Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/306

 THE AMERICA* JOl'KXAL OF SOCIOLOGY

follow in 14- summer for a few days of luxury before settling clown i> work.

The demoralizing effect upon the community occasioned 1>\ the millionaires and their sudden riches would be largely obvi- ated if the govern- ment had other means of redemp tion than merely meals and lodgings. If the millionaires could purchase clothing, shoes, pic- tures and bric-a-brac for adorning their rooms, books and other useful imper- ishables, they would still feel the incen- tive to work, even with a large surplus of profits in hand, for the surplus would be turned at once into such permanent

acquisitions. As it is, the only use to be made of large earnings is to spend them on meals and lodgings throughout a long period of idleness. If the imperishables were donated by outsiders, or even manufactured in part by the citizens themselves with machin- ery and a plant like those of many prisons and reformatories, Mr. George would see his way again to return to the individual enterprise of 1896. It is toward this ideal that his new plans are tending.

Nfw counterparts with the republic of history are continually appearing. Tin- duration of the Republic was originally the two months of July and August. Beginning in the fall of 1895, there were five of the summer citizens who persuaded Mr. George

TYPES OF THK r.l.TTER CLASSES 1