vantage anywhere in the world.

The United States is rich in practically all of the important industrial
resources. She has a large, relatively homogeneous population, a great
part of which is directly descended from the conquering races of the
world. Almost all of the essential raw materials are produced in the
United States, and in relatively large quantities. The period since the
Spanish War has witnessed a rapid increase in wealth production. The war
of 1914 resulted in an even greater increase in shipping. The investable
surplus is greater in the United States than in any other nation, and in
amount as well as in percent the national debt is less than that in any
other important nation except Japan. Economically the position of the
United States is unique. The masters of her industries hold a position
of great advantage in the capitalist world.

XIV. THE PARTITION OF THE EARTH

1. _Economic Power and Political Authority_

Economically the United States is a world power. Her world position in
politics follows as a matter of course.

While the American people were busy with internal development, they
played an unimportant part in world affairs. They were not competing for
world trade, because they had relatively little to export; they were not
building a merchant marine because of the smallness of their trading
activities; they were not engaged in the scramble after undeveloped
countries because, with an undeveloped country of their own, calling
continually for enlarged investments, they had little surplus capital to
employ in foreign enterprises.

This economic isolation of the United States was reflected in an equally
thoroughgoing political isolation. With the exception of the Monroe
Doctrine, which in its original form was intended as a measure of
defense against foreign political and military aggression, the United
States minded its own affairs, and allowed the remainder of the world to
go its way. From time to time, as necessity arose, additional territory
was purchased or taken from neighboring countries--but all of these
transactions, up to the annexation of Hawaii (1898) were confined to the
continent of North America, in which no European nation, with the
exception of Great Britain, had any imperative territorial interest.

The economic changes which immediately preceded the Spanish War period
commanded for the United States a place among the nations. The passing
of economic aloofness marked