GENERAL REPORT. 
73 
litiGal wisdom and practical statesmenship of the common¬ 
wealth, and being the constituted guardian of its public in¬ 
terests, it should be expected to lead in the inauguration of all 
great measures for the promotion of the common good—to the 
people as individuals, because the advantages thus offered by 
the State are wdiolly available by each for his own particular 
advancement and that of the whole class to which he belongs- 
This is certainl}^ a correct statement of the general principle ; 
and yet it requires some modification in its application to the 
industrial classes, as being less qualified, at present, to appreci¬ 
ate the value of knowledge pertaining to their pursuits, and as 
requiring, - therefore, more aid and' encouragement from the 
State—whose progress so essentially depends upon their intel¬ 
ligence and material success—to induce them to qualify them¬ 
selves more thoroughly for their work. 
In democratic America, there must be, not only such equal¬ 
ity of natural rights as the constitution already guarantees to 
the people, but also equality among the occupations and pro¬ 
fessions ; else the seed of caste, so carefully planted in all mon¬ 
archical countries, and which seems to have been self-sown 
even in American soil, will take deeper root than now, and 
bring forth its baneful fruit of adventitious aristocracy, like 
that which so sadly curses them. 
In America, a man must be esteemed, not in proportion to 
the fancied rank of the profession to which he belongs but in 
proportion to what he intrinsically is and the use he makes of 
his powers, or our boasted democracy is a miserable delusion. 
But this principle of judgment is no less applicable to pursuits 
or professions than to the individual. And here lies the diffi- 
eulty of all those who demand that a higher estimate than at 
present shall be put upon the so-called industrial pursuits. In¬ 
trinsically, they are eminently useful and noble. Theoretical¬ 
ly and prospectively their rank is as high as the highest, de¬ 
manding as they do, in order to their most suceessful practice 
and enjoyment, the widest range of knowledge and the pro- 
foundest culture. But owing to the very partial appreciation 
—we might say, very exceptional recognition—of these de- 
