shade into one another. Theoretically, in a
democratic country like America there should be no class distinctions,
but in colonial days birth and education had an acknowledged social
position that did not belong to the common man, and in the nineteenth
century a wealthy class came into existence that wrested supremacy
from professional men and those who could rely alone on their
intellectual achievements. It has never been impossible for
individuals to push their way up the social path of success, but it
has been increasingly difficult for a self-made man to break through
into the circle of the _elite_. There are still young men who come
out of the country without pecuniary capital but with physical
strength and courage and, after years of persistent attack, conquer
the citadel of place and power, but the odds are against the youth
without either capital or a higher education than the high school
gives. Without unusual ability and great strength of will it is
impossible to rise high if one lacks capital or influential friends,
but with the help of any two of these it is quite possible to gain
success. Employers complain that the vast majority of persons whom
they employ are lacking in energy, ambition, and ability. Important as
is the possession of wealth and influence it seems to be the psychic
values that ultimately determine the individual's place in American
society. We shall expect, therefore, to find an upper class in society
composed of some who hold their place because of the prestige that
belongs to birth or property, and of others who have made their own
way up because they had the necessary qualities to succeed. Below them
in the social scale we shall expect to find a larger class who,
because they were not consumed by ambition to excel, or because they
lacked the means to achieve distinction, have come to occupy a place
midway between the high and the low, to fill the numerous professional
and business positions below the kings and great captains, and to hold
the balance of power between the aristocracy and the proletariat.
Below these, in turn, are the so-called masses, who fill the lower
ranks of labor, and who are essential to the well-being of those who
are reckoned above them.

220. =The Worth of the Upper Class.=--It is a common belief among the
lowly that the people who hold a place in the upper ranks are not
worthy of their lofty position, and there are many who hope to see
such a general levelling