And State Papers H9 



would waste its time. It would not hurt the Missis 

 sippi, but it would not only throw away its own 

 means, but would incidentally damage the popula 

 tion along the banks. You can't dam the current. 

 You can build levees to keep the current within 

 bounds and to shape its direction. I think that 

 is exactly what we can do in connection with these 

 great corporations known as trusts. We can not 

 reverse the industrial tendency of the age. If you 

 succeed in doing it, then all cities like Wheeling 

 will have to go out of business. Remember that. 

 You can not put a stop to or reverse the industrial 

 tendencies of the age, but you can control and regu 

 late them and see that they do no harm. 



A flood comes down the Mississippi you can't 

 stop it. If you tried to build a dam across it, it 

 would not hurt the flood, and it would not benefit 

 you. You can guide it between levees so as to pre 

 vent its doing injury, and so as to ensure its doing 

 good. Another thing: you don't build those levees 

 in a day or in a month. A man who told you that 

 he had a patent device by which in sixty days he 

 would solve the whole question of the floods along 

 the lower Mississippi would not be a wise man ; but 

 he would be a perfect miracle of wisdom compared 

 to the man who tells you that by any one patent 

 remedy he can bring the millennium in our indus 

 trial and social affairs. 



We can do something ; I believe we can do a good 

 deal, but our accomplishing what I expect to see 

 accomplished is conditioned upon our setting to 



