It may be objected that the principal factors in all of these achievements have been omitted, the commercial enterprise of the merchants, the farseeing wisdom of the statesmen, the valor and skill of the strategists, and (back of all) the courage and enterprise of the original explorers. That these have been omitted, is true; for the reason that this discussion is intended to point out only what invention has done. It is obvious that the main incentive of colonization has been commercial gain, and that the initiators of colonization schemes have usually been merchants. It is equally obvious that the statesmen are to be credited with the framing and execution of the measures needed to make any colonization scheme effective; and it is equally obvious that strategists and explorers did work without which no expansion whatever would have been possible. Nevertheless, it must be clear that the essential difference between the conquerors and the conquered, by reason of which the uncivilized were conquered by the civilized, lay in the aids which civilization had supplied to the civilized. Colonization and conquest have been going on ever since the beginning of recorded history and before; but from the days of Thutmose III in ancient Egypt until now, the conqueror and the colonizer have in almost every case been more civilized than were their victims. It is true also that savages have sometimes overrun civilized countries, and even conquered them, for Alaric captured even Rome: but up to the present time, the fruits of such conquests have not been permanent, whereas the fruits of colonization have been. In 1900, then, the Machine of Civilization was in operation in all parts of the world; in the dark continent of Africa, the deserts of Asia, the wild regions of Australia, and even on the ocean. In fact, it was on the ocean that the Machine was operating with the most efficiency and effectiveness; for nowhere else are the power and the harmony of machinery of all kinds, inert and human, seen in such perfection as in great steamships on the sea. We seem safe in concluding, therefore, that while invention was only one of many factors in bringing about the world-wide conditions that prevailed in 1900, invention was the initiating factor. It was invention that suggested to the explorer that he explore; to the merchant that he launch his enterprise; to the statesman that he encourage the merchant and assist him with wise laws; to the strategist that he make such and such plans, to meet the emergencies that arose. Finally, it was invention that made possible the actual transportation of explorers and merchants and troops to designated spots, and made successful the operations which ensued there.