224 WORLD-POWER AND EVOLUTION 



that there is little hope of any favorable development from within. 

 The stronger nations must give Turkey a good government. They 

 must keep the peace between the different races, and, so far as 

 may be, break down their prejudices. 



Another pressing need is a thorough revision of the economic 

 system. This matter is so important that even at the risk of 

 digression I shall discuss it somewhat fully. One possible method 

 of revision is through some sort of insurance against years of 

 scarcity. In good years the Turkish Empire is most fruitful. 

 A Joseph is needed to store up food so that the good years may 

 feed the bad. The new government which will be inaugurated 

 after the war might well compel the peasants to deposit a share 

 of their grain in public warehouses after good harvests. Part 

 of this might be in the nature of an advance on taxes, so that when 

 the lean years come, the taxes could be remitted. The rest might 

 well be in the nature of insurance. Since the chances of crop 

 failure are high, the premiums would have to be high. Suppose 

 that the crop fails absolutely once in ten years. An average pay- 

 ment of three bushels per year for nine years would perhaps be 

 enough to cover operating expenses and to allow the payment 

 of twenty-five bushels to the beneficiary when his crop failed. In 

 actual practice allowance would of course be made for partial 

 as well as complete failures. 



Consider how such a system would not only help the farmer, but 

 would steady the general market. Suppose there is a good year 

 with exuberant crops. In such years prices ordinarily drop to a 

 low level; transportation facilities, especially in a backward 

 country like Turkey, are overburdened ; and a good deal of grain 

 is wasted. Even if it does not spoil, it is consumed more rapidly 

 than is advisable and some is fed needlessly to animals. Thus at 

 the end of an unusually favorable year the farmer is no better 

 off than at the end of a moderate year. Things would be quite 

 different, however, if great insurance warehouses were located in 

 every district. As soon as the crop was harvested and the fall 



