Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-04-28
A UNIVERSAL PEAcEMAKER
M oney and Commercial Interests Yields
the Brotherhood of Man.

years tnlS coming July Slnce l"o
great powers. each knowing the other
to be such, have. engaged in war.
Russia fought Japan, but she did not
know until too late that Japan was
a great power. War scares have
abounded Venezuela, Fashoda, Dog
ge Bank. Morocco and Macedonia
have set the alarm bells jangling, but
always the din has died away, the
snarling war dogs have laid their
heads on their paws and gone to sleep
again. and only the mounting bills
for armament have been left to re-
mind us that peace has been in dan
ger. Although they have never be-
fore trained as many men or spent as
much money in preparation for
fighting, the great powers Of Europe
have succeeded in keeping their
hands off each others throats longer
than they ever did in their whole pre-
vious history. and it Is quite possible
that they may never fight again.
What does this mean? Are relig-
ion and philanthropy taking posses
sion of the chancelleries Of the
world? 1t seems hard to believe 1t.
There never was a time when the as
pirations Of most of the powers were
more frankly commercial. Perhaps
mammon is doing something for hu-
manity after all.
Formerly when one country fought
another it was "woe to the vanquish-
ed AS an invading army scared its
way through the fields and towns,
trampling down crops and burning
houses. 1t was the enemy's property
1t was destroying. When merchant
ships were sunk at sea, the loss fell
upon the nation whose people owned
them. But now the strands Of own
ership are laced around the world.
Every nation is a part proprietor of
every other. Not long ago one Of the
magazines shudderingly pictured the
horrors of a German bombardment
Of New York. If such a catastrophe
should occur every shell would knock
a hole in the dividends Of a German
corporation. German banks, insur-
ance, steamship. and trading compa-
MES are heavily interested in New
York real estate. The shares of
American railroad, public service,
and Industrial corporations are large
ly held in Germany. If a merchant
ship were sunk at sea, the loss would
fall not upon the owners, but upon
underwriters. who might be Of any
nationality. Even the war weapons
of almost every civilized country in
the world have been paid for by
bonds which are held everywhere. So
America has helped to build battle
ships in Japan and England has help
ed to provide rapid-firing field guns
for a possible German army of inva-
sion. And when there is talk Of war
between the United States and Japan
some Of the first sufferers are Amer
lean holders of Japanese bonds, who
see a point or two knocked off the
price of their securities in the mar
ket. If the danger seemed to be
really acute, loans on these securities
would be called, and Wall street
would suffer in all its nerves in SYM
pathy with the distress of Tokyo.
1t has been estimated that the
French people have about $1,000
0OO,0 900 invested in foreign countries.
The English have more. The Ger
mans have several billions of foreign
investments. Americans own a large
part of the British mercantile marine.
The International Mercantile Marine
company, an American corporation,
owns ships under the American, Brit
ish and Belgian flags. Four hundred
thousand shares in the United States
Steel corporation are owned in Hol-
land The Chicago Great Western is
owned chiefly in England, and Eng
lishmen are among the largest stock
holders in the Illinois Central, the
Louisville and Nashville, and many
other American railroads. American
capital has developed the railroad
systems of Canada and Mexico. When
Dewey cut the Spanish cable at Ma
nila, and Sampson at Santiago, it was
an English company in each case
that was the sufferer. When the
Westinghouse company Of Pittsburg
failed, the new electric railroads Of
st. Petersburg were tied up. When
the Knickerbocker Trust company
of New York closed it's doors, idle
diamond cutters walked the streets
of Amsterdam, diamond diggers ceas-
ed to work in south Africa, banks
failed in Chile, the business Of every
commercial nation Of Europe was
thrown into confusion, and the dis
turbance completed the demoraliza-
ton Of the finances Of Japan.
Capital is the only truly interna-
tional force Of the modern world. In
the middle ages the church stood
above kings: now the rulers of kings
are the cosmopolitan financiers.
When an ancient king thought Of
going to war he first considered
whether he could meet with ten
thousand men him that came against
him with twenty thousand. If the
prospect seemed unpromising, he
made peace quickly. Now the first
question is whether the finance min
lister can raise a satisfactory loan. If
not, the war is off. And it happens
that the very men who must furnish
the money for destruction are the
owners of a good part of the proper
ty that is to be destroyed. Formerly
there was victory and defeat; now
there is only defeat. for whoever
wins. business. which is the common
interest of all mankind. must lose.
The universaliZing of business
which has already so profoundly in
fuenced the relations of the peoples Of
the world is only in it's infancy, but
its development has gone far enough
in some directions to show what may
he expected in all. The Standard Oil
company and the Russian Oil trust