tep out
into the open. They then appear as the frank apologists, spokesmen and
defenders of the order for which they have so faithfully labored and
from which they expect to gain so much.

Finally, the ambition of some aggressive leader among the imperialists,
or a crisis in the affairs of the empire leads to the next step--the
appointment of a "dictator," "supreme ruler" or "emperor." This is the
last act of the imperial drama. Henceforth, the imperial class divides
its attention between,--

1. The suppression of agitation and revolt among the people at
home;

2. Maintaining the imperial sway over conquered territory;

3. Extending the boundaries of the empire and

4. The unending struggle between contending factions of the ruling
class for the right to carry on the work of exploitation at home
and abroad.

4. _The Price of Empire_

Since the imperial or ruling class is willing to go to any lengths in
order to preserve the empire upon which its privileges depend, it
follows that the price of empire must be reckoned in the losses that the
masses of the people suffer while safeguarding the privileges of the
few.

As a matter of course, conquered and dependent people pay with their
liberty for their incorporation into the empire that holds dominion over
them. On any other basis, empire is unthinkable. Indeed the terms
"dependencies," "domination," and "subject" carry with them only one
possible implication--the subordination or extinction of the liberties
of the peoples in question.

The imperial class--a minority--depends for its continued supremacy upon
the ownership of some form of property, whether this property be slaves,
or land, or industrial capital. As Veblen puts it: "The emergence of the
leisure class coincides with the beginning of ownership." ("Theory of
the Leisure Class," T. Veblen, New York. B. W. Huebsch, 1899, p. 22.)
Necessarily, therefore, the imperial class will sacrifice the so-called
human or personal rights of the home population to the protection of its
property rights. Indeed the property rights come to be regarded as the
essential human rights, although there is but a small minority of the
community that can boast of the possession of property.

The superiority of ruling class property rights over the personal rights
and liberties of the inhabitants in a subject territory is taken as a
matter of course. Even in the home country, where the issue