territory, subject people, an imperial ruling class, and the
exploitation, by this class, of the lands and peoples that come within
the scope of their power. These are the attributes of empire--the
characteristics that have appeared, in one form or another, through the
great empires of the past and of the present day. Differing in their
forms, they remain similar in the principles that they represent. They
are imperialism.
5. _Imperial Purpose_
The building of international industrial empires by the progressive
business men of the United States lays the foundation for whatever
political imperialism is necessary to protect markets, trade and
investment. Gathering floods of economic surplus are the driving forces
which are guided by ambition and love of gain and power.
The United States emerged from the Great War in a position of
unquestioned economic supremacy. With vast stores of all the necessary
resources, amply equipped with capital, the country has entered the
field as the most dangerous rival that the other capitalist nations must
face. Possessed of everything, including the means of providing a navy
of any reasonable size and an army of any necessary number, the United
States looms as the dominating economic factor in the capitalist world.
Imperial policy is frequently bold, rough and at times frankly brutal
and unjust. Where subject peoples and weaker neighbors submit to the
dictates of the ruling power there is no friction. But where the subject
peoples or smaller states attempt to assert their rights of
self-determination or of independence, the empire acts as Great Britain
has acted in Ireland and in India; as Italy and France have acted in
Africa; as Japan has acted in Korea; as the United States has acted in
the Philippines, in Hayti, in Nicaragua, and in Mexico.
Plain men do not like these things. Animated by the belief in popular
rights which is so prevalent among the western peoples, the masses
resent imperial atrocities. Therefore it becomes necessary to surround
imperial action with such an atmosphere as will convince the man on the
street that the acts are necessary or else that they are inevitable.
When the Church and the State stood together the Czar and the Kaiser
spoke for God as well as for the financial interests. There was thus a
double sanction--imperial necessity coupled with divine authority.
Those who were not willing to accept the necessity felt enough reverence
for the authority to bow their heads in submission to whatever policy
the masters of empire might inaugurate.
The course of empire upon which the United States has embarked involves
a complete departure from all of the most cherished traditions of the
American people. Economic, political and social theories must all be
thrust aside. Liberty, equality and fraternity must all be forgotten and
in their places must be erected new standards of imperial purpose that
are acceptable to the economic and political masters of present day
American life.
The American people have been taught the language of liberty. They
believe in freedom for self-determination. Their own government was born
as a protest against imperial tyranny and they glory in its origin and
speak proudly of its revolutionary background. Americans are still
individualists. Their lives and thoughts both have been
provincial--perhaps somewhat narrow. They profess the doctrine "Live and
let live" and in a large measure they are willing and anxious to
practice it.
How is it possible to harmonize the Declaration of Independence with the
subjugation of peoples and the conquest of territory? If governments
"derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and if it
is the right of a people to alter or to abolish any government which
does not insure their safety and happiness, then manifestly subjugation
and conquest are impossible.
The letter and the spirit of the Declaration of Independence contradict
the letter and spirit of imperial purpose word for word and line for
line. There can be no harmony between these two theories of social life.
6. _Advertising Imperialism_
Since the tradition of the people of the United States and the
necessities of imperialism are so utterly at variance, it becomes
necessary to convince the American people that they should abandon
their traditions and accept a new order of society, under which the will
to power shall be substituted for liberty and fraternity. The ruling
class of imperial Germany did this frankly and in so many words. The
English speaking world is more adroit.
The first step in the campaign to advertise and justify imperialism is
the teaching of a blind my-country-right-or-wrong patriotism. In the
days preceding the war the idea was expressed in the phrase, "Stand
behind the President." The object of this teaching is to instill in the
minds of the people, and particularly of the young, the principles of
"Deutschland ueber alles," which, in translation, means "America first."
There are more than twenty million children in the public schools of the
United States who are receiving daily lessons in this first principle of
popular support for imperial policy.
Having taken this first step and made the state supreme over the
individual will and conscience, the imperial class makes its next
move--for "national defense." The country is made to appear in constant
danger from attack. Men are urged to protect their homes and their
families. They are persuaded that the white dove of peace cannot rest
securely on anything less than a great navy and army large enough to
hold off aggressors. The same forces that are most eager to preach
patriotism are the most anxious about national preparedness.
Meanwhile the plain people are taught to regard themselves and their
civilization as superior to anything else on earth. Those who have a
different language or a different color are referred to as "inferior
peoples." The people of Panama cannot dig a canal, the people of Cuba
cannot drive out yellow fever, the people of the Philippines cannot run
a successful educational system, but the people of the United States can
do all of these things,--therefore they are justified in interfering in
the internal affairs of Panama, Cuba and the Philippines. When there is
a threat of trouble with Mexico, the papers refer to "cleaning up
Mexico" very much as a mother might refer to cleaning up a dirty child.
Patriotism, preparedness and a sense of general superiority lead to
that type of international snobbery that says, "Our flag is on the seven
seas"; or "The sun never sets on our possessions"; or "Our navy can lick
anything on earth." The preliminary work of "Education" has now been
done; the way has been prepared.
One more step must be taken, and the process of imperializing public
opinion is complete. The people are told that the imperialism to which
they have been called is the work of "manifest destiny."
7. _Manifest Destiny_
The argument of "manifest destiny" is employed by the strong as a
blanket justification for acts of aggression against the weak. Each time
that the United States has come face to face with the necessity of
adding to its territory at the expense of some weak neighbor, the
advocates of expansion have plied this argument with vigor and with
uniform success.
The American nation began its work of territorial expansion with the
purchase of Louisiana. Jefferson, who had been elected on a platform of
strict construction of the Constitution, hesitated at an act which he
regarded as "beyond the Constitution." (Jefferson's "Works," Vol. IV, p.
198.) Quite different was the language of his more imperialistic
contemporaries. Gouverneur Morris said, "France will not sell this
territory. If we want it, we must adopt the Spartan policy and obtain it
by steel, not by gold."[51] During February, 1803, the United States
Senate debated the closing of the Mississippi to American commerce. "To
the free navigation of the Mississippi we had an undoubted right from
nature and from the position of the Western country,"[52] said Senator
Ross (Pennsylvania) on February 14. On February 23rd Senator White
(Delaware) went a step farther: "You had as well pretend to dam up the
mouth of the Mississippi, and say to the restless waves, 'Ye shall cease
here, and never mingle with the ocean,' as to expect they (the settlers)
will be prevented from descending it."[53] On the same day (February
23rd) Senator Jackson (Georgia) said: "God and nature have destined New
Orleans and the Floridas to belong to this great and rising Empire."[54]
God, nature and the requirements of American commerce were the arguments
used to justify the purchase, or if necessary, the seizure of New
Orleans. The precedent has been followed and the same arguments
presented all through the century that followed the momentous decision
to extend the territory of the United States.
Some reference has been made to the Mexican War and the argument that
the Southwest was a "natural" part of the territory of the United
States. The same argument was made in regard to Cuba and by the same
spokesmen of the slave-power. Stephen A. Douglas (New Orleans, December
13, 1858) was asked:
"How about Cuba?"
"It is our destiny to have Cuba," he answered, "and you can't prevent it
if you try."[55]
On another occasion (New York, December, 1858) Douglas stated the matter
even more broadly:
"This is a young, vigorous and growing nation and must obey the law of
increase, must multiply and as fast as we multiply we must expand. You
can't resist the law if you try. He is foolish who puts himself in the
way of American destiny."[56]
President McKinley stated that the Philippines, like Cuba and Porto
Rico, "were intrusted to our hands by the Providence of God" (Boston,
February 16, 1899), and one of his fellow imperialists--Senator
Beveridge of Indiana--carried the argument one step farther (January 9,
1900) when he said in the Senate (_Congressional Record_, January 9,
1900, p. 704): "The Philippines are ours forever.... And just beyond the
Philippines are China's illimitable markets. We will not retreat from
either. We will not repudiate our duty to the archipelago. We will not
abandon our opportunity in the Orient. We will not renounce our part in
the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the
world."
Manifest destiny is now urged to justify further acts of aggression by
the United States against her weaker neighbors. _The Chicago Tribune_,
discussing the Panama Canal and its implications, says editorially (May
5, 1916): "The Panama Canal has gone a long way towards making our shore
continuous and the intervals must and will be filled up; not necessarily
by conquest or even formal annexation, but by a decisive control in one
form or another."
Here the argument of manifest destiny is backed by the argument of
"military necessity,"--the argument that led Great Britain to possess
herself of Gibraltar, Suez and a score of other strategic points all
round the earth, and to maintain, at a ruinous cost, a huge navy; the
argument that led Napoleon across Europe in his march of bloody, fatal
triumph; the argument that led Germany through Belgium in 1914--one of
the weakest and yet one of the most seductive and compelling arguments
that falls from the tongue of man. Because we have a western and an
eastern front, we must have the Panama Canal. Because we have the Panama
Canal, we must dominate Central America. The next step is equally plain;
because we dominate Central America and the Panama Canal, there must be
a land route straight through to the Canal. In the present state of
Mexican unrest, that is impossible, and therefore we must dominate
Mexico.
The argument was stated with persuasive power by ex-Senator Albert J.
Beveridge (_Collier's Weekly_, May 19, 1917). "Thus in halting fashion
but nevertheless surely, the chain of power and influence is being
forged about the Gulf. To neglect Mexico is to throw away not only one
link but a large part of that chain without which the value and
usefulness of the remainder are greatly diminished if indeed not
rendered negligible." By a similar train of logic, the entire American
continent, from Cape Horn to Bering Sea can and will be brought under
the dominion of the United States.
Some destiny must call, some imperative necessity must beckon, some
divine authority must be invoked. The campaign for "100 percent
Americanism," carefully thought out, generously financed and carried to
every nook and corner of the United States aims to prove this necessity.
