limbs. And they were destined to a gradual and continuous degeneration,
for the State made soldiers of the more robust among them, and the
health of these did not long withstand the brothels and the drink-shops
that sprang up around their barracks. The proletarians became more
and more feeble in mind. The continued weakening of their intellectual
faculties was not entirely due to their manner of life; it resulted also
from a methodical selection carried out by the employers. The latter,
fearing that workmen of too great ability might be inclined to put
forward legitimate demands, took care to eliminate them by every
possible means, and preferred to engage ignorant and stupid labourers,
who were incapable of defending their rights, but were yet intelligent
enough to perform their toil, which highly perfected machines rendered
extremely simple. Thus the proletarians were unable to do anything to
improve their lot. With difficulty did they succeed by means of strikes
in maintaining the rate of their wages. Even this means began to fail
them. The alternations of production inherent in the capitalist system
caused such cessations of work that, in several branches of industry, as
soon as a strike was declared, the accumulation of products allowed
the employers to dispense with the strikers. In a word, these miserable
employees were plunged in a gloomy apathy that nothing enlightened and
nothing exasperated. They were necessary instruments for the social
order and well adapted to their purpose.

Upon the whole, this social order seemed the most firmly established
that had yet been seen, at least amon kind, for that of bees and ants is
incomparably more stable. Nothing could foreshadow the ruin of a system
founded on what is strongest in human nature, pride and cupidity.
However, keen observers discovered several grounds for uneasiness. The
most certain, although the least apparent, were of an economic order,
and consisted in the continually increasing amount of over-production,