discussion of the matter may be summarized thus: The tremendous
and highly complex industrial development which went on with
great rapidity during the latter half of the nineteenth century
produced serious social problems. The old laws and the old
customs which had almost the binding force of law were once quite
sufficient to regulate the accumulation and distribution of
wealth. Since the industrial changes which have so enormously
increased the productive power of mankind, these regulations are
no longer sufficient. The process of the creation of great
corporate fortunes has aroused much antagonism; but much of this,
antagonism has been without warrant. There have been, it is true,
abuses connected with the accumulation of wealth; yet no fortune
can be accumulated in legitimate business except by conferring
immense incidental benefits upon others. The men who have driven
the great railways across the continent, who have built up
commerce and developed manufactures, have on the whole done great
good to the people at large. Without such men the material
development of which Americans are so justly proud never could
have taken place. They should therefore recognize the immense
importance of this material development by leaving as unhampered
as is compatible with the public good the strong men upon whom
the success of business inevitably rests. It cannot too often be
pointed out that to strike with ignorant violence at the
interests of one set of men almost inevitably endangers the
interests of all. The fundamental rule in American national life
is that, on the whole and in the long run, we shall all go up or
down together. Many of those who have made it their vocation to
denounce the great industrial combinations appeal especially to
the primitive instincts of hatred and fear. These are precisely
the two emotions which unfit men for cool and steady judgment.