December 2, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



757 



this vaunting ambition to rule the seas. As 

 one of the elements of the Pacific problems 

 this deficiency in a merchant marine is being 

 recognized, but not by any means with de- 

 serving importance, as part of the program 

 laid down for the author's adopted country to 

 follow. In this view it is naval efficiency, 

 not a merchant marine, which shall dominate 

 in the development of the Pacific and of the 

 people on its shore frontage east and west. 

 Is it not, however, a strange reversal of eco- 

 nomic reasoning to say that, given a navy, 

 a carrying trade will follow? 



Moreover, out of the few lines of shipping 

 of American registry it is the exception to 

 find one that is on a sound paying basis. This 

 is particularly true of lines on the Pacific. 

 The fact is that a naval policy such as the 

 United States is now carrying out only indi- 

 rectly contributes to the creation of a merchant 

 marine. It has resulted in developing the 

 industry of iron and steel shipbuilding and 

 thus contributed to the reduction of the initial 

 cost of inaugurating this industry. But it 

 does not seem to have reduced the comparative 

 cost of producing ships at home. It has like- 

 wise created a prestige for the country and 

 thus for its commerce in foreign parts. But 

 apart from these advantages of a subsidiary 

 character, a big navy is no guarantee of a big 

 carrying trade on the ocean. It is quite too 

 much to assume, as the author does, that with 

 a navy the revival of our shipping will come 

 of its own accord (p. 315). 



The public must nevertheless recognize in 

 this volume a penetrative insight into the 

 economic possibilities of Russia in her relation 

 to the United States. Possibly most recent 

 books on Russia have been written from the 

 official car-window standpoint. Here the 

 chapter on ' Little Known Facts about Russia ' 

 (pp. 128-139) is worth whole volumes of 

 sophomoric travels. 



Russia's conquest by railroad has been for 

 the purpose of opening an ice-free port and of 

 closing Asiatic territory against foreign trade, 

 the more effectively to control the economic 

 processes of her internal policy. From this 

 basis her influence in the Pacific as a com- 

 petitor with the United States has to be fore- 



shadowed. "It is quite safe to say," says 

 von Schierbrand, that, " as economic enter- 

 prises, these Manchurian roads will prove 

 even more pronounced failures than the Trans- 

 siberian has so far proved. Viewing them 

 merely from the angle of Russian aggressive 

 policy, of military strategy, and as a visible 

 sign of Russia's expanding political power, . 

 they may, however, prove a success. On the 

 other hand, even in this limited sense, they 

 may eventually become a white elephant for 

 Russia. The final issue of this present war 

 will determine that question. For a country 

 so poor in capital as Russia, a country with a 

 home population whose most crying material 

 needs are insufficiently supplied, these Man- 

 churian roads are, economically considered, a 

 gigantic folly." 



Nevertheless, by a system of rebates on ex- 

 ports and of bounties in the form of reduced 

 railway rates to the frontier, Russia has again 

 and again succeeded in establishing and hold- 

 ing a footing in some of the markets supposed 

 to be largely in control of her competitors. 

 Hence the author probably takes too short a 

 period of time into account as the basis of 

 this conclusion. 



Colquhoun's ' Greater America ' is an in- 

 cisive analysis of the subject of geographical 

 expansion of the United States and the polit- 

 ical and economic problems and responsibilities 

 arising therefrom. Whoever has read his 

 ' Mastery of the Pacific,' ' China, in Trans- 

 formation ' and ' Overland to China ' will 

 recognize the well-reasoned weighing of essen- 

 tial facts and relations in which this work 

 abounds. The shifting of the center of 

 gravity of world politics from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific has everywhere raised the question. 

 What part shall America play ? ' Greater 

 America ' is more than continental United 

 States; Greater America is a world power 

 with problems of imperial importance upon 

 her hands. It is in this latter role that a new 

 class of social and economic problems is pre- 

 sented to the United States. They include 

 political questions of foreign relations, of re- 

 lations with alien peoples, of national defense, 

 of government of dependencies. All of these 

 in the author's view depend for right solution 



