198 The Two Americas 



and has produced an absolutely novel set of phe 

 nomena. To secure from them the best results will 

 tax to the utmost the resources of the statesman, the 

 economist, and the social reformer. There has been 

 an immense relative growth of urban population, 

 and, in consequence, an immense growth of the body 

 of wage-workers, together with an accumulation of 

 enormous fortunes which more and more tend to 

 express their power through great corporations that 

 are themselves guided by some master mind of the 

 business world. As a result, we are confronted by a 

 formidable series of perplexing problems, with which 

 it is absolutely necessary to deal, and yet with which 

 it is not merely useless, but in the highest degree un 

 wise and dangerous to deal, save with wisdom, in 

 sight, and self-restraint. 



There are certain truths which are so common 

 place as to be axiomatic, and yet so important that 

 we can not keep them too vividly before our minds. 

 The true welfare of the nation is indissolubly bound 

 up with the welfare of the farmer and the wage- 

 worker of the man who tills the soil, and of the 

 mechanic, the handicraftsman; the laborer. If we 

 can ensure the prosperity of these two classes we 

 need not trouble ourselves about the prosperity of 

 the rest, for that will follow as a matter of course. 



On the other hand, it is equally true that the pros 

 perity of any of us can best be attained by measures 



