Evening star., 1934-05-27
Continued From First Page)

their surplus populations: and, on the
other, they lack the natural resources
TO enable them to support their peo-
pie at the level of other nations. But
why should 100000 Italians be
denied the blessings possessed by
100000 French. or 65, 900 600 Ger
mans be wretched while 50,OOO,O 900
Britons are masters of a vast and
rich empire?
Right to Equal Prosperity.
All the secret Of the nationalistic
upheavalS Of the present hour lies
in this fact. Every great people is
satisfied that it has the right to
equal prosperity with every. other.
But the elements of prosperity are
primarily territory and natural re-
sources. Unless these are fairly ap-
portioned or unless equal accessibility
to the total reserves Of power. iron
and foodstuffs are assured to all
peoples, then by the very nature of
things there cannot be equality in the
condition of these peoples.
Before the World War, although the
territorial division was palpably un-
equal and both Japan and Germany
were plainly influenced in their poll
cies by population pressure, thanks
to the free trade policy of Britain, the
markets Of the world were relatively
open. Nations like Germany. Italy
and Japan were able to trade abroad
profitably and suffered from the dis
parity of their resources only slightly
because they could get what they
needed easily and sell what they
produced advantageousiy.
After the war. however. the situa-
tion changed radically. On the one
hand, Germany's already exiguous
area was drastically reduced. while
that of Italy was only slightly in
creased and. that Of Japan was un-
changed. On the other hand, the for
tunate nations proceeded progressively
to undertake the exclusive exploita-
ton of their own national resources
with the result that all the advan-
tages passed to countries like Britain,
France, the United States and Soviet
Russia, who within their metropoli-
tan territories or their colonies pos
sessed both markets and reserves of
raw materials.
On the morrow Of the war, italy,
although victorious, saw herself, by
reason Of her dissppOintments at
Paris, condemned forever to the rank
of secOnd-claSS power, economically
as we'll as politically. Equal in popu-
lation with France, she was inferior
in every field of national resource.
Precisely in the same way Germany
found herself, after the long night
mare of the immediate post
period, similarly shut in. Finally
Japan, which had long recognized the
disadvantages of her own situation,
discovered in international disaccord
the opportunity to realize her ambi-
tions.
War Is Only Escape.
For the German, Italian or jap
anese peoples, moreover, what alterna-
tive is there to violence, to war, If
they are to escape from condition
OF permanent inferiority? Within
their metropolitan areas there are no
resources adequate to sustain greater
populations. The Soviet Union, the
United States. the British Common
wealth can still increase their popu-
lations and expand their production
almost unlimitedly The land is there.
the raw materials and foodStuffs are
there. We shall be 000O0,OOO in no
long time; but today the outlook for
the Germans is 50,000.0OO, not the
present 65,000,000. And there is the
further outlook of an incredibly
lower standard of living in Germany
than in any one of the other three
countries.
Now, nationalism. as see it in the
case of Germany, Italy and Japan, is
the instructive revolt of peoples against
condition of inequality imposed upon
them by accidents of history, by the
fact that they acquired their unity
later than their more fortunate neigh
bors. Despite the familiar claims, that
revolt is only in small degree due to
the World War. II Germany was
defeated power, Italy and Japan were
victorious. And all three were already
responding to this popular instinct OF
revolt even before 1914.
But for these three powers there Is
no human way of escape from the
present and permanent state of in
equality save by possessing themselves
of the lands of theft neighbors or
compelling their neighbors to give
them equal access to the resources of
that land. AS it stands, Germany,
Japan and Italy-assuning that Japan
should renounce her Manchurian ven
ture-are all under sentence, not OF
national death. but OF national in
significance and poverty. And against
that sentence all have appealed.
Explosion Of Dissatisfaction.
Inevitably the sudden and violent
explosion of national dissatisfaction
and the promulgation Of the demands
for redistribution of the resources of
the earth has provoked instant re-
percussions among the peoples which
are satisfied but now menaced. They
4 have sprung to arms to defend what
they possess just as thk nations which