ABSTRACT
Any classification will involve millions of exceptions, and groups, favoring certain extensions of democracy, will be opposed to other extensions. The democratic masses are not uniform automata with a tabula rasa for a brain, but men of the widest-varying prepossessions and the most divided allegiances. The various democratic groups have two chief elements of solidarity: a common antagonism to the plutocracy, and a common interest in the social surplus. Moreover, the plutocracy is held responsible for the economic qualms, because it is the visibly directive force of society. The forces which give rise to the plutocracy also give rise to a certain circumscription of industrial opportunity. The resulting discontent is leveled against the plutocracy, the visible beneficiary of the economic trend. Unless the opponents of the plutocracy have some common positive aim, their antagonism will dissipate itself in abortive assaults and waste heat, without permanent influence upon social conditions.
