capital required for this purpose
came from abroad. Most of it was supplied at home. But the events
involved in opening up the territory west of the Rockies, of spanning
the country with steel, and providing outlets for the products of the
developing industries were so momentous that even the most ambitious
might fulfill his dreams of conquest without setting foot on foreign
soil. Territorial aggrandizement was forgotten, and men turned with a
will to the organization of the East and the exploration and development
of the West.

The leaders of the new order found time to take over Alaska (1868) with
its 590,884 square miles. The move was diplomatic rather than economic,
however, and it was many years before the huge wealth of Alaska was even
suspected.

2. _Hawaii_

The new capitalist interests began to feel the need of additional
territory toward the end of the nineteenth century. The desirable
resources of the United States were largely in private hands and most of
the available free land had been pre-empted. Beside that, there were
certain interests, like sugar and tobacco, that were looking with
longing eyes toward the tempting soil and climate of Hawaii, Porto Rico
and Cuba.

When the South had advocated the annexation of Texas, its statesmen had
been denounced as expansionists and imperialists. The same fate awaited
the statesmen of the new order who were favoring the extension of United
States territory to include some of the contiguous islands that offered
special opportunities for certain powerful financial interests.

The struggle began over the annexation of Hawaii. After numerous
attempts to annex Hawaii to the United States a revolution was finally
consummated in Honolulu in 1893. At that time, under treaty provisions,
the neutrality of Hawaii was guaranteed by the United States. Likewise,
"of the capital invested in the islands, two-thirds is owned by
Americans." This statement is made in "Address by the Hawaiian Branches
of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Sons of Veterans, and the
Grand Army of the Republic to their compatriots in America Concerning
the Annexation of Hawaii." (1897.) These advocates of annexation state
in the same address that: "The revolution (of 1893) was not the work of
filibusterers and adventurers, but of the most conservative and
law-abiding citizens, of the principal tax-payers, the leaders of
industrial enterprises, etc." The purpose behind the revolution seemed