THE PEOPLE WHO WORK
218. =Economic vs. Social Values.=--Economic interests may receive
first attention in the city, but the work that is done is of less
importance than the people who work. Things may so fill the public
mind that the real values of the various elements that enter into life
may become distorted. A penny may be held so close to the eye as to
hide the sun. Making a living may seem more important than making the
most of life. Persons who are absorbed in business are liable to lose
their sense of proportion between people and property; the capitalist
overburdens himself with business cares until he breaks down under the
nervous strain, and overworks his subordinates until they often become
physical wrecks, but it is not because he personally intends to do
harm. Eventually the social welfare of every class will become the
supreme concern and the study of social efficiency will fill a larger
place than the study of economic efficiency.
219. =The Social Classes.=--There is a natural line of social cleavage
that has made it a customary expression to speak of the upper, the
middle, and the lower classes. It is impossible to separate them
sharply, for they shade into one another. Theoretically, in a
democratic country like America there should be no class distinctions,
but in colonial days birth and education had an acknowledged social
position that did not belong to the common man, and in the nineteenth
century a wealthy class came into existence that wrested supremacy
from professional men and those who could rely alone on their
intellectual achievements. It has never been impossible for
individuals to push their way up the social path of success, but it
has been increasingly difficult for a self-made man to break through
into the circle of the _élite_. There are still young men who come
out of the country without pecuniary capital but with physical
strength and courage and, after years of persistent attack, conquer
the citadel of place and power, but the odds are against the youth
without either capital or a higher education than the high school
gives. Without unusual ability and great strength of will it is
impossible to rise high if one lacks capital or influential friends,
but with the help of any two of these it is quite possible to gain
success. Employers complain that the vast majority of persons whom
they employ are lacking in energy, ambition, and ability. Important as
is the possession of wealth and influence it seems to be the psychic
values that ultimately determine the individual's place in American
society. We shall expect, therefore, to find an upper class in society
composed of some who hold their place because of the prestige that
belongs to birth or property, and of others who have made their own
way up because they had the necessary qualities to succeed. Below them
in the social scale we shall expect to find a larger class who,
because they were not consumed by ambition to excel, or because they
lacked the means to achieve distinction, have come to occupy a place
midway between the high and the low, to fill the numerous professional
and business positions below the kings and great captains, and to hold
the balance of power between the aristocracy and the proletariat.
Below these, in turn, are the so-called masses, who fill the lower
ranks of labor, and who are essential to the well-being of those who
are reckoned above them.
220. =The Worth of the Upper Class.=--It is a common belief among the
lowly that the people who hold a place in the upper ranks are not
worthy of their lofty position, and there are many who hope to see
such a general levelling as took place during the French Revolution.
They are fortified in their opinion by the lavish and irresponsible
way in which the wealthy use their money, and they are tantalized by
the display of luxury which, if times are hard, are in aggravating
contrast to the hardship and suffering of the poor. The scale of
living of the millionaire cannot justify itself in the eyes of the
man who finds it difficult to make both ends meet. Undoubtedly society
will find it necessary some day to devise a more equitable method of
distribution. But it is a mistake to suppose that most of the rich are
idle parasites on society, or that their service, as well, as their
wealth, could be dispensed with in the social order. In spite of the
impression fostered by a sensational press that the average person of
wealth devotes himself to the gaieties and dissipations of a
pleasure-loving society, the truth is that after the self-centred
years of callow youth are over most men and women take life seriously
and only the few are idlers. If the investigator should go through the
wealthy sections of the cities and suburbs, and record his
observations, he would find that the men spend their days feeling the
pulse of business in the down-town offices, directing the energies of
thousands of individuals, keeping open the arteries of trade, using as
productive capital the wealth that they count their own, making
possible the economic activity and the very existence of the persons
who find fault with their worthlessness. He would find the women in
the nature of the case less occupied with public affairs, but
interested and enlisted in all sorts of good enterprises, and, while
often wasteful of time and money, bearing a part increasingly in the
promotion of social reforms by active participation and by generous
contributions. The immense gains that have come to society through
philanthropy and social organization, as well as through the channels
of industry, would have been impossible without the sympathetic
activity of the so-called upper class.
