Big business, in its ruthless pursuit of results, has
the ultimate responsibility for the ills that confront us in
political, social, and commercial life. The graft scandals, the
bank defalcations, etc., are simply symptoms of internal
disorders. They are the eruptions of the disease.
Pittsburg might be called the typical get-rich-quick community.
Its great wealth is based on the abundant coal and iron with
which the Creator loaded its environment. Down on those deposits
fasten thousands of Americans seized with the mania of
money-making. They coin the coal and iron into millions. They
work feverishly; they work their men furiously. It's a mad,
frenzied scramble for success and sensation. To get rich quicker,
they exact excessive protection from Congress--first to prop up
infant industries, then to consolidate abnormal profits. If the
government undertakes to deny their demands, they bluster first,
then intrigue, then intimidate. Mills are closed down; the
"prosperity" of the country is threatened, lobbies are organized,
corruption funds subscribed, until Congress succumbs and new
"jokers" are written into steel tariffs.
In the meantime a huge city is upreared.
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