The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1902-05-02
THREATENED
And DOOMED
British Supremacy in Trade and
Commerce is on a Re.
trograde Movement.
"MORGANEERING AND MORAL
The Great French Author Lam
p00ns the English Nation
In a Brilliant
Essay.

chere. In this weeks Truth, under the
heading OF Morganeering and the
Moral" tells the British nation, says a
Herald dispatch from London, that its
supremacy In trade and commerce Is
not only threatened. but doomed, and
that II win take All the bsst efforts Of
which the empire is capable TO prevent
retrograde movement which, IL II
begins. will increase year by year. Mr..
Labouchere says:
ITO the impartial observer II Is a
trife amusing to watch the perturba-
tion OF John Bull at the march Of the
American capitalist. For a generation
or two past the gospel Of salvation Of
mankind BY the agency or British cap
ftal has been preached with sincere
conviction Whether 1t was dying
nation in Europe or Asia. a siekly re-
public In South America, an unre-
claimed region Of Africa, peopled by
idolaters and cannibals, or even pow
erty-stricken British colony, the means
OF regeneration we're always the same;
let British capital and British enter-
prise exploit the patient thoroughly.
and there viii be an end 10 all his
diseases. political, economic or social
For so years we prea he'd this gospel
and acted upon II religiousIy. Now
comes little turning Of the tables.
with much larger population and
immeasurably greater natural resour-
ces, the United States offered field
for the accumulation Of greater wealth
than we can ever aspire to. !.
Americans, in their turn, now as
pire to regeaerate the world by Ameri-
can capital and American enterprise.
They practice upon us the doctrine
which we so long applied to the rest
OF mankind, Lastly--for the present
they lay sacrellgious hands on the
shipping by means of which Britain
MIA rules the waves.
"No wonder John Bull is in comic
state OF CONSERVATION. Instead Of the
exploiter. he is becoming exploited.
For about 20 years We have been
beset with craze Of acquiring in the
-the-way places of the world,
new places for British capital and new
markets for British goods, The craze
has colored our national thoughts and
policy.
While we have been pursuing this
phantom. what has the foreigner been
doing He. too, seeks an opportunity
abroad for his surplus capital and a
foreign market for his surplus goods.
And where does he first find them9 In
England.
.syxyhua n.a .aals 20 axkand tha araa
Of our commerce and of our incre-
ments by acquiring control Of coun-
tries that have no population, or Of
people who have no wants, the manu-
facturers and investors Of Germany
and America fiud in this country the
finest opening in the world. While we
sink millions in the construction OF
throughout the South Afri-
can continent which can not yield a
return within the life Of the present
generation, or perhaps the next, the
American capitalist discovers remu-
nerative investment for his millions
in improving the means of locOmotiOn
in London.
while we spend countless millions
in annexlng vast tracts in Asia and
Africa and maintaining armies to de-
tend them, with the view of supply
ing penniless population with goods
from Manchester and Birmingham, our
and American competitors
us in our own country,
individual fools have often enough
dropped the substance to grasp Its
shadow, but never before has whole