combining to produce
changed conditions in China." But far more ominous is the plaintive note
he sounds when he says: "New industries must be opened up, and I would
especially direct the attention of the Chambers of Commerce (British) to
. . . the fact that the more the native competes with the British
manufacturer in certain classes of trade, the more machinery he will
need, and the orders for such machinery will come to this country if our
machinery manufacturers are enterprising enough."

The Orient is beginning to show what an important factor it will become,
under Western supervision, in the creation of surplus value. Even before
the barriers which restrain Western capital are removed, the East will be
in a fair way toward being exploited. An analysis of Lord Beresford's
message to the Chambers of Commerce discloses, first, that the East is
beginning to manufacture for itself; and, second, that there is a promise
of keen competition in the West for the privilege of selling the required
machinery. The inexorable query arises: _What is the West to do when it
has furnished this machinery_? And when not only the East, but all the
now undeveloped countries, confront, with surplus products in their
hands, the old industrial nations, capitalistic production will have
attained its maximum development.

But before that time must intervene a period which bids one pause for
breath. A new romance, like unto none in all the past, the economic
romance, will be born. For the dazzling prize of world-empire will the
nations of the earth go up in harness. Powers will rise and fall, and
mighty coalitions shape and dissolve in the swift whirl of events.
Vassal nations and subject territories will be bandied back and forth
like so many articles of trade. And with the inevitable displacement of
economic centres, it is fair to presume that populations will shift to
and fro, as they once did from the South to the North of England on the
rise of the factory towns, or from the Old World to the New. Colossal
enterprises will be projected and carried through, and combinations of
capital and federations of labor be effected on a cyclopean scale.
Concentration and organization will be perfected in ways hitherto
undreamed. The nation which would keep its head above the tide must
accurately adjust supply to demand, and eliminate waste to the last least
particle. Standards of living will most likely descend for millions of
people. Wi