All phases of opinion， including the most earnest and honest inquiry into social questions， finds some voice in print， but條eaving aside times when public opinion is greatly aroused梩hose phases that are backed by wealthy interests have a great advantage in the urgency， persistence and cleverness with which they are presented.At least， this has been the case in the past.It is a general feeling of thoughtful men among the hand-working class that it is hard to get a really fair statement of their view of industrial questions from that portion of the newspaper and magazine press that is read by well-to-do people.The reason seems to be mainly that the writers live unconsciously in an atmosphere of upper-class ideas from which they do not free themselves by thorough inquiry.Besides this， there is a sense of what their readers expect， and also， perhaps， a vague feeling that the sentiments of the hand-working class may threaten public order.
Since the public has supplanted the patron， a man of letters has least of all to hope or fear from the rich梚f he accepts the opinion of Mr.Howells that the latter can do nothing toward making or marring a new book.
The power of wealth over public sentiment is exercised partly through sway over the educated classes and the press， but also by the more direct channel of prestige.Minds of no great insight， that is to say the majority， monld their ideals from the spectacle of visible and tangible success.
In a commercial epoch this pertains to the rich； who consequently add to the other sources of their influence power over the imagination.Millions accept the money-making ideal who are unsuited to attain it， and E run themselves out of breath and courage in a race they should never have entered； it is as if the thin-legged and flat-chested people of the land should seek glory in football.The money-game is mere foolishness and mortification for most of us， and there is a madness of the crowd in the way we enter into it.Even those wo must abuse the rich commonly show mental subservience in that they assume that the rich have， in fact， gotten what is best worth having.
As hinted above， there is such a thing as an upper-class atmosphere， in the sense of a state of mind regarding social questions， initiated by the more successful money-winners and consciously or unconsciously imposed upon business and professional people at large.Most of us exist in this atmosphere and are so pervaded by it that it is not easy for us to understand or fairly judge the sentiment of the hand-working classes.The spokesmen of radical doctrines are， in this regard， doing good service to the public mind by setting in motion counterbalancing， if not more trustworthy， currents of opinion.
If any one of business or professional antecedents doubts that he breathes a class atmosphere， let him live for a time at a social settlement in the industrial part of one of our cities梟ot a real escape but as near it as most of us have the resolution to achieve梤eading working-class literature (he will be surprised to find how well worth reading it is)， talking with hand-working people， attending meetings， and in general opening his mind as wide as possible to the influences about him.He will presently become aware of being in a new medium of thought and feeling； which may I or may not be congenial but cannot fail to be instructive.
Endnotes The Spirit of Laws， book v， chap.6.Henry D.Lloyd， Man the Social Creator， 255.Idem， 246.Lloyd was rather a prophet than a man of science， but there is a shrewd sense of fact back of his visions.Such a one "Lasst jeden ganz das bleiben was er ist；Er waeht nur druber das er's immer sei Am reehten Ort， BO weiss er aller Mensehen Vermogen zu dem seinigen zu machen.""He lets every one remain just what he is， but takes care that he shall always be it in the right place： thus he knows how to make all men's power his own." Schiller， Wallenstein's Lager， I， 4.