our own, the great
soldier has been, very commonly, a famous statesman also, but I do not
now remember, in English or American history, a single capitalist who
has earned eminence for comprehensive statesmanship. On the contrary,
although many have participated in public affairs, have held high
office, and have shown ability therein, capitalists have not unusually,
however unjustly, been suspected of having ulterior objects in view,
unconnected with the public welfare, such as tariffs or land grants.
Certainly, so far as I am aware, no capitalist has ever acquired such
influence over his contemporaries as has been attained with apparent
ease by men like Cromwell, Washington, or even Jackson.

And this leads, advancing in an orderly manner step by step, to what is,
perhaps, to me, the most curious and interesting of all modern
intellectual phenomena connected with the specialized mind,--the
attitude of the capitalist toward the law. Naturally the capitalist, of
all men, might be supposed to be he who would respect and uphold the law
most, considering that he is at once the wealthiest and most vulnerable
of human beings, when called upon to defend himself by physical force.
How defenceless and how incompetent he is in such exigencies, he proved
to the world some years ago when he plunged himself and the country into
the great Pennsylvania coal strike, with absolutely no preparation.
Nevertheless, in spite of his vulnerability, he is of all citizens the
most lawless.[42] He appears to assume that the law will always be
enforced, when he has need of it, by some special personnel whose duty
lies that way, while he may, evade the law, when convenient, or bring it
into contempt, with impunity. The capitalist seems incapable of feeling
his responsibility, as a member of the governing class, in this respect,
and that he is bound to uphold the law, no matter what the law may be,
in order that others may do the like. If the capitalist has bought some
sovereign function, and wishes to abuse it for his own behoof, he
regards the law which restrains him as a despotic invasion of his
constitutional rights, because, with his specialized mind, he cannot
grasp the relation of a sovereign function to the nation as a whole. He,
therefore, looks upon the evasion of a law devised for public
protection, but inimical to him, as innocent or even meritorious.

If an election be lost, and the legislature, which has been chosen by
the majority, c