Imperialism and Democracy 253 



frontier," "concession," and the like, is the invention 

 and expression of this cynical spirit of Imperialism. 

 While Germany and Russia have perhaps been more 

 open in their professed adoption of the material gain 

 of their country as the sole criterion of public conduct, 

 other nations have not been slow to accept the 

 standard. Though the conduct of nations in dealing 

 with one another has commonly been determined 

 at all times by selfish and short-sighted considerations, 

 the conscious, deliberate adoption of this standard 

 at an age when the intercourse of nations and their 

 interdependence for all essentials of human life grow 

 ever closer, is a retrograde step fraught with grave 

 perils to the cause of civilization.^ 



The most serious efTect of Imperialism is its 

 demoralizing influence upon the ethics and social 

 philosophy of the nations which embark upon an 

 Imperialistic career.^ This is especially true of 

 democratic nations. The effect of the subjuga- 

 tion of the Philippines upon the democracy of 

 America can be clearly traced in the strengthening 

 of the forces of reaction and militarism. ^ The 

 improvements which have resulted from the 

 American occupation are frequently cited by those 



' Imperialism: A Study, p. 8. 



"J. M. Robertson in The Evolution of States (Putnam, 1913) 

 traces clearly the effect of Imperialism in lowering the standard 

 of ethics and weakening the total strength of society in Rome 

 (pp. 21-25), in Greece (pp. 50-52), and in the Florentine Republic 

 (p. 249). 



3 See Norman Angell, America and the World-State, chap, ii., 

 part ii. (Putnam 1915), "A Retrospect of American Patriot- 

 ism," for illustrations of the effect of the subjugation of the 

 Philippines in strengthening militarism in America. 



