Fifteen millions of men laboured in a giant town by the light of beacons2 which shed forth3 their glare both day and night. No light of heaven pierced through the smoke of the factories with which the town was girt, but sometimes the red disk of a ray. less sun might be seen riding in the black firmament4 through which iron bridges ploughed their way, and from which there descended5 a continual shower of soot6 and cinders7. It was the most industrial of all the cities in the world and the richest. Its organisation8 seemed perfect. None of the ancient aristocratic or democratic forms remained; everything was subordinated to the interests of the trusts. This environment gave rise to what anthropologists called the multi-millionaire type. The men of this type were at once energetic and frail9, capable of great activity in forming mental combinations and of prolonged labour in offices, but men whose nervous irritability10 suffered from hereditary11 troubles which increased as time went on.
Like all true aristocrats12, like the patricians13 of republican Rome or the squires14 of old England, these powerful men affected15 a great severity in their habits and customs. They were the ascetics16 of wealth. At the meetings of the trusts an observer would have noticed their smooth and puffy faces, their lantern cheeks, their sunken eyes and wrinkled brows. With bodies more withered17, complexions18 yellower, lips drier, and eyes filled with a more burning fanaticism19 than those of the old Spanish monks20, these multi-millionaires gave themselves up with inextinguishable ardour to the austerities of banking21 and industry. Several, denying themselves all happiness, all pleasure, and all rest, spent their miserable22 lives in rooms without light or air, furnished only with electrical apparatus23, living on eggs and milk, and sleeping on camp beds. By doing nothing except pressing nickel buttons with their fingers, these mystics heaped up riches of which they never even saw the signs, and acquired the vain possibility of gratifying desires that they never experienced.
The worship of wealth had its martyrs24. One of these multi-millionaires, the famous Samuel Box, preferred to die rather than surrender the smallest atom of his property. One of his workmen, the victim of an accident while at work, being refused any indemnity25 by his employer, obtained a verdict in the courts, but repelled26 by innumerable obstacles of procedure, he fell into the direst poverty. Being thus reduced to despair, he succeeded by dint27 of cunning and audacity28 in confronting his employer with a loaded revolver in his hand, and threatened to blow out his brains if he did not give him some assistance. Samuel Box gave nothing, and let himself be killed for the sake of principle.
Examples that come from high quarters are followed. Those who possessed29 some small capital (and they were necessarily the greater number), affected the ideas and habits of the multi-millionaires, in order that they might be classed among them. All passions which injured the increase or the preservation30 of wealth, were regarded as dishonourable; neither indolence, nor idleness, nor the taste for disinterested31 study, nor love of the arts, nor, above all, extravagance, was ever forgiven; pity was condemned32 as a dangerous weakness. Whilst every inclination33 to licentiousness34 excited public reprobation35, the violent and brutal36 satisfaction of an appetite was, on the contrary, excused; violence, in truth, was regarded as less injurious to morality, since it manifested a form of social energy. The State was firmly based on two great public virtues37: respect for the rich and contempt for the poor. Feeble spirits who were still moved by human suffering had no other resource than to take refuge in a hypocrisy38 which it was impossible to blame, since it contributed to the maintenance of order and the solidity of institutions.
Thus, among the rich, all were devoted39 to the social order, or seemed to be so; all gave good examples, if all did not follow them. Some felt the severity of their position cruelly; but they endured it either from pride or from duty. Some attempted, in secret and by subterfuge40, to escape from it for a moment. One of these, Edward Martin, the President of the Steel Trust, sometimes dressed himself as a poor man, went forth to beg his bread, and allowed himself to be jostled by the passers-by. One day, as he asked alms on a bridge, he engaged in a quarrel with a real beggar, and filled with a fury of envy, he strangled him.
As they devoted their whole intelligence to business, they sought no intellectual pleasures. The theatre, which had formerly41 been very flourishing among them, was now reduced to pantomimes and comic dances. Even the pieces in which women acted were given up; the taste for pretty forms and brilliant toilettes had been lost; the somersaults of downs and the music of negroes were preferred above them, and what roused enthusiasm was the sight of women upon the stage whose necks were bedizened with diamonds, or processions carrying golden bars in triumph. Ladies of wealth were as much compelled as the men to lead a respectable life. According to a tendency common to all civilizations, public feeling set them up as symbols; they were, by their austere42 magnificence, to represent both the splendour of wealth and its intangibility. The old habits of gallantry had been reformed, but fashionable lovers were now secretly replaced by muscular labourers or stray grooms43. Nevertheless, scandals were rare, a foreign journey concealed44 nearly all of them, and the Princesses of the Trusts remained objects of universal esteem45.
The rich formed only a small minority, but their collaborators, who composed the entire people, had been completely won over or completely subjugated46 by them. They formed two classes, the agents of commerce or banking, and workers in the factories. The former contributed an immense amount of work and received large salaries. Some of them succeeded in founding establishments of their own; for in the constant increase of the public wealth the more intelligent and audacious could hope for anything. Doubtless it would have been possible to find a certain number of discontented and rebellious47 persons among the immense crowd of engineers and accountants, but this powerful society had imprinted48 its firm discipline even on the minds of its opponents. The very anarchists49 were laborious50 and regular.