The war waged by the Department of Justice and by other public officers
against the "Reds" is intended to arouse in the American people a sense
of the present danger of impending calamity. The divine sanction was
expressed by President Wilson in his address to the Senate on July 10,
1919. The President discussed the Peace Treaty in some of its aspects
and then said, "It is thus that a new responsibility has come to this
great nation that we honor and that we would all wish to lift to yet
higher service and achievement. The stage is set, the destiny disclosed.
It has come about by no plan of our conceiving but by the hand of God
who has led us into this war. We cannot turn back. We can only go
forward, with lifted and freshened spirit to follow the vision."
8. _The Open Road_
The American people took a long step forward on November 2, 1920. The
era of modern imperialism, begun in 1896 by the election of McKinley,
found its expression in the annexation of Hawaii; the conquest of Cuba
and the Philippines; the seizure of Panama, and a rapid commercial and
financial expansion into Latin America. In 1912 the Republicans were
divided. The more conservative elements backed Taft for reelection. The
more aggressive group (notably United States Steel) supported
Roosevelt. Between them they divided the Republican strength, and while
they polled a total vote of 7,604,463 as compared with Wilson's
6,293,910, the Republican split enabled Wilson to secure a plurality of
2,173,512, although he had less than half of the total vote.
President Wilson entered office with the ideals of "The New Freedom." He
was out to back the "man on the make," the small tradesman and
manufacturer; the small farmer; the worker, ambitious to rise into the
ranks of business or professional life. With the support, primarily, of
little business, Wilson managed to hold his own for four years, and at
the 1916 election to poll a plurality, over the Republican Party, of
more than half a million votes. He won, however, primarily because "he
kept us out of war." April, 1917, deprived him of that argument. His
"New Freedom" doctrines, translated into international politics (in the
Fourteen Points) were roughly handled in Paris. The country rejected his
leadership in the decisive Congressional elections of 1918, and he and
his party went out of power in the avalanche of 1920, when Harding
received a plurality nearly three times as great as the highest one ever
before given a presidential candidate (Roosevelt, in 1904). Every state
north of the Mason and Dixon Line went Republican. Tennessee left the
Solid South and joined the same party. The Democrats carried only eleven
states--the traditional Democratic stronghold.
The victory of Harding is a victory for organized, imperial, American
business. The "man on the make" is brushed aside. In his place stands
banker, manufacturer and trader, ready to carry American money and
American products into Latin America and Asia.
Before the United States lies the open road of imperialism. Manifest
destiny points the way in gestures that cannot be mistaken. Capitalist
society in the United States has evolved to a place where it must make
certain pressing demands upon neighboring communities. Surplus is to be
invested; investments are to be protected, American authority is to be
respected. All of these necessities imply the exercise of imperial power
by the government of the United States.
Capitalism makes these demands upon the rulers of capitalist society.
There is no gainsaying them. A refusal to comply with them means death.
Therefore the American nation, under the urge of economic necessity;
guided half-intelligently, half-instinctively by the plutocracy, is
moving along the imperial highroad, and woe to the man that steps across
the path that leads to their fulfillment. He who seeks to thwart
imperial destiny will be branded as traitor to his country and as
blasphemer against God.
FOOTNOTES:
[48] "New American History," A. B. Hart. American Book Co., 1917, p.
348.
[49] The total area of these countries, exclusive of their colonies, is
807,123 square miles.
[50] See "Theory of the Leisure Class," Thorstein Veblen. New York,
Huebsch, 1918, Ch. 10.
[51] "A History of Missouri," Louis Houck. Chicago, R. R. Donnelly &
Sons, 1908, vol. II, p. 346.
[52] "History of Louisiana," Charles Gayarre. New Orleans, Hansell &
Bros., Ltd., 1903, vol. III, p. 478.
[53] Ibid., p. 485.
[54] Ibid., p. 486.
[55] McMaster's "History of the American People." Vol. VIII, p. 339.
[56] Ibid., p. 339.
XIII. THE UNITED STATES AS A WORLD COMPETITOR
1. _A New World Power_
Youngest among the great nations, the United States holds a position of
immense world power. Measured in years and compared with her sister
nations in Europe and Asia, she is a babe. Measured in economic strength
she is a burly giant. Young America is, but mighty with a vast economic
strength.
An inexorable destiny seems to be forcing the United States into a
position of international importance. Up to the time of the Spanish War,
she played only a minor part in the affairs of the world. The Spanish
War was the turning point--the United States as a borrowing nation gave
way then, to the United States as an investing nation. Economic forces
compelled the masters of economic life to look outside of the country
for some of their business opportunities.
Since the Civil War the United States has been preparing herself for her
part in world affairs. During the thirty years that elapsed between 1870
and 1900 she emerged from a position of comparative economic inferiority
to take a position of notable economic importance. Between the years
1870 and 1900 the population of the United States increased 97 per cent.
During the same period the annual production of wheat increased from 236
million bushels to 522 million bushels; the annual production of corn
from 1,094 to 2,105 million bushels; the annual production of cotton
from 4,352 to 10,102 thousand bales; the annual production of coal from
29 to 241 million tons; the annual production of petroleum from 221 to
2,672 million gallons; the annual production of pig iron from 1,665 to
13,789 thousand tons; the annual production of steel from 68 to 10,188
thousand tons; the annual production of copper from 12 to 271 thousand
tons, and the production of cement (there is no record for 1870) rose
from two million barrels in 1880 to 17 million barrels in 1900. Thus
while the production of food more than kept pace with the increase of
population, the production of those commodities upon which the new
industry depends--coal, petroleum, iron, steel, copper and
cement--increased many times more rapidly than the population. During
one brief generation the United States, with almost unbelievable
rapidity, forged ahead in the essentials for supremacy in the new world
of industry.
By the time of the Spanish War (1898) American industries had found
their stride. During the next fourteen years they were overtaking their
European competitors in seven league boots. Between 1900 and 1914 while
the population of the United States increased by 30 per cent,--
Wheat production increased 70 per cent
Corn production increased 27 " "
Cotton production increased 58 " "
Coal production increased 90 " "
Petroleum production increased 317 " "
Pig Iron production increased 69 " "
Steel production increased 131 " "
Copper production increased 89 " "
Cement production increased 406 " "
The United States was rushing toward a position of economic world power
before the catastrophe of 1914 hurled her to the front, first as a
producer (at immense profits) for the Allies, and later as the financier
of the final stages of the War.
The economic position that is now held by the United States among the
great competing nations of the world can be in some measure
suggested--it cannot be adequately stated--by a comparison of the
economic position of the United States and some of the other leading
world empires.
Neither the geographical area of the United States nor the numerical
importance of its people justifies its present world position. The
country, with 8 per cent of the area and 6 per cent of the population of
the world, looms large in the world's economic affairs,--how large will
appear from an examination of certain features that are considered
essential to economic success, such as resources, capital, products,
shipping, and national wealth and income.
2. _The Resources of the United States_
The most important resource of any country is the fertile, agricultural
land. Figures given in the Department of Agriculture Year Book for 1918
(Table 319) show the amount of productive land,--including, beside
cultivated land, natural meadows, pastures, forests, woodlots, etc., of
the various countries according to pre-war boundary lines. The total of
such productive land for the 36 leading countries of the world was
4,591.7 million acres. Russia, including Siberia, had almost a third of
this total (1,414.7 million acres). The United States came second with
878.8 million acres, or 19 per cent of the total available productive
land. Third in the list was Argentine with 537.8 million acres. British
India came fourth with 465.7 million acres. Then there followed in order
Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, Australia, Spain and Japan.
Austria-Hungary, Germany and France combined had almost exactly four
hundred million acres of productive land or less than half the
productive area of the United States.
The United States, in the area of productive land, is second only to
Russia. In the area of land actually under cultivation, however, it
stands first, with Russia a close second and British India a close
third,--the amounts of cultivated land in each of these countries being
293.8 million acres, 279.6 million acres, and 264.9 million acres
respectively. These three countries together contain 64 per cent of the
1,313.8 million acres of cultivated land of the world. The United States
alone contains 22 per cent of the total cultivated land.
The total forest acreage available for commercial purposes is greatest
in Russia (728.4 million acres). The United States stands second with
400 million acres and Canada third with 341 million acres. The Chief of
Forest Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture
(Letter of Oct. 11, 1919) places the total forest acreage of both Brazil
and Canada ahead of the United States. In the case of Brazil no figures
are available showing what portion of the 988 million acres of total
area is commercially available. Canada with a total forest acreage of
800 million acres has less timber commercially available than the United
States with a total forest area of 500 million acres.
The iron ore reserves of the world are estimated at 91,000 million tons
("Iron Ores," Edwin C. Eckel. McGraw Hill Book Co., 1914, pp. 392-3). Of
this amount 51,000 millions are placed in Asia and Africa; 12,000
million tons in Europe, and 14,800 million tons in North America. The
United States alone is credited with 4,260 million tons or about 5 per
cent of the world's supply. The United States Geological Survey
(_Bulletin_ 666v) estimates the supply of the United States at 7,550
million tons; the supply in Newfoundland, Mexico and Cuba as 7,000
million tons, and that in South America as 8,000 million tons as against
12,000 million tons for Europe. This estimate would give the United
States alone 8 per cent of the iron ore of the world. It would give
North America 15 per cent and the Western Hemisphere 25 per cent, as
against 15 per cent for Europe.
Iron ore furnishes the material out of which industrial civilization is
constructed. Until recently the source of industrial power has been
coal. Even to-day petroleum and water play a relatively unimportant
role. Coal still holds the field.
The United States alone contains 3,838,657 million tons--more than half
of the total coal reserves of the world. ("Coal Resources of the World."
Compiled by the Executive Committee, International Geological Congress,
1913, Vol. I, p. XVIII ff.) North America is credited with 5,073,431
million tons or over two-thirds of the world's total coal reserves
(7,397,553 millions of tons). The coal reserve of Europe is 784,190
million tons or about one-fifth of the coal reserves of the United
States alone.
