The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1915-02-06
BEWARE OF MILITARISM
..~.- .~~~ IN AMERICAN POLITICS

is almost always the race for indus
trial supremacy.
Cause of Reflection. =
When q century and a half ago we
went to war with England it was b.
cause England's desire for industrial
supremacy made her close American
commerce to all nations but herself;
we could only not sell to or buy from
holland, France or Spain, nor could
those nations deal with us under con-
dltlons which made commerce DOS.
s1ole. Such was the arrangement OF
import and export duties which Eng
lana saodIed, upon: America. The
writings of James Otis, the records of
the Virginia Committee of Cores
Pondence and the speeches Of Burke.
camden and Chatham prove beyond
question that the underlying cause
Of the Revolutionary war was the
desire of the colonies to cast off Eng
lands commercial monopoly.
On the 18th of April, 1774. Burke.
IN summing up Americas case, ad:
dressed the speaker of the house OF
commons. as follows: -. !!
Permit me, sir to, lead your atten-
ton very far back; back to the act OF
naV1sation; the cornerstone Of the
pol1cy Of this country with regard to
ner colonies. Sir, that, policy was,
from the beginning, purely CONNER
c1al, and the commercial system was
wholly restrictive. It was let loose
from that restraint, but merely to en-.
able the colonists to dispose of what
In the course Of your trade, you could
not take; or to-. enable, them to-. dis
pose of such articles: as we forced
upon. them, and for which, Without
some degree Of liberty, they could. not
pay Hence, all your specific ana de-
tailed enumerattons;. hence the in.
Vulnerable r. ichsckS, II, and ..counterr,
checks; hence that. infinite varietvt of
paper claims by which you bind to-!
gether this complicated system Of the
colonies This principle of CONNER
ctal monopoly runs through no Less
than 20 acts Of parliament, from from the
year 1850 to the unfortunate period
/ Monopoly the cause; :
(, Exactly The ..sama. pTjnciple is tie
keynote to -thA" situatio1f! Ia 8 Etir6pe
To-Day Just as England tried to es-
tablish trade MONOPOLY Tor herself
In the American colonies: al O avears
ago, every nation is today <tryin;R TO
gain for Itself ;;spscial opportunities
or commerce., and TO close these OPP
iportunities' to other nations. tits
this practice OF Establishing trade
monopolies.; in. which other powers
will be. to a greater or less extent,
frozen out, that has, always >threateined
the peace of the world, and will:con-
t1nue to do so until it is abandoned
Some years ago Loriaz, the italian
historian and economist. made a. study
OF the causes of 2Se. wars. He found
that 25S We're due to economic causes,
princlpally~trade mo- opolies; and that
the remaining 2s. though apparently
religious, also had; economic influ-
ences behind them. ~, seat r. sa.z.;aN:
IT each nation scouldtsell to the best
market and buy from the cheapest
market on fairly equal terms with
every other nation, not only war. but
the cause OF war would disappear.
The monopoly system In international
commerce must be attacked before
armament. or disarmament can toffer
any real hope of security r4<i;.rtt
Get Together. = - :
If American. and European leaders
of thought instead Of concentrating
their minds upon the Necessity OF
armaments. would: huGkle, down to
the long task Of securing more equal
ity of opportunity IN commerce as be-
tween the nations, the armament
Question Vvn5iiTd x1xrt