Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/133

 REVIEWS 119

of avoiding a cruel and destructive catastrophe. The economic sys- tem of our age is unsuited to the conditions, but those who control it cannot or will not see the need of reform. History shows that the possessors of power and property become more cruel, more insensible to the sufferings of the oppressed until suddenly the pain produces revolt. The privileged classes in every historic phase have been pro- foundly unconscious of the nature of the social movement of their time ; those who are born and grow up in the shadow of age-long rights are ignorant of the unstable foundation and transitory charac- ter of those rights ; they believe them to be eternal, from the divine will, and cannot imagine themselves deprived of them by any fatal evolution of things.

But a time comes when the laborers, slaves, serfs, or wage-earners rise and sweep away the old order. The author thinks we are on the eve of such a change. The history of the past would compel us to expect a costly and bloody revolution.

But perhaps there are some forces at work which have never before been so strong. Perhaps a new and dominant sense of justice and social duty may carry us tranquilly over into the new order. At this point in the argument, almost at the end of the book, there is an appeal to a new order of forces, hardly noticed up to this time. The author had said all along that "economic" forces dominate social movement. There is no distinct definition of the word "economic," but the illustrations give the impression that it means physical appe- tites and needs. Good food, higher income, shorter hours, more recreation would give us a population prudent, far seeing, peaceful, moral. Improve the external environment and you assure spiritual life and social order.

But now the author closes his book with an appeal to real old- fashioned "ethical" forces, hitherto kept in the dark background. Now, in order to secure "economic" reforms, he calls upon men of good will to cure injustice, to respond to the cry of the human sufferer, to manifest pity. He declares that society "ought" to emplo governments to enrich the lives of the wage-earners, and that legisla- tors must "change their spirit" lest they conduct the nation to an abyss. The lecturer turns preacher and addresses to his hearers a "fervent exhortation and a prayer;" he calls upon the patriot students to assist in mitigating inequalities, to wipe away tears, and prevent martyrdom-. Here is a noble inconsistency. The man breaks through