Along the highroad that leads to empire moves the American people, in the heyday of its youth, sturdy, vigorous, energy-filled, replete with power and promise—conquerors who have swept aside the Indians, enslaved a race of black men, subdued a continent, and begun the extension of territorial control beyond their own borders. More than a hundred million Americans—fast losing their standards of individualism—fast slipping under the domination of a new-made ruling class of wealth-lords and plutocrats—journey, not discontentedly, along the imperial highroad.

The preliminary work of empire-building has been accomplished—territory has been conquered; peoples have been subjected and a ruling class organized. The policy of imperialism has been accepted by the people, although they have not thought seriously of its consequences. They have set out, in good faith, as they believe, to seek for life, liberty and happiness. They do not yet realize that, along the road that they are now traveling, the journey will not be ended until they have worn themselves threadbare in their efforts to conquer the earth.

The American people,—lacking in political experience and in world wisdom; ignorant of the laws of economic and social change,—have committed themselves, unwittingly, to the world old task of setting up authority over those who have no desire to accept it, and of exacting tribute from those who do not wish to pay it.

The early stages of the journey led across a continent. The American people followed it eagerly. Now that the trail leads to other continents they are still willing to go.

"Manifest destiny" is the cry of the leaders. "We are called," echo the followers, and the nation moves onward.

There was some hesitancy among the American people during the Spanish War. Even the leaders were not ready then. Now the leaders are prepared—for markets, for trade, for investments. They are indifferent to political conquest, but economically they are prepared to go on—into Latin America; into Asia; into Europe. The war taught them the lesson and gave them an inkling of their power. So they move along the imperial highroad—followed by a people who have not yet learned to chant the songs of victory—but who are destined, at no very distant date, to learn victory's lessons and to pay victory's price. Along the path,—far away in the distance they see the earth like a ball, rolling at their feet. It is theirs if they will but reach out their hands to grasp it!

2. An Imperial People

This is the American people—locked in the arms of mighty economic and social forces; building industrial empires; compelled, by a world war, to reach out and save "civilization,"—capitalist civilization,—a people that, by its very ancestry, seems destined to follow the course of empire.

The sons and daughters of the native born American stock are, in the main, the descendants of the conquering, imperial races of the modern world. During recent times, three great empires—Spain, France and Great Britain—have dominated western civilization. It was these three empires that were responsible for the settlement of America. The past generation has seen the German empire rise to a position that has enabled her to shake the security of the world. The Germans were among the earliest and most numerous settlers of the American colonies. Those who boast colonial ancestry boast the ancestry of conquerors. The Anglo-Saxon-Teutonic races, the titular masters of the modern world; the races that have spread their power where-ever ships sail or trade moves or gain offers, furnished the bulk of the early immigrants to America.

The bulk of the early immigration to the United States was from Great Britain and Germany. The records of immigration (kept officially since 1820) show that between that year and 1840 the immigrants from Europe numbered 594,504, among them there were 358,994 (over half) from the British Isles, and 159,215 from Germany, making a total from the two countries of 518,209, or 87 percent of the immigrants arriving in the twenty-year period. During the next twenty years (1840-1860) the total of immigrants from Europe was 4,050,159, of which the British Isles furnished 2,386,846 (over half) and Germany 1,386,293, making, for these two countries, 94 percent of the whole immigration. Even during the years from 1860 to 1880, 82 percent of those who migrated to the United States hailed from Great Britain and Germany. American immigration, from 1820 to 1880, might, without any violence to facts, be described as Anglo-Teutonic, so completely does the British-German immigrant dominate this period.

Literally, it is true that the American people have been sired by the masters and would-be masters of the modern earth.

3. A Place in the Sun

The Americans, like many another growing people, have sought a place in the sun—widening their boundaries; grasping at promised riches. Unlike other peoples they have accomplished the task without any real opposition. Their "promised land" lay all about them, isolated from the factional warfare of Europe; virgin; awaiting the master of the Western World.

The United States has followed the path of empire with a facility unexampled in recent history. When has a people, caught in the net of imperialism, encountered less difficulty in making its imperial dream come true? None of the foes that the American people have encountered, in two centuries of expansion, have been worthy of the name. The Indians were in no position to withstand the onslaught of the Whites. The Mexicans were even less competent to defend themselves. The Spanish Empire crumpled, under attack, like an autumn leaf under the heel of a hunter. Practically for the taking, the American people secured a richly-stocked, compact region, with an area of three millions of square miles—the ideal site for the foundation of a modern civilization.

