In this connection I also want to say a word to parents: Would it not be well early in the life of your boy to impress upon him that he will probably get out of life something fairly commensurate with what he puts into life? You might also suggest that if he will observe he will probably discover that those who complain most because the world has been stingy with them, are seldom able to show a receipt for much that they have contributed to the world. If instead of giving wholesome guidance you permit to go unchallenged the teachings which your boy is certain to get in the school room, in the pew, at the theater and the movie, on the street, and especially from the demagogue, that those who make money are invariably dishonest, those who accumulate wealth are scoundrels and that those who amass fortunes should be in the penitentiary, I will go security for your son that he will never disgrace his parents by getting the family name on the letterhead of any big institution, or in the Directory of Directors. CHAPTER XXI THE GOVERNMENT’S HANDICAP In this chapter an argument is made that no government, and especially no republic, can supply the necessary management for business enterprises. The effect of popular and political interference with public business is illustrated. The principal reason why government business operations are always financial failures is that no republic can supply the all-essential third leg. Its management is always defective. It can furnish capital, it can employ labor, but in a government where the people have a voice, management always buckles. Senator Aldrich was frequently quoted as saying that the government could save three hundred million dollars per annum if it would apply business principles to its affairs. The distinguished senator never said that. What he did say was that the government _would_ save three hundred million dollars per annum if it _could_ apply business principles. Experience had taught the senator what experience has taught everyone who has had experience and what observation has taught the observing: that it cannot be done. During the campaign of 1916, I sat on the platform and heard the then candidate for governor of a great middle-west state tell an audience that if he were elected governor, he would apply business principles to state affairs. I followed him and told his hearers that, if elected, he would do nothing of the kind. In the first place, it was impossible, and, secondly, they would not consent to it even if it were possible. I reminded them that I knew better than their candidate, for I had tried it. I did suggest, however, that simply because business principles cannot be applied to public affairs, is no excuse for conducting public affairs in a thoroughly unbusinesslike manner. It is not necessary to violate every business principle because some cannot be applied.