“I’ll tell you,” Ernest continued.  “It means that the resources of Brazil are being developed.  And now, the next point.  When Brazil, under the capitalist system, has developed her resources, she will herself have an unconsumed surplus.  Can she get rid of this surplus to the United States?  No, because the United States has herself a surplus.  Can the United States do what she previously did—­get rid of her surplus to Brazil?  No, for Brazil now has a surplus, too.

“What happens?  The United States and Brazil must both seek out other countries with undeveloped resources, in order to unload the surpluses on them.  But by the very process of unloading the surpluses, the resources of those countries are in turn developed.  Soon they have surpluses, and are seeking other countries on which to unload.  Now, gentlemen, follow me.  The planet is only so large.  There are only so many countries in the world.  What will happen when every country in the world, down to the smallest and last, with a surplus in its hands, stands confronting every other country with surpluses in their hands?”

He paused and regarded his listeners.  The bepuzzlement in their faces was delicious.  Also, there was awe in their faces.  Out of abstractions Ernest had conjured a vision and made them see it.  They were seeing it then, as they sat there, and they were frightened by it.

“We started with A B C, Mr. Calvin,” Ernest said slyly.  “I have now given you the rest of the alphabet.  It is very simple.  That is the beauty of it.  You surely have the answer forthcoming.  What, then, when every country in the world has an unconsumed surplus?  Where will your capitalist system be then?”

But Mr. Calvin shook a troubled head.  He was obviously questing back through Ernest’s reasoning in search of an error.

“Let me briefly go over the ground with you again,” Ernest said.  “We began with a particular industrial process, the shoe factory.  We found that the division of the joint product that took place there was similar to the division that took place in the sum total of all industrial processes.  We found that labor could buy back with its wages only so much of the product, and that capital did not consume all of the remainder of the product.  We found that when labor had consumed to the full extent of its wages, and when capital had consumed all it wanted, there was still left an unconsumed surplus.  We agreed that this surplus could only be disposed of abroad.  We agreed, also, that the effect of unloading this surplus on another country would be to develop the resources of that country, and that in a short time that country would have an unconsumed surplus.  We extended this process to all the countries on the planet, till every country was producing every year, and every day, an unconsumed surplus, which it could dispose of to no other country.  And now I ask you again, what are we going to do with those surpluses?”