The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-01
HANDWRITING ON WALL
LabOuchere Calls England's At
tentiOn to 1t.

in this weeks Truth, under the heading
of ''Morganeering and the Moral tells
the British nation, says a Herald dis
patch from London, that its supremacy
in trade and commerce is not only
threatened but doomed, and that it will
take all the best efforts of which the en-
pire is capable, to prevent retrograde
movement, which, if it begins, will in
crease year by year.
Mr.. Labouchere says: ITO the impair
tial observer it is trifie amusing to
watch the perturbation 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
of British capital has been preached
with sincere conviction. Whether 1t was
a dying nation in Europe or Asia,
rackety republic in South America, an
unreclaimed region of Africa, peopled by
idOlatorS and cannibals, or even
poverty-stricken British colony the
means of regenera ton We're always the
same-let British capital and British en-
terprise exploit the patient thoroughly
and there will be an end to all his dis
eases, political, economic and social.
For fifty years we preached this
gospel and acted up to it religiouSly.
Now comes a little turning of tables
With a much larger population and
UNNECESSARILY greater natural resources.
the United States offers field for the
accumulation Of greater wealth than We
can ever aspire to.s
Americans, in their turn, now aspire
to regenerate the world by American
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 sacri-
ligiOus hands on the shipping, by means
of which Britannia rules the waves.
mo wonder John Bull is in comic
state of CONSERVATION. Instead of the
exploiter he is becoming exploited.
For about twenty years we have
been beset with a craze of acquiring in
the most out of the way parts of the
and new markets for British goods.
The craze has colOred all our national
thoughts and policy.
While we have been pursuing this
phantom, what has the foreigner been
doing? He, too, seeks an opening
abroad for his surplus capital and 4
foreign market for his surplus goods.
And where does he first find them? In
England.
while We seek to extend the area of
our commerce and our investments by
acquiring control of countries which
have no population or of people who
have no wants the manufacturers and
investors Of Germany and America md
in this country the finest opening III
the world. While we sink millions OH
tie construction of railways through
the African continent, which can not
yield a return within the life of the
present generation or perhaps the next,
the American capitalist discovers re-
muneratiVe investment for his millions
in improving the means of locomOtlon
in London.
while We spend countless millions in
annexing vast tracts in Asia and Africa,
and maintaining armies to defend them,
with the view of supplying penniless
population with goods from Manchester
and Birmingham. our German and
American competitors supplant US in
our own country
Individual fools have, often enough,
dropped the substance to grasp its shad-
ow but never before has a whole nation
deliberately con mitted itself to this
folly
our supremacy in trade and COM
merce is not only threatened, but doom
ed.
Yet, by utilizing to the best advant-
age our resources in raw material, cap
ital and labor we can hold our own,
even if we are forced to see Germany
and America increase their output fast
er than we can. 1t is only by the stu
pidity of squandering our capital in for
eign countries, overlooking the oppor-
tunity of employment at home. that for
eign capital can supplant British IN any
home industry.
But at the present crisis of our eco
nOmic history, what are the objects
which chiefly occupy our mlndsI The
regeneration of South Africa by the in
PRODUCTION into that accursed land Of
British capital and labor, the expansion
of our army at the expense OF the labor
market, squandering time, money and
energy on the empty ostentation of the
coronation ceremony, which will SuS-
pend industry. dislOcate trade and di-
vert public thought from matters of
pressing and vital import
AT the moment while We are thus
engaged, Mr.. Morgan and his colleagues
descend upon us, seeking what they
may devour
Almost within an hour Of the kings
feast come forth the fingers of a mans
hand and write upon the wall. 1t needs
no prophet in this case to interpret the
writing. It is easy to read the warm
ing and not difficult to accept and act
upon it.
shall we attend to it at once, or shall
we finish our wine and think about the
Medes and Persians after the dinner2'
staggers the Tax Payer.
London. Nav An official estimate