ound the government of the United States a very
interesting, a very able, a very aggressive coterie of gentlemen who are
most definite and explicit in their ideas as to what they want.

They don't have to consult us as to what they want. They don't have to
resort to anybody. They know their plans, and therefore they know what
will be convenient for them. It may be that they have really thought what
they have said they thought; it may be that they know so little of the
history of economic development and of the interests of the United States
as to believe that their leadership is indispensable for our prosperity
and development. I don't have to prove that they believe that, because
they themselves admit it. I have heard them admit it on many occasions.

I want to say to you very frankly that I do not feel vindictive about it.
Some of the men who have exercised this control are excellent fellows;
they really believe that the prosperity of the country depends upon them.
They really believe that if the leadership of economic development in
this country dropped from their hands, the rest of us are too
muddle-headed to undertake the task. They not only comprehend the power of
the United States within their grasp, but they comprehend it within their
imagination. They are honest men, they have just as much right to express
their views as I have to express mine or you to express yours, but it is
just about time that we examined their views for ourselves and determined
their validity.

As a matter of fact, their thought does not cover the processes of their
own undertakings. As a university president, I learned that the men who
dominate our manufacturing processes could not conduct their business for
twenty-four hours without the assistance of the experts with whom the
universities were supplying them. Modern industry depends upon technical
knowledge; and all that these gentlemen did was to manage the external
features of great combinations and their financial operation, which had
very little to do with the intimate skill with which the enterprises were
conducted. I know men not catalogued in the public prints, men not spoken
of in public discussion, who are the very bone and sinew of the industry
of the United States.

Do our masters of industry speak in the spirit and interest even of those
whom they employ? When men ask me what I think about the labor question
and laboring men, I feel that I am being asked what I know about