It  would  be  but  a  slight  recognition  of  our  debt  to  those  countries
who  have  paid  so  much  dearer  for  the  liberty  of  the  world  than
we  have  if  our  military  hospitals  and  cantonments  were  gradually
transformed  into  homes  for  as  many  disabled  victims  as  our
Allies  chose  to  send  us  (under  proper  government  supervision  to
prevent  abuse),  while  we  taxed  ourselves  liberally  for  their  life-
long support  and  comfort.  This  would  cost  us  nothing  but
money.  But  to  permit  the  free  transference  of  the  labor  from
those  countries  to  this  under  conditions  which  meant  the  disrup-
tion of  our  own  standards  would  cost  us  our  very  life,  and  worst
of  all,  would  cost  us  our  abilit}'  to  be  of  real  and  permanent
help  to  less  fortunate  lands.
The  foregoing  discussion  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  in
general  the  present  economic  system  will  prevail,— private  owner-
ship of  capital,  competitive  wage-bargaining,  individual  responsi-
bility for  family  living  conditions,  etc.  What  might  happen
under  conditions  of  socialism,  or  a  world-wide  minimum  wage
is  merely  matter  for  conjecture — except  that  it  is  hard  to  conceive
of  any  minimum  wage  which  would  not  speedily  break  down
under  conditions  of  free  immigration.
