Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/54

38 and hastened this process of Europeanization. No doubt, after the storm of war has gone by, the whole political countenance of Russia will undergo momentous changes, and, from that moment on, Russia will surely take her place among the commercially progressive nations of the world.

From that moment, too, constructive work will begin in Russia, and her tremendous productive forces will undergo the process of awakening that must precede their effective organization. This period will coincide with the particular moment when the concentrated American capital, released by the War, will begin to seek new fields of activity. If by that time Americans will have become sufficiently aroused to the opportunity, their capital would be able to perform, very profitably for itself, tremendous and useful economic work in Russia.

There are good grounds for thinking that the United States will not fail to take advantage of this happy concatenation of circumstances. The significance of a closer commercial rapprochement between Russia and the United States seems to be gaining recognition in both countries. A recent number of the official organ of the Russian Ministry of Finance, the "Trade-Industrial Gazette", contains an interview with Mr. Carver, who went to Petrograd as a representative of certain American business interests for the purpose of establishing trade relations with Russia. Mr. Carver's opinion on the possibility of close financial and economic relations between Russia and America is extremely interesting, as it sums up very ably what has been said and done in the field.

"Russia and the United States," says Mr. Carver, "are the largest countries in the world, and the two great nations have much in common. Our two countries, perhaps the strongest in the world, each moving rapidly onward along its path of development, have been, it seems, created for a strong alliance. And, in fact, there are not, nor can there be, any serious political difficulties to be settled between them, nor any economic sphere in which Russia and the United States could possibly come in contact as rivals. They both possess enormous natural wealth and the best possible supply of labor. These factors cannot but assure the two countries rapid growth and development of their wealth and economic forces. My personal opinion about Russia and the Russians is that the Russian people is a splendid one, capable of the most sustained and productive labor.

"Under such extremely favorable conditions, it cannot but be a matter of astonishment and sincere regret, that the