In this nation, the very soul of which is the spirit of democracy, we have evolved a very elaborate and extremely complex society. Like all such organizations, in all the lands under the sun, it is an oligarchy6; one might almost say a tyranny. Its rulers for the most part inherit their power and rule by hereditary7 right. The foundations of this society and the foundations of the power of its rulers were laid in generations now dead and gone. Time has crystallized its rules into laws and formulated8 its conventions into tenets.
It is not my desire, in writing about Society, to describe in detail its practices, to dwell upon its rules and regulations, to dilate9 upon its normal condition or its5 duties. Rather, I intend to dwell upon a phase of its existence that does not traditionally belong to it, and that is not normally a part of it. This phase or condition I choose to describe in the phrase “The Idle Rich.”
If, in the writer’s license10 of generality, I seem at times to deal too harshly with the world of which I am a part, let the reader put himself for a moment in my place. Let him imagine himself a member of a class judged and condemned11 according to a distorted popular conception based upon a semi-knowledge of the acts, habits, morals and ethics12 of the very worst of the class; nay13, even of men and women who, while aping to the best of their poor ability the fashions, the habits, and the customs of that class, ignore every one of its best traditions, forget every one6 of its laws, and break every one of its commandments.
It is hard for me to write with patience of the small class that has done so much to disgrace and discredit14 the spirit of American Society. For I know that it is true that in the mind of an enormous number of our people, and of the people of other civilized countries, American Society is brought to shame and ridicule15 by the extraordinary excesses that have been brought within its gates and grafted into its system by the idle rich.
Yet there are excuses. This is the most rapid age in history. In the progress of this nation we have ignored and turned our back upon that process which Tennyson so well described in the happy phrase, “slow broadening down from precedent16 to precedent.” We laugh at precedent.7 We choose instead to tumble riotously17 down from step to step of progress, marking swift epochs with every bump.
Naturally I am a conservative, and I deplore18 the process by which we sweep away the precedents19 of the nations. I prefer orderly evolution to disorderly revolution, either in business, in politics, or in the making of a social world; but I cannot change the things that I deplore. The fact, in the face of my protests, is as unblinking as the Sphinx in the roar of Napoleon’s cannon20. And that fact is that in the making of our social world, as in the making of everything else that goes to make America, we have ignored the traditions of our fathers.
Let me put this a little more fully21. For this, after all, is the great cause that explains so much that needs explanation8 in the structure of our social world, in the rules that govern it, and in the habits, deplorable or otherwise, which have fastened themselves upon it. Let me speak first of banking22, for by profession I am a banker. To-day the English banker and the French banker follow, in the pursuit of business, paths beaten to smooth running by the feet of their ancestors. To-day you will find in the banking world of England and of France the same rules of personal conduct and personal honour, the same principles of business nursing and business repression23 that you would have found a century ago.
How different it is in this country! Through our early history, if you care to study it in detail, you would have found us pacing step by step the progress of England; but more than half a century9 ago, when this nation rejected as unsuited to its ideals the notion of a central bank, our ways divided in the banking world. From that day to this there has hardly been a single important step—until very recently—that has not carried us farther from the traditions of our English cousins. In the matter of currency, we stumbled blindly through a maze24 of ignorance, piling error upon error, plunging25 desperately26 from the early madness of wild-cat State currency into the preposterous27 and abnormal system which to-day threatens periodically the throttling28 of our commerce and the disruption of the business world.
In the twin worlds of railroads and manufacturing, too, we blazed out paths entirely29 our own. Even to this day, in the face of industrial marvels30 here and in Germany, England clings desperately to the conditions10 that made her what she is. I would not dare generalize and say that the industrial world of England does not know the idea of centralization and concentration, but I will say this, that if one seek at its best the individual factory, the separate plant, the trade-mark that cannot be bought, the personal name that never can be submerged, he may go look in England for them now and he will find them, just as he would have found them a century ago.
Here a new magic grew. It came not as a heaven-born inspiration to one man’s mind, but as an evolution born of the land and the air and the water. I shall dwell upon it more in a later chapter. Here it is enough merely to indicate it. It was that the individual plant and the individual name must be submerged in the combine11 of plants and individuals. The personal name must vanish in the trust. The trust in turn must disappear into a greater trust, and yet a greater trust—and so on until, at last, a dozen mighty32 combinations were gathered together into one great trust of trusts, bringing under one hand the finding, the production, the marketing33, and the transportation of the raw material, and the assembling, manufacture, selling, and transportation of the finished product.
So we struck out methods, manners, customs, and traditions all our own. We did it—this marvellous evolution—in half the lifetime of a man. In fact, in the industrial world one might almost say it was a process of twenty years—merely a moment of the nation’s history. Well may one say it is a rapid age in which we live. Madly we rush at our great problems.12 We did not know—we do not know yet—what the result is to be. There is no precedent to guide us; the road to to-morrow bears no sign-posts. Not yet has our new system been tried by a panic that disturbed the depths of the commercial and industrial seas. Only, we hope for the best, for optimism is the sign-manual of the true-born American.
I dwell upon these matters not because I care to pose or dare to pose as an authority upon them, but because the principles and ideas upon which they rest underlie34 also the making of the Kingdom of Society of which I would write. For social evolution is, after all, but a part of this same evolution that has given us our own distinctive35 banking system—good as it is or bad as it may be—and our own industrial system—giant or weakling as it may prove to be.
And if our banking system and our great industrial system were born in a day and a night, what may one say of the plutocracy36 that in this later day has been grafted upon and has grown to be a part of the American social world? Here, indeed, the traditions of the world of history flashed past us, in our forward rush, as dead leaves fly backward from a speeding train. We saw them as they flew—yet we did not clearly see them. We knew they were, but we could not distinguish them one from the other; and, after all, little we cared for them, and little we care now.
