lp4guld

have overwhelmed other nations. Nevertheless, we have managed torun up a little history of imperial adventure upon a small scale ofwhich we may well be ashamed. It is a long story, but the wholeunpleasant business may be summed up in a single short paragraphuttered by the military commander who led most of our littleimperialistic expeditions. The late Major General Smedley Butler,who was commander of the Marines, said some years before hisdeath:I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in thecountry's most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all ranks fromsecond lieutenant to major general. And during that period I spent mostof my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Streetand the bankers. Thus I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safefor American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decentplace for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in. I helped inthe raping of half-a-dozen Central American republics for the benefitof Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaraguafor the international banking house of Brown Brothers and Co. in1909—12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the sugar interestsin 1916. I helped make Honduras "right" for American fruit companiesin 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its wayunmolested.These were strong words from a man who felt a deep devotion toand pride in the Marines but resented the uses to which they hadbeen put."We have managed to accumulate a pretty sizable empire of ourown already—far-spreading territories detached from our continentalborders—Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico,Guam, American Samoa, Panama Canal Zone, Virgin Islands, with aterritorial area of 711,000 square miles or as much as Germany,France, Italy, Belgium, and Holland all combined, and a populationof 19,000,000.We have now managed to acquire bases all over the world—islandsas distar»t as the Australian Archipelago which President Rooseveltseized in 1938 without so much as a by-your-leave from Congress.There is no part of the world where trouble can break out wherewe do not have bases of some sort in which, if we wish to use the"5