ot their idea to serve them directly; they
proposed to serve them indirectly through the enormous forces already set
up, which are so great that there is almost an open question whether the
government of the United States with the people back of it is strong
enough to overcome and rule them.

* * * * *

Shall we try to get the grip of monopoly away from our lives, or shall we
not? Shall we withhold our hand and say monopoly is inevitable, that all
that we can do is to regulate it? Shall we say that all that we can do is
to put government in competition with monopoly and try its strength
against it? Shall we admit that the creature of our own hands is stronger
than we are? We have been dreading all along the time when the combined
power of high finance would be greater than the power of the government.
Have we come to a time when the President of the United States or any man
who wishes to be the President must doff his cap in the presence of this
high finance, and say, "You are our inevitable master, but we will see how
we can make the best of it?"

We are at the parting of the ways. We have, not one or two or three, but
many, established and formidable monopolies in the United States. We have,
not one or two, but many, fields of endeavor into which it is difficult,
if not impossible, for the independent man to enter. We have restricted
credit, we have restricted opportunity, we have controlled development,
and we have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely
controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world--no longer a
government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the
vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of
small groups of dominant men.

If the government is to tell big business men how to run their business,
then don't you see that big business men have to get closer to the
government even than they are now? Don't you see that they must capture
the government, in order not to be restrained too much by it? Must capture
the government? They have already captured it. Are you going to invite
those inside to stay inside? They don't have to get there. They are there.
Are you going to own your own premises, or are you not? That is your
choice. Are you going to say: "You didn't get into the house the right
way, but you are in there, God bless you; we will stand out here in the
cold and you can hand us out s