out of the conflict emerged a new rival--unexpectedly
strong, well equipped and eager for the conflict.

The war did not destroy imperialism. It was fought between five great
empires to determine which one should be supreme. In its result, it gave
to Great Britain rather than to Germany the right to exploit the
undeveloped portions of Asia and of Africa.

The Peace--under the form of "mandates"--makes the process of
exploitation easier and more legal than it ever has been in the past.
The guarantees of territorial integrity, under the League Covenant, do
more than has ever been done heretofore to preserve for the imperial
masters of the earth their imperial prerogatives.

New names are being used but it is the old struggle. Egypt and India
helped to win the war, and by that very process, they fastened the
shackles of servitude more firmly upon their own hands and feet. The
imperialists of the world never had less intention than they have to-day
of quitting the game of empire building. Quite the contrary--a wholly
new group of empire builders has been quickened into life by the
experiences of the past five years.

The present struggle for the possession of the oil fields of the world
is typical of the economic conflicts that are involved in imperial
struggles. For years the capitalists of the great investing nations
have been fighting to control the oil fields of Mexico. They have hired
brigands, bought governors, corrupted executives. The war settled the
Mexican question in favor of the United States. Mexico, considered
internationally, is to-day a province of the American Empire.

During the blackest days of the war, when Paris seemed doomed, the
British divided their forces. One army was operating across the deserts
of the Near East. For what purpose? When the Peace was signed, Great
Britain held two vantage points--the oil fields of the Near East and the
road from Berlin to Bagdad.

The late war was not a war to end war, nor was it a war for disarmament.
German militarism is not destroyed; the appropriations for military and
naval purposes, made by the great nations during the last two years, are
greater than they have ever been in any peace years that are known to
history.

The world is preparing for war to-day as actively as it was in the years
preceding the War of 1914. The years from 1914 to 1918 were the opening
episodes; the first engagements of the Great War.

There is no question, among those who ha