PERILS. — SOCIALISM. 140 



machinery, manufacturing power was, of course, mus- 

 cular. That power belonged to the workmen, and could 

 not be monopolized or centralized without their consent. 

 Every man had a fair chance to compete with his fellow ; 

 no one enjoyed an immeasurable advantage ; but ma- 

 chinery enables one man to own a power equal to that 

 of a thousand or ten thousand men. Modern science 

 and invention, in subjecting mighty forces of nature to 

 human control, have made the Anakim our slaves. 

 Here is an army of giants who never hunger and never 

 tire, who never suffer and never complain; when 

 ordered to stop working, they never raise bread riots. 

 They always recognize their masters, and obey without 

 question and without conscience. The availability and 

 magnitude of these forces make the concentration of 

 power both certain and dangerous. The masters of 

 these forces are the Caesars and Napoleons of modern 

 society. Within certain limits, other things being- 

 equal, the larger the manufactory the cheaper the pro- 

 duct, and the greater the percentage of profit on the 

 investment. This law results in the massing of capital. 

 These great enterprises demand able men to organize 

 and conduct them. The employer is no longer a work- 

 man with his emploj'ees ; his work is mental, not man- 

 ual ; it tasks and strengthens all his powers while that 

 of his workmen tends to cramp their faculties. He has 

 little personal acquaintance with his employees, and, 

 with noble exceptions, has little personal interest in 

 them. Thus these classes grow apart. Says Mr. Lecky : 

 "Every change of conditions which widens the chasm 

 and impairs the sympathy between rich and poor, can- 

 not fail, however beneficial may be its effects, to bring 

 with it grave dangers to the state. It is incontestable 

 that the immense increase of manufacturing population 

 has had this tendency. "^ And not only are these 



that this is the channel by which they will enter." Democracy in Amer- 

 ica, Book Second, Chap. 20. 

 1 England in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. II. p. 693. 



