Germany 20 billions of dollars Russia 40 " " " Italy 25 " " " Japan 40 " " " Belgium 15 " " " Argentina 25 " " " Canada 25 " " " ---- Total 190 " " " Probably all of the other nations combined could not show a wealth total of more than 100 billions. Great Britain, France and the United States have just about 12 per cent of the population of the world, yet they probably hold somewhere in the neighborhood of two-thirds of the world's wealth. The United States alone, at the moment, has nearly half of the world's gold supply and more than a third of the world's wealth. Of course these wealth estimates are not to be accepted in detail, particularly in view of the wide fluctuations in the exchange rate. They serve, however, to give an idea of the relative wealth positions of the leading countries. The present economic position of the United States in particular, is a perilous one. The estimated wealth of the United States is greater than that of the four richest nations of the world combined. Within a decade, the country has become the world's chief money lender, the world's principal mortgage holder, the world's richest treasure house. The results are inevitable. The United States will be an object of envy, jealousy, suspicion, cajolery and hatred in the eyes of those peoples who concern themselves with the present system of competition for economic supremacy. She holds the wealth and power that they desire and they cannot rest content until they secure it. Past periods of civilization have witnessed the concentration of wealth and power in some great city, like Carthage, or in some isolated region, like Italy. All around were the "barbarians"--those who had less of the good things of life than were at the disposal of the citizens of the metropolis. Where two of these centres existed at the same time, they warred for supremacy until one or both were destroyed. Before the war the centre of the world's economic power was Great Britain. To-day the economic centre has shifted to the United States, while Britain is still the world's greatest political power. The struggle between these two empires for the political suzerainty of the planet must continue until one is victorious, or until both have been reduced to impotence. 6. _The Livelihood Struggle_