As for the workmen who toiled51 in the factories that surrounded the town, their decadence52, both physical and moral, was terrible; they were examples of the type of poverty as it is set forth by anthropology53. Although the development among them of certain muscles, due to the particular nature of their work, might give a false idea of their strength, they presented sure signs of morbid54 debility. Of low stature55, with small heads and narrow chests, they were further distinguished56 from the comfortable classes by a multitude of physiological57 anomalies, and, in particular, by a common want of symmetry between the head and the limbs. And they were destined58 to a gradual and continuous degeneration, for the State made soldiers of the more robust59 among them, and the health of these did not long withstand the brothels and the drink-shops that sprang up around their barracks. The proletarians became more and more feeble in mind. The continued weakening of their intellectual faculties60 was not entirely61 due to their manner of life; it resulted also from a methodical selection carried out by the employers. The latter, fearing that workmen of too great ability might be inclined to put forward legitimate62 demands, took care to eliminate them by every possible means, and preferred to engage ignorant and stupid labourers, who were incapable63 of defending their rights, but were yet intelligent enough to perform their toils64, which highly perfected machines rendered extremely simple. Thus the proletarians were unable to do anything to improve their lot. With difficulty did they succeed by means of strikes in maintaining the rate of their wages. Even this means began to fail them. The alternations of production inherent in the capitalist system caused such cessations of work that, in several branches of industry, as soon as a strike was declared, the accumulation of products allowed the employers to dispense65 with the strikers. In a word, these miserable employees were plunged66 in a gloomy apathy67 that nothing enlightened and nothing exasperated68. They were necessary instruments for the social order and well adapted to their purpose.
Upon the whole, this social order seemed the most firmly established that had yet been seen, at least among mankind, for that of bees and ants is incomparably more stable. Nothing could foreshadow the ruin of a system founded on what is strongest in human nature, pride and cupidity69. However, keen observers discovered several grounds for uneasiness. The most certain, although the least apparent, were of an economic order, and consisted in the continually increasing amount of over-production, which entailed70 long and cruel interruption of labour, though these were, it is true, utilized71 by the manufacturers as a means of breaking the power of the workmen, by facing them with the prospect72 of a lock-out. A more obvious peril73 resulted from the physiological state of almost the entire population. “The health of the poor is what it must be,” said the experts in hygiene74, “but that of the rich leaves much to be desired.” It was not difficult to find the causes of this. The supply of oxygen necessary for life was insufficient75 in the city, and men breathed in an artificial air. The food trusts, by means of the most daring chemical syntheses, produced artificial wines, meat, milk, fruit, and vegetables, and the diet thus imposed gave rise to stomach and brain troubles. The multi-millionaires were bald at the age of eighteen; some showed from time to time a dangerous weakness of mind. Over-strung and enfeebled, they gave enormous sums to ignorant charlatans76; and it was a common thing for some trumpery77 bath-attendant or other who turned healer or prophet, to make a rapid fortune by the practice of medicine or theology. The number of lunatics increased continually; suicides multiplied in the world of wealth, and many of them were accompanied by atrocious and extraordinary circumstances, which bore witness to an unheard of perversion78 of intelligence and sensibility.
Another fatal symptom created a strong impression upon average minds. Terrible accidents, henceforth periodical and regular, entered into people’s calculations, and kept mounting higher and higher in statistical79 tables. Every day, machines burst into fragrants, houses fell down, trains laden80 with merchandise fell on to the streets, demolishing81 entire buildings and crushing hundreds of passers-by. Through the ground, honey-combed with tunnels, two or three storeys of work-shops would often crash, engulfing82 all those who worked in them.
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1
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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beacons
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| 灯塔( beacon的名词复数 )； 烽火； 指路明灯； 无线电台或发射台 | |
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3
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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8
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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irritability
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| n.易怒 | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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12
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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patricians
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| n.（古罗马的）统治阶层成员( patrician的名词复数 )；贵族，显贵 | |
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squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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ascetics
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| n.苦行者，禁欲者，禁欲主义者( ascetic的名词复数 ) | |
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17
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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18
complexions
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| 肤色( complexion的名词复数 )； 面色； 局面； 性质 | |
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fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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20
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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22
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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24
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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25
indemnity
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| n.赔偿，赔款，补偿金 | |
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26
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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27
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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29
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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30
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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31
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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32
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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33
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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34
licentiousness
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| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
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reprobation
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| n.斥责 | |
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36
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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37
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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38
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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39
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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40
subterfuge
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| n.诡计；藉口 | |
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41
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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42
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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43
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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44
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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45
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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46
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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48
imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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49
anarchists
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| 无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 ) | |
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50
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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51
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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52
decadence
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| n.衰落，颓废 | |
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53
anthropology
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| n.人类学 | |
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54
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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55
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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56
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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57
physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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58
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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59
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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60
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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61
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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62
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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63
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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64
toils
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| 网 | |
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65
dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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66
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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67
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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68
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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69
cupidity
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| n.贪心，贪财 | |
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70
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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71
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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73
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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74
hygiene
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| n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic） | |
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75
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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76
charlatans
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| n.冒充内行者，骗子( charlatan的名词复数 ) | |
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77
trumpery
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| n.无价值的杂物；adj.（物品）中看不中用的 | |
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78
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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statistical
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| adj.统计的，统计学的 | |
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80
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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81
demolishing
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| v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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engulfing
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| adj.吞噬的v.吞没，包住( engulf的现在分词 ) | |
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