Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Current Economic Affairs (1924).pdf/187

Rh country, in whom I have confidence, would also subscribe to them if they had the chance. I believe that the majority of the workers are just as patriotic and think just as much of the national welfare as do other people. If their aspirations appear to be at variance with those of other people and contrary to the general interest, I believe that it is because they do not understand whither they are being led. In this they are to a large extent the victims of selfish leaders—political and professional—and misguided sentimentalists. I do not believe that the American working man is socialistic or communistic or anything of that sort. I do not believe that he is jealous of the rich who have become rich fairly and I do not think that he wants or expects for himself anything more than a square deal. I think that he wants to be told the truth and to be given a chance to think about it. I think that the most misguided of all people are those who fear to tell him the truth, lest they offend him or hurt his feelings. Politicians will never tell him the truth, nor will those leaders who derive their own living out of the perpetual promotion of dissatisfaction. The engineer, on the other hand, has no axe to grind.