THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. 55 



greatly to be lamented. There is no recognition of the fact that this 

 increasing independence implies an increasing prosperity of the classes 

 from which servants come ; and that this amelioration in the condition 

 of the many is a good far greater than the evil entailed on the few. 

 It is not perceived that if servants, being in great demand and easily 

 able to get places, will no longer submit to restrictions, say about 

 dress, like those of past times, the change is part of the progress tow- 

 ard a social state which, if apparently not so convenient for the small 

 regulating classes, implies an elevation of the large regulated classes. 



The feeling shown by the rich, in their thoughts about and dealings 

 with the poor, is, in truth, but a mitigated form of the feeling which 

 owners of serfs and owners of slaves displayed. In early times bonds- 

 men were treated as though they existed simply for the benefit of their 

 owners ; and down to the present time the belief pervading the select 

 ranks (not indeed expressed, but clearly enough implied) is, that the 

 convenience of the select is the first consideration, and the welfare of 

 the masses a secondary consideration. Just as an Old-English thane 

 would have been astonished if told that the only justification for his 

 existence as an owner of thralls was, that the lives of his thralls were 

 on the whole better preserved and more comfortable than they would 

 be did he not own them ; so, now, it will astonish the dominant classes 

 to assert that their only legitimate raison d'etre is, that by their instru- 

 mentality as regulators the lives of the people are, on the average, 

 made more satisfactory than they would otherwise be. And yet, 

 looked at apart from class-bias, this is surely an undeniable truth. 

 Ethically considered, there has never been any warrant for the subjec- 

 tion of the many to the few, except that it has furthered the welfare 

 of the many; and, at the present time, furtherance of the welfare of the 

 many is the only warrant for that degree of class-subordination which 

 continues. The existing conception must be, in the end, entirely 

 changed. Just as the old theory of political government has been so 

 transformed that the ruling agent, instead of being owner of the na- 

 tion, has come to be regarded as servant of the nation; so the old 

 theory of industrial and social government has to undergo a transfor- 

 mation which will make the regulating classes feel, while duly pursuing 

 their own interests, that their interests are secondary to the interests 

 of the masses whose labors they direct. 



While the bias cf rulers and masters makes it difficult for them to 

 conceive this, it also makes it difficult for them to conceive that a de- 

 cline of class-power and a decrease of class-distinctions may be accom- 

 panied by improvement not only in the lives of the regulated classes, 

 but in the lives of the regulating: classes. The sentiments and ideas 

 proper to the existing social organization prevent the rich from seeing 

 that worry and weariness and disappointment result to them indirectly 

 from this social system, apparently so conducive to their welfare. Yet, 

 would they contemplate the past, they might find strong reasons for 



