An All-round Writing-down?

What, then, does the future hold? A rearrangement of economic burdens by voluntary agreement—voluntary acceptance of reduced interest by the bondholder, as of reduced pay by the worker, reduced rents, etc.? Or a state of deadlock between creditor and debtor individuals, and between creditor and debtor page 56 countries, leading to deeper depression, which militarists may fan into a credit-destroying war? Ludendorff (London cablegram 4th June) apparently has no doubt of the issue:

Western civilisation crashes into economic ruin, Asia and Africa profiting by the destruction of Europe.

The onus is on civilisation to prove Ludendorff wrong. That can only be done by political leaders possessed of complete economic vision.