The area of the United States has increased with marvelous rapidity. At the outbreak of the Revolution (1776) the Colonies claimed a territory of 369,000 square miles. The Northwest Territory (275,000 square miles) and the area south of the Ohio River (205,000 square miles) were added largely as a result of the negotiations in 1782. The official figures for 1800 give the total area of the United States as 892,135 square miles. The Louisiana Purchase (1803) added 885,000 square miles at a cost of 15 millions of dollars. Florida, 59,600 square miles, was purchased from Spain (1819) for 5 millions of dollars; Texas, 389,000 square miles was annexed in 1845; the Oregon Country, 285,000 square miles, was secured by treaty in 1846; New Mexico and California, 529,000 square miles, were ceded by Spain (1848) and a payment of 15 millions was made by the United States; in 1853 the Gadsen Purchase added 30,000 square miles at a cost of ten millions of dollars. This completed the territorial possessions of the United States on the mainland (with the exception of Alaska) making a continental area of 3,026,798 square miles. Between 1776 and 1853 the area of the United States was increased more than eight fold. What other nation has been in a position to multiply its home territory by eight in two generations?

These vast additions to the continental possessions of the United States were made as the result of a trifling outlay. The most serious losses were involved in the Mexican War when the casualties included more than 13,000 killed and died of wounds and disease. The net money cost of the war did not exceed $100,000,000. In return for this outlay—including the annexation of Texas—the United States secured 918,000 square miles of land.[48]

There is no way to estimate the loss of life or the money cost of the Indian Wars. For the most part, the troops engaged in them suffered no more heavily than in ordinary police duty, and the costs were the costs of maintaining the regular army. The total money outlay for purchases and indemnities was about 45 millions of dollars. Within a century the American people gained possession of one of the richest portions of the earth's surfaces—a portion equal in area to more than three times the combined acreage of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the British Isles[49]—in return for an outlay in money and life that would not have provided for one first class battle of the Great War.

Additions to the territory of the country were made with equal facility during the period following the Civil War. Alaska was purchased from Russia for $7,200,000; from Spain, as a result of the War of 1898, the United States received the Philippines, Porto Rico, and some lesser islands, at the same time paying Spain $20,000,000; Hawaii was annexed and an indemnity of $10,000,000 was paid to Panama for the Canal strip. During the second half of the nineteenth century, 716,666 square miles were added to the possessions of the United States. The total direct cost of this territory in money was under forty millions. These gains involved no casualties with the exception of the small numbers lost during the Spanish-American and Philippine Wars.

One hundred and thirty years have witnessed an addition to the United States of more than two and a half million square miles of contiguous, continental territory, and three-quarters of a million square miles of non-contiguous territory. The area of the United States in 1900 was four times as great as it was in 1800 and more than ten times as great as the area of the Thirteen Original Colonies. For the imperialist, the last century and a half of American history is a fairyland come true.

Other empires have been won by the hardest kind of fighting, during which blood and wealth have been spent with a lavish hand. The empire of the French, finally crushed with the defeat of Napoleon, was paid for at such a huge price. The British Empire has been established in savage competition with Holland, Spain, France, Russia, the United States, Germany and a host of lesser powers. The empires of old—Assyria, Egypt, Rome—were built at an intolerable sacrifice. So terrible has been the cost of empire building to some of these nations that by the time they had succeeded in creating an empire the life blood of the people and the resources of the country were devoured and the empire emerged, only to fall an easy prey to the first strong-handed enemy that it encountered.

No such fate has overtaken the United States. On the contrary her path has been smoothed before her feet. Inhabiting a garden spot, her immense territory gains in the past hundred and fifty years have been made with less effort than it has cost Japan to gain and hold Korea or England to maintain her dominion over Ireland.

Once established, the old-world empire was not secure. If the territory that it possessed was worth having, it was surrounded by hungry-eyed nations that took the first occasion to band together and despoil the spoiler. The holding of an empire was as great a task as the building of empire—often greater because of the larger outlay in men and money that was involved in an incessant warfare. Little by little the glory faded; step by step militarism made its inroads upon the normal life of the people, until the time came for the stronger rival to overthrow the mighty one, or until the inrushing hordes of barbarians should blot out the features of civilization, and enthrone chaos once more.

How different has been the fate of the people of the United States! Possessed of what is probably the richest, for the purposes of the present civilization, of any territory of equal size in the world, their isolation has allowed them more than a century of practical freedom from outside interference—a century that they have been able to devote to internal development. The absence of greedy neighbors has reduced the expense of military preparation to a minimum; the old world has failed to realize, until within the last few years, what were the possibilities of the new country; vitality has remained unimpaired, wealth has piled up, industry has been promoted, and on each occasion when a greater extent of territory was required, it has been obtained at a cost that, compared with the experience of other nations, must be described as negligible.

