the lamb republic or to some spendthrift
imbecile of a Khedive. Concessions are secured. By a concession in
this instance is meant a solemn contract, by which, for and in
consideration of nothing, duly paid in hand, the whole nation, its
territory and population, are turned over in perpetuity. The
negotiations are ratified by a battle cruiser; a few marines are
landed, a few barelegged natives are buried in a tropical back-yard, a
treaty of peace and amity is concluded between the Imperial Power and
its latest morsel, and the real business of imperialism begins. It is
good business and pays big dividends.

But to whom do the dividends go? What profit has the French artisan or
peasant in all these grand concessions from the illustrious Sultan of
Morocco? How does the English workman prosper when English capital
employs cheap Indian labour to undersell British factories? Obviously
the immediate profits accrue to large capitalists rather than to the
mass of the people. If a French peasant can invest his savings in
Morocco, he may earn a few extra dollars per year on his holdings of a
thousand francs, but his whole interest payment forms a small
proportion of his annual income. To the financier, on the other hand,
who directs the investment of hundreds of millions, a concession in
Morocco is of value.

The case of French foreign investments is pertinent. As a result of
the activity of great bankers, who rule both finance and politics, some
forty billion francs have been invested in foreign countries. The
individual investor has little choice and no intelligent direction in
these large affairs. It is even possible that the whole course of
French {128} investments has been disadvantageous; that too much French
capital has been sent abroad to cultivate foreign fields (or pay for
war preparations) and too little has been absorbed at home. The profit
to bankers does not prove that the loans are equally profitable to the
nation. In any definite imperialistic policy, as that in Morocco, this
difference in interest between the directors and small owners of
capital becomes even clearer. The promoters can afford even to risk
war, while for the small investor, who, after all, can invest
elsewhere, the net gain is less apparent, especially as the war, if it
comes, must be fought by him and be paid for by him.

From the beginning, therefore, a revolt or opposition has been
manifested (in certain sections of the industr