will is sure to assert
itself and to right the people's wrongs. The social process that is
going on in the modern city has aggravated the friction of industrial
relations; the haste with which business is carried on is one of its
chief causes; but the very speed of the movement will carry society
the sooner out of its acute distresses into a better adjusted system
of industry. So far most of the world's progress has been by a slow
course of natural adjustment of individuals and groups to one another;
that process cannot be stopped, but it can be directed by those who
are conscious of the maladjustments that exist and perceive ways and
means of improvement. Under such persons as leaders purposive progress
may be achieved more rapidly and effectually in the near future.

READING REFERENCES

HADLEY: _Standards of Public Morality_, pages 33-96.

NEARING: _Wages in the United States_, pages 93-96.

NEARING AND WATSON: _Economics_, pages 241-255, 314-320.

VROOMAN: _American Railway Problems_, pages 1-181.

BOLEN: _Plain Facts as to the Trusts and the Tariff_, pages 3-236.

BOGART: _Economic History of the United States_, pages 186-216,
305-337, 400-418.

MONTGOMERY: _Vital American Problems_, pages 3-91.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE PEOPLE WHO WORK

218. =Economic vs. Social Values.=--Economic interests may receive
first attention in the city, but the work that is done is of less
importance than the people who work. Things may so fill the public
mind that the real values of the various elements that enter into life
may become distorted. A penny may be held so close to the eye as to
hide the sun. Making a living may seem more important than making the
most of life. Persons who are absorbed in business are liable to lose
their sense of proportion between people and property; the capitalist
overburdens himself with business cares until he breaks down under the
nervous strain, and overworks his subordinates until they often become
physical wrecks, but it is not because he personally intends to do
harm. Eventually the social welfare of every class will become the
supreme concern and the study of social efficiency will fill a larger
place than the study of economic efficiency.

219. =The Social Classes.=--There is a natural line of social cleavage
that has made it a customary expression to speak of the upper, the
middle, and the lower classes. It is impossible to separate them
sharply, for they