Figures showing the amount of productive land and of timber may be
verified. Those dealing with iron ore and coal in the ground are mere
estimates and should be treated as such. At the same time they give a
rough idea of the economic situation. Of all the essential
resources,--land, timber, iron, copper, coal, petroleum and
water-power,--the United States has large supplies. As compared with
Europe, her supply of most of them is enormous. No other single country
(the British Empire is not a single country) that is now competing for
the supremacy of the world can compare with the United States in this
regard, and if North America be taken as the unit of discussion, its
preponderance is enormous.
3. _The Capital of the United States_
The United States apparently enjoys a large superiority over any single
country in its reserves of some of the most essential resources. The
same thing is true of productive machinery.
Figures showing the actual quantities of capital are available in only a
small number of cases. Estimates of capital value in terms of money are
useless. It is only the figures which show numbers of machines that
really give a basis for judging actual differences.
Live stock on farms, the chief form of agricultural capital, is reported
for the various countries in the Year Book of the United States
Department of Agriculture. The United States (1916) heads the list with
61.9 million cattle; 67.8 million hogs; 48.6 million sheep and goats,
and 25.8 million horses and mules,--204 million farm animals in all. The
Russian Empire (including Russia in Asia) is second (1914) with 52.0
million cattle; 15.0 hogs; 72.0 million sheep and goats, and 34.9
horses and mules,--174 million farm animals in all. British India (1914)
reports more cattle than any other country (140.5 million); she is also
second in the number of sheep and goats with 64.7 millions, but she has
no hogs and 1.9 million horses. Argentina (1914) reports 29.5 million
cattle; 2.9 million sheep and goats; and 8.9 million horses and mules.
The number of animals on European farms outside of Russia is
comparatively small. Germany (1914), United Kingdom (1916),
Austria-Hungary (1913), and France (1916) reported 61.8 million cattle,
46.6 million hogs, 60.8 million sheep and goats, and 11.5 million horses
and mules, making a total of 180.7 million farm animals. These four
countries with a population of about 206 million persons, had less live
stock than the United States with its population (1916) of about 100
millions.
It would be interesting to compare the amount of farm machinery and farm
equipment of the United States with that of other countries.
Unfortunately no such figures are available.
The figures showing transportation capital are fairly complete.
(_Statistical Abstr._ 1918, pp. 844-5.) The total railroad mileage of
the world is 729,845. More than one-third of this mileage (266,381
miles) is in the United States. Russia (1916) comes second with 48,950
miles; Germany (1914) third, with 38,600 miles and Canada (1916) fourth
with 37,437 miles.
The world's total mileage of telegraph wire (Ibid.) is 5,816,219, of
which the United States has more than a fourth (1,627,342 miles). Russia
(1916) is second with 537,208 miles; Germany (1914) is third with
475,551 miles; and France fourth with 452,192 miles.
The Bureau of Railway Economics has published a compilation on
"Comparative Railway Statistics" (_Bulletin 100_, Washington, 1916) from
which it appears that the United States is far ahead of any other
country in its railroad equipment. The total number of locomotives in
the United States was 64,760; in Germany 29,520; in United Kingdom
24,718; in Russia (1910) 19,984; and in France 13,828. No other country
in the world had as many as ten thousand locomotives. If these figures
also showed the locomotive tonnage as well as the number, the lead of
the United States would be even more decided as the European locomotives
are generally smaller than those used in the United States. This fact is
clearly brought out by the figures from the same bulletin showing
freight car tonnage (total carrying capacity of all cars). For the
United States the tonnage was (1913) 86,978,145. The tonnage of Germany
was 10.7 millions; of France 5.0 millions; of Austria-Hungary 3.8
millions. The figures for the United Kingdom were not available.
The United States also takes the lead in postal equipment. (_Stat.
Abstr._, 1918, pp. 844-5.) There are 324,869 post offices in the world;
54,257 or one-sixth in the United States. The postal routes of the world
cover 2,513,997 miles, of which 450,954 miles are in the United States.
The total miles of mail service for the world is 2,061 millions. Of this
number the United States has 601.3 millions.
The most extreme contrast between transportation capital in the United
States and foreign countries is furnished by the number of automobiles.
_Facts and Figures_, the official organ of the National Automobile
Chamber of Commerce (April, 1919) estimates the total number of cars in
use on January 1, 1917 as 4,219,246. Of this number almost six-sevenths
(3,500,000) were in use in the United States. The total number of cars
in Europe as estimated by the Fiat Press Bureau, Italy, was 437,558, or
less than one-seventh of the number in use in the United States.
Automobile distribution is of peculiar significance because the industry
has developed almost entirely since the Spanish-American War and
therefore since the time when the United States first began to develop
into a world power.
The world's cotton spindleage in 1919 is estimated at 149.4 million
spindles. (Letter from T. H. Price 10/6/19.) Of this total Great Britain
has 57.0 millions; the United States 33.7 millions; Germany 11.0
millions; Russia 8.0 millions, and France and India each 7.0 millions.
No effort has been made to cite figures showing the estimated value of
various forms of capital, because of the necessary variations in value
standards. Enough material showing actual quantities of capital has been
presented to prove that in agriculture, in transportation, in certain
lines of manufacturing the United States is either at the head of the
list, or else stands in second place. In transportation capital
(particularly automobiles) the lead of the United States is very great.
If figures were available to show the relative amounts of capital used
in mining, in merchandising, and in financial transactions they would
probably show an equally great advantage in favor of the United States.
In this connection it might not be irrelevant to note that in 1915 the
total stock of gold money in the world was 8,258 millions of dollars.
More than a quarter (2,299 millions) was in the United States. The total
stock of silver money was 2,441 millions of dollars of which 756
millions (nearly a third) was in the United States. (_Stat. Abstr._,
1918, pp. 840-1.)
4. _Products of the United States_
Figures showing the amounts of the principal commodities produced in the
United States are far more complete than those covering the resources
and capital. They are perhaps the best index of the present economic
position of the United States in relation to the other countries of the
world.
The wheat crop of the world in 1916 was 3,701.3 million bushels. Russia,
including Siberia, was the leading producer with 686.3 million bushels.
The United States was second with 636.7 million bushels or 17 per cent
of the world's output. British India, the third wheat producer, had a
crop in 1916 of 323.0 million bushels. Canada, with 262.8 million
bushels, was fourth on the list. Thus Canada and the United States
combined produced almost exactly one-fourth of the world's wheat crop.
As a producer of corn the United States is without a peer. The world's
corn crop in 1916 was 3,642.1 million bushels. Two-thirds of this crop
(2,566.9 million bushels) was produced in the United States.
The position of the United States as a producer of corn is almost
duplicated in the case of cotton. The _Statistical Abstract_ published
by the British Government (No. 39, London, 1914, p. 522) gives the
world's cotton production as 21,659,000 bales (1912). Of this number the
United States produced 14,313,000--almost exactly two-thirds. British
India, which ranks second, reported a production of 3,203,000 bales.
Egypt was third with 1,471,000 bales.
About one-tenth of the world's output of wool is produced in the United
States. World production for 1917 is placed at 2,790,000 pounds.
(_Bulletin_, National Association of Wool Manufacturers. 1918, p. 162.)
Australia heads the list with a production of 741.8 million pounds.
Russia, including Siberia, comes second with 380.0 million pounds. The
United States is third with 285.6 million pounds and Argentina fourth
with 258.3 million pounds.
The United States leads the world in timber production. "Last winter we
estimated that the United States has been cutting about 50 per cent of
the total world's supply of lumber." (Letter from Chief of Forest
Investigation. U. S. Forest Service. Oct. 11, 1919.) The same letter
gives the present annual timber cut. The United States 12.5 billion
cubic feet; Russia 7.1 billion cubic feet; Canada 3.0 billion cubic
feet; Austria-Hungary 2.7 billion cubic feet.
A third of the iron ore produced in the world in 1912 came from the
United States. The world's production in that year was 154.0 million
tons (_British Statistical Abstract_, No. 39, p. 492). The United States
produced 56.1 million tons or 36 per cent of the whole; Germany produced
32.7 million tons; France 19.2 million tons; the United Kingdom 14.0
million tons. No other country is reported as producing as much as ten
million tons.
The position of the United States as a producer of iron and steel was
greatly enhanced by the war. _The Daily Consular and Trade Reports_
(July 9, 1919, p. 155) give a comparison between the world's steel and
iron output in 1914 and 1918. In 1914 the United States produced 23.3
million tons of pig iron; Germany produced 14.4 million tons; the United
Kingdom 8.9 million tons, and France 5.2 million tons. The United States
was thus producing 45 per cent of the pig iron turned out in these four
countries. For 1918 the pig iron production of the United States was
39.1 million tons. That of the other three countries was 22.0 million
tons. In that year the United States produced 64 per cent of the pig
iron product of these four countries. An equally great lead is shown in
the case of steel production. In 1914 the United States produced 23.5
million tons of steel. Germany, the United Kingdom and France produced
27.6 million tons. By 1918 the production of the United States had
nearly doubled (45.1 million tons).
The total pig iron output of the world for 1917 was placed at 66.9
millions of tons. The world's production of steel in 1916 was placed at
83 million tons. The United States produced considerably more than half
of both commodities. ("The Mineral Industry During 1918." New York,
McGraw Hill Book Co., 1919, pp. 379-80).
The two chief forms of power upon which modern industry depends are
petroleum and coal. The United States is the largest producer of both of
these commodities. The world's production of petroleum in 1917 was 506.7
million barrels (_Mineral Resources_, 1917, Part II, p. 867). Of this
amount the United States produced 335.3 million barrels or 66 per cent
of the total. The second largest producer, Russia, and the third,
Mexico, are credited with 69 million barrels and 55.3 million barrels
respectively.