221. =Who Belong to the City Aristocracy?=--Most of those who belong
to the upper class are native Americans. They may not be far removed
from European ancestry, but for themselves they have had the advantage
of a rearing in American ways in the home, the school, and society at
large. They are both city and country bred. The country boy has the
advantage of physical strength and better manual training, but he
often lacks intellectual development, and usually has little capital
to start with. The city youth knows the city ways and possesses the
asset of acquaintances and friendships, if not of capital, in the
place where he expects to make a living. He is helped to success if
the way is prepared for him by relatives who have attained place and
property, but he is as often cursed by having more money and more
liberty than is good for him, while still in his irresponsible years.
No place is secure until the young man has proved his personal worth,
whether he is from the city or the country and has come up out of
poverty or from a home of wealth.
222. =Sources of Wealth.=--The large majority of persons of wealth
have won or inherited their property from the economic industries of
manufacturing, trade, commerce, and transportation, or real estate.
Certain individuals have been fortunate in their mining or
public-service investments; others make a large income as corporation
officials, lawyers, physicians, engineers, and architects, but most of
them have attained their success as capitalists, and they are able to
maintain a position of prominence and ease because they use rather
than hoard their wealth. It is easy to underestimate the usefulness of
human beings who finance the world of industry, and in estimating the
returns that are due to members of the various social classes this
form of public service that is so essential to the prosperity of all
must receive recognition.
223. =How They Live.=--Unfortunately, the possession of money
furnishes a constant temptation to self-indulgence which, if carried
far, is destructive of personal health and character, weakens family
affection, and threatens the solidarity of society. The dwelling-house
is costly and the furnishings are expensive. A retinue of servants
performs many useless functions in the operation of the establishment.
Ostentation often carried to the point of vulgarity marks habits of
speech, of dress, and of conduct both within and outside of the home.
Every member of the family has his own friends and interests and
usually his own share of the family allowance. The adults of the
family are unreasonably busy with social functions that are not worth
their up-keep; the children are coddled and supplied with predigested
culture in schools that cater to the trade, and if they are not
spoiled in the process of preparation go on to college as a form of
social recreation. There are exceptions, of course, to this manner of
life, but those who follow it constitute a distinct type and by their
manner of living exert a disintegrating influence in American society.
224. =The Middle Class.=--The middle class is not so distinct a
stratum of society as are the upper and lower classes. It includes the
bulk of the population in the United States, and from its ranks come
the teachers, ministers, physicians, lawyers, artists, musicians,
authors, and statesmen; the civil, mechanical, and electrical
engineers, the architects, and the scientists of every name; most of
the tradesmen of the towns and the farmers of the country; office
managers and agents, handicraftsmen of the better grade, and not a few
of the factory workers. They are the people who maintain the
Protestant churches and their enterprises, who make up a large part of
the constituency of educational institutions and buy books and
reviews, and who patronize the better class of entertainments and
amusements. These people are too numerous to belong to any one race,
and they include both city and country bred. The educated class of
foreigners finds its place among them, assimilates American culture,
and intermarries in the second generation. Into the middle class of
the cities is absorbed the constant stream of rural immigration,
except the few who rise into the upper class or fall into the lower
class. In the city itself grow up thousands of boys and girls who pass
through the schools and into business and home life in their native
environment, and who constitute the solid stratum of urban society.
These people have not the means to make large display. They are
influenced by the fashions of the upper class, sometimes are induced
to applaud their poses or are hypnotized to do their bidding, but they
have their own class standards, and most of them are contented to
occupy their modest station. Only a minority of them own their homes,
but as a class they can afford to pay a reasonable rent and to furnish
their houses tastefully, to hire one or two household servants, and to
live in comfort. Twenty years ago they owned bicycles and enjoyed
century runs into the country on Sunday: since then some of them have
been promoted to automobiles and enjoy a low-priced car as much as the
wealthy appreciate their high-priced limousines. As in rural villages,
so in the city they form various groups of neighbors or friends based
on a common interest, and find entertainment and intellectual stimulus
from such companionship. On the roster of social organizations are
musical societies and bridge clubs, literary and art circles, dramatic
associations, women's clubs, and men's fraternities. The people meet
at dances, teas, and receptions; they mingle with others of their kind
at church or theatre, and co-operate with other workers in settlements
and charity organizations. They educate their children in the public
schools and in increasing numbers give them the benefit of a college
education.
People of the middle class are by no means debarred from passing up to
a higher social grade if they have the ability or good fortune to get
ahead, nor are they guaranteed a permanent place in their own native
group unless they are competent to keep their footing. There is no
surety to keep the independent tradesman from failing in business or
the careless youth from falling into intemperate or vicious habits;
many hazards must be crossed and hindrances overcome before an assured
position is secured in the community, but the opportunities are far
better than for the handicapped strugglers below.
