Page 240 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

A Twentieth-Century Outlook 221 ;

was more than enough to do. Naturally, there-
fore, such a period has been in the main one of
peace. There have been great wars, certainly
but, nevertheless, external peace has been the
general characteristic of that period of develop-
ment, during which men have been occupied
in revolutionizing the face of their own coun-
tries by means of the new powers at their
disposal.
All such phases pass, however, as does every
human thing. Increase of production — the
idol of the economist— sought fresh markets,
as might have been predicted. The increase of
home consumption, through increased ease of
living, increased wealth, increased population,
did not keep up with the increase of forth-
putting and the facility of distribution afforded
by steam. In the middle of the century China
and Japan were forced out of the seclusion of
ages, and were compelled, for commercial pur-
poses at least, to enter into relations with the
European communities, to buy and to sell with
them. Serious attempts, on any extensive scale,
to acquire new political possessions abroad
largely ceased. Commerce only sought new
footholds, sure that, given the inch, she in the