Perhaps, as I write, my mind will carry me back to the days before these new phenomena37 transpired38; and I shall be moved to write of social America in the days of its true glory, before the glitter of tinsel and the tawdry finery of mere31 wealth overlaid14 it. For that is the background against which stand out in all their hideousness39 the empty follies40 of the idle rich and the vapid41 foolishness of the ultra-fashionable in America to-day.
Forty years ago, as a boy, I lived in a true American home. The atmosphere of that home was still under the vitalizing influence of the nation’s great struggle for emancipation42. Lincoln was a saint. The writings of Longfellow and Emerson, Hawthorne and Washington Irving, were constantly read. The traditions of European Society had not struck their roots deep into the social soil of the United States. We were provincial43, to be sure, but there was bliss44 in simplicity45 and innocence46. Morally and intellectually the life of the family and the life of the State were settled. We knew there was a God. We were positive15 as to just what was right and what was wrong. The Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the fact of the assured greatness of our country, the power of our religious, political, and social ideals to save the world—our faith in these was our Rock of Ages; and to these must be added the absolute belief in the theory that it was the sacred duty of every human being to serve his kind.
Just in how far these fundamentals are now broken and scattered47 I shall not here attempt to say. But it is simply true that the Bible is no longer read, that religion has lost its hold, that the Constitution and laws are trampled48 upon by the rich and powerful, and are no longer held sacred by the poor and weak. Instead of Hawthorne, we read Zola and Gorky; instead16 of Longfellow and Bryant, Ibsen and Shaw. Among how many perfectly49 respectable, ay, even religious, people is the name of Nietsche not more familiar than that of Cardinal50 Newman! I do not know whither we are going, but I do know that we are going.
Come search the records of generations long dead for the seeds of our social system. You will find them planted deep, and long ago. They are the same seeds of class destruction that lay in darkness through the early centuries of Rome’s history, to spring to life in the sunshine of the triumphs of the Republic, and reach their perfect flower in the era of plethoric51 wealth that marked the apogee52 of the Empire—and then to fall, as full-blown blossoms will. They are the same seeds that for half a thousand years lay buried in simple England,17 to come to tardy53 life in the afterglow of Elizabeth’s triumphs, and reach their fulness in the social glory of the mid-Victorian era.
Less than half a century ago the aristocracy of America worked with its hands, laboured in its broad fields, ate its bread in the sweat of its brow. The cities were small and inconsequential, and the laws of hospitality far overbalanced the traditions of class. Here and there was wealth—but wealth was shackled54 to the wheels of Opportunity.
Often I have pondered over the startling wisdom of that succinct55 description of the American ideal written, strange to say, a hundred and forty years ago, by Adam Smith:
In our North American colonies, where uncultivated land is still to be had upon18 easy terms, no manufactures for distant sale have ever yet been established in any of their towns. When an artificer has acquired a little more stock than is necessary for carrying on his own business and supplying the neighbouring country, he does not, in North America, attempt to establish with it a manufacture for more distant sale, but employs it in the purchase and improvement of uncultivated lands. From artificer, he becomes planter, and neither the large wages nor the easy subsistence which the country affords to artificers, can bribe56 him rather to work for other people than for himself. He feels that an artificer is the servant of his customers, from whom he derives57 his subsistence, but that a planter who cultivates his own land, and derives his necessary subsistence from the labour of his own family, is really a master, and independent of all the world.
That was the America of 1760—and it was the America that Lincoln knew. In the region that he knew as a boy and a man, there were neither great plantations58, great factories, nor combines. The bulk of the population lived on small farms, toiled59 with their own hands, and remained in possession of their own products. A few owned and operated small stores or factories for the making of necessities. These could not grow rich. Great riches must be derived60 from the labour of many. The rich of the Eastern states fifty years ago were the owners of banks, large importing houses, railroads, and factories. These industries, being small, gave rise to fortunes that now seem small. They were riches, but not great riches.
Think, then, of the transition that I myself have seen! Sometimes, as I sit alone in my library reading and thinking about these matters, and reflecting upon the years that make up my brief lifetime, a sort of terror of to-morrow seizes me. I do not need to guess at the facts of my own world. I know the facts that such satirists as Mr. Upton Sinclair vaguely61 guess, or gather from the gossip of the stables and the kitchen. The miserable62 excesses of Society are an open book. I cannot blind my eyes or deafen63 my ears or close my nostrils64 and forget them. That decay has set in I know; that it has struck deep, as yet I cannot bring myself to believe. And this book is but my feeble effort to prevent it striking deeper, if I may.
“The wilfully65 idle man, like the wilfully barren woman, has no place in a sane3, healthy, vigorous community.”
—Theodore Roosevelt.
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1
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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grafted
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| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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saner
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| adj.心智健全的( sane的比较级 )；神志正常的；明智的；稳健的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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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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formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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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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ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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riotously
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| adv.骚动地，暴乱地 | |
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deplore
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| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
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precedents
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| 引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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throttling
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| v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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marketing
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| n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西 | |
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underlie
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| v.位于...之下，成为...的基础 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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plutocracy
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| n.富豪统治 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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transpired
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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hideousness
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follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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vapid
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| adj.无味的；无生气的 | |
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emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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48
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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plethoric
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| adj.过多的，多血症的 | |
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apogee
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| n.远地点；极点；顶点 | |
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tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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shackled
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| 给（某人）带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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succinct
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| adj.简明的，简洁的 | |
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bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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57
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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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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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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deafen
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| vt.震耳欲聋；使听不清楚 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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