Passage 1
The scheme of Europe was no sudden invention, but a way out of long-pressing difficulties. It is plain to modern white civilization that the subjection of the white working classes cannot much longer be maintained. Education, political power, and increased knowledge of the technique and meaning of the industrial process are destined to make a more and more equitable distribution of wealth in the near future. The day of the very rich is drawing to a close, so far as individual white nations are concerned. But there is a loophole. There is a chance for exploitation on an immense scale for inordinate profit, not simply to the very rich, but to the middle class and to the laborers. This chance lies in the exploitation of darker peoples. It is here that the golden hand beckons. Here are no labor unions or votes or questioning onlookers or inconvenient consciences. These men may be used down to the very bone, and shot and maimed in "punitive" expeditions when they revolt. In these dark lands "industrial development" may repeat in exaggerated form every horror of the industrial history of Europe, from slavery and rape to disease and maiming, with only one test of success,--dividends!
Labour and mechanizationGovernment, measurement, and surveillanceProgress and declinehuman institutions · advancesdependence · advancesEconomic and material powerRights and self-governmentConsequences and welfareDiminishes autonomyInstitutionalCivilizationalWork and economic orderAdministration and public order
Du Bois argues that industrial prosperity and class accommodation in Europe are purchased through colonial exploitation, where political rights and public scrutiny are withheld.
“The Souls of White Folk,” p. 43