ed to liberty and settled by men and women who sought to escape
from the savage struggles of empire-ridden Europe, the foundations and
the superstructure of empire appear.

1. The people of the United States have conquered and now hold
possession of approximately three million square miles of continental
territory that has been won by armed force from Great Britain, Mexico,
Spain, and the American Indians. (The entire area of Europe is only
3,800,000 square miles.)

2. The people of the United States have conquered and now hold under
their sway subject people who have enjoyed no opportunity for
self-determination. A whole race--the African Negroes--was captured in
its native land, transported to America and there sold into slavery. The
inhabitants of the Philippine Islands were conquered by the armed forces
of the United States and still are subject people.

3. The United States had developed a plutocracy--a property holding
class, that is, to all intents and purposes, the imperialist
class--controlling and directing public policy.

4. This plutocratic class is exploiting continental United States and
its dependencies. After years of savage internal strife, it has
developed a high degree of class consciousness, and led by its bankers,
it is taking the fat of the land. The plutocrats, who have made the
country their United States, are at the present moment busy disposing of
their surplus in foreign countries. As they build their industrial
empires, they broaden and deepen their power.

Thus is the round of imperialism complete. Here are the conquered
territory, subject people, an imperial ruling class, and the
exploitation, by this class, of the lands and peoples that come within
the scope of their power. These are the attributes of empire--the
characteristics that have appeared, in one form or another, through the
great empires of the past and of the present day. Differing in their
forms, they remain similar in the principles that they represent. They
are imperialism.

5. _Imperial Purpose_

The building of international industrial empires by the progressive
business men of the United States lays the foundation for whatever
political imperialism is necessary to protect markets, trade and
investment. Gathering floods of economic surplus are the driving forces
which are guided by ambition and love of gain and power.

The United States emerged from the Great War in a position of
unquestioned economic supremacy.