This ferment would have developed even if the Great War had never occurred. However, the white world's weakening through Armageddon has immensely accelerated the process and has opened up the possibility of violent "short cuts" which would have mutually disastrous consequences. Especially has it evoked in bellicose and fanatical minds the vision of a "Pan-Colored" alliance for the universal overthrow of white hegemony at a single stroke--a dream which would turn into a nightmare of race-war beside which the late struggle in Europe would seem the veriest child's play. [Illustration: DISTRIBUTION OF THE WHITE RACES] The effective centres of colored unrest are the brown and yellow worlds of Asia. Both those worlds are not merely in negative opposition to white hegemony, but are experiencing a real _renaissance_ whose genuineness is best attested by the fact that it is a faithful replica of similar movements in past times. White men must get out of their heads the idea that Asiatics are necessarily "inferior." As a matter of fact, while Asiatics do not seem to possess that sustained constructive power with which the whites, particularly the Nordics, are endowed, the browns and yellows are yet gifted peoples who have profoundly influenced human progress in the past and who undoubtedly will contribute much to world-civilization. The Asiatics have by their own efforts built up admirable cultures rooted in remote antiquity and worthy of all respect. They are to-day once more displaying their innate capacity by not merely adopting, but adapting, white ideas and methods. That this profound Asiatic renaissance will eventually result in the substantial elimination of white political control from Anatolia to the Philippines is as natural as it is inevitable. This does not mean a precipitate white "scuttle" from Asia. Far from it. It does mean, however, a candid facing of realities and a basing of policy on realities rather than on prepossessions or prejudices. Unless the white man does this, he will injure himself more than any one else. If Asia is to-day really renascent, Asia will ultimately reap the political fruits. Men worthy of independence will sooner or later get independence. This is as certain as is the converse truth that men unworthy of independence, though they cry for it never so loudly, will either remain subject or will quickly relapse into subjection should they by some lucky circumstance obtain what they could only misuse.