As a coal producer the United States stands far ahead of all other
nations. The United States Geological Survey (_Special Report_, No. 118)
placed the total coal production of the world in 1913 at 1,478 million
tons. Of this amount 569.9 million tons (38.5 per cent) were produced in
the United States. The production for Great Britain was 321.7 million
tons; for Germany 305.7 million tons; for Austria-Hungary 60.6 million
tons. No other country reported a production of as much as fifty million
tons. In 1915 the United States produced 40.5 per cent of the world's
coal; in 1917 44.2 per cent; in 1918 46.2 per cent.
Copper has become one of the world's chief metals. Two-thirds of all the
copper is produced in the United States. Copper production in 1916
totaled 3,107 million pounds (_Mineral Resources in the United States_,
1916, part I, p. 625). The production for the United States was 1,927.9
million pounds (62 per cent of the whole). The second largest producer,
Japan, turned out 179.2 million pounds.
The precious metals, gold and silver, are largely produced in the United
States. The world's gold production for 1917 was 423.6 million dollars
(_Mineral Resources_, 1917, p. 613). Africa produced half of this amount
(214.6 million dollars). The United States was second with a production
of 83.8 million dollars (20 per cent of the whole). The same publication
(p. 615) gives the world's silver production in 1917 as 164 million
ounces. 77.1 million ounces (43 per cent) were produced in the United
States. The second largest producer was Mexico, 31.2 million ounces; and
the third Canada, with 22.3 million ounces. These three North American
countries produced 76 per cent of the world's output of silver.
Judge Gary, speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Iron and Steel
Institute (1920) put the situation in this summary form:--
As frequently stated, notwithstanding the United States has only 6% of
the world's population and 7% of the world's land, yet we produce:
20% of the world's supply of gold,
25% of the world's supply of wheat,
40% of the world's supply of iron and steel,
40% of the world's supply of lead,
40% of the world's supply of silver,
50% of the world's supply of zinc,
52% of the world's supply of coal,
60% of the world's supply of aluminum,
60% of the world's supply of copper,
60% of the world's supply of cotton,
66% of the world's supply of oil,
75% of the world's supply of corn,
85% of the world's supply of automobiles.
With the exception of rubber, practically all of the essential raw
materials and food products upon which modern industrial society depends
are produced largely in the United States. With less than a sixteenth of
the world's population, the United States produced from a fifth to
two-thirds of most of the world's essential products.
5. _Shipping_
The rapid increase in the foreign trade of the United States created a
demand for American shipping facilities. Before the Civil War the United
States held a place as a maritime nation. Between the Civil War and the
war with Spain the energies of the American people were devoted to
internal improvement. With the advent of expansion that followed the
Spanish-American War, came an insistent demand that the United States
develop a merchant marine adequate to carry its own foreign trade.
The United States Commissioner of Navigation in his report for 1917 (p.
78) gives the net gross tonnage of steam and sailing vessels in 1914 as
45 million tons in all. The tonnage of Great Britain was 19.8 million
tons; of Germany 4.9 million tons; of the United States 3.5 million
tons; of Norway 2.4 million tons; of France 2.2 million tons; of Japan
1.7 million tons, and of Italy 1.6 million tons.
The war brought about great changes in the distribution of the world's
shipping. Germany was practically eliminated as a shipping nation. The
necessity of recouping the submarine losses, and of transporting troops
and supplies led the United States to adopt a ship-building program
that made her the second maritime country of the world. Lloyd's Register
of Shipping gives the steam tonnage of the United Kingdom as 18,111,000
gross tons in June, 1920. For the same month the tonnage of the United
States is given as 12,406,000 gross tons. Japan comes next with a
tonnage of 2,996,000 gross tons. According to the same authority the
United Kingdom had 41.6 per cent of the world's tonnage in 1914 and 33.6
per cent in 1920; while the United States had 4.7 per cent of the
world's tonnage in 1914 and 24 per cent in 1920.
6. _Wealth and Income_
The economic advantages of the United States enumerated in this chapter
inevitably are reflected in the figures of national wealth and national
income. While these figures are estimates rather than conclusive
statements they are, nevertheless, indicative of a general situation.
During the war a number of attempts were made to approximate the pre-war
wealth and income of the leading nations. Perhaps the most ambitious of
these efforts was contained in a paper on "Wealth and Income of the
Chief Powers" read before the Royal Statistical Society. (See _The
London Economist_, May 24, 1919, pp. 958-9.) This and other estimates
were compiled by L. R. Gottlieb and printed in the _Quarterly Journal of
Economics_ for Nov. 1919. Mr. Gottlieb estimates the pre-war national
wealth of Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, Belgium, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria at 366,100 million dollars. At the
same time the wealth of the United States was estimated at 204,400
million dollars. Thus the wealth of the United States was equal to about
36 per cent of the total wealth of the great nations in question.
The same article contains an estimate of pre-war national incomes for
these great powers. The total is placed at 81,100 million dollars. The
income for the United States is placed at 35,300 million dollars, or
more than 43 per cent of the total.
The war has made important changes in the wealth and income of the
principal powers. The wealth and income of Europe have been reduced,
while the wealth and income of the United States have been greatly
increased. This increase is rendered doubly emphatic by the
demoralization in foreign exchange which gives the American dollar a
position of unique authority in the financial world.
The latest wealth estimates (_Commerce and Finance_, May 26, and July
28, 1920) in terms of dollars at their purchasing-power value, makes the
wealth of the whole British Empire 230 billions of dollars; of France,
100 billions; of Russia, 60 billions; of Italy, 40 billions; of Japan,
40 billions; of Germany, 20 billions, and of the United States, 500
billions. These figures are subject to alteration with the alteration of
the exchange rates, but they indicate the immense advantage that is
possessed by the business men of the United States over the business men
of any or of all of the other nations of the world.
Before the war, the British were the chief lenders in the international
field. In 1913 Great Britain had about 20 billions of dollars of foreign
investments, as compared with 9 billions for France and about 6 billions
for Germany. At the end of 1920, the British foreign investments had
shrunk to a fraction of their former amount, while the United States,
from the position of a debtor nation, had become the leading investing
nation of the world, with over 9 billions of dollars loaned to the
Allied governments; with notice loans estimated at over 10 billions;
with foreign investments of 8 billions, and goods on consignment to the
extent of 2 billions.
The United States therefore began the year 1921 with a greater financial
lead, by several times over, than that which she held before the war,
when she was credited with a greater wealth and a larger income than
that of any other nation in the world. The extent of the advantage
enjoyed by the United States at the end of 1920 cannot be stated with
any final accuracy, but its proportions are staggering.
7. _The Economic Position of the United States_
Economically the United States is a world power. She occupies one of the
three great geographical areas in the temperate zone. If she were to
include Canada, Mexico and Central America--the territory north of the
Canal Zone--she would have the greatest unified body of economic
advantage anywhere in the world.
The United States is rich in practically all of the important industrial
resources. She has a large, relatively homogeneous population, a great
part of which is directly descended from the conquering races of the
world. Almost all of the essential raw materials are produced in the
United States, and in relatively large quantities. The period since the
Spanish War has witnessed a rapid increase in wealth production. The war
of 1914 resulted in an even greater increase in shipping. The investable
surplus is greater in the United States than in any other nation, and in
amount as well as in percent the national debt is less than that in any
other important nation except Japan. Economically the position of the
United States is unique. The masters of her industries hold a position
of great advantage in the capitalist world.
XIV. THE PARTITION OF THE EARTH
1. _Economic Power and Political Authority_
Economically the United States is a world power. Her world position in
politics follows as a matter of course.
While the American people were busy with internal development, they
played an unimportant part in world affairs. They were not competing for
world trade, because they had relatively little to export; they were not
building a merchant marine because of the smallness of their trading
activities; they were not engaged in the scramble after undeveloped
countries because, with an undeveloped country of their own, calling
continually for enlarged investments, they had little surplus capital to
employ in foreign enterprises.
This economic isolation of the United States was reflected in an equally
thoroughgoing political isolation. With the exception of the Monroe
Doctrine, which in its original form was intended as a measure of
defense against foreign political and military aggression, the United
States minded its own affairs, and allowed the remainder of the world to
go its way. From time to time, as necessity arose, additional territory
was purchased or taken from neighboring countries--but all of these
transactions, up to the annexation of Hawaii (1898) were confined to the
continent of North America, in which no European nation, with the
exception of Great Britain, had any imperative territorial interest.
The economic changes which immediately preceded the Spanish War period
commanded for the United States a place among the nations. The passing
of economic aloofness marked the passing of political aloofness, and
the United States entered upon a new era of international relationships.
Possessed of abundant natural resources, and having through a long
period of peace developed a large working capital with which these
resources might be exploited, the United States, at the beginning of the
twentieth century, was in a position to export, to trade and to invest
in foreign enterprises.
The advent of the World War gave the United States a dramatic
opportunity to take a position which she must have assumed in any case
in a comparatively short time. It had, however, one signal, diplomatic
advantage,--it enabled the capitalist governments of Europe to accept,
with an excellent grace, the newly acquired economic prominence of the
United States and to recognize her without question as one of the
leading political powers. The loan of ten billions to Europe; the
sending of two million men at double quick time to the battle front; the
immense increases in the production of raw material that followed the
declaration of war by the United States; the thoroughness displayed by
the American people, once they had decided to enter the war, all played
their part in the winning of the victory. There were feelings, very
strongly expressed, that the United States should have come in sooner;
should have sacrificed more and profiteered less. But once in, there
could be no question either of the spirit of her armies or of the vast
economic power behind them.
When it came to dividing the spoils of victory, the United States held,
not only the purse strings, but the largest surpluses of food and raw
materials as well. Her diplomacy at the Peace Table was weak. Her
representatives, inexperienced in such matters, were no match for the
trained diplomats of Europe, but her economic position was unquestioned,
as was her right to take her place as one of the "big five."
