THE STRUGGLE FOB EQUALITY 189 



In the second place, the diversity of opinion in the business world 

 itself is mainly responsible for the prolonged controversies that unsettle 

 business. In our political contests, the business interests are not a unit. 

 They are not agreed about reforming the currency or revising the 

 tariff. In regard to the trusts, the small capitalists are opposed to the 

 large. In the controversy over railway rates, many farmers, manu- 

 facturers and shippers have been arrayed against the railways. At times 

 the railways have entered politics to prevent the large shippers from 

 securing rebates by playing off one road against another. The agitation 

 which led to the enactment of the Elkins law in 1903 is a notable 

 instance. There is no such solidarity of interests among business men 

 as the socialist doctrine of the class struggle would lead one to expect. 

 Our industrial leaders compete scarcely less in the political than in the 

 industrial field. Some of them enter politics to obtain favors for them- 

 selves, while others are compelled to enter for self -protection. The rail- 

 way interest has occasionally been on the offensive and then again on 

 the defensive in our politics. Business men are less in the political 

 limelight than lawyers, but they are more frequently the moving power 

 behind the scenes. There are no more persistent political strategists 

 than many members of the business community. Without their support, 

 many a professional politician would find himself out of a job, and the 

 political agitation that unsettles business would have a very short life. 



In the third place, more important than reforming business is the 

 problem of keeping it on a high level, much as the preservation of health 

 transcends the curing of disease, and what preventive medicine is to 

 the public health " pitiless publicity " is to the level of business morals. 

 It is only in a political atmosphere that is potentially critical that those 

 in charge of large business can be expected to be on their good behavior. 

 If every would-be agitator were put under lock and key, the tone of 

 business life would undoubtedly sink to a lower plane. 



Fourthly, the fact that business, if let alone, will reform itself is no 

 argument against the use of means that promise to hasten the process, 

 any more than the fact that a patient will in time get well proves that 

 there is no use in calling in a medical practitioner. The doctrine of 

 laissez faire has long since been discredited. 



Fifthly, the disturbing effect upon business of political agitation 

 that is necessary should be sharply distinguished from that which is un- 

 necessary, and due account taken of the fact that the self-seeking dema- 

 gogue is by no means wholly to blame for the latter. The obstinate 

 shortsightedness of not a few men prominent in the business world is 

 also responsible. In place of cooperating with well-meaning politicians 

 in devising appropriate remedies for manifest ills, a studied attempt is 

 frequently made to arouse opposition by creating a state of alarm. To 

 this end the mildest kind of proposals are misrepresented by a subsidized 

 press, the most sinister motives imputed to their advocates, and the pos- 



