Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/777

Rh Besides these mass utterances, the regular organs of public opinion begin to be heard. The scathing denunciations of the press, the solemn arraignment of the pulpit, the pictorial pillory of the caricaturist, the witticisms of the topical song, the insults of the poster and the hand bill, the resolutions of churches, societies and lodges, the broadcast lampoon, epigram or pasquinade, all help give vent to the public indignation. Or special organs may be created. Mass meetings may be held, committees of investigation may be appointed, or spokesmen may be selected to denounce the offender to his face.

Long before the common mood has found such ample manifestation, an entirely different type of punishment will make its appearance. In the communities of today one lives not on the fruits of his own toil, but on the products of other men, that is, men live by the practice of coöperation at various removes from the self-sufficing stage. Most of one's well-being comes through coöperations that are advantageous to both parties, some comes as aid that benefits one but does not burden the other, and some succor in times of misfortune comes in way of help that imposes a sacrifice.

Now the instinct of an angered public is to refuse these coöperations by which we live and have our being. First to be refused will be, of course, those offices that spring from good will and entail trouble. Disapproval will interrupt the friendly aid rendered between neighbors. Stopping the straying ox, warning of the unsafe culvert, helping house the hay from the wet, lifting the mired cart, nursing the sick—all these services that require one to go out of his way—cease. So with those coöperations, the benefits of which are one-sided, "accommodations" we call them. Indulgence is no longer granted in the payment of a debt, the rendering of a service, or the keeping of a contract. The helpful disposition dies out and one is held down rigorously to the rights secured by the law.

Finally even those coöperations are refused which are the groundwork of our economic system, and which are of advantage to both parties. The employer loses his employes or his