The new world; problems in political geography

Front matter

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Preface

Whether we wish to do so or not we are obliged to take hold of the present world situation in one way or another. Though that situation is based upon a group of international problems of extraordinary complexity, opinions respecting these problems must in many cases be translated into immediate action on the part of government executives. In an autocracy the people are asked to accept unquestioningly the judgments of officials reputed to be wiser than they; in a democracy hke ours we periodically ask the voters (suddenly doubled in nmnber by the extension of the suffrage to women) to express an opinion and commit the government to a policy.

No one can contemplate our relation to affairs with equanimity in view of the state of poUtical education in the United States. Our hitherto domestic point of view, our century-long and uninterrupted success in territorial expansion, the high and false values set upon material wealth, even our view of party politics and the responsibiHties of party leaders, all alike increase the difficulties of a time beset by perils of a new order.

To grasp the fuU meaning of questions which involve other powers that like ourselves have patriotic pride and the means to defend their honor, requires something more than native common sense and a wilhngness to deal fairly. For these questions have a geographical and historical setting and require scholarly consideration. It is to the roots of wrong that the voters and the constructive statesmen of our time must address themselves. In England and France the government leaders can depend upon a body of speciahsts and experienced administrators. In America we have never had a trained and permanent foreign-office staff ; and however lofty our intentions, we work, so far as scholarship goes, on administrative principles little different from those of a hundred years ago.

It is therefore unnecessary to elaborate an explanation for a book that deals with so many poHtical questions as this one. As a general review it is hkely to display many faults of judgment and emphasis. It goes without saying that no one could hope to present a wholly balanced account of present poUtical conditions. However, the attempt has been made to avoid aU but the most necessary expressions of editorial opinion, leaving the facts on the two sides of a given question to speak for themselves. Where this principle has been set aside, it has been for the purpose of pointing more exphcitly than could otherwise have been done to the gravest of existing dangers.

vi Preface

There are some questions that can hardly be said to have two sides, and there are other questions of a debatable character that require a judgment now and not later.

The text has been illustrated at every turn by maps, many of them specially prepared for the purpose, because maps are particularly illuminating to many current problems of political geography. Furthermore, not only are many valuable pubhshed maps difficult to find, they are still more difficult to interpret. It seemed that a real service could be rendered by assembhng them and commenting upon the facts that they display.

The large number of maps required and the many boundary changes taking place have made it impossible to represent the latest boundaries on every map, in spite of the fact that some of the maps have been engraved several tunes in order to have them include more recent decisions. Liberal cross-references are therefore given in the figure inscriptions and in the main text. A few of the maps represent conditions that may not actually be carried out, as, for example, the maps illustrating the treaty of Sevres between Turkey and the Allied* Powers, a treaty still awaiting ratification. In fact, many of the conditions set forth in other treaties now in force may be altered by later negotiation.

There are tlu-ee personal acknowledgments which I take pleasure in making : to Mr. John Storck, Miss Gladys M. Wrigley, editor of the Geographical Review, and Miss M. A. Purcell, editor for the publishers, all of whom gave the most inteUigent and constructive assistance. In addition I wish to thank Mr. Storck for his help in assembling the statistics and in the preparation of the maps. Thanks are due the officers of the American Geographical Society for interest in the work and for permission to use many of the original drawings, as well as plates, of maps which first appeared in the Geographical Review.

1 wish also to record my great obligation to former members of the Conmiission of Inquiry, an exceptionally able group of scholars who cooperated with the American Geographical Society in forming an organization which had for its object the systematic collection of data for the use of the American government in the conference for the estabfislmient of peace, thus rendering an important public service in time of need. Further acknowledgments are made in the form of bibliographic notes at the end of the volmne and in the inscriptions beneath the maps.

Isaiah Bolivian

2 April 1921

Contents

CHAPTER

I. Major Problems

II. Problems of Imperial Britain ....