292 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The indication of social health or disease is to he sought in quite 

 another fact. The question whether the society is formed of only two 

 classes, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, or whether all 

 the intervening grades are represented in a sound and healthy propor- 

 tion, is a question which has importance, because it furnishes indica- 

 tions of the state and prospects of the society. No society which con- 

 sists of the two extreme classes only is in a sound and healthy con- 

 dition. 



If we regard the society of a new country, with little government 

 regulation, free institutions, low taxes, and insignificant military duty 

 as furnishing us with the nearest example of a normal development of 

 human society under civilization, then we must infer that such a so- 

 ciety would not consist of two well-defined classes widely separated 

 from each other, but that there would be no well-defined classes at all, 

 although its members might, in their extremest range, be far apart in 

 wealth, education, talent, and virtue. Such a society might, as it grew 

 older, and its population became more dense, develop, under high com- 

 petition, great extremes of economic power and social condition, but 

 there is no reason to suppose that the whole middle range would not 

 be filled up by the great mass of the population. 



I have now cleared the ground for the proposition which it is my 

 special purpose, in this paper, to offer : 



It is the tendency of all social burdens to crush out the middle class, 

 and to force the society into an organization of only two classes, one 

 at each social extreme. 



It is in the nature of the case impracticable to adjust social bur- 

 dens proportionately to the power of individuals to support them. If 

 this could be done, it is possible that the burdens might become great, 

 even excessive, without producing the effect which I have stated. 

 Since, however, it is impossible to so adjust them, and they must be 

 laid on "equally" with reference to the unit of service, and not with 

 reference to some unit of capacity to endure them, it follows that 

 the effect must be as stated. So soon as the burden becomes so great 

 that it surpasses the power of some part of the society, a division 

 takes place between those who can and those who can not endure it. 

 At first, those who are close to this line, but just above it, are not 

 far removed from those who are close to it, but just below it; but. as 

 time goes on, and the pressure continues to operate, they are con- 

 stantly separated from each other by a wider and wider interval. 



Let us look at some of the historical facts which show us this law. 



If Ave take the early Roman history as Mommsen relates it to us, 

 we observe the constant recurrence of the difficulty which arose from 

 the tendency of the society toward two extreme classes. It was 

 plainly the pressure of military duty and taxes which was constantly 

 developing two classes, debtors and creditors. The demands of the 

 state fell upon different men in very different severity according to 



