Page:James Hudson Maurer - The Far East (1912).pdf/22

 the Yaugstekiang should never be transferred to any foreign power except Great Britain. She also secured the right to build railways in Manchuria.

Surely China had up to this time, 1898, paid a stupendous price for her indifference or inability to keep page with the rest of the world.

What could the incentive have been which impelled these Christian nations to pillage a sick and helpless race?

What are the actual motives of this persistent policy of expansion on the part of Russia, Germany, France.

Russia's motives are different from any of the other nations, because Russia is almost exclusively an agricultural country; manufacturing is yet very much in its infancy, and cannot supply its own domestic market.

As yet there is no powerful middle class in Russia.

The ruling class in Russia is composed of officials of bureaucrats.

The bureaucracy is interested in having as many faithful subjects as it can get. The Russian subjects are not sufficient for the officials' appetite. An addition of millions of subjects would furnish a new field for exploitation by an army of police officers, judges, revenue inspectors and such other officials.

The expansion of Russia means the expansion of the power of the bureaucratic class recruited from the ranks of the degenerated gentry. The Russian people have nothing to gain by expansion, but much to lose in money and blood.

With France, Germany, England and the United States there are different reasons for pursuing a policy of expansion or imperialism. These are manufacturing countries in which the ruling classes are the captains of industry, the owners of the complete mechanism of production and transportation of commodities.

The working classes of these countries do not receive the full product of their toil and are therefore not able to buy all the goods produced by them. With the increasing perfection of the tools and the methods of production this underconsumption of commodities must also increase proportionately. The owners of the tools of production, in order to create a profit for themselves, are therefore compelled to leak for new markets for their goods or commodities—as well as new territory for exploitation.