s practically unknown. This fact is
noted by a few Orientals themselves. Says an Indian writer, speaking of
Indian town life: "There is no common measure of social conduct....
Hitherto, social reform in India has taken account only of individual or
family life. As applied to mankind in the mass, and especially to those
soulless agglomerations of seething humanity which we call cities, it is
a gospel yet to be preached."[289] As an American sociologist remarked
of the growing slum evil throughout the industrialized Orient: "The
greatest danger is due to the fact that Orientals do not have the high
Western sense of the value of the life of the individual, and are,
comparatively speaking, without any restraining influence similar to our
own enlightened public opinion, which has been roused by the struggles
of a century of industrial strife. Unless these elements can be
supplied, there is danger of suffering and of abuses worse than any the
West has known."[290]

All this diffused social unrest was centring about two recently emerged
elements: the Western-educated _intelligentsia_ and the industrial
proletariat of the factory towns. The revolutionary tendencies of the
_intelligentsia_, particularly of its half-educated failures, have been
already noted, and these latter have undoubtedly played a leading part
in all the revolutionary disturbances of the modern Orient, from North
Africa to China.[291] Regarding the industrial proletariat, some writers
think that there is little immediate likelihood of their becoming a
major revolutionary factor, because of their traditionalism, ignorance,
and apathy, and also because there is no real connection between them
and the _intelligentsia_, the other centre of social discontent.

The French economist Metin states this view-point very well. Speaking
primarily of India, he writes: "The Nationalist movement rises from the
middle classes and manifests no systematic hostility toward the
capitalists and great proprietors; in economic matters it is on their
side."[292] As for the proletariat: "The coolies do not imagine that
their lot can be bettered. Like the ryots and the agricultural
labourers, they do not show the least sign of revolt. To whom should
they turn? The ranks of traditional society are closed to them. People
without caste, the coolies are despised even by the old-style artisan,
proud of his caste-status, humble though that be. To fall to the job of
a coolie is, for the Hind