2. _Dividing the Spoils_
The Peace Conference, for purposes of treaty making, separated the
nations of the world into five classes:
1. The great capitalist nations.
2. The lesser capitalist states.
3. Enemy nations.
4. Undeveloped territories.
5. The socialist states.
The great capitalist states were five in number--Great Britain, France,
Italy, Japan and the United States. These five states dominated the
armistice commission and the Peace Conference and they were expected to
dominate the League of Nations. The position of these five powers was
clearly set forth in the regulations governing procedure at the Peace
Conference. Rule I reads: "The belligerent powers with general
interests--the United States of America, the British Empire, France,
Italy and Japan--shall take part in all meetings and commissions." (_New
York Times_, January 20, 1919.) Under this rule the Big Five were the
Peace Conference, and throughout the subsequent negotiations they
continued to act the part.
The same concentration of authority was read into the revised covenant
of the League of Nations. Article 4 provides that the Executive Council
of the League "shall consist of the representatives of the United States
of America, of the British Empire, of France, of Italy and of Japan,
together with four other members of the League." The authority of the
Big Five was to be maintained by giving them five votes out of nine on
the executive council of the League, no matter how many other nations
might become members.
It was among the Big Five, furthermore, that the spoils of victory were
divided. The Big Five enjoyed a full meal; the lesser capitalist states
had the crumbs.
The enemy nations were stripped bare. Their colonies were taken, their
foreign investments were confiscated, their merchant ships were
appropriated, they were loaded down with enormous indemnities, they were
dismembered. In short, they were rendered incapable of future economic
competition. The thoroughgoing way in which this stripping was
accomplished is discussed in detail by J. M. Keynes in "The Economic
Consequences of the Peace" (chapters 4 and 5).
The undeveloped territories--the economic opportunities upon which the
Big Five were relying for the disposal of their surplus products and
surplus capital, were carved and handed about as a butcher carves a
carcass. Shantung, which Germany had taken from China, was turned over
to Japan under circumstances which made it impossible for China to sign
the Treaty--thus leaving her territory open for further aggression. The
Near East was divided between Great Britain, France and Italy. Mexico
was not invited to sign the treaty and her name was omitted from the
list of those eligible to join the League. The German possessions in
Africa and in the Pacific were distributed in the form of "mandates" to
the Great Powers. The principle underlying this distribution was that
all of the unexploited territory should go to the capitalist victors for
exploitation. The proportions of the division had been established,
previously, in a series of secret treaties that had been entered into
during the earlier years of the war.
With the Big Five in control, with the lesser capitalist states
silenced; with the border states made or in the making; with the enemy
reduced to economic impotence, and the unexploited portions of the world
assigned for exploitation, the conference was compelled to face still
another problem--the Socialist Republic of Russia.
Russia, Czar ridden and oppressed, had entered the war as an ally of
France and Great Britain. Russia, unshackled and attempting
self-government on an economic basis, was an "enemy of civilization."
The Allies therefore supported counter-revolution, organized and
encouraged warfare by the border states, established and maintained a
blockade, the purpose of which was the starvation of the Russian people
into submission, and did all that money, munitions, supplies,
battleships and army divisions could do to destroy the results of the
Russian Revolution.
The Big Five--assuming to speak for all of the twenty-three nations that
had declared war on Germany--manipulated the geography of Europe,
reduced their enemies to penury, disposed of millions of square miles of
territory and tens of millions of human beings as a gardener disposes of
his produce, and then turned their united strength to the task of
crushing the only thing approaching self-government that Russia has had
for centuries.
A more shameless exhibition of imperial lust is not recorded in history.
Never before were five nations in a position to sit down at one table
and decide the political fate of the world. The opportunity was unique,
and yet the statesmen of the world played the old, savage game of
imperial aggression and domination.
This brutal policy of dealing with the world and its people was accepted
by the United States. Throughout the Conference her representatives
occupied a commanding position; at any time they would have been able to
speak with a voice of almost conclusive authority; they chose,
nevertheless, to play their part in this imperial spectacle. To be sure
the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty,--not because of its imperial
iniquities, but rather because there was nothing in it for the United
States.
3. _Italy, France and Japan_
The shares of spoil falling to Italy and France as a result of the
treaty are comparatively small although both countries--and particularly
France--carried a terrific war burden. Japan, the least active of any of
the leading participants in the war, received territory of vast
importance to her future development.
Italy,--under the secret treaty of London, signed April 26, 1915, by
the representatives of Russia, France, Great Britain and Italy,--was to
receive that part of Austria known as the Trentine, the entire southern
Tyrol, the city and suburbs of Trieste, the Istrian Islands and the
province of Dalmatia with various adjacent islands. Furthermore, Article
IX of the Treaty stipulated that, in the division of Turkey, Italy
should be entitled to an equal share in the basin of the Mediterranean,
and specifically to the province of Adalia. Under Article XIII, "In the
event of the expansion of French and English colonial domains in Africa
at the expense of Germany, France and Great Britain recognize in
principle the Italian right to demand for herself certain compensations
in the sense of expansions of her lands in Erithria, Somaliland, in
Lybia and colonial districts lying on the boundary, with the colonies of
France and England." Substantially, this plan was followed in the Peace
Treaty.
The territorial claims of France were simple. The secret treaties
include a note from the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to the French
Ambassador at Petrograd, dated February 1-14, 1917, which stated that
under the Peace Treaty:
"(1) Alsace and Lorraine to be returned to France.
"(2) The boundaries will be extended at least to the limits of the
former principality of Lorraine, and will be fixed under the
direction of the French Government. At the same time strategic
demands must be taken into consideration, so as to include within
the French territory the whole of the industrial iron basin of
Lorraine and the whole of the industrial coal-basin of the Saar."
The Peace Treaty confirmed these provisions, with the exception of the
Saar Valley, which is to go to France for 15 years under conditions
which will ultimately cause its annexation to France if she desires it.
France also gained some slight territorial concessions in Africa. Her
real advantage--as a result of the peace--lies in the control of the
three provinces with their valuable mineral deposits.
The territorial ambitions of Japan were confined to the Far East. The
former Russian Ambassador to Tokio, under date of February 8, 1917,
makes the statement that Japan was desirous of securing "the succession
to all the rights and privileges possessed by Germany in the Shantung
province and for the acquisition of the islands north of the Equator."
In a secret treaty with Great Britain, Japan secured a guarantee
covering such a division of the German holdings in the Pacific.
These concessions are of great importance to Japan. By the terms of the
Treaty one of her rivals for the trade of the East (Germany) is
eliminated, and the territory of that rival goes to Japan. With the
control of Port Arthur and Korea and Shantung, Japan holds the gateway
to the heart of Northern China. The islands gained by Japan as a result
of the Treaty give her a barrier extending from the Kurile Islands, near
Kamchatka, through the Empire of Japan proper, to Formosa. Farther out
in the Pacific, there are the Ladrones, the Carolines and the Pelew
Islands, which, in combination, make a series of submarine bases that
render attack by sea difficult or impossible, and that lie,
incidentally, between the United States and the Philippine Islands.
Japan came away from the Peace Conference with the key to the East in
her pocket.
4. _The Lion's Share_
The lion's share of the Peace Conference spoil went to Great Britain. To
each of the other participants, certain concessions, agreed upon
beforehand, were made. The remainder of the war-spoil was added to the
British Empire. This "remainder" comprised at least a million and half
square miles of territory, and included some of the most important
resources in the world.
The territorial gains of Great Britain cover four areas--the Near East,
the Far East, Africa, and the South Pacific.
The gains of Great Britain in the Near East include Hedjez and Yemen,
the control of which gives the British possession of virtually all of
the territory bordering on the Red Sea. The Persian Gulf is likewise
placed under British control, through her holding of Mesopotamia and her
control over Persia and Oman. The eastern end of the Mediterranean is
held by the British through their control of Palestine.
Thus the gateway to the East,--both by land and by sea, the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean, the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates
and the basin of the Red Sea all fall into the hands of the British, who
now hold the heart of the Near East. The gains of Great Britain in
Africa include Togoland, German Southwest Africa and German East Africa.
With these accessions of territory, Great Britain holds a continuous
stretch of country from the Cape to Cairo. A British subject can
therefore travel on British soil from Cape Town via the Isthmus of Suez,
to Siam, covering a distance as the crow flies of something like 10,000
miles.
The British gains in the South Pacific include Kaiser Wilhelm Land and
the German islands south of the Equator.
What these territorial gains mean in the way of additional resources for
the industries of the home country, only the future can decide. Certain
it is, that outside of the Americas, Central Europe, Russia, China and
Japan, Great Britain succeeded in annexing most of the important
territory of the world.
The _Chicago Tribune_, in one of its charmingly frank editorials, thus
describes the gains to the British Empire as a result of the war. "The
British mopped up. They opened up their highway from Cairo to the Cape.
They reached out from India and took the rich lands of the Euphrates.
They won Mesopotamia and Syria in the war. They won Persia in diplomacy.
They won the east coast of the Red Sea. They put protecting territory
about Egypt and gave India bulwarks. They made the eastern dream of the
Germans a British reality.
"The British never had their trade routes so guarded as now. They never
had their supremacy of the sea so firmly established. Their naval
competitor, Germany, is gone. No navy threatens them. No empire
approximates their size, power, and influence.
"This is the golden age of the British Empire, its Augustan age. Any
imperialistic nation would have fought any war at any time to obtain
such results, and as imperialistic nations count costs, the British
cost, in spite of its great sums in men and money was small." (January
4, 1920.)
5. _Half the World--Without a Struggle_
Two significant facts stand out in this record of spoils distribution.
One is that Great Britain received the lion's share of them in Asia and
Africa. The other, that there is no mention of the Americas. Outside of
the Western Hemisphere, Great Britain is mistress. In the Americas, with
the exception of Canada, the United States is supreme.
There are two reasons for this. One is that Germany's ambitions and
possessions included Asia and Africa primarily--and not America. The
other is that the Peace Conference recognized the right of the United
States to dominate the Western Hemisphere.
