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The forgotten man, and other essays
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
568 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1969
About the author
William Graham Sumner
326 books31 followersWilliam Graham Sumner (October 30, 1840 – April 12, 1910) was a classical liberal American social scientist. He taught social sciences at Yale, where he held the nation's first professorship in sociology. He was one of the most influential teachers at Yale or any other major school. Sumner wrote widely within the social sciences, with numerous books and essays on American history, economic history, political theory, sociology, and anthropology. He supported laissez-faire economics, free markets, and the gold standard. He adopted the term "ethnocentrism" to identify the roots of imperialism, which he strongly opposed. He was a spokesman against imperialism and in favor of the "forgotten man" of the middle class, a term he coined. He had a long-term influence on conservatism in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 27, 2014
"One who takes a favor or submits to patronage demeans himself."
The basis of The Forgotten Man is that the men & women who get on by themselves become the prey of the State in giving favor to classes who at first cannot do for themselves and later will not.
He produces goods and services, goes to church, pays his taxes, and lives outside the system of favor.
Sumner's take on Unionism is especially interesting. It's been over 100 years and we've witnessed a significant decline in the favored class of Unionism, mostly due to the export of jobs rather than the elevated status of those workers.
The Welfare state is another, along with every other tentacle of the Entitled Class of the modern Leviathan.
It's a very short essay that you can read in 1/2 hour. It will provide you a solid foundation in the bare-knuckled realities of life.
Pity can be turned into a weapon (as explained in The Great Divorce). The Dole can only turn people into slaves. Charity (not dole) is best served face to face by friends with expectations set.
I suppose that the old superstition of when you give a gift of a knife, the recipient must give you something in return, or it will cut your relationship.
The Forgotten Man is that person who will bear the cost of favors lavished on others until he is completely exhausted.
The basis of The Forgotten Man is that the men & women who get on by themselves become the prey of the State in giving favor to classes who at first cannot do for themselves and later will not.
He produces goods and services, goes to church, pays his taxes, and lives outside the system of favor.
Sumner's take on Unionism is especially interesting. It's been over 100 years and we've witnessed a significant decline in the favored class of Unionism, mostly due to the export of jobs rather than the elevated status of those workers.
The Welfare state is another, along with every other tentacle of the Entitled Class of the modern Leviathan.
It's a very short essay that you can read in 1/2 hour. It will provide you a solid foundation in the bare-knuckled realities of life.
Pity can be turned into a weapon (as explained in The Great Divorce). The Dole can only turn people into slaves. Charity (not dole) is best served face to face by friends with expectations set.
I suppose that the old superstition of when you give a gift of a knife, the recipient must give you something in return, or it will cut your relationship.
The Forgotten Man is that person who will bear the cost of favors lavished on others until he is completely exhausted.
September 7, 2017
It is worth noting that this is a review of both the 9th and 10th chapters of What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883), and the lecture he later gave before audiences in Brooklyn and New Haven.
What brought to my attention the notion of the Forgotten Man was Galbraith’s disparaging account of Sumner’s doctrines in the second episode of The Age of Uncertainty, where Mr. Galbraith dedicated himself to painting an alarming picture of 19th century liberalism and upper-class culture. He lumped Sumner together with Spencer, and proceeded to dismiss them as naïve Social Darwinists, little more than apologists for the predatory upper-class of the time. He, for the sake of his narrative, turned a blind eye to the insidious policies enacted by greedy politicians looking to gain public support at the expense of long-term economic growth or to pocket some of that sweet tax money, that is to say, any of the legitimate reasons that may lead an educated individual to favor ideologies supportive of limited state intervention in economic matters, such as libertarianism and classical liberalism. Back in 2011, The Mises Institute published a superb article on Sumner which I think anyone interested in Sumner's work should read: https://mises.org/library/real-willia...
The essays are written in the most lucid prose imaginable, with very little in the way of the jargon and theoretical subtleties. For this reason, they’re of more use to the ideologue than to the layman with a legitimate interest for political economics.
“It is plain that the Forgotten Man and the Forgotten Woman are the real productive strength of the country. The Forgotten Man works and votes —generally he prays— but his chief business in life is to pay.”
It is so refreshing to read a pre-20th century book and not find any low-key misogyny or condescending attitude toward women. Sumner seems to treat them as equals insofar as their right to join the job-market and their potential contribution to the economy is concerned.
