WITH delightful frankness New Englanders
have been charged in these pages with
scuttling the craft which carried their promising
fortunes. It is true that I have exculpated from
all blame the vigorous men who laid the founda-
tions of her ever-expanding industries which have
been the medium of Yankee undoing. They
were capable and daring besides being mentally
alive. If it were given to men to wisely direct
the happenings of two or three generations ahead,
these talented individuals would have qualified.
As it was although they could not or did not fore-
see developments, they showed an almost eery
appreciation of the fact that industry could not
move forward without having due regard to
political and social conditions. Their reputations
therefore must be tenderly handled, although
there is no question but that they unwittingly gave
the impulse to the movement which has brought
wealth and the evil consequences which accom-
pany wealth into New England.

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