The representatives of the United States declared that their country was
asking for nothing from the Peace Conference. Nevertheless, the
insistent clamor from across the water led the American delegation to
secure the insertion in the revised League Covenant of Article XXI which
read: "Nothing in this covenant shall be deemed to affect the validity
of international engagements, such as treaties of arbitration or
regional understandings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the
maintenance of peace." This article coupled with the first portion of
Article X, "The members of the League undertake to respect and preserve
as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing
political independence of all members of the League," guarantees to the
United States complete authority over Latin America, reserving to her
political suzerainty and economic priority.
The half of the earth reserved to the United States under these
provisions contains some of the richest mineral deposits, some of the
largest timber areas, and some of the best agricultural territory in the
world. Thus at the opening of the new era, the United States, at the
cost of a comparatively small outlay in men and money, has guaranteed to
her by all of the leading capitalist powers practically an exclusive
privilege for the exploitation of the Western Hemisphere.
XV. PAN-AMERICANISM
1. _America for the Americans_
In the partition of the earth, one-half was left under the control of
the United States. Among the great nations, parties to the war and the
peace, the United States alone asked for nothing--save the acceptance by
the world of the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine, as generally understood,
makes her mistress of the Western Hemisphere.
The Monroe Doctrine originated in the efforts of Latin America to
establish its independence of imperial Europe, and the counter efforts
of imperial Europe to fasten its authority on the newly created Latin
American Republics. President Monroe, aroused by the European crusade
against popular government, wrote a message to Congress (1823) in which
he stated the position of the United States as follows:
"The American continents, by the free and independent condition which
they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as
subjects for future colonization by any European powers."
Monroe continues by pointing out that the United States must view any
act which aims to establish European authority in the Americas as
"dangerous to our peace and safety."
"The United States will keep her hands off Europe; she will expect
Europe to keep her hands off America," was the essence of the doctrine,
which has been popularly expressed in the phrase "America for the
Americans." The Doctrine was thus a statement of international
aloofness,--a declaration of American independence of the remainder of
the world.
The Monroe Doctrine soon lost its political character. The southern
statesmen who were then guiding the destinies of the United States were
looking with longing eyes into Texas, Mexico, Cuba and other potential
slave-holding territory. Later, the economic necessities of the northern
capitalists led them in the same direction. Professor Roland G. Usher,
in his "Pan-Americanism" (New York, The Century Company, 1915, pp.
391-392) insists that the Monroe Doctrine stands "First, for our
incontrovertible right of self-defense. In the second place the Monroe
Doctrine has stood for the equally undoubted right of the United States
to champion and protect its primary economic interest against Europe or
America."
Through the course of a century this statement of defensive policy has
been converted into a doctrine of economic pseudo-sovereignty. It is no
longer a case of keeping Europe out of Latin America but of getting the
United States into Latin America.
The United States does not fear political aggression by Europe against
the Western Hemisphere. On the contrary, the aggression to-day is
largely economic, and the struggle for the markets and the investment
opportunities of Latin America is being waged by the capitalists of
every great industrial nation, including the United States.
2. _Latin America_
Four of the Latin American countries, viewed from the standpoint of
population and of immediately available assets, rank far ahead of the
remainder of Latin America. Mexico, with a population in 1914-1915 of
15,502,000, had an annual government revenue of $72,687,000. The
population of Brazil is 27,474,000. The annual revenue (1919) is
$183,615,000. Argentine, with a population of 8,284,000, reported annual
revenues of $159,000,000 (1918); and Chile, with a population of
3,870,000, had an annual revenue of $77,964,000 (1917). These four
states rank in political and economic importance close to Canada.
Great Britain holds a number of strategic positions in the West Indies.
Other nations have minor possessions in Latin America. None of these
possessions, however, is of considerable economic or political
importance. There remain Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay,
Peru, Venezuela, and the Central American states. The most populous of
these countries is Peru (5,800,000 persons). All of the Central American
states combined have a population of less than 6,000,000. The annual
revenues of Uruguay (population 1,407,000) are $30,453,000 (1918-19).
The combined government revenues of all Central America are less than
twenty-five millions. (_Statistical Abstract of the U. S._, 1919, p.
826ff.)
Compared with the hundred million population of the United States; its
estimated wealth (1918) of 250 billions; and its federal revenues of a
billion and a half in 1916, the Latin American republics cut a very
small figure indeed. The United States, bristling with economic surplus
and armed with the Monroe Doctrine, as accepted and interpreted in the
League Covenant, is free to turn her attention to the rich opportunities
offered by the undeveloped territory stretching from the Rio Grande to
Cape Horn. What is there to hinder her movements in this direction?
Nothing but the limitation on her own needs and the adherence to her own
public policies. This vast area, containing approximately nine million
square miles (three times the area of continental United States), has a
population of only a little over seventy millions. The entire government
revenues of the territory are in the neighborhood of six hundred
million, but so widely scattered are the people, so sharp are their
nationalistic differences, and so completely have they failed to build
up anything like an effective league to protect their common interests,
that skillful maneuvering on the part of American economic and political
interests should meet with no effectual or thoroughgoing opposition.
The "hands off America" doctrine which the United States has enunciated,
and which Europe has accepted, means first that none of the Latin
American Republics is permitted to enter into any entangling alliances
without the approval of the United States. In the second place it means
that the United States is free to treat all Latin American countries in
the same way that she has treated Cuba, Hayti and Nicaragua during the
past twenty years.
3. _Economic "Latin America"_
The United States is the chief producer--in the Western Hemisphere--of
the manufactured supplies needed by the relatively undeveloped countries
of Latin America. At the same time, the undeveloped countries of Latin
America contain great supplies of ores, minerals, timber and other raw
materials that are needed by the expanding manufacturing interests of
the United States. The United States is a country with an investible
surplus. Latin America offers ample opportunity for the investment of
that surplus. Surrounding the entire territory is a Chinese wall in the
form of the Monroe Doctrine--intangible but none the less effective.
Before the outbreak of the Great War, European capitalists dominated the
Latin American investment market. The five years of struggle did much to
eliminate European influence in Latin America.
The situation was reviewed at length in a publication of the United
States Department of Commerce "Investments in Latin America and the
British West Indies," by Frederick M. Halsey (Washington Government
Printing Office, 1918):
"Concerning the undeveloped wealth of various South American countries,"
writes Mr. Halsey, "it may be said that minerals exist in all the
Republics, that the forest resources of all (except possibly Uruguay)
are very extensive, that oil deposits have been found in almost every
country and are worked commercially in Argentine, Colombia, Chile,
Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, and that there are lands available for the
raising of live stock and for agricultural purposes" (p. 20).
As to the pre-war investments, Mr. Halsey points out that "Great Britain
has long been the largest investor in Latin America" (p. 20). The total
of British investments he places at 5,250 millions of dollars. A third
of this was invested in Argentine, a fifth in Brazil and nearly a sixth
in Mexico. French investments are placed at about one and a half
billions of dollars. The German investments were extensive, particularly
in financial and trading institutions. United States investments in
Latin America before the war "were negligible" (p. 19) outside of the
investments in the mining industry and in the packing business.
Just how much of a shift the war has occasioned in the ownership of
Latin American railways, public utilities, mines, etc., it is impossible
to say. Some such change has occurred, however, and it is wholly in the
interest of the United States.
Generalizations which apply to Latin America have no force in respect to
Canada. The capitalism of Canada is closely akin to the capitalism of
the United States.
Canada possesses certain important resources which are highly essential
to the United States. Chief among them are agricultural land and timber.
There are two methods by which the industrial interests of the United
States might normally proceed with relations to the Canadian resources.
One is to attack the situation politically, the other is to absorb it
economically. The latter method is being pursued at the present time. To
be sure there is a large annual emigration from the United States into
Canada (approximately 50,000 in 1919) but capital is migrating faster
than human beings.
The Canadian Bureau of Statistics reports (letter of May 20, 1920) on
"Stocks, Bonds and other Securities held by incorporated and joint stock
Companies engaged in manufacturing industries in Canada, 1918," as owned
by 8,130,368 individual holders, distributed geographically as follows:
Canada, $945,444,000; Great Britain, $153,758,000; United States,
$555,943,000, and other countries, $17,221,322. Thus one-third of this
form of Canadian investment is held in the United States.
4. _American Protectorates_
The close economic inter-relations that are developing in the Americas,
naturally have their counter-part in the political field. As the
business interests reach southward for oil, iron, sugar, and tobacco
they are accompanied or followed by the protecting arm of the State
Department in Washington. Few citizens of the United States realize how
thoroughly the conduct of the government, particularly in the Caribbean,
reflects the conduct of the bankers and the traders.
Professor Hart in his "New American History" (American Book Co., 1917,
p. 634) writes, "In addition the United States between 1906 and 1916
obtained a protectorate over the neighboring Latin American States of
Cuba, Hayti, Panama, Santo Domingo and Nicaragua. All together these
five states include 157,000 square miles and 6,000,000 people."
Professor Hart makes this statement under the general topic, "What
America Has Done for the World."
The Monroe Doctrine, logically applied to Latin America, can have but
one possible outcome. Professor Chester Lloyd Jones characterizes that
outcome in the following words, "Steadily, quietly, almost unconsciously
the extension of international responsibility southward has become
practically a fixed policy with the State Department. It is a policy
which the record of the last sixteen years shows is followed, not
without protest from influential factions, it is true, but none the less
followed, by administrations of both parties and decidedly different
shades within one of the parties.... Protests will continue but the
logic of events is too strong to be overthrown by traditional argument
or prejudice." ("Caribbean Interests." New York, Appleton, 1916, p.
125.)
