fabrics to the Caucasian peasants. Austria
followed. Then Germany, with the help of Lyons workmen, built great silk
factories. The United States did likewise at Paterson.

And to-day the silk trade is no longer a French monopoly. Silks are made
in Germany, in Austria, in the United States, and in England, and it is
now reckoned that one-third of the silk stuffs used in France are
imported. In winter, Caucasian peasants weave silk handkerchiefs at a
wage that would mean starvation to the silk-weavers of Lyons. Italy and
Germany send silks to France; and Lyons, which in 1870-4 exported 460
million francs' worth of silk fabrics, exports now only one-half of that
amount. In fact, the time is not far off when Lyons will only send
higher class goods and a few novelties as patterns to Germany, Russia
and Japan.

And so it is in all industries. Belgium has no longer the cloth
monopoly; cloth is made in Germany, in Russia, in Austria, in the United
States. Switzerland and the French Jura have no longer a clockwork
monopoly; watches are made everywhere. Scotland no longer refines sugar
for Russia: refined Russian sugar is imported into England. Italy,
although neither possessing coal nor iron, makes her own iron-clads and
engines for her steamers. Chemical industry is no longer an English
monopoly; sulphuric acid and soda are made even in the Urals.
Steam-engines, made at Winterthur, have acquired everywhere a wide
reputation, and at the present moment, Switzerland, which has neither
coal nor iron, and no sea-ports to import them--nothing but excellent
technical schools--makes machinery better and cheaper than England. So
ends the theory of Exchange.

The tendency of trade, as for all else, is toward decentralization.

Every nation finds it advantageous to combine agriculture with the
greatest possible variety of factories. The specialization, of which
economists spoke so highly, certainly has enriched a number of
capitalists, but is now no longer of any use. On the contrary, it is to
the advantage of every region, every nation, to grow their own wheat,
their own vegetables, and to manufacture at home most of the produce
they consume. This diversity is the surest pledge of the complete
development of production by mutual co-operation, and the moving cause
of progress, while specialization is now a hindrance to progress.

Agriculture can only prosper in proximity to factories. And no sooner
does a single factory appear than a