Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Síða 23

THE BALANCE OF WORLD ECONOMY
17
It is, of course, another matter that the western powers hold
mterests and possessions in the East which they cannot be blamed
for endeavouring to protect. In the world as it is to-day — and
that is our theme of discussion, not lyrics or ideology — it is
hardly conceivable that this conflict of interests can be solved
'without resort to power. And that must come, sooner or later,
no one can say when. Neither can it be foretold how the parts
will be distributed, for Soviet Russia is the great X of world poli-
tics. Soviet Russia is an Asiatic power, and no one knows, not
even Russia herself, when and how she will intervene.
But here in the East lies the centre of gravity of the world
revolution. The ultimate cause of what happens and will happen
is the growing industrialisation of the East and its consequent
decline as a market for Europe. The world market is shrinking
for the West. This does not affect America so much with her
barely 7 — 6.7 — persons per square kilometre, but Europe is
tn a far worse position with her 47, with as much as two thirds
of the population crowded into less than a third of the area,
and with her natural resources being far inferior to those of
America.
And the shrinking is beginning to exercise its influence in
Europe, whose share in world trade is declining when it should
advance in view of the mere fact that the population of the
'W'orld is increasing by millions every year.
It is difficult to state in exact figures the decrease of Europe’s
share in world trade; we must remember that prices are an im-
Portant factor if we make our comparison according to the value
°f the goods. Moreover, we must consider the confusion in the
exchange values which characterised the period after the world
^ar of 1914—18. Finally it is important to consider the fact
^hat the output in periods of strong rearmament is not in any
true sense productive insofar as it concerns armaments; and calm
normal conditions have not existed in the world since 1914. The
Statistical Bureau of the League of Nations has naturally dealt
^ith the question and drawn up a table of world trade, both
according to gold value and the volume of goods, showing the
Position of Europe in relation to the other two continents.
The table is not sufficient for our purpose. The term world
trade covers both imports and exports from all countries as a
yhole, and this obscures the picture of the feature which is most
mteresting to us, viz. Europe’s exports. But even in this dimmed
Le Nord 1941, 1 2