nts were properly
safeguarded against; to see whether modern economical methods of using
these inestimable riches of the earth were followed or were not
followed. If somebody puts a derrick improperly secured on top of a
building or overtopping the street, then the government of the city has
the right to see that that derrick is so secured that you and I can
walk under it and not be afraid that the heavens are going to fall on
us. Likewise in these great beehives where in every corridor swarm men
of flesh and blood, it is the privilege of the government, whether of
the State or of the United States, as the case may be, to see that
human life is properly cared for, and that human lungs have something
to breathe.

These, again, are merely illustrations of conditions. We are in a new
world, struggling under old laws. As we go inspecting our lives to-day,
surveying this new scene of centralized and complex society, we shall
find many more things out of joint.

One of the most alarming phenomena of the time--or rather it would be
alarming if the Nation had not awakened to it and shown its
determination to control it--one of the most significant signs of the
new social era is the degree to which government has become associated
with business. I speak, for the moment, of the control over the
Government exercised by Big Business. Behind the whole subject, of
course, is the truth that, in the new order, government and business
must be associated, closely. But that association is, at present, of a
nature absolutely intolerable; the precedence is wrong, the association
is upside down. Our Government has been for the past few years under
the control of heads of great allied corporations with special
interests. It has not controlled these interests and assigned them a
proper place in the whole system of business; it has submitted itself
to their control. As a result, there have grown up vicious systems and
schemes of governmental favoritism (the most obvious being the
extravagant tariff), far-reaching in effect upon the whole fabric of
life, touching to his injury every inhabitant of the land, laying
unfair and impossible handicaps upon competitors, imposing taxes in
every direction, stifling everywhere the free spirit of American
enterprise.

Now this has come about naturally; as we go on, we shall see how very
naturally. It is no use denouncing anybody or anything, except human
nature. Nevertheless, it is an intolerable thing