Page:James Hudson Maurer - The Far East (1912).pdf/30

 making of cigars is considered. The raising and manufacture of tobacco is another question.

The object of giving this brief sketch of a single industry is to show that no matter how good or benevolent a business man or company may be, or try to be, philanthropy can have no place in business if the business is to survive. The system sets the pace. Those without any conscientious scruples are most likely to succeed; and what is true of the cigar industry is practically true of every other industry. There may be different methods, for example, the labor-displacing machine, the Taylor speeding-up system, woman and child labor, etc. Although different, they all bring about the same results.

Now, what is true of the methods and results of the capitalist system of a nation is true of the system in the industrial field of the world.

Just as an industry struggles for the market of its country, so are the countries struggling for the markets of the world; and just as cheap labor and easy access to raw materials are the very important factors in a competitive war of a nation, so are they in a competitive commercial war between nations.

As mentioned before, the trustifying of industry has in a great measure abolished competition in the United States, and the monopolizing of the means of production and distribution places those dependent upon these means for their very existence at the mercy of the owners.

Capitalism cannot stand still. It must move forward or backward, and the next move is into China.

As stated in previous chapters, the capitalist world had its eyes on this country for many years.

Few of us realize that the Chinese Empire contains 440,000,000 of people, about one-third the population of the entire globe. China is larger than all Europe and contains mere natural wealth than any other single nation. An eminent geologist makes the claim that a single province in China would be able to supply the entire world with coal for one thousand years. Millions of tons of iron ore abound in many parts of the empire—of a higher grade than the very best ore found in the United States.

Physically the country is surpassingly rich in pic-