one pound share is the basis of British imperialism."45 This merchant has a much more deeply "Marxian" idea of imperialism than a certain queer writer, generally held to be one of the founders of Russian Marxism, who considers that imperialism is a fault peculiar to only one of the European nations.
But the "system of participation" is not merely useful for formidably increasing the power of the monopolists. Besides this, it makes possible the carrying through of all kinds of shady and dirty deals with impunity, all emptying the pockets of the public, since the parent company is not legally responsible for the subsidiary companies, which are considered "independent" and a means through which anything can be done. Here is an example taken from the German review, Die Bank, (Bulletin for May, 1914): "The Steel Spring Company of Cassel was quoted some years ago among the German concerns giving the best returns. Through bad management its dividends fell from 15 per cent. to nil. It was established that the board, without consulting the stockholders, had made a loan of six million marks to one of the subsidiary companies, the Hassia, which had a nominal capital of only some hundreds of thousands. There was no indication of this loan, amounting to nearly treble the capital of the parent company, in its balance sheets. As a matter of law, this silence was possible and could last for two complete years without infringing any provisions of company law. The president of the board of directors who as the responsible head signed the false balance sheets, was and is still the president of the Cassel Chamber of Commerce.
