Page:Anglo-American relations during the Spanish-American war (IA abz5883.0001.001.umich.edu).pdf/44

28 were the same as those which had induced them to enter upon a new policy of colonial aggression. New fields of trade would give increased power. They would likewise serve as a source of supply for raw material, but above all, they would afford a market for manufactured goods and a field for the investment of capital,

The causes of American expansion were much the same. By 1890, the frontier of the United States had disappeared and national consciousness had begun to find expression in international politics and commercial enterprises. Capitalists who had formerly found a field of investment in undeveloped home territories, and manufacturers whose products had been consumed in the home market now sought a foreign market. The annexation of colonial territories and the opening of new avenues of commercial activity were the logical result.

The indirect causes which had led to this expansion were likewise common. Rapid means of communication had shortened distances. Missionary zeal had opened up vast areas hitherto little known. Scientific progress had created scores of new wants and new commodities to supply those wants. Methods of agriculture had been improved, manufacturing and industries of all sorts were producing a surplus of goods. In fact, with the exception of the United States, all of the countries involved had probably outgrown the bounds of their original territory, both in capital and population. Either territorial expansion or national stagnation seemed inevitable to them. The natural result of this progress was an unprecedented increase