, with its concomitant penalty of what is sometimes called
provincialism. The history of this entire period, as commonly presented,
is largely made up of the records of international rivalries and
jealousies, perennially culminating in bitterly contested wars. It was
only towards the close of the epoch that the desirability of free
commercial intercourse among nations began to find expression as a
philosophical creed through the efforts of Quesnay and his followers;
and the doctrine that both parties to an international commercial
transaction are gainers thereby found its first clear expression in the
year 1776 in the pages of Condillac and of Adam Smith.

But the discoveries that ushered in the third period of civilization
were destined to work powerfully from the outset for the breaking down
of international barriers, though, of course, their effects would not be
at once manifest. Thus the substitution of steam power for water power,
besides giving a tremendous impetus to manufacturing in general, mapped
out new industrial centres in regions that nature had supplied with coal
but not always with other raw materials. To note a single result,
England became the manufacturing centre of the world, drawing its raw
materials from every corner of the globe; but in so doing it ceased to
be self-supporting as regards the production of food-supplies. While
growing in national wealth, as a result of the new inventions, England
has therefore lost immeasurably in national self-sufficiency and
independence; having become in large measure dependent upon other
countries both for the raw materials without which her industries must
perish and for the foods to maintain the very life of her people.

What is true of England in this regard is of course true in greater or
less measure of all other countries. Everywhere, thanks to the new
mechanisms that increase industrial efficiency, there has been an
increasing tendency to specialization; and since the manufacturer must
often find his raw materials in one part of the world and his markets in
another, this implies an ever-increasing intercommunication and
interdependence between the nations. This spirit is obviously fostered
by the new means of transportation by locomotive and steamship, and by
the electric communication that enables the Londoner, for example, to
transact business in New York or in Tokio with scarcely an hour's delay;
and that puts every one in touch at to-day's breakfast