Individually the members of the wealth-controlling class have learned that "in union there is strength"; collectively they are gripped by the "cohesion of wealth"—the class conscious instinct of an associated group of human beings who have much to gain and everything to lose.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] The 169 largest railroads in the United States have issued 84,418,796 shares of stock. ("American Labor Year Book," 1917-18, p. 169.) Theoretically, therefore, there might be eighty-four millions of owners of the American railroads.
[38] Summary of the Report of the Federal Trade Commission on the Meat Packing Industry, July 3, 1918, Wash., Govt. Print., 1918.
VIII. THEIR UNITED STATES
1. Translating Wealth into Power
The first object of the economic struggle is wealth. The second is power.
At the end of their era of competition, the leaders of American business found themselves masters of such vast stores of wealth that they were released from the paralyzing fear of starvation, and were guaranteed the comforts and luxuries of life. Had these men sought wealth as a means of satisfying their physical needs their object would have been attained.