Sumner is, of course, not without his flaws. For instance, he asserts that “ the State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it”, which is only true to a certain extent.
He latter on speaks of any act of charity as if the beneficiary had no use for the money other than sliding it right into a paper shredder:
"Every bit of capital, therefore ,which is given to a shiftless and inefficient member of society, who makes no return for it, is diverted from a reproductive use; but if it was put to reproductive use, it would have to be granted in wages to an efficient and productive laborer."
That statement disregards the fact that, given the limited income of the beneficiary, the money would promptly find its way back to a business owner of some sort.
Sumner is an ambitious man who, not wanting to limit himself to barely deprecating descriptions such as “a shiftless and inefficient member of society”, goes on to call the least fortunate a bunch of good-for-nothings: “Hence the real sufferer by that kind of benevolence which consists in an expenditure of capital to protect the good-for-nothing is the industrious laborer.”
I’m not particularly fond of Sumner’s position regarding trade-unions and other working-class movements. Unlike Hazllit, Sumner doesn’t seem to entertain the possibility that a worker's wage can indeed be below the market rate, that it might be unjustly low, due to a disparity in bargaining power between the two parties.
“With regard to productivity there is something to be said for union policies, it is true, on the credit side. In some trades they have insisted on standards to increase the level of skill and competence. And in their early history they did much to protect the health of their members. Where labor was plentiful, individual employers often stood to make short-run gains by speeding up workers and working them long hours in spite of ultimate ill effects upon their health, because they could easily be replaced with others. And sometimes ignorant or shortsighted employers might even reduce their own profits by overworking their employees. In all these cases the unions, by demanding decent standards, often increased the health and broader welfare of their members at the same time as they increased their real wages. (…) It was a gain, not only to health and welfare, but even in the long run to production, to reduce a seventy-hour week to a sixty-hour week. It was a gain to health and leisure to reduce a sixty-hour week to a forty-eight-hour week. It was a gain to leisure, but not necessarily to production and income, to reduce a forty-eight-hour week to a forty-four-hour week.” (Economics In One Lession, chapter 20)
His approach (or lack thereof) to solving the problem of alcoholism is not only morally reprehensible, but very likely to fail. His refutation of “Natural Rights” is facile at best, and, unless the reader is quite generous in his interpretation, disregards the distinction between descriptive and normative.
Sumner goes as far as arguing against the idea that individuals might be driven to be commit crimes not solely by their own volition, but by environmental reasons. To the modern reader, however unaware of contemporary theories regarding criminality he may be, this might seem like a purely rhetorical move on Sumner’s part.
“Now, the people who are most uncomfortable in this world (for if we should tell all our troubles it would not be found to be a very comfortable world for anybody) are those who have neglected their duties, and consequently have failed to get their rights” is an incredibly simple-minded view of the world, and so is “Consequently the doctrine which we, are discussing turns out to be in practice only a scheme for making injustice prevail in human society by reversing the distribution of rewards and punishments between those who have done their duty and those who have not .”
Everything worth gleaning from this essay can be summed up in a couple of sentences, and none of it will be new to you if you've ever read about libertarianism or the Austrian school of economics.
What brought to my attention the notion of the Forgotten Man was Galbraith’s disparaging account of Sumner’s doctrines in the second episode of The Age of Uncertainty, where Mr. Galbraith dedicated himself to painting an alarming picture of 19th century liberalism and upper-class culture. He lumped Sumner together with Spencer, and proceeded to dismiss them as naïve Social Darwinists, little more than apologists for the predatory upper-class of the time. He, for the sake of his narrative, turned a blind eye to the insidious policies enacted by greedy politicians looking to gain public support at the expense of long-term economic growth or to pocket some of that sweet tax money, that is to say, any of the legitimate reasons that may lead an educated individual to favor ideologies supportive of limited state intervention in economic matters, such as libertarianism and classical liberalism. Back in 2011, The Mises Institute published a superb article on Sumner which I think anyone interested in Sumner's work should read: https://mises.org/library/real-willia...
The essays are written in the most lucid prose imaginable, with very little in the way of the jargon and theoretical subtleties. For this reason, they’re of more use to the ideologue than to the layman with a legitimate interest for political economics.
“It is plain that the Forgotten Man and the Forgotten Woman are the real productive strength of the country. The Forgotten Man works and votes —generally he prays— but his chief business in life is to pay.”
