Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/566

 548 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

people solely to the evolution of wants. Oftener these shiftings are due to a disturbance in the relation of means to end, to a change in the capacity of the great secondary goods to promote the satisfaction of desires. Now, the moment the state reaches its broadest significance, the military-political interest seems to be the swaying force in history. The moment religion reaches its broadest significance, the religious interest appears as the chief welder or sunderer of men. Let these great interests decay, and other interests come forward and grasp the scepter they let fall. It happens that in our time certain well-under- stood influences have weakened the political and religious interests, and thereby thrown into bold relief the other interests, chief among which is the economic. The philosophy of wealth is hence the main key to the interpretation of contemporary life. On the strength of its success here it is now declared to be the "open sesame" of the locked chambers of the past, the one magic formula for the interpretation of history. Its only rival today is Intellectualism, the doctrine that makes the knowledge and Weltanschauung of each age the pivot of its entire social life. In my view nothing can rescue us from these one-sided theories save a knowledge of human wants and a recognition of the great variety of the springs that incite men to action. The corner-stone of sociology must be a sound doctrine of the social forces.

EDWARD ALSWORTH Ross. THE UNIVERSITY of NEBRASKA.