AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 759 



" The Hindoo having, as he generally has, sufficient for the 

 day, is happy, content to sleep, and is hardly to be urged to 

 greater work by the offer of greater earnings. ' I have enough ; 

 why should I work for more ? ' is not an unusual answer, and 

 the offer of a higher place is often refused lest it should involve 

 more effort." 



If progress is better than stagnation, so is Western unrest 

 better than Eastern contentment. 



The idea of a progressive society is reenforced by other forces 

 productive of discontent. Among these is the belief in the un- 

 equal distribution of wealth. It is said that 4047 millionaires of 

 the United States own 20 per cent of the wealth ; that 9 per cent 

 of the families, including the millionaires, own 7 1 per cent ; and 

 that " as little as 5 per cent of the nation's wealth is owned by 

 52 per cent of the families." Few contemplate with entire satis- 

 faction such statements as these, and, whatever may be their im- 

 port, they create a feeling of uneasiness among the masses of the 

 people. The spirit of modern times is prone to inquire whether 

 society has a sufficient guarantee that the concentrated ownership 

 of the nation's wealth will be used in such a way as to minister to 

 the well-being of the people ; and the frequency with which the 

 interests of the public are disregarded by trusts and corporations 

 keeps alive the fires of the social discontent. 



This attitude of mind is doubtless somewhat tinged with the 

 " complaint that every man who is compelled to walk has against 

 the man who rides, . . . the complaint of him who has nothing 

 against him who has something and of him who has something 

 against him who has more." Moreover, "it is no difficult thing 

 to make the world believe it has been misused " ; and there is 

 consequently a great deal of unrest inspired by a feeling of social 

 injustice that either has no foundation or rests upon a misinter- 

 pretation of events. The willful distortion of facts and the diffu- 

 sion of misinformation among the people by newspapers intent 

 only on partisan ends, and by politicians who value their reputations 

 for veracity less than they do their loyalty to party and their claims 

 to office, are in large part responsible for this. But propositions 

 which rest upon falsehood are none the less potent in arousing 