It is so refreshing to read a pre-20th century book and not find any low-key misogyny or condescending attitude toward women. Sumner seems to treat them as equals insofar as their right to join the job-market and their potential contribution to the economy is concerned.
Sumner is, of course, not without his flaws. For instance, he asserts that “ the State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it”, which is only true to a certain extent.
He latter on speaks of any act of charity as if the beneficiary had no use for the money other than sliding it right into a paper shredder:
"Every bit of capital, therefore ,which is given to a shiftless and inefficient member of society, who makes no return for it, is diverted from a reproductive use; but if it was put to reproductive use, it would have to be granted in wages to an efficient and productive laborer."
That statement disregards the fact that, given the limited income of the beneficiary, the money would promptly find its way back to a business owner of some sort.
Sumner is an ambitious man who, not wanting to limit himself to barely deprecating descriptions such as “a shiftless and inefficient member of society”, goes on to call the least fortunate a bunch of good-for-nothings: “Hence the real sufferer by that kind of benevolence which consists in an expenditure of capital to protect the good-for-nothing is the industrious laborer.”
I’m not particularly fond of Sumner’s position regarding trade-unions and other working-class movements. Unlike Hazllit, Sumner doesn’t seem to entertain the possibility that a worker's wage can indeed be below the market rate, that it might be unjustly low, due to a disparity in bargaining power between the two parties.
“With regard to productivity there is something to be said for union policies, it is true, on the credit side. In some trades they have insisted on standards to increase the level of skill and competence. And in their early history they did much to protect the health of their members. Where labor was plentiful, individual employers often stood to make short-run gains by speeding up workers and working them long hours in spite of ultimate ill effects upon their health, because they could easily be replaced with others. And sometimes ignorant or shortsighted employers might even reduce their own profits by overworking their employees. In all these cases the unions, by demanding decent standards, often increased the health and broader welfare of their members at the same time as they increased their real wages. (…) It was a gain, not only to health and welfare, but even in the long run to production, to reduce a seventy-hour week to a sixty-hour week. It was a gain to health and leisure to reduce a sixty-hour week to a forty-eight-hour week. It was a gain to leisure, but not necessarily to production and income, to reduce a forty-eight-hour week to a forty-four-hour week.” (Economics In One Lession, chapter 20)
His approach (or lack thereof) to solving the problem of alcoholism is not only morally reprehensible, but very likely to fail. His refutation of “Natural Rights” is facile at best, and, unless the reader is quite generous in his interpretation, disregards the distinction between descriptive and normative.
Sumner goes as far as arguing against the idea that individuals might be driven to be commit crimes not solely by their own volition, but by environmental reasons. To the modern reader, however unaware of contemporary theories regarding criminality he may be, this might seem like a purely rhetorical move on Sumner’s part.
“Now, the people who are most uncomfortable in this world (for if we should tell all our troubles it would not be found to be a very comfortable world for anybody) are those who have neglected their duties, and consequently have failed to get their rights” is an incredibly simple-minded view of the world, and so is “Consequently the doctrine which we, are discussing turns out to be in practice only a scheme for making injustice prevail in human society by reversing the distribution of rewards and punishments between those who have done their duty and those who have not .”
Everything worth gleaning from this essay can be summed up in a couple of sentences, and none of it will be new to you if you've ever read about libertarianism or the Austrian school of economics.
August 21, 2009
Sparks Media, 38 pp.
Here is an essay (originally given as a speech) on economics, politics and social structure written by a Yale University professor in 1916 which is amazingly reflective of our country's current situation--over 90 years later!! Some of the language and some of Sumner's ideas do come across as slightly archaic, hardly surprisingly, considering it was written nearly a century ago.
The focus of this small tome is the everyday working man and woman; i.e., middle-class America by today's nomenclature. It expounds on the problems that stem from the government providing relief to many needy categories of people and institutions and this always takes away from, and is ultimately paid for by, the everyday working man and woman. These poor souls (that would be most of us) are constantly bearing the brunt of the governements' liberal practices. In light of today's headlines and the predicament we find ourselves in currently, this book is certainly an interesting read. If only someone had taken heed 93 years ago.............
Thank you to Library Thing and the publishers for their consideration in sending me this book for review.
Here is an essay (originally given as a speech) on economics, politics and social structure written by a Yale University professor in 1916 which is amazingly reflective of our country's current situation--over 90 years later!! Some of the language and some of Sumner's ideas do come across as slightly archaic, hardly surprisingly, considering it was written nearly a century ago.