Latin America is in the grip of the Monroe Doctrine. Whether the
individual states wish it or not they are the victims of a principle
that has already shorn them of political sovereignty by making their
foreign policy subject to veto by the United States, and that will
eventually deprive them of control over their own internal affairs by
placing the management of their economic activities under the direction
of business interests centering in the United States. The protectorate
which the United States will ultimately establish over Latin America was
forecast in the treaty which "liberated" Cuba. The resolution declaring
war upon Spain was prefaced by a preamble which demanded the
independence of Cuba. Presumably this independence meant the right of
self-government. Actually the sovereignty of Cuba is annihilated by the
treaty of July 1, 1904, which provides:
"Article I. The Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or
compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to
impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any matter authorize or permit
any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or
naval purposes, or otherwise, lodgement in, or control over any portion
of said island."
The most drastic limitations upon Cuba's sovereignty are contained in
Article 3 which reads, "the Government of Cuba consents that the United
States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban
independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the
protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for discharging
the obligation with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on
the United States now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of
Cuba." Under this article, the United States, at her discretion, may
intervene in Cuba's internal affairs.
Under these treaty provisions the Cuban Government is not only prevented
from exercising normal governmental functions in international matters,
but if a change of internal government should take place which in the
opinion of the United States jeopardized "life, property and individual
liberty" such a government could be suppressed by the armed forces of
the United States and a government established in conformity with her
wishes. Theoretically, Cuba is an independent nation. Practically, Cuba
has signed away in her treaty with the United States every important
attribute of sovereignty.
The fact that Cuba was a war-prize of the United States might be
advanced as an explanation of her anomalous position, were it not for
the relations now existing between the Dominican Republic, Hayti and
Nicaragua on the one hand and the United States on the other. The United
States has never been at war with any of these countries, yet her
authority over them is complete.
The Convention between the United States and the Dominican Republic,
proclaimed July 25, 1907, gave the United States the right to appoint a
receiver of Dominican customs in order that the financial affairs of the
Republic might be placed on a sound basis. This appointment was followed
in 1916 by the landing of the armed forces of the United States in the
territory of the Dominican Republic. On November 29, 1916, a military
government was set up by the United States Marine Corps under a
proclamation approved by the President. "This military government at
present conducts the administration of the government" (Letter from
State Department, September 29, 1919).
The proclamation issued by the Commander of the United States Marine
Corps and approved by the President, cited the failure of the Dominican
government to live up to its treaty obligations because of internal
dissensions and stated that the Republic is made subject to military
government and to the exercise of military law applicable to such
occupation. Dominican statutes "will continue in effect insofar as they
do not conflict with the objects of the Occupation or necessary
relations established thereunder, and their lawful administration will
continue in the hands of such duly authorized Dominican officials as
may be necessary, all under the oversight and control of the United
States forces exercising Military Government." The proclamation further
announces that the Military Government will collect the revenues and
hold them in trust for the Republic.
Following this proclamation Captain H. S. Knapp issued a drastic order
providing for a press censorship. "Any comment which is intended to be
published on the attitude of the United States Government, or upon
anything connected with the Occupation and Military Government of Santo
Domingo must first be submitted to the local censor for approval. In
case of any violation of this rule the publication of any newspaper or
periodical will be suspended; and responsible persons,--owners, editors,
or others--will further be liable to punishment by the Military
Government. The printing and distribution of posters, handbills, or
similar means of propaganda in order to disseminate views unfavorable to
the United States Government or to the Military Government in Santo
Domingo is forbidden." (Order secured from the Navy Department and
published by The American Union against Militarism, Dec. 13, 1916.)
A similar situation exists in Hayti. The treaty of May 3, 1916, provides
that "The Government of the United States will, by its good officers,
aid the Haitian Government in the proper and efficient development of
its agricultural, mineral and commercial resources and in the
establishment of the finances of Hayti on a firm and solid basis."
(Article I) "The President of Hayti shall appoint upon nomination by the
President of the United States a general receiver and such aids and
employees as may be necessary to manage the customs. The President of
Hayti shall also appoint a nominee of the President of the United States
as 'financial adviser' who shall 'devise an adequate system of public
accounting, aid in increasing revenues' and take such other steps 'as
may be deemed necessary for the welfare and prosperity of Hayti.'"
(Article II.) Article III guarantees "aid and protection of both
countries to the General Receiver and the Financial Adviser." Under
Article X "The Haitian Government obligates itself ... to create without
delay an efficient constabulary, urban and rural, composed of native
Haitians. This constabulary shall be organized and officered by
Americans." The Haitian Government under Article XI, agrees not to
"surrender any of the territory of the Republic by sale, lease or
otherwise, or jurisdiction over such territory, to any foreign
government or power" nor to enter into any treaty or contract that "will
impair or tend to impair the independence of Hayti." Finally, to
complete the subjugation of the Republic, Article XIV provides that
"should the necessity occur, the United States will lend an efficient
aid for the preservation of Haitian independence and the maintenance of
a government adequate for the protection of life, property and
individual liberty."
A year later, on August 20, 1917, the _New York Globe_ carried the
following advertisement:--
FORTUNE IN SUGAR
"The price of labor in practically all the cane sugar growing
countries has gone steadily up for years, except in Hayti, where
costs are lowest in the world.
"_Hayti now is under U. S. Control._
"The Haitian-American corporation owns the best sugar lands in
Hayti, owns railroads, wharf, light and power-plants, and is
building sugar mills of the most modern design. There is assured
income in the public utilities and large profits in the sugar
business. We recommend the purchase of the stock of this
corporation. Proceedings are being taken to list this stock on the
New York Stock Exchange.
"Interesting story 'Sugar in Hayti' mailed on request.
"P. W. Chapman & Co., 53 William St., N. Y. C."
Hayti remained "under United States control" until the revelations of
the summer of 1920 (see _The Nation_, July 10 and August 28, 1920), when
it was shown that the natives were being compelled, by the American
forces of occupation, to perform enforced labor on the roads and to
accept a rule so tyrannous that thousands had refused to obey the orders
of the military authorities, and had been shot for their pains. On
October 14, 1920, the _New York Times_ printed a statement from
Brigadier General George Barnett, formerly Commandant General of the
Marine Corps, covering the conditions in Hayti between the time the
marines landed (July, 1915) and June, 1920. General Barnett alleges in
his report that there was evidence of "indiscriminate" killing of the
natives by the American Marines; that "shocking conditions" had been
revealed in the trial of two members of the army of occupation, and that
the enforced labor system should be abolished forthwith. The report
shows that, during the five years of the occupation, 3,250 Haytians had
been killed by the Americans. During the same period, the losses to the
army of occupation were 1 officer and 12 men killed and 2 officers and
26 men wounded.
The attitude of the United States authorities toward the Haytians is
well illustrated by the following telegram which the United States
Acting Secretary of the Navy sent on October 2, 1915, to Admiral
Caperton, in charge of the forces in Hayti: "Whenever the Haytians wish,
you may permit the election of a president to take place. The election
of Dartiguenave is preferred by the United States."
The Cuban Treaty established the precedent; the Great War provided the
occasion, and while Great Britain was clinching her hold in Persia, and
Japan was strengthening her grip on Korea, the United States was engaged
in establishing protectorates over the smaller and weaker Latin-American
peoples, who have been subjected, one after another, to the omnipotence
of their "Sister Republic" of the North.
5. _The Appropriation of Territory_
Protectorates have been established by the United States, where such
action seemed necessary, over some of the weaker Latin-American states.
Their customs have been seized, their governments supplanted by military
law and the "preservation of law and order" has been delegated to the
Army and Navy of the United States. The United States has gone farther,
and in Porto Rico and Panama has appropriated particular pieces of
territory.
The Porto Ricans, during the Spanish-American War, welcomed the
Americans as deliverers. The Americans, once in possession, held the
Island of Porto Rico as securely as Great Britain holds India or Japan
holds Korea. The Porto Ricans were not consulted. They had no
opportunity for "self-determination." They were spoils of war and are
held to-day as a part of the United States.
The Panama episode furnishes an even more striking instance of the
policy that the United States has adopted toward Latin-American
properties that seemed particularly necessary to her welfare.
Efforts to build a Panama Canal had covered centuries. When President
Roosevelt took the matter in hand he found that the Government of
Colombia was not inclined to grant the United States sovereignty over
any portion of its territory. The treaty signed in 1846 and ratified in
1848 placed the good faith of the United States behind the guarantee
that Colombia should enjoy her sovereign rights over the Isthmus. During
November 1902 the United States ejected the representatives of Colombia
from what is now the Panama Canal Zone and recognized a revolutionary
government which immediately made the concessions necessary to enable
the United States to begin its work of constructing the canal.
The issue is made clear by a statement of Mr. Roosevelt frequently
reiterated by him (see _The Outlook_, October 7, 1911) and appearing in
the _Washington Post_ of March 24, 1911, as follows:--"I am interested
in the Panama Canal because I started it. If I had followed the
traditional conservative methods I would have submitted a dignified
state paper of probably two hundred pages to the Congress and the debate
would have been going on yet. But I took the Canal Zone and let the
Congress debate, and while the debate goes on, the Canal does also."
Article 35 of the Treaty of 1846 between the United States and Colombia
(then New Grenada) reads as follows,--"The United States guarantees,
positively and efficaciously to New Grenada, by the present stipulation,
the perfect neutrality of the before mentioned Isthmus ... and the
rights of sovereignty which New Grenada has and possesses over said
territory."
In 1869 another treaty was negotiated between the United States and
Colombia which provided for the building of a ship canal across the
Isthmus. This treaty was signed by the presidents of both republics and
ratified by the Colombian Congress. The United States Senate refused its
assent to the treaty. Another treaty negotiated early in 1902 was
ratified by the United States Senate but rejected by the Colombian
Congress. The Congress of the United States had passed an act (June 28,
1902) "To provide for the construction of a canal connecting the waters
of the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans." Under this act the President
was authorized to negotiate for the building of the canal across the
Isthmus of Panama. If that proved impossible within a reasonable time,
the President was to turn to the Nicaragua route. The treaty prepared in
accordance with this act provided that the United States would pay
Colombia ten millions of dollars in exchange for the sovereignty over
the Canal Zone. The Colombian Congress after a lengthy debate rejected
the treaty and adjourned on the last day of October, 1902.