So simple has been the process of empire building for the United States; so natural have been the stages by which the American Empire has been evolved; so little have the changes disturbed the routine of normal life that the American people are, for the most part, unaware of the imperial position of their country. They still feel, think and talk as if the United States were a tiny corner, fenced off from the rest of the world to which it owed nothing and from which it expected nothing.

The American Empire has been built, as were the palaces of Aladdin, in a night. The morning is dawning, and the early risers who were not even awakened from their slumbers by the sound of hammer and engine, are beginning to rub their eyes, and to ask one another what is the meaning of this apparition, and whether it is real.

4. The Will to Power

The forces of America are the forces of Empire,—the geography, the economic organization, the racial qualities—all press in the direction of imperialism. There is logic behind the two centuries of conquest in which the American people have been engaged; there is logic in the rise of the plutocracy. Now it remains for the rulers of America to accept the implications of imperialism,—to thrill with the will to power; to recognize and strengthen imperial purpose; to sell imperialism to the American people—in other words to follow the call of manifest destiny and conquer the earth.

The will to power is very old and very strong. Economic and social necessity on the one hand, and the driving pressure of human ambition and the love of domination on the other, have given it a front place in human affairs. The empires of the past were driven into being by this ardent force. As far back as history bears a record, one nation or tribe has made war on its more fortunately situated neighbor; one leader has made cause against his fellow ruler. The Egyptians and Carthaginians have conquered in Africa; the Persians, Assyrians and Babylonians conquered in Asia; the Macedonians, Greeks, Romans, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British built their empires on one or more of the five continents. Conqueror has succeeded conqueror, empire has followed empire. Spoils, domination, world power, have been the objects of their campaigns.

Each great nation grew from small beginnings. Each arose from some simple form of tribal or clan organization—more or less democratic in its structure; containing within itself a unified life and a simple folk philosophy.

From such plain beginnings empires have developed. The peasants, tending their fertile gardens along the borders of the Nile; the vine dressers of Italy, the husbandmen and craftsmen of France and the yeomen of Merry England had no desire to subjugate the world. If tradition speaks truth, they were slow to take upon themselves anything more than the defense of their own hearthstones. It was not until the traders sailed across the seas; not until stories were brought to them of the vast spoil to be had, without work, in other lands, that the peasants and craftsmen consented to undertake the task of conquest, subjugation and empire building.

The plain people do not feel the will to power. They know only the necessities of self-defense. It is in the ambitions of the leisure classes that the demands of conquest have their origin. It is among them that men dream of world empire.[50]

The plain people of the United States have no will to power at the present time. They are only asking to be let alone, in order that they may go their several ways in peace. They are babes in the world of international politics. For generations they have been separated by a great gulf of indifference from the remainder of the human race, and they crave the continuance of this isolation because it gives them a chance to engage, unmolested, in the ordinary pursuits of life.

The American people are not imperialists. They are proud of their country, jealous of her honor, willing to make sacrifices for their dear ones. They are to-day where the plain folk of Egypt, Rome, France and England were before the will to power gripped the ruling classes of those countries.

Far different is the position of the American plutocracy. As a ruling class the plutocracy feels the necessity of preserving and enlarging its privileges. Recently called into a position of leadership, untrained and in a sense unprepared, it nevertheless understands that its claim to consideration depends upon its ability to do what the ruling classes of Egypt, Rome, France and England have done—to build an empire.

Almost unconsciously, out of the necessities of the period, has come the structure of the American Empire. In essence it is an empire, although the plain people do not know it, and even the members of the plutocracy are in many instances unaware of its true character. Yet here, in a land dedicated to liberty and settled by men and women who sought to escape from the savage struggles of empire-ridden Europe, the foundations and the superstructure of empire appear.

1. The people of the United States have conquered and now hold possession of approximately three million square miles of continental territory that has been won by armed force from Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, and the American Indians. (The entire area of Europe is only 3,800,000 square miles.)

2. The people of the United States have conquered and now hold under their sway subject people who have enjoyed no opportunity for self-determination. A whole race—the African Negroes—was captured in its native land, transported to America and there sold into slavery. The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands were conquered by the armed forces of the United States and still are subject people.

3. The United States had developed a plutocracy—a property holding class, that is, to all intents and purposes, the imperialist class—controlling and directing public policy.

4. This plutocratic class is exploiting continental United States and its dependencies. After years of savage internal strife, it has developed a high degree of class consciousness, and led by its bankers, it is taking the fat of the land. The plutocrats, who have made the country their United States, are at the present moment busy disposing of their surplus in foreign countries. As they build their industrial empires, they broaden and deepen their power.

Thus is the round of imperialism complete. Here are the conquered 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 Über 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 reËlection. 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.