The focus of this small tome is the everyday working man and woman; i.e., middle-class America by today's nomenclature. It expounds on the problems that stem from the government providing relief to many needy categories of people and institutions and this always takes away from, and is ultimately paid for by, the everyday working man and woman. These poor souls (that would be most of us) are constantly bearing the brunt of the governements' liberal practices. In light of today's headlines and the predicament we find ourselves in currently, this book is certainly an interesting read. If only someone had taken heed 93 years ago.............
Thank you to Library Thing and the publishers for their consideration in sending me this book for review.
August 29, 2009
The basic idea behind this book is that any form of involvement of the government in social programs of any kind, any type of government regulation of business, is all designed to lead to enslavement. The 'Forgotten Man' is the one who is the victim of all such legislation.
I just can't agree with that assessment. It was impossible for me to read this book without getting angry. There are hundreds of examples that contradict this book. According to the author, everyone asking for a handout is either lazy, vicious, or a criminal. Every time someone donates to a charity, he is promoting the welfare of this rotten class of people at the expense of the common working man. What about organizations like Kiva? I donate and I know where my money is going. What's wrong with helping someone who is struggling? I have been in such a situation, and I do not like the idea that it was all my fault that we were poor because I was either lazy, cruel, or a crook! Or maybe just stupid. Please.
Really this is nothing more than propaganda. I very seldom throw books away, but this one is heading for the garbage. Simply horrible.
I just can't agree with that assessment. It was impossible for me to read this book without getting angry. There are hundreds of examples that contradict this book. According to the author, everyone asking for a handout is either lazy, vicious, or a criminal. Every time someone donates to a charity, he is promoting the welfare of this rotten class of people at the expense of the common working man. What about organizations like Kiva? I donate and I know where my money is going. What's wrong with helping someone who is struggling? I have been in such a situation, and I do not like the idea that it was all my fault that we were poor because I was either lazy, cruel, or a crook! Or maybe just stupid. Please.
Really this is nothing more than propaganda. I very seldom throw books away, but this one is heading for the garbage. Simply horrible.
September 6, 2009
This is a free book from a LibraryThing author.
This 33 page essay was very short, but it says a lot. Back in 1916 when the author, Prof. William Graham Sumner, of Yale political Science, wrote this, it told about "The Forgotten Man", the person who falls into the cracks, whenever laws are made. "The Forgotten Man" is the one that obeys all the rules, works every day to support his family and complains very little. Laws were made to change the ways of unabiding citizens, while "The Forgotten Man" already obeys the rules and doesn't need a law to persuade him.
It also talks about working men and how they contribute to society, unions, and people on welfare.
The essay was re-issued because what was said back in 1916, still holds true today. A must read.
This 33 page essay was very short, but it says a lot. Back in 1916 when the author, Prof. William Graham Sumner, of Yale political Science, wrote this, it told about "The Forgotten Man", the person who falls into the cracks, whenever laws are made. "The Forgotten Man" is the one that obeys all the rules, works every day to support his family and complains very little. Laws were made to change the ways of unabiding citizens, while "The Forgotten Man" already obeys the rules and doesn't need a law to persuade him.
It also talks about working men and how they contribute to society, unions, and people on welfare.
The essay was re-issued because what was said back in 1916, still holds true today. A must read.
August 27, 2024
2024-08-27 I read the title essay and some other essays in another edition of this book, published by Caxton Press, in the mid 1970s, my Junior or Sr. year of college for a government class. I gave a talk on the author, Wm. Graham Sumner, based on this book and a little extra biographical reading. I really liked the author and his ideas and was very sorry that they have not been more popular. They need to be for a better world.
I do note however that a book came out not too long ago by the journalist/researcher Amity Shlaes with the same title as this book, using the main theme of this book, but applying it to the New Deal of FDR. Perfect! I believe the book sold well, but was not a huge hit. Too bad.
The theme of the book is simple: The Forgotten Man is the one who gets left out of the decision to tax him/her for some scheme of the "majority" to implement/pay for. It is a basic flaw/drawback of democratic government, like the statement that two wolves and a sheep vote on what to have for dinner - majority wins. US American President James Madison's phrase was "tyranny of the majority." All of these are right on the money. But for some reason, today's Zeitgeist (spirit of the times) thinks it is just hunky dory to tax "the rich" more and more and more.
