and physique in the right place, leads 

 to serious defeat, our catastrophe will come. 

 That is the vision which depressed thoughtful 

 men at the beginning of this year ; that is 

 the dread which must be ever in the mind of 

 the true statesman when he seeks, on the one 

 hand, to curb the rash venture which may 

 overstrain our power, and on the other hand, 

 to maintain our right to work the unutilized 

 resources of earth, be they in Africa or in 

 Asia. 



Struggle of race against race, and of man 



