National Duties 233 



corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital, 

 which have marked the development of our indus 

 trial system, create new conditions and necessitate 

 a change from the old attitude of the State and the 

 nation toward property. It is probably true that the 

 large majority of the fortunes that now exist in this 

 country have been amassed not by injuring our peo 

 ple, but as an incident to the conferring of great 

 benefits upon the community; and this, no matter 

 what may have been the conscious purpose of those 

 amassing them. There is but the scantiest justi 

 fication for most of the outcry against the men of 

 wealth as such; and it ought to be unnecessary to 

 state that any appeal which directly or indirectly 

 leads to suspicion and hatred among ourselves, which 

 tends to limit opportunity, and therefore to shut 

 the door of success against poor men of talent, and, 

 finally, which entails the possibility of lawlessness 

 and violence, is an attack upon the fundamental prop 

 erties of American citizenship. Our interests are at 

 bottom common; in the long run we go up or go 

 down together. Yet more and more it is evident that 

 the State, and if necessary the Nation, must pos 

 sess the right of supervision and control as regards 

 the great corporations which are its creatures, par 

 ticularly as regards the great business combinations 

 which derive a portion of their importance from the 

 existence of some monopolistic tendency. The right 



