Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/451

Rh any right to coöperate in determining the conditions of labor. They want "to remain master of the house," as the ever-returning watchword has it. In every demand for wages they see only "wild greed," "rebellion," or "lawlessness." These classes of employers control, through their organizations, the larger part of the industry. The most reputable and financially responsible newspapers are their organs. Almost the whole body of functionaries, almost all the police officials, and almost every judge is on their side, because all these come from the same social stratum and are recruited from the same sources. Moreover (and this is of capital importance), they have won the ear of the monarch for their conceptions. The chief spokesman of this capitalistic tendency, the iron magnate Freiherr von Stumm-Halberg (formerly simply Herr Stumm!), is among the most intimate friends of the Kaiser, or at least he was until recently. The great "cannon king" Krupp, of Essen, is also a person who is in favor at the court. Besides these many others might be mentioned. It is to be added that the leading representatives of the old nobility and of the great landed proprietors in this instance naturally go entirely with the great industrial organizers. To a certain extent they have in their blood the conception that it is the destiny of the lower classes of the people to obey (Order zu parieren, as the traditional German phrase has it!), and that it is, therefore, their duty to accommodate themselves contentedly to their appointed lot. These conservative feudal circles constitute the daily environment of the monarch. Wilhelm II. would be more than a man if he were not gradually influenced by the tone of his surroundings.

To all this must be added another influence which incited him to abandon the reformatory ideals of his early years. He had believed that if he partially met the demands of the laborers they would throng about his throne with thanks and enthusiasm; they would cease to follow the international and democratic aims of the Social Democracy, and would be converted to patriotism and fidelity to the crown. In this hope he was deeply disappointed, or rather in his sanguine enthusiasm he had believed that success would instantly follow his endeavors. That, however,