Setting aside self-indulgence, the chief pleasure of riches is said to be the enjoyment of the power they give. This power, which we are trying to prove is only a power for harm, is associated with a sense of individual superiority. Whether in charity, philanthropy, patronage, or investment producing further gain, the predominant experience for the individual is personal triumph. It is not unjust to condemn the appreciation of power such as this as a low form of pleasure not only for its pure selfishness, but because triumph in this connection implies control of other individuals and power to gain advantage at their cost. It is a form of self-glorification and exultation which simply means that to have wealth is to have the whip hand. No one hopes for or expects complete repression of self, but in any corporate action for a common object, where there is a certain necessary self-repression, the satisfaction to the individual is unquestionably higher and purer. At any rate, the idealisation of a personal pre-eminence and ascendancy which is supported on the clay feet of material possessions is idolatry of the most dangerous type. There is, moreover, attached to the possession of wealth another sort of power which is even more dangerous from the public and national point of view, but which is valued and appreciated even by those who recognise that sheer hedonism defeats its own object. It is the pressure which capital can bring to bear on the machinery of government. Private commercial interests can translate themselves into political influence both in particular constituencies and nationally through propaganda and the Press. They can foster the Imperialist spirit, which may mean the acquisition of more territory and the opening out of fresh markets for the investment of their capital. Meanwhile these enthusiastic Imperialists can pose as patriots, although the further filling of their pockets, and not the nation’s honour, is their objective. “The economic root of Imperialism,” says a modern economist,[13] “is the desire of strong organised industrial and financial interests to secure and develop at the public expense and by the public force private markets for their surplus goods and their surplus capital. War, militarism, and a spirited foreign policy are the necessary means to this end.” Imperialism, which depends on rousing the pugnacious and combative instincts latent in any people by exaggerating international differences and jealousies, is the national expression, under the guise of patriotism, of the desire for gain, territorial aggrandisement, profit and enrichment. It represents everything, in fact, that corresponds to the love of money-making in the individual. There is money even to be got out of arming your enemies, and there is no squeamishness shown about investing money in this way.