whole. At the same time, he may heartily favor
an increase of wages for miners, carpenters, bricklayers, shoemakers,
printers, painters, factory workers, and non-agricultural laborers in
general, for the reason that while a general rise of wages, resulting in
a general rise of prices, will affect him slightly as a consumer, and
compel him to pay more for what he buys, it will benefit him much more
as a seller of the products of his farm. In short, consciously very
often, but unconsciously oftener still, personal or class interests
control our thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and actions.

It is impossible with the data at our disposal at present to make such
an analysis of our population as will enable us to determine the
particular class interests of the various groups. Of the twenty-four
million men and boys engaged in industry there are some six million
farmers and tenants; three million seven hundred and fifty thousand farm
laborers; eleven million mechanics, laborers, clerks, and servants; one
million five hundred thousand professional workers, agents, and the
like; and about two million employers, large and small. Accurately to
place each of these groups is out of the question until such time as we
have a much more detailed study of our economic life than has yet been
attempted. We may, however, roughly relate some of the groups.

First: It is evident that the interests of the eleven million
wage-earners are, as a whole, opposed to those of the employing class.
There may be exceptions, as in the case of those whose very occupation
as confidential agents of the capitalists, overseers, and the like,
places them outside of the sphere of working-class interests. They may
not receive a salary much above the wage of the mechanic, yet their
function is such as to place them psychologically with the capitalists
rather than with the workers. It is also evident that, while their
_interests_ may be demonstrably antagonistic to those of the employers,
not all of the wage-earners will be _conscious_ of that fact. The
_consciousness_ of class interests develops slowly among rural and
isolated workers, especially as between the small employer and his
employee. And even when there is the consciousness of antagonistic
interests among these workers it is very difficult for them actively to
express it. Hence they cannot play an important part in the actual
conflict of classes.

Second: We may safely place the three million seven hund