The billions of surplus wealth that come each year under the control of the masters carry with them an immense authority over the affairs of the community. The owners of wealth owe much of their immediate power to the fact that they control this surplus, and are in a position to direct its flow into such channels as they may select. 8. _The Channels of Public Opinion_ No one can question the control which business interests exercise over the jobs, the industrial product, and the economic surplus of the community. These facts are universally admitted. But the corollaries which flow naturally from such axioms are not so readily accepted. Yet given the economic power of the business world, the control over the channels of public opinion and over the machinery of government follows as a matter of course. The channels of public opinion--the school, the press, the pulpit,--are not directly productive of tangible economic goods, yet they depend upon tangible economic goods for their maintenance. Whence should these goods come? Whence but from the system that produces them, through the men who control that system! The plutocracy exercises its power over the channels of public opinion in two ways,--the first, by a direct or business office control; and second, by an indirect or social prestige control. The business office control is direct and simple. Schools, colleges, newspapers, magazines and churches need money. They cannot produce tangible wealth directly, and they must, therefore, depend upon the surplus which arises from the productive activities of the economic world. Who controls that surplus? Business men. Who, then, is in a position to dictate terms in financial matters? Who but the dominant forces in business life? The facts are incontrovertible. It is not mere chance that recruits the overwhelming majority of school-board members, college trustees, newspaper managers, and church vestrymen, from the ranks of successful business and professional men. It is necessary for the educator, the journalist, and the minister to work through these men in order to secure the "sinews of war." They are at the focal points of power because they control the sources of surplus wealth. The second method of maintaining control--through the control of social prestige--is indirect, but none the less effective. The young man in college; the young graduate looking for a job; the young man rising in his profession, and the man gaining ascendancy in his chosen career are brought into constant contact with the "influential" members of the business world. It is the business world that dominates the clubs and the vacation spots; it is the business world that is met in church, at the dinner tables and at the social gathering. The man who would "succeed" must retain the favor of this group. He does so automatically, instinctively or semi-consciously--it is the common, accepted practice and he falls in line.