Now we come to the really vital point, and it is this: When the guns are
hushed you will find that national and industrial defence among the
warring countries will be one and the same thing. The Allies learned to
their cost that the economic advance of Germany was merely part of her
one-time resistless military machine. Her trade and her preparedness
went conqueringly hand in hand. Henceforth that game will be played by
all. England, for instance, will manufacture dyestuffs not only for her
textile trades, but because coal-tar products are essential to the
making of high explosives.
Thus, Competition, which was once merely part of the natural progress of
a country, will hereafter be a large part of the struggle for national
existence.
There is still another factor: No matter who wins, peace must mean
prosperity for everybody. For the victor it will take the form of an
attempted stewardship of trade and navigation; for the vanquished it
will be the dedication of a terrible energy to the twin restoration of
pride and product.
Now you begin to see why it is up to the United States to make ready for
whatever business fate awaits her beyond the uncertain frontiers of
to-morrow. Nor have we been without warning of what may be in store for
us. Prohibitive tariffs, blacklists and boycotts, embargoes on mail and
cargo, the exclusion from England and France of hundreds of our
manufactured articles--all show which way the international trade winds
may blow when the belligerents begin to take toll of their losses.
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