and states, in Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, and in Germany.  The Co-operative Wholesale Society of Great Britain, acting on behalf of three and a half million families, buys two and a half million dollars of purchases annually.  And the Entente nations, in order to avoid competitive bidding, are buying collectively from us, not only munitions of war, but other supplies, while the British Government has made itself the sole importer of such necessities as wheat, sugar, tea, refrigerated meat, wool, and various metals.  The French and Italian governments, and also certain neutral states, have done likewise.  A purchasing commission for all the Allies and America is now proposed.  After the war, as an inevitable result, for one thing, of transforming some thirty million citizens into soldiers, of engaging a like number of men and women at enhanced wages on the manufacture of the requisites of war, Mr. Webb predicts a world shortage not only in wheat and foodstuffs but in nearly all important raw materials.  These will be required for the resumption of manufacture.  In brief, international co-operation will be the only means of salvation.  The policy of international trade implied by world shortage is not founded upon a law of “supply and demand.”  The necessities cannot be permitted to go to those who can afford to pay the highest prices, but to those who need them most.  For the “free play of economic forces” would mean famine on a large scale, because the richer nations and the richer classes within the nations might be fully supplied; but to the detriment and ruin of the world the poorer nations and the poorer classes would be starved.  Therefore governments are already beginning to give consideration to a new organization of international trade for at least three years after the war.  Now if this organization produce, as it may produce, a more desirable civilization and a happier world order, we are not likely entirely to go back—­especially in regard to commodities which are necessities—­to a competitive system.  The principle of “priority of need” will supersede the law of “supply and demand.”  And the organizations built up during the war, if they prove efficient, will not be abolished.  Hours of labour and wages in the co-operative League of Nations will gradually be equalized, and tariffs will become things of the past.  “The axiom will be established,” says Mr. Webb, “that the resources of every country must, be held for the benefit not only of its own people but of the world . . . .  The world shortage will, for years to come, make import duties look both oppressive and ridiculous.”

So much may be said for the principle of Democratic Control.  In spite of all theoretical opposition, circumstances and evolution apparently point to its establishment.  A system that puts a premium on commercial greed seems no longer possible.