Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/69

John Stuart Mill aptly said more than sixty years ago:

Of the working men, at least in the more advanced countries of Europe, it may be pronounced certain, that the patriarchial or paternal system of government is one to which they will not again be subject. That question was decided, when they were taught to read, and allowed access to newspapers and political tracts; when dissenting preachers were suffered to go among them, and appeal to their faculties and feelings in opposition to the creeds professed and countenanced by their superiors; when they were brought together in numbers, to work socially under the same roof; when railways enabled them to shift from place to place, and change their patrons and employers as easily as their coats; when they were encouraged to seek a share in government, by means of the electoral franchise. The working classes have taken their interests into their own hands, and are perpetually showing that they think the interests of their employers not identical with their own, but opposite to them. Some among the higher classes flatter themselves that these tendencies may be counteracted by moral and religious education: but they have let the time go by for giving an education which can serve their purpose. The principles of the reformation have reached as low down in society as reading and writing, and the poor will not much longer accept morals and religion of other people's prescribing.^[1]

The common man is not only more intelligent, but he has a keener sense of self-respect. This is partly because he is better off materially. Penury and want have a brutalizing effect because they prevent man from leading a wholesome, normal life. The material comforts of life not only affect our physical welfare, but they influence our mental and moral outlook. Give a man something more than the bare necessities of life and you make it possible for his better nature, his desire for books, travel and education, to compete with his lower or sensual self. Doubtless something more than an increase of this world's goods is necessary to the reformation and upbuilding of character. The springs that issue from the hidden recesses of the heart are no less important. An increase of wealth unaccompanied by a wholesome expansion of desires is a curse rather than a blessing. Great wealth is often enervating. Habits of luxurious ease are degrading. There can be no doubt, however, that the comforts and decencies which the nineteenth century brought within the reach of the masses have done much to civilize mankind. Besides, the process of acquiring wealth has been helpful. It has forced men to contrive and has saved them from idle and aimless lives. Commercial intercourse has done much to widen the mental horizon, to undermine prejudice and to banish provincialism.

The problems of the day which give character to the present age are not due to the growing ignorance and degradation of the electorate. We are not witnessing "the revolt of the unfit," but the demands of the "fit" for simple justice. The spread of intelligence and a stronger spirit of fair play are liberating new wants, pointing the way to new ambitions, and are rendering men more self-assertive, more insistent

1. Op. cit., p. 756.