Page:The New Protectionism.djvu/98
superior position, in the event of war. Sometimes they merely mean that their traders and industrialists, backed by the banks, will pursue a pushful policy abroad, and by skilful investments or energetic touting obtain control of important sources of supply or markets. In the latter case the "aggression" is nothing but successful economic competition regarded from the standpoint of the unsuccessful competitor. Great Britain in this sense has been, and still is, the most aggressive of nations, pushing her successful trade and her control of the natural resources of foreign countries far further than her rivals. The British control of the huge resources of Argentina, for example, is far more complete than that of German traders and financiers in any foreign country.
It is no doubt possible to hold that behind all this German trade and investment stand the German State and its militarist policy. That the German State has kept in closer organic relations than our State with industry and trade, both internal and foreign,