The Grouping of Nations

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IN the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Genesis, we learn that the prophet Abraham aided four "kings" to defeat five others and was rewarded by a blessing from one of his associates. This early instance of alliances has been followed by many more. As the world has grown smaller, thanks to improved means of communication, and as the interests of every country have tended to become far flung, regions remote from one another and of the most various character have been brought into close relations in war and peace. Under modern economic conditions the advantages of vast political and commercial aggregations are becoming ever greater, and this has only been emphasized by the increase in the number of small states owing to the World War, for it is but too plain that, however independent, they can not be completely self reliant. Everywhere today we find a tendency towards large groups which would fain be self supporting.

Associations between nations, like those between private citizens, may be based on principles of widely different kinds. A man may belong with equal loyalty to all sorts of organizations corresponding to his diverse interests. He can be at the same time an enthusiastic member of the Sons of the Revolution, of the Knights of Pythias, the Republican party, the Association of Amherst Graduates, the New York Bar, the Methodist church, the local golf and dramatic clubs, etc., etc., etc. Such activities may interfere with one another and constitute too heavy a drain on his resources but there is no incompatibility between them. Whole peoples have not the same range of choice but they may be drawn together by sympathies due to religion and culture, to similarity of political institutions, to ties of blood, real or fancied, and the use of the same or similar languages. Or they may be mutually attracted by the fact that they are neighbors and as such have identical interests, or that they can supplement each other economically to the profit of both, or that they have the same enemies. Their motives, like those of individuals, are mixed and sometimes contradictory and they are equally fickle in their affections...