Earlier in the chapter mention was made of the fact that society in this country has undertaken a variety of industrial activities which show unmistakable tendencies toward the socialistic program. Socialists themselves say that these undertakings are mere substitutes for socialism, if not indeed flimsy makeshifts.

The most outstanding substitute of this nature is government regulation. We have already seen how Congress has provided, in the Interstate Commerce Act and its amendments, for regulating trade among the states. But the national government has gone much farther in this respect. We have anti-trust laws, child-labor laws, pure-food laws, drug laws, laws regulating the inspection of meat products, government manufactures of war materials, and public shipyards. Our participation in the Great War compelled unheard of regulative measures in pro-duction. Raw materials were apportioned among manufactures, the country experienced "coalless" days, while even consumers were told what they might eat. Since government regulation seems to be the first step toward government ownership and government operation, all such regulative measures are regarded by many with grave apprehension.