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China as a field of railway enterprise and general industrial development
already begins to loom large in the eyes of foresighted American business
men； the growing trade in American cotton and other goods in that country
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will be a subordinate consideration to the expansion of the area for
American investments。 Diplomatic pressure； armed force； and； where
desirable； seizure of territory for political control； will be engineered by
the financial magnates who control the political destiny of America。 The
strong and expensive American navy now beginning to be built
incidentally serves the purpose of affording profitable contracts to the
shipbuilding and metal industries： its real meaning and use is to forward
the aggressive political policy imposed upon the nation by the economic
needs of the financial capitalists。
It should be clearly understood that this constant pressure to extend the
area of markets is not a necessary implication of all forms of organized
industry。 If competition was displaced by combinations of a genuinely
cooperative character in which the whole gain of improved economies
passed； either to the workers in wages； or to large bodies of investors in
dividends； the expansion of demand in the home markets would be so
great as to give full employment to the productive powers of concentrated
capital； and there would be no self…accumulating masses of profit
expressing themselves in new credit and demanding external employment。
It is the ‘‘monopoly'' profits of trusts and combines； taken either in
construction； financial operation； or industrial working； that form a
gathering fund of self…accumulating credit whose possession by the
financial class implies a contracted demand for commodities and a
correspondingly restricted employment for capital in American industries。
Within certain limits relief can be found by stimulation of the export trade
under cover of a high protective tariff which forbids all interference with
monopoly of the home markets。 But it is extremely difficult for trusts
adapted to the requirements of a profitable tied market at home to adjust
their methods of free competition in the world markets upon a profitable
basis of steady trading。 Moreover； such a mode of expansion is only
appropriate to certain manufacturing trusts： the owners of railroad；
financial and other trusts must look always more to foreign investments
for their surplus profits。 This ever…growing need for fresh fields of
investment for their profits is the great crux of the financial system； and
threatens to dominate the future economics and the politics of the great
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PROPOSED ROADS TO FREEDOM
Republic。
The financial economy of American capitalism exhibits in more
dramatic shape a tendency common to the finance of all developed
industrial nations。 The large； easy flow of capital from Great Britain；
Germany； Austria； France； etc。； into South African or Australian mines；
into Egyptian bonds； or the precarious securities of South American
republics； attests the same general pressure which increases with every
development of financial machinery and the more profitable control of that
machinery by the class of professional financiers
The kind of way in which such conditions tend toward war might
have been illustrated； if Mr。 Hobson had been writing at a later date； by
various more recent cases。 A higher rate of interest is obtainable on
enterprises in an undeveloped country than in a developed one； provided
the risks connected with an unsettled government can be minimized。 To
minimize these risks the financiers call in the assistance of the military and
naval forces of the country which they are momentarily asserting to be
theirs。 In order to have the support of public opinion in this demand they
have recourse to the power of the Press。
The Press is the second great factor to which critics of capitalism point
when they wish to prove that capitalism is the source of modern war。 Since
the running of a big newspaper requires a large capital； the proprietors of
important organs necessarily belong to the capitalist class； and it will be a
rare and exceptional event if they do not sympathize with their own class
in opinion and outlook。 They are able to decide what news the great mass
of newspaper readers shall be allowed to have。 They can actually falsify
the news； or； without going so far as that； they can carefully select it；
giving such items as will stimulate the passions which they desire to
stimulate； and suppressing such items as would provide the antidote。 In
this way the picture of the world in the mind of the average newspaper
reader is made to be not a true picture； but in the main that which suits the
interests of capitalists。 This is true in many directions； but above all in
what con… cerns the relations between nations。 The mass of the population
of a country can be led to love or hate any other country at the will of the
newspaper proprietors； which is often； directly or indirectly； influenced by
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the will of the great financiers。 So long as enmity between England and
Russia was desired； our newspapers were full of the cruel treatment meted
out to Russian political prisoners； the oppression of Finland and Russian
Poland； and other such topics。 As soon as our foreign policy changed；
these items disappeared from the more important newspapers； and we
heard instead of the misdeeds of Germany。 Most men are not sufficiently
critical to be on their guard against such influences； and until they are； the
power of the Press will remain。
Besides these two influences of capitalism in promoting war； there is
another； much less emphasized by the critics of