THE INTENTIONAL SHAPING OF HUMAN OPINION 59 1 



the part of the overlords. The invention of steam-driven 

 machinery swept away this feudal point of view, bringing 

 in its place the new generating idea of free competitive 

 enterprise. With the new idea-system came the independence 

 of the worker, but also the release of the overlord from 

 responsibility for the support of his retainers. We all know 

 the fairly tragic story of what happened as the feudal idea 

 began to fade out and the free-enterprise idea began to 

 prevail. There came the "masterless" man, the wage-earner; 

 there came the ruthless misuse of the Hves of the workers; 

 there came a new kind of poverty, city slums and regimented 

 factory slaves. Then slowly, as we know, two new ideas 

 began to emerge. On the one hand, there was the thought 

 that the pohtical order must now take some of the respon- 

 sibihty hitherto assumed by the feudal chiefs. Factory 

 legislation was born. On the other hand, the idea developed 

 among the workers that they must now stand together in 

 their own defense. The trade union was born, with the 

 alleviating and reconstructive results that we know. 



At the present time, the alert mind easily senses the fact 

 that the economic world, being still far less than perfect in 

 its organization, is in transition. Poverty has been dimin- 

 ished, but fear remains. Factory slavery is less degrading but 

 drabness rules. The State has assumed obhgation, but riches 

 flaunt their opportunities in the face of labor. At the present 

 time, western civihzation is apparently fumbhng forward 

 to a new underlying idea that will enable it to produce, 

 exchange and consume without the fairly tragic waste of hfe 

 entailed by the present system. 



From the foregoing we may, I think, properly conclude 

 that the really significant history of mankind is the history 

 of the change of its governing thoughts about things. What 

 we call progress, in brief, would seem to be the substitution 

 (however caused) of a thought-system which generates more 

 adequate for one which generates less adequate satisfactions. 



CAN GOVERNING IDEAS BE INTENTIONALLY CHANGED? 



If this is true, then the most important question which 

 human life could seem to ask itself would be: How can we 



