Warnings have been given by some observers, including the present writer, that such a condition of things was coming. In my _Inquiry into Socialism_, published in 1887, I said: ‘In crossing the ocean the colonists left behind them the monarchy and aristocracy, and many other social forms hoary with venerable abuse; but they carried with them an institution older and more fundamental than royalty or a hereditary legislature—human nature itself.’ The old evils of Europe grew out of human nature. On the other side of the Atlantic men will still be human. ‘Freedom in America seems threatened by the domination of great corporations, combining to obtain the control of industrial operations, of governments, and courts of justice. If unchecked by the healthy public opinion, and by the collective will of the American people, such corporations may establish an economic, social, and political tyranny quite as oppressive as anything existing in Europe. It will be a miserable thing for the world if triumphant democracy, and a material prosperity unexampled in the annals of mankind, end in a fiasco such as this.’[2] The struggle to curb the corporations and bring them within the limits prescribed by the public good will not be an easy one. Waves of popular enthusiasm are apt to be fitful and transient, whilst the pull of organised wealth is steady, continuous, incessant. The favourite rhetorical figure of the octopus spreading its gigantic tentacles over American society gives but a faint impression of the subtle and insidious activity of the Trusts. Even in Russia the problem is a simple one compared with that in America; the contest with the Tzardom is merely one of force striving against force by all available means. Vastly simpler was the earliest struggle of historic civilisation, when the Greeks met the clumsy hosts of Persia. The Americans may consider themselves as the foremost champions, at the most critical point, in the most momentous struggle now going forward on the planet. _Noblesse oblige_ was the maxim of a caste that is vanishing. It is still an imperative call on all truly noble men and nations. The American colonies were founded by the noblest pioneers of freedom, from the best and strongest races of Europe. Such a high ancestry lays men under a special obligation to acquit themselves well in the warfare against organised wealth. One of the main causes of the present situation is that in the eager race for wealth or for a living the Americans have had no leisure to be good citizens, in the sense contemplated by the founders of the Republic. They have left their own proper civic work to professional politicians. In the combination of professional politicians ready to be bought and of wealthy capitalists ready to buy lies the supreme danger to American freedom. The danger will be averted when the people take care duly to think the matter out, and to enter upon a course of resolute organised action suitable to the time and its needs.