must be raised, a reserve of
officers created, munitions stocked, strategic railways built, and
plans elaborated for rapid military mobilisation and for a war
organisation of industry. All this costs money--hundreds of millions.
If then the nation is to be taxed for military budgets, and if the
people as a whole secure an increasing veto over such expenditures,
would it not seem likely that the nations would look askance at
dangerous imperialistic ventures which contributed so obviously to the
danger of war and to the size of military expenditures. Would not the
people say to the financiers, "Keep your capital at home. Make your
profits at home"?

To avert an attitude so fatal to any national policy of imperialism
likely to lead to war, enthusiasm must be aroused and support secured.
This support may be sought by a two-fold appeal; to direct economic
interest, and to the sentiment of patriotism. The two appeals are not
sharply separated, but merge.

The economic argument for imperialism is that its advantages are in the
end widely distributed. Better access to raw material and a wider
market for manufactures {142} means a flourishing national industry,
steadier employment, better wages, and a prosperity of the whole
population. A similar argument is made for investment in colonies.
The whole nation is benefited if its capital brings the largest
returns, and these are to be obtained only abroad and by an imperialist
policy.

This diversion of profits, works itself out in various ways. By
swelling the income of the wealthy classes, foreign investment
increases the expenditure at home for the labour of nationals, thus
leading to steadier employment and higher wages. The servants of
England are supported by India, Egypt and the Rand Mines, as also by
the profits on New York real estate and American rails.[1] The
distribution of such income, moreover, is a matter over which the
British nation has the final say. The entire national dividend,
whencesoever derived, is a fund out of which all social improvements
may be paid. Social insurance, popular education, and other government
projects for the national welfare are supported, and may be
increasingly supported, by a taxation which in the form of income and
inheritance taxes falls heavily on the rich. Such a policy, by
creating a certain community of interest between classes, gives to the
entire population an economic interest in the wealth of the few. The
pr