ABSTRACT
The kind of conduct, then, which is commonly called "overbearing" is, in the last analysis, conduct on the part of one man towards another which shows a want of respect for the respect which the other man entertains for himself. In making such conduct even towards a slave penal, the object of the Athenians was indeed their own self-interest rather than moral justice. Their object was to render the slaves contented, and by so doing to promote public tranquillity; but in making such a provision they bore witness to the fact that a due respect in a superior for the self-respect of the humblest is one of the main conditions on which popular contentment rests. There are two main reasons of a purely utilitarian kind why the modern employer should respect the self-respect of the wage-earner. In the case of the employers it implies a disregard of that natural self-respect, a want of which would render the employed contemptible.