225. =Bonds of Union Between Classes.=--Though the middle class is
distinct from the aristocracy of society in America, it is not shut
off from association with it. The same is true in a less degree of the
lowest class. Party lines are vertical, not horizontal. Religious and
intellectual lines are only less so. The politician cannot afford to
ignore a single vote, and the working man's counts as much as the
plutocrat's. There are few churches that do not have representatives
of all classes, from the gilded pew-holder to the workman with dingy
hands who sits under the gallery. The school is no respecter of class
lines. The store, the street-car, and the railroad are all common
property, where one jostles another without regard to class.
Friendship oversteps all boundaries, even of race and creed.
226. =The Lower Class.=--The lower class consists of those who are
dependent upon others for the opportunity to work or for the charity
that keeps them alive. They commonly lack initiative and ambition; if
they have those qualities they are hindered by their environment from
ever getting ahead. Sometimes they make an attempt in a small way to
carry on trade on their own resources, but they seldom win success.
Their skill as factory operatives is not so great as to gain for them
a good wage, and when business is slack they are the first to be laid
off the pay-roll, and they help to swell the ranks of the unemployed.
Because of the American system of compulsory education they are not
absolutely illiterate, but their ability is small; they leave school
early, and what little education they have does not help them to earn
a living. They do not usually choose an occupation, but they follow
the line of least resistance, taking the first job that offers, and
often finding later that they never can hope for advancement in it.
Frequently they are the victims of weak will and inherited tendencies
that lead to intemperance, vice, and crime. Thousands of them are
living in the unwholesome tenements that lack comfort and
attractiveness. There is no inducement to cultivate good habits, and
no possibility of keeping the children free from moral and physical
contamination. As a class they are continually on the edge of poverty
and often submerged in it. They know what it is to feel the pinch of
hunger, to shiver before the blasts of winter, and to look upon coal
and ice as luxuries. They become discouraged from the struggle as they
grow older, often get to be chronically dependent on charity, and not
infrequently fall at last into a pauper's grave.
227. =The Degenerate American.=--Many of these people are Americans,
swarms of them are foreigners who have come here to better their
fortunes and have been disappointed or, finding the difficulties more
than they anticipated, have settled down fairly contented in the city.
Many persons think that it is the alien immigrant who causes the
increase in intemperance and crime that has been characteristic of
city life, but statistics lay much of the guilt upon the degenerate
American. There are poor whites in the cities as there are in the
South country. The riffraff drifts to town from the country as the
Roman proletariat gravitated to the capital in the days of decadence.
A great many young persons who enter the city with high hopes of
making a fortune fail to get a foothold or gradually lose their grip
and are swept along in the current of the city's débris. Illness,
accident, and repeated failure are all causes of degeneration.
Along with misfortune belongs misconduct. Those causes which produce
poverty like intemperance, idleness, and ignorance, are productive of
degeneracy, also. They render the individual unfit to meet the
responsibilities of life, and tend not only to incompetence but also
to sensuality and even crime. Added to the various physical causes are
such psychical influences as contact with degraded minds or with base
literature or art, loss of religious faith, and loss of
self-confidence as to one's ability to succeed.
Personal degeneracy tends to perpetuate itself in the family. Drunken,
depraved, or feeble-minded parents usually produce children with the
same inheritances or tendencies; family quarrelling and an utter
absence of moral training do not foster the development of character.
A slum environment in the city strengthens the evil tendencies of such
a home, as it counterbalances the good effects of a wholesome home
environment. Mental and moral degeneracy is always present in society,
and if unchecked spreads widely; physical degeneracy is so common as
to be alarming, resulting in dangerous forms of disease, imbecility,
and insanity. Society is waking to the need of protecting itself
against degeneracy in all its forms, and of cutting out the roots of
the evil from the social body.
READING REFERENCES
NEARING: _Social Religion_, pages 104-157.
COMMONS: "Is Class Conflict in America Growing?" art. in _American
Journal of Sociology_, 13: 756-783.
HENDERSON: _Social Elements_, pages 276-283.
NEARING AND WATSON: _Economics_, pages 185-193.
WARNER: _American Charities_, pages 59-117, 276-292.
PATTEN: _Social Basis of Religion_, pages 107-133.
BLACKMAR AND GILLIN: _Outlines of Sociology_, pages 499-512.