LABORS NEW STATUS 308

made possible through coordination of separate plants and
corporations in the principal branches of manufacturing
and mining. They realize that the same policies of adjustment
 of production and consumption, which have been successfully
 developed by associations in individual industries,
must now be applied to industry as a whole. Moreover, it
has become evident that industry and trade must be released
from the restriction of the anti-trust laws, so that the maximum
 economies in production and distribution may be
made possible.
This freedom to industry—this liberation from the
effects of negative or restrictive legislation—is indispensable.
 It means further, however, that industry will have to
submit to an enlightened policy of regulation. Moreover,
it is clearly apparent that industry must itself work out and
apply the broader policy of inter-industry coordination or
the public will inevitably be forced to impose such a policy
upon industry. One of the most encouraging features of
the present situation is that leading industrialists and financiers
 have already taken the initiative in formulating and
discussing proposals for constructive action.

[NDUSTRIAL PROGRESS AND THE PUBLIC WELFARE

The broader and even more fundamental problem of the
relation between the future constructive program of industry
 and a public policy toward business and industry, is
indissolubly bound up with the future status and performance
 of business itself. Fortunately, there is not at present
any conflict between government and industry, so far as enlightened
 and public-spirited leaders of industry are concerned.
 There has been and will continue to be a certain
type of industrial leadership which has sought—especially
in connection with excessive and unnecessary tariff rates,
public land distribution, shipping, and more recently in the