Rumor had been general that if the treaty was not ratified by the
Colombian Government, the State of Panama would secede from Colombia,
sign the treaty, and thus secure the ten millions. In consequence of
these rumors, which threatened transportation across the Isthmus,
American war vessels were dispatched to Panama and to Colon.
On November 3, 1902, the Republic of Panama was established. On November
13 it was recognized by the United States. Immediately thereafter a
treaty was prepared and ratified by both governments and the ten
millions were paid to the Government of Panama.
Early in the day of November 3, the Department of State was informed
that an uprising had occurred. Mr. Loomis wired, "Uprising on Isthmus
reported. Keep Department promptly and fully informed." In reply to this
the American consul replied, "The uprising has not occurred yet; it is
announced that it will take place this evening. The situation is
critical." Later the same official advised the Department that (in the
words of the Presidential message, 1904) "the uprising had occurred and
had been successful with no bloodshed."
The Colombian Government had sent troops to put down the insurrection
but the Commander of the United States forces, acting under instructions
sent from Washington on November 2, prevented the transportation of the
troops. His instructions were as follows,--"Maintain free and
uninterrupted transit if interruption is threatened by armed force with
hostile intent, either governmental or insurgent, at any point within
fifty miles of Panama. Government forces reported approaching the
Isthmus in vessels. Prevent their landing, if, in your judgment, the
landing would precipitate a conflict."
Thus a revolution was consummated under the watchful eye of the United
States forces; the home government at Bogota was prevented from taking
any steps to secure the return of the seceding state of Panama to her
lawful sovereignty, and within ten days of the revolution, the new
Republic was recognized by the United States Government.[57] (Ten days
was the length of time necessary to transmit a letter from Panama to
Washington. Greater speed would have been impossible unless the new
state had been recognized by telegraph.)
6. _The Logical Exploiters_
The people of the United States are the logical exploiters of the
Western Hemisphere--the children of destiny for one half the world. They
are pressed by economic necessity. They need the oil of Mexico, the
coffee of Brazil, the beef of Argentine, the iron of Chile, the sugar of
Cuba, the tobacco of Porto Rico, the hemp of Yucatan, the wheat and
timber of Canada. In exchange for these commodities the United States is
prepared to ship manufactured products. Furthermore, the masters of the
United States have an immense and growing surplus that must be invested
in some paying field, such as that provided by the mines, agricultural
projects, timber, oil deposits, railroad and other industrial activities
of Latin-America.
The rulers of the United States are the victims of an economic necessity
that compels them to seek and to find raw materials, markets and
investment opportunities. They are also the possessors of sufficient
economic, financial, military and naval power to make these needs good
at their discretion.
The rapidly increasing funds of United States capital invested in
Latin-America and Canada, will demand more and more protection. There is
but one way for the United States to afford that protection--that is to
see that these countries preserve law and order, respect property, and
follow the wishes of United States diplomacy. Wherever a government
fails in this respect, it will be necessary for the State Department in
cooperation with the Navy, to see that a government is established that
will "make good."
Under the Monroe Doctrine, as it has long been interpreted, no
Latin-American Government will be permitted to enter into entangling
alliances with Europe or Asia. Under the Monroe Doctrine, as it is now
being interpreted, no Latin-American people will be permitted to
organize a revolutionary government that abolishes the right of private
interests to own the oil, coal, timber and other resources. The mere
threat of such action by the Carranza Government was enough to show what
the policy of the United States must be in such an emergency.
The United States need not dominate politically her weaker sister
republics. It is not necessary for her to interfere with their
"independence." So long as their resources may be exploited by American
capitalists; so long as the investments are reasonably safe; so long as
markets are open, and so long as the other necessities of United States
capitalism are fulfilled, the smaller states of the Western Hemisphere
will be left free to pursue their various ways in prosperity and peace.
FOOTNOTE:
[57] For further details see "The Panama Canal" Papers presented to the
Senate by Mr. Lodge, Senate Document 471, 63rd Congress, 2nd Session.
XVI. THE AMERICAN CAPITALISTS AND WORLD EMPIRE
1. _The Plutocrats Must Carry On_
The American plutocrats--those who by force of their wealth share in the
direction of public policy--must carry on. They have no choice. If they
are to continue as plutocrats, they must continue to rule. If they
continue to rule, they must shoulder the duties of rulership. They may
not relish the responsibility which their economic position has thrust
upon them any more than the sojourners in Newfoundland relish the savage
winters. Nevertheless, those who own the wealth of a capitalist nation
must accept the results of that ownership just as those who remain in
Newfoundland must accept the winter storms.
The owners of American timber, mines, factories, railroads, banks and
newspapers may dislike the connotations of imperialism; may believe
firmly in the principles of competition and individualism; may yearn for
the nineteenth century isolation which was so intimate a feature of
American economic life. But their longings are in vain. The old world
has passed forever; the sun has risen on a new day--a day of world
contacts for the United States.
Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts stated the matter with rare accuracy
in a speech which he made during the discussion over the conquest of the
Philippines. After explaining that wars come, "never ostensibly, but
actually from economic causes," Senator Lodge said (_Congressional
Record_, 56th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 637. January 7, 1901):
"We occupy a great position economically. We are marching on to a still
greater one. You may impede it, you may check it, but you cannot stop
the work of economic forces. You cannot stop the advance of the United
States.... The American people and the economic forces which underlie
all are carrying us forward to the economic supremacy of the world."
Senator Lodge spoke the economic truth in 1901. William C. Redfield
reenforced it in an address before the American Manufacturers Export
Association (_Weekly Bulletin_, April 26, 1920, p. 7): "We cannot be
foreign merchants very much longer in this country excepting on a
diminishing and diminishing scale--we have got to become foreign
constructors; we have got to build with American money--foreign
enterprises, railroads, utilities, factories, mills, I know not what, in
order that by large ownership in them we may command the trade that
normally flows from their operation." That is sound capitalist doctrine.
Equally sound is the exhortation that follows: "In so doing we shall be
doing nothing new--only new for us. That is the way in which Germany and
Great Britain have built up their foreign trade."
New it is for America--but it is the course of empire, familiar to every
statesman. The lesson which Bismarck, Palmerston and Gray learned in the
last century is now being taught by economic pressure to the ruling
class of the United States.
The elder generation of American business men was not trained for world
domination. To them the lesson comes hard. The business men of the
younger generation are picking it up, however, with a quickness born of
paramount necessity.
2. _Training Imperialists_
Every great imperial structure has had simple beginnings. Each imperial
ruling class has doubtless felt misgivings, during the early years of
its authority. Hesitating, uncertain, they have cast glances over their
shoulders towards that which was, but even while they were looking
backward the forces that had made them rulers were thrusting them still
farther forward along the path of imperial power. Then as generation
succeeded generation, the rulers learned their lesson, building a
tradition of rulership and authority that was handed down from father to
son; acquiring a vision of world organization and world power that gave
them confidence to go forward to their own undoing. The masters of
public life in Rome were such people; the present masters of British
economic and political affairs are such people.
American imperialists still are in the making. Until 1900 their eyes
were set almost exclusively upon empire within the United States. Those
who, before 1860, dreamed of a slave power surrounding the Gulf of
Mexico, were thrust down and their places taken by builders of railroads
and organizers of trusts. To-day the sons and grandsons of that
generation of exploiters who confined their attention to continental
territory, are compelled, by virtue of the organization which their
sires and grandsires established, to seek Empire outside the boundaries
of North America.
During the years when the leaders of American business life were
spending the major part of their time in "getting rich," the sweep of
social and economic forces was driving the United States toward its
present imperial position. Now the position has been attained, those in
authority have no choice but to accept the responsibilities which
accompany it.
Economically the United States is a world power. The war and the
subsequent developments have forced the country suddenly into a position
of leadership among the capitalist nations. The law of capitalism is:
Struggle to dispose of your surplus, otherwise you cannot survive. This
law has laid its heavy hand upon Great Britain, upon France, upon
Germany, and now it has struck with full force into the isolated,
provincial life of the United States. It is the law--immutable as the
system of gravitation. While the present system of economic life
exists, this law will continue to operate. Therefore the masters of
American life have no alternative. If they would survive, they must
dispose of their surplus.
Politically the United States is recognized as one of the leaders of the
world. Despite its tradition of isolation, despite the unwillingness of
its statesmen to enter new paths, despite the indifference of its people
to international affairs, the resources and raw materials required by
the industrial nations of Europe, the rapidly growing surplus and the
newly acquired foreign markets and investments make the United States an
integral part of the life of the world.
The ruling class in the United States has no more choice than the rulers
of a growing city whose boundaries are extending with each increment of
population. If it is to continue as a ruling class, it must accept
conditions as they are. The first of these conditions is that the United
States is a world power neither because of its virtue nor because of its
intelligence in the delicacies of the world politics, but because of the
sheer might of its economic organization.
Economic necessity has forced the United States into the front rank
among the nations of the world. Economic necessity is forcing the ruling
class of the United States to occupy the position of world leadership,
to strengthen it, to consolidate it, and to extend it at every
opportunity. The forces that played beside the yellow Tiber and the
sluggish Nile are very much the same as those which led Napoleon across
the wheat fields of Europe and that are to-day operating in Paris,
London, and in New York. The forces that pushed the Roman Empire into
its position of authority and led to the organization of Imperial
Britain are to-day operating with accelerated pace in the United States.
The sooner the American people, and particularly those who are directing
public policy, wake up to this simple but essential fact, the sooner
will doubt and misunderstanding be removed, the sooner will the issues
be drawn and the nation's course be charted.
3. _The Logical Goal_
The logical goal of the American plutocracy is the economic and
incidentally the political control of the world. The rulers of Macedon
and Assyria, Rome and Carthage, of Britain and France labored for
similar reasons to reach this same goal. It is economic fate. Kings and
generals were its playthings, obeying and following the call of its
destiny.