Observe  how  this  difficulty  manifests  itself  in  any  at-
tempt to  promote  the  public  well-being  by  the  enactment
of  law.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  legislature  or  legis-
lative committee,  state  or  national,  presents  a  bill  framed
in  the  interest  of  the  public  at  large,  socially  necessary

5  Acts  xix,  24.
SOLUTIONS  OF  THE  SOCIAL  PROBLEM      359

legislation,  looking,  let  us  say,  to  the  reduction  of  the.
hours  of  labor,  the  protection  of  women  and  children  em-
ployed in  industry,  the  regulation  of  railway  rates,  the
establishment  of  a  parcels-post,  or  some  other  reform
plainly  demanded  by  public  well-being.  Immediately
petitions  are  drawn  up  praying  for  the  emasculation  or
defeat  of  the  proposed  law.  The  lobby  of  the  legislature
or  of  Congress  swarms  with  the  representatives  of  special
interests  which  would  be  adversely  affected  by  the  pro-
posed legislation.  Men  whose  profit  will  be  diminished,
or  whose  wages  may  be  decreased  by  the  proposed
change,  clamor  for  the  defeat  of  the  proposed  measure.
Society,  then,  may  not  have  tariff  reduction,  effective
railway  regulation,  a  parcels-post,  the  protection  of
women  and  children  in  industry,  because  certain  power-
ful interests  may  be  injuriously  affected  thereby.  Capi-
talists are  more  solicitous  for  their  own  property  inter-
ests than  they  are  for  the  larger  interests  of  society.
But  capitalists  are  not  the  only  persons  who  oppose
social  legislation  because  their  material  interest  may  be
disturbed.  Trades-unionists  do  the  same,  unorganized
laborers  do  the  same.  Men  are  all  pretty  much  alike.
Capital  may  complain  of  the  selfishness  and  tyranny  of
labor,  and  labor  may  denounce  the  cruelty  and  brutality
of  capital,  but  the  capitalist  is  only  a  laborer  in  the  pos-
session of  power,  and  the  laborer  a  capitalist  in  reduced
circumstances.  All  alike  object  to  social  movements
which  work  harm  to  them.
