Suppose--the impossible--that half of the families in the United States "own property." Subtract from this number the small stockholders; the holders of bonds, notes and mortgages; the small tradesman; the small farmer; the home owner and the owner of a savings-bank deposit or of an insurance policy--what remains? There are the large stockholders, the owners and directors of important industries, public utilities, banks, trust companies and insurance companies. These persons, in the aggregate, constitute a fraction of one per cent of the adult population of the United States. Start with the total non-personal wealth of the country, subtract from it the share-values of the small stockholders; the values of all bonds, mortgages and notes; the property of the small tradesman and the small farmer; the value of homes--what remains? There are left the stocks in the hands of the big stockholders; the properties owned and directed by the owners and directors of important industries, public utilities, banks, trust companies and insurance companies. This wealth in the aggregate probably makes up less than 10 per cent of the total wealth of the country and yet the tiny fraction of the population which owns this wealth can exercise a dictatorial control over the economic policies that underlie American public life. 4. _The Avenues of Mastery_ While control rests back directly or indirectly upon some form of ownership, most owners exercise little or no control over economic affairs. Instead they are made the victims of a social system under which one group lives at the expense of another. Against this tendency toward control by one group or class (usually a minority) over the lives of another group or class (usually a majority) the human spirit always has revolted. The United States in its earlier years was an embodiment of the spirit of that revolt. President Wilson characterized it excellently in 1916. Speaking of the American Flag, he said,--"That flag was originally stained in very precious blood, blood spilt, not for any dynasty, nor for any small controversies over national advantage, but in order that a little body of three million men in America might make sure that no man was their master."[40] Against mastery lovers of liberty protest. Mastery means tyranny; mastery means slavery. Mastery has always been based upon some form of ownership. There is in the United States a group, growing in size, of people who take more in keep than they give in service; people who own land; franchises; stocks and bonds and mortgages; real estate and other forms of investment property; people who are living without ever lifting a finger in toil, or giving anything in labor for an unceasing stream of necessaries, comforts and luxuries. These people, directly or indirectly, are the owners of the productive machinery of the United States.