714 T. C. CHAMBERLIN 
maintained by common action, what remains to justify these costs 
and risks, not to add the inevitable fear of revolt, the constant pre- 
paredness to suppress it and to defend possession against rivals, 
together with the debasing moral atmosphere that surrounds the 
relation of master and subject? The proposed opening of all doors 
by a representative omninational body should lead to a lingering 
death of the inherited thirst to possess and to rule the lands of 
other peoples. If this be thought more ideal than real, let the 
spirit that has guided the people of the United States in their rise 
to power and prosperity, as actually expressed again and again in 
action and in attitude, bear witness. 
The province assigned the Omninational Confederation.—The 
dream of a single world-nation with a single world-government 
without doubt is highly laudable and will perhaps in time be real- 
ized, but in the cold light of existing facts the full realization of this 
great dream hangs on the attainment of a state of human evolution 
only likely to be reached by the world at large in the distant future. 
Many peoples are yet in the infantile stages of their development 
and are still far from a state of fitness for full participation in world- 
management. Grading up from these children of our race, there 
are peoples in various stages of adolescence and corresponding limi- 
tations of fitness, while even those that esteem themselves more 
advanced have, as this war testifies, only doubtfully entered on 
~ a state of intellectual and moral maturity. 
Two things therefore seem obvious: (1) that a world-organization 
based on the hypothesis of national equality and governmental 
competency would be premature, and (2) that a governmental 
attempt which should try to compass all the intangible ideals that 
enter into the social desires and the political aspirations of the many 
diverse peoples of the world would prove impracticable at the pres- 
ent time. 
On the other hand, it seems equally clear that certain great steps 
in advance are practicable and are therefore imperative. The 
groundwork for such steps seems manifest on due consideration. 
1. The commerce of the world 1s a concrete, measurable activity. 
2. It offers a workable basis of control and administration. 
