INTRODUCTION

Whatever the cause of a war may have been, the effect is always a readjustment of political power, in accordance with the success or defeat resulting from the war, accompanied by a territorial readjustment of boundaries. The former arrangement, existing previous to the war, was not in harmony with the actual political forces, and the war effects a rearrangement, according to the actual political forces, as shown in the course of the war. We could state the same idea by saying that war is a restoration of balance or equilibrium of political forces by means of violent and rather primitive methods of killing people, and also by great destruction of wealth, actual and potential. But besides the actual loss of human life a war affects the economic phenomena of production and consumption of goods too, and if the readjustment of political power is effected by means of the death of people (killing, diseases, etc.), there is reason to believe and to suppose, that the actual number of people living in a given territory may not be in accordance with the economic situation, the production and consumption of goods at the moment. I n other words, population, whether we take the actual numbers or the growth and the proportionate increase of consumption and production of goods,

may show some definite characteristics, indicating an approaching state. of war. The idea of readjustment supposes a balancing of economic and political forces, and that assumes a kind of unstable equilibrium.