Bismarck’s policy of aloofness in the Near East, however desirable it may have been from the political point of view, could not have appealed to those statesmen and soldiers and business men who believed that diplomatic policies should be determined in large part by the economic situation of the German Empire. The interest of William II in Turkey was enthusiastically supported by all those who sought to have German foreign affairs conducted with full recognition of the needs of industrialized Germany in raw materials and foodstuffs, of the importance of richer and more numerous foreign markets for the products of German factories, and of the exigencies of economic, as well as military, preparation for war. The great natural wealth of the Ottoman Empire in valuable raw materials, the possibilities of developing the Near East as a market for manufactured articles, and the geographical situation of Turkey all help to explain why the economic exploitation of the Sultan’s dominions was a matter of more vital concern to Germany than to any other European power. To make this clear it will be necessary to digress, for a time, to consider the nature of the imperial problems of an industrial state and, in particular, the problems of industrial Germany. Under modern conditions the needs of an industrial state are imperious. Such a state is dependent for its very existence upon an uninterrupted supply of foodstuffs for the workers of its cities and of raw materials for the machines of its factories. As its population increases—unless it be one of those few fortunate nations which, like the United States, are practically self-sufficient—its importations of foodstuffs mount higher and higher. As its industries expand, the demand for raw materials becomes greater and more diversified—cotton, rubber, copper, nitrates, petroleum come to be considered the very life-blood of the nation’s industry. It is considered one of the functions of the government of an industrial state—whether that government be autocratic and dynastic or representative and democratic—to interest itself in securing and conserving sources of these essential commodities, as well as to defend and maintain the routes of communication by which they are transported to the domestic market. The securing of sources of raw materials may involve the acquisition of a colonial empire; it may require the establishment of a protectorate over, or a “sphere of interest” in, an economically backward or a politically weak nation; or it may necessitate nothing more than the maintenance of friendly relations with other states. Protection of vital routes of communication may demand the construction of a fleet of battleships; it may be the _raison d’être_ for a large standing army; it may necessitate only diplomatic support of capitalists in their foreign investments. Methods will be dictated by circumstances, but the impulse usually is the same.[30]