nt.
in the previous decade) added stupendously to a new demand for goods of
all sorts. Of automobiles, unknown in 1898, there are in 1916 almost
three millions. Innumerable other industries arose and expanded; the
anticipated arrest of accumulation did not occur.

The result of this economic development soon made itself apparent. We
discovered, fortunately for us, that we were not at this time to become
the work-shop of the world. We could not continue to produce articles
cheaper than England or Germany, and undersell these countries in their
home markets. We discovered that our own country still furnished an
admirable field for investment. While our foreign commerce increased,
it continued to form only a small part of our whole trade. So long as
vast new opportunities for the investment of capital in the United
States presented themselves, we ceased to worry about foreign or
colonial outlets, and for every dollar of American money invested in
Porto Rico and the Philippines, hundreds of dollars were invested in
the states. Our capital {53} though accumulating at an ever-increasing
rate, did not equal the demand.[5]

In other words, the conditions in America did not yet warrant an
imperialistic policy. We were economically younger than we had
thought; more elastic, with greater capacity for internal growth. As a
result of this discovery, our sudden enthusiasm for dominions beyond
the seas died down. We were disgusted and bored by the Philippine war;
we hated the role of oppressors, in which we unwillingly found
ourselves. We hated the water cure, punitive expeditions, and the
endless controversies over the status of Filipinos under American law.
The anti-imperialistic elements in America, men whose interests did not
lie in foreign trade and speculation, stolidly opposed the retention of
the islands. Had the election of 1900 been fought upon this single
issue it would probably have been won by the anti-imperialists. Even
though we kept the islands, we set definite limitations to our
imperialistic ventures. We secured for the Philippines an
administration which prevented the exploitation of the natives and the
importation of Chinese labour. We set our faces against any policy of
sacrificing the interests of the indigenous population to the interests
of American financiers. And to-day, could we do it with due regard to
the interests of the Filipinos, we would retire from the archipelago.

As we look over