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the vested interests and the common man-第24章

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common law。 
    Yet; while the national policies of the democratic 
commonwealths are managed by Liberal statesmen in behalf of the 
vested interests; they still run on the ancient lines of dynastic 
statecraft; as worked out by the statesmen of the ancient r間ime; 
and the common man is still passably content to see the traffic 
run along on those lines。 The things which are considered 
desirable to be done in the way of national enterprise; as well 
as the sufficient reasons for doing them; still have much of the 
medieval color。 National pretensions; enterprise; rivalry; 
intrigue and dissensions among the democratic commonwealths are 
still such as would have been intelligible to Macchiavelli; 
Frederick the Great; Metternich; Bismarck; or the Elder Statesmen 
of Japan。 Diplomatic intercourse still runs in the same terms of 
systematised prevarication; and still turns about the same 
schedule of national pretensions that contented the medieval 
spirit of these masters of dynastic intrigue。 As a matter of 
course and of common sense the nations still conceive themselves 
to be rivals; whose national interests are incompatible; and 
whose divine right it is to gain something at one another's cost; 
after the fashion of rival bandits or business concerns。 They 
still seek dominion and still conceive themselves to have 
extra…territorial interests of a proprietary sort。 They still 
hold and still seek vested rights in colonial possessions and in 
extra…territorial priorities and concessions of divers and 
dubious kinds。 There still are conferences; stipulations and 
guarantees between the Powers; touching the 〃Open Door〃 in China; 
or the equitable partition of Africa; which read like a chapter 
on Honor among Thieves。 
    All this run of national pretensions; wrangles; dominion; 
aggrandisement; chicane; and ill…will; is nothing more than the 
old familiar trading stock of the diplomatic brokers who do 
business in dynastic force and fraud  also called Realpolitik。 
The democratic nations have taken over in bulk the whole job…lot 
of vested interests and divine rights that once made the monarch 
of the old order an unfailing source of outrage and desolation。 
In the hands of those 〃Elder Statesmen〃 who once did business 
under the signature of the dynasty; the traffic in statecraft 
yielded nothing better than a mess of superfluous affliction; and 
there is no reason to apprehend that a continuation of the same 
traffic under the management of the younger statesmen who now do 
business in the name of the democratic commonwealth is likely to 
bring anything more comfortable; even though the legal 
instruments in the case may carry the rubber…stamp O。 K。 of the 
common man。 The same items will foot up to the same sum; and in 
either case the net gain is always something appreciably less 
than nothing。 
    These national interests are part of the medieval system of 
ends; ways and means; as it stood; complete and useless; at that 
juncture when the democratic commonwealth took over the divine 
rights of the crown。 It should not be extremely difficult to 
understand why they have stood over; or why they still command 
the dutiful approval of the common man。 It is a case of aimless 
survival; on the whole; due partly to the inertia of habit and 
tradition; partly to the solicitous advocacy of these assumed 
national interests by those classes  the trading and 
office…holding classes  who stand to gain something by the 
pursuit of them at the cost of the rest。 By tenacious tradition 
out of the barbarian past these peoples have continued to be 
rival nations living in a state of habitual enmity and distrust; 
for no better reason than that they have not taken thought and 
changed their mind。 
    After some slackening of national animosities and some 
disposition to neglect national pretensions during the earlier 
decades of the great era of Liberalism; the democratic nations 
have been gradually shifting back to a more truculent attitude 
and a more crafty and more rapacious management in all 
international relations。 This aggressive chauvinistic policy has 
been called Imperialism。 The movement has visibly kept pace; more 
or less closely; with the increasing range and volume of commerce 
and foreign investments during the same period。 And to further 
this business enterprise there has been an ever increasing resort 
to military power。 It is reasonably believed that traders and 
investors in foreign parts are able to derive a larger profit 
from their business when they have the backing of a powerful and 
aggressive national government; particularly in their dealings 
with helpless and backward peoples; and more particularly if 
their own national government is sufficiently unscrupulous and 
overbearing;  which may confidently be counted on so long as 
these governments continue to be administered by the gentlemanly 
delegates of the vested interests and the kept classes。 
    As regards the intrinsic value which is popularly attached to 
the imponderable national possessions; in the way of honor and 
prestige; there is little to be said; beyond the stale reflection 
that there is no disputing about tastes。 It all is at least a 
profitable illusion; for the use of those who are in a position 
to profit by it。 Such as the crown and the officeholders。 But the 
people of the civilised nations believe themselves to have also a 
material interest of some sort in enlarging the national 
dominions and in extending the foreign trade of their business 
men and safe…guarding the foreign claims of their vested 
interests。 And the Americans; like many others; harbor the 
singular delusion that they can derive a collective benefit from 
obstructing the country's trade at the national frontiers by 
means of a tariff barrier; and so defeating their own industry by 
that much。 It is a survival out of the barbarian past; out of the 
time when the dynastic politicians were occupied with isolating 
the nation and making it self…sufficient; as an engine of warlike 
enterprise for the pursuit of dynastic ambitions and the greater 
discomfort of their neighbors。 In an increasing degree as the new 
order of industry has come into bearing; any such policy of 
industrial isolation and self…sufficiency has become more 
difficult and more injurious; for a free range and unhindered 
specialisation is of the essence of the new industrial order。 
    The experience of the war has shown conclusively that no one 
country can hereafter supply its own needs either in raw 
materials or in finished goods。 Both the winning and the losing 
side have shown that。 The new industrial order necessarily 
overlaps the national frontiers; even in the case of a nation 
possessed of so extensive and varied natural resources as 
America。 So that in spite of all the singularly ingenious 
obstruction of the American tariff the Americans still continue 
to draw on foreign sources for most or all of their tea; coffee; 
sugar; tropical and semi…tropical fruits; vegetable oils; 
vegetable gums and pigments; cordage fibers; silks; rubber; and a 
bewildering multitude of minor articles of daily use。 Even so 
peculiarly American an industry as chewing…gum is wholly 
dependent on foreign raw material; and quite unavoidably so。 The 
most that can be accomplished by any tariff under these 
circumstances is more or less obstruction。 Isolation and 
self…sufficiency are already far out of the question。 
    But there are certain vested interests which find their 
profit in maintaining a tariff barrier as a means of keeping the 
price up and keeping the supply down; and the common man still 
faithfully believes that the profits which these vested interests 
derive in this way from increasing the cost of his livelihood and 
decreasing the net productivity of his industry will benefit him 
in some mysterious way。 He is persuaded that high prices and a 
scant supply of goods at a high labor cost is a desirable state 
of things。 This is incredible; but there is no denying the fact。 
He knows; of course; that the profits of business go to the 
business men; the vested interests; and to no one else; but he is 
still beset with the picturesque hallucination that any unearned 
income which goes to those vested interests whose central office 
is in New Jersey is paid to himself in some underhand way; while 
the gains of those vested interests that are domiciled in Canada 
are obviously a grievous net loss to him。 The tariff moves in a 
mysterious way; its wonders to perform。 
    To all adult persons of sound mind; and not unduly clouded 
with the superstitions of the price system; it is an obvious 
matter of fact that any protective tariff is an obstruction to 
industry and a means of impoverishment; just so far as it is 
effective。 The arguments to the contrary invariably turn out to 
be pettifogger's special pleading for some vested interest or for 
a warlike national policy; and these arguments convince only 
those persons who are able to believe that a part is greater than 
the whole。 It also lies in the nature of protective tariffs that 
they always cost the na
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