y, to establish justice and to
inaugurate liberty. Their promises were prophetic. Their early deeds put
the world in their debt. Forward looking people everywhere thrilled at
the mention of the name "America." Then came the discovery of the
fabulous wealth of the new country; the pressure of the growing stream
of immigrants; the heaping up of riches; the rapacious search after
more! more! the desertion of the dearest principles of America's early
promise, and the transcribing of another story of "economic
determinism."

Until very recent times the American people continued to talk of
political affairs as though they were the matters of chief public
concern. The recent growth and concentration of economic power have
showed plainly, however, that America was destined to play her greatest
role on the economic field. Capable men therefore ceased to go into
politics and instead turned their energies into the whirl of business,
where they received a training that made them capable of handling
affairs of the greatest intricacy and magnitude.

2. _Every Man for Himself_

The development of American industry, during the hundred years that
began with the War of 1812, led inevitably to the unification of
business control in the hands of a small group of wealth owners.

"Every man for himself" was the principle that the theorists of the
eighteenth century bequeathed to the industrial pioneers of the
nineteenth. The philosophy of individualism fitted well with the
temperament and experience of the English speaking peoples; the practice
of individualism under the formula "Every man for himself" seemed a
divine ordination for the benefit of the new industry.

The eager American population adopted the slogan with enthusiasm. "Every
man for himself" was the essence of their frontier lives; it was the
breath of the wilderness.

But the idea failed in practice. Despite the assurances of its champions
that individualism was necessary to preserve initiative and that
progress was impossible without it, like many another principle--fine
sounding in theory, it broke down in the application.

The first struggle that confronted the ambitious conqueror of the new
world was the struggle with nature. Her stores were abundant, but they
must be prepared for human use. Timber must be sawed; soil tilled; fish
caught; coal mined; iron smelted; gold extracted. Rivers must be
bridged; mountains spanned; lines of communication maintained. The
co