and less political and more and more, what they should be, merely commercial. In the second place, the commission would have the duty of protecting the borrowing nation from exploitation and undue political pressure and of adjusting disputes between it and the lender. It should have power to fix the terms of loans and concessions. Its supervision, by creating security, would enable undeveloped nations to get capital on reasonable terms and at the same time make foreign investments safe for the investor. In case disputes arose between local governments and the foreign commercial interests, as, for example, when revolutionary changes in government are resorted to as a means of avoiding the payment of debts, appeal for support to the foreign office of the home Government of the investors should not be permitted, but should be required to be made to the commission. Such a practice would tend to eliminate the use of investments as an excuse for intervention and political dominion. Some form of international control, whether that proposed or some other, is unquestionably the only avenue of escape from the political complications, rivalries, and struggles which have vexed and disturbed the world in the past and which, if met by no constructive solution, will lead to future wars. CHAPTER XVIII TOWARD WORLD DEMOCRACY Place of national governments in progress in the immediate future National security, both military and economic - Political democracy often associated with commercial and financial imperialism-Imperialistic nations cannot be formed into a successful democratic league - Responsibilities of democracies to undeveloped regions - Undesirable sort of "league of nations"-Holy Alliance-Triple Alliance-Triple Entente Mittel Europa- Paris Economic Conference Shall the "next war" be? - Arguments for a democratic league of nations- - Causes of war-What the Great War has taught in coöperation - Failure of unrestricted competition Proposals for a league of nations-Sovereignty Covenant of the League of Nations - International commissions Their functions and relation to the League - The need of vision. The reconstruction New worlds do not just happen. of our national and international life requires constructive planning and positive action. In no field is this more true than in the complex economic relationships of nations. Any peace settlement that does not deal adequately with the economic questions that have played so large a part in the discussions of international politics during the last half century will not be worth its cost. The path toward world democracy lies through nationality. International organization cannot at the present stage of the world's development take the place of national governments. It can simply supplement them. Upon the solid foundation of democratic nations we should rebuild social life as it has emerged from the A successful league of nations depends upon the war. recognition of the right of each nation to adopt such protective measures, whether military or economic, as will give it security and develop its resources. Nations exist as protectors of peoples and their civilization. Armaments are not to be cast aside merely by agreement; they are a vital part of national life, for they guarantee security. The Covenant of the League of Nations provides only for the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations, having special regard to the geographical situation and circumstances of each State. We do not think of the British fleet as separate from the British Empire. Nations cannot be asked to give up their means of defense until a league of democratic nations has developed to a point at which it can guarantee security. And this cannot be accomplished in the twinkling of an eye. Decades were necessary to work out the idea of federation among the homogeneous states of the American Union. Gradually, very gradually, were the states persuaded that their interests justified the limitations of their activities. Not until after the Civil War could we feel reasonably sure that the Federal Government would not perish, and it took the Spanish-American War to bring out the full measure of national consciousness. In America we were first a union of states, then a union of peoples. In the Constitution the Federal Government was given power to declare war, to raise and support armies, and to provide and maintain a navy. But the states reserved the right to arm. "A well regulated militia," so the Second Amendment to the Constitution reads, "being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people 1 Quoted in Appendix IX. to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' This right to military defense reserved to each state in the Union ceased to seem important to American citizens only when the Federal military power became strong enough to insure "the security of a free State." This reasoning applies with equal force to the economic problems of nations. Nations are entitled to that degree of industrial and commercial security that can be obtained without discrimination and imperialistic aggression. What has been said in earlier chapters concerning American commercial policies applies with equal force to other nations. Protective measures may be used to establish or preserve essential industries. Nations with natural resources may develop them with tariffs; they may adopt measures to diversify their life and develop their productive powers. Anti-dumping legislation may be enacted; no nation need submit to price cutting by foreign industries that undermines the industrial fabric essential to its economic wellbeing. Nations may also use their economic power in such a way as to enforce equality of treatment for their citizens doing business abroad. These and similar measures that aim at the establishment of economic security and equality of treatment are not inconsistent with a league of free nations, but are, in many particulars, essential in preserving that body of democratic tradition from which a world organization must draw its ideals. Protective tariffs have at times been used to advance the interests of a special class, but so also has free trade. Neither protection nor free trade is applicable to all conditions. A complete establishment of democracy in economic as well as political affairs may still depend for its security upon protective tariffs, anti-dumping legislation, and bargaining tariffs. These measures may be necessary in molding social institutions and in preserving the social progress which a people has made. In preparing for a democratic world league, reform for each nation constituting it should begin at home. Even in political democracy nations are far from perfect. Some nations seeking admittance to the world league have no conception of democratic ideals; others, and the most powerful (including the United States, Great Britain and her self-governing dominions, France and Italy), have, some more, some less, shaped their political institutions along democratic lines. But in industry, trade, and finance democratic ideas have made slow progress. Small groups with autocratic power still control the economic and social activities of large numbers of human beings through the ownership or control of capital. The share of labor in the control of industry has been slight, but in that field democracy is making progress. In foreign trade and finance the power of small autocratic groups has been almost supreme, and Governments, democratic as well as autocratic, have lent their power to further this growing commercial and financial imperialism. Nationalism has been brought into disrepute because peoples, content with political control which never reached the evil, allowed the national power to be used to further the selfish interests of dynastic or commercial classes. Peoples should not be satisfied with having overthrown the autocracy of Germany. The same thing that made Germany dangerous is raising its head among the victorious allies and it is the great enemy of a world league. Imperialistic 2 Cf. Reconstruction Programme of the British Labour Party. See also A. E. Zimmern, Nationality and Government (1918), p. 172 et seq. |