The "power" referred to here is no mechanical power, but the ideal of progress, the "subtle force" that is the necessary precondition for material advance. Like Giogrio's cause of Liberty, this ideal is portrayed in near-religious terms. As we proceed through Part One, we begin to see the connection that Conrad is drawing between political causes, industrial energies, and religious faiths, all comprising aspects of the dream-ideal.

In general Part One of the novel deals with Unionism, the force which builds political and economic organizations. (Part Two will deal with the opposite force, Separatism.) Unionism is an optimistic force associated with grand, unifying ideals, and this passage carries that emotional sense. But the passage is also carefully written to withstand scrutiny after reading later parts of the novel, where Unionism is revealed as an illusion covering a naked grab for power, and material progress in particular is shown as oppressing mankind. Nowhere does it say here that the world is actually served by the deaths of the young workers. Indeed, the phrase "for the world's service," which on the surface means "for the good of the world," can also be read as "for the world to serve."