The usual argument advanced against any proposal for the government regulation of industry is that it is socialistic. Every legislative act of Congress which has had for its end government interference in enterprise has been bitterly attacked on this ground. Yet strange as it may appear, what is socialistic in one generation is likely to become a settled and widely accepted policy in the next. When the national government decided in 1887 to regulate interstate commerce, many well-meaning persons thought they saw the beginning of a socialistic state. Forty years of practice have produced a change. No longer is there any opposition to the principle embodied in regulating railroads. This, however, is but a single illustration; it might be duplicated almost indefinitely. From Congress, the state legislature, and city councils there issues forth a constant stream of so-called socialistic legislation; that is, legislation which gives society more complete control over the factors of production. The longest step in this direction, taken to be sure as a war measure, occurred in December, 1917, when President Wilson, acting under authority conferred on him by Congress, took charge of the railroads of the country. Whatever our notions about socialism may be, whether we favor its doctrines or oppose them, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that society is more and more intervening in the affairs of private industry.