I do note however that a book came out not too long ago by the journalist/researcher Amity Shlaes with the same title as this book, using the main theme of this book, but applying it to the New Deal of FDR. Perfect! I believe the book sold well, but was not a huge hit. Too bad.
The theme of the book is simple: The Forgotten Man is the one who gets left out of the decision to tax him/her for some scheme of the "majority" to implement/pay for. It is a basic flaw/drawback of democratic government, like the statement that two wolves and a sheep vote on what to have for dinner - majority wins. US American President James Madison's phrase was "tyranny of the majority." All of these are right on the money. But for some reason, today's Zeitgeist (spirit of the times) thinks it is just hunky dory to tax "the rich" more and more and more.
August 29, 2024
Interesting defense of small government
I like the focus on working class people, which by the definition implied would cover today's blue and white collar workers.
I like the focus on working class people, which by the definition implied would cover today's blue and white collar workers.
October 21, 2017
It's easy to see why Amity Shlaes was inspired by this concise essay, and FDR's abuse of it, in naming her book on the Great Depression "The Forgotten Man; A New History of the Great Depression."
Sumner articulates what Hazlitt would some 60ish years later call the "one lesson" of economics, that is, the impact of a policy on not just the special interest of its intention, but rather ALL actors in a given system. While Hazlitt's concerns are economic, and many of Sumner's conclusions have economic application, Sumner's scope is broader, and indeed, concerns societal function as a whole.
It's amazing that an essay published in 1883 still speaks powerfully to the debates present in societal discourse today - even as Sumner's ideas have been pushed far from the mainstream by modern liberals.
If you are as captivated as I was, you will want to know this essay was part of a larger publication entitled "What the Social Classes Owe Each Other," that is also available online. I hope to review that, too. Even if the entire publication is too meaty for you to stomach, I highly recommend "The Forgotten Man" segment and have included a link to the article as well as the brilliant opening and closing paragraphs below, both to remind myself and inspire you to follow!
"The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man....
...The fallacy of all prohibitory, sumptuary, and moral legislation is the same. A and B determine to be teetotalers, which is often a wise determination, and sometimes a necessary one. If A and B are moved by considerations which seem to them good, that is enough. But A and B put their heads together to get a law passed which shall force C to be a teetotaler for the sake of D, who is in danger of drinking too much. There is no pressure on A and B. They are having their own way, and they like it. There is rarely any pressure on D. He does not like it, and evades it. The pressure all comes on C.
The question then arises, Who is C? He is the man who wants alcoholic liquors for any honest purpose whatsoever, who would use his liberty without abusing it, who would occasion no public question, and trouble nobody at all. He is the Forgotten Man again, and as soon as he is drawn from his obscurity we see that he is just what each one of us ought to be."
I was able to read this essay online via the link below:
https://mises.org/library/forgotten-man
The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes, 2007
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What the Social Classes Owe Each Other, Sumner, 1883
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18603...
Economics in One Lesson, Hazlitt,1946
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sumner articulates what Hazlitt would some 60ish years later call the "one lesson" of economics, that is, the impact of a policy on not just the special interest of its intention, but rather ALL actors in a given system. While Hazlitt's concerns are economic, and many of Sumner's conclusions have economic application, Sumner's scope is broader, and indeed, concerns societal function as a whole.
It's amazing that an essay published in 1883 still speaks powerfully to the debates present in societal discourse today - even as Sumner's ideas have been pushed far from the mainstream by modern liberals.
If you are as captivated as I was, you will want to know this essay was part of a larger publication entitled "What the Social Classes Owe Each Other," that is also available online. I hope to review that, too. Even if the entire publication is too meaty for you to stomach, I highly recommend "The Forgotten Man" segment and have included a link to the article as well as the brilliant opening and closing paragraphs below, both to remind myself and inspire you to follow!
"The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man....
...The fallacy of all prohibitory, sumptuary, and moral legislation is the same. A and B determine to be teetotalers, which is often a wise determination, and sometimes a necessary one. If A and B are moved by considerations which seem to them good, that is enough. But A and B put their heads together to get a law passed which shall force C to be a teetotaler for the sake of D, who is in danger of drinking too much. There is no pressure on A and B. They are having their own way, and they like it. There is rarely any pressure on D. He does not like it, and evades it. The pressure all comes on C.
The question then arises, Who is C? He is the man who wants alcoholic liquors for any honest purpose whatsoever, who would use his liberty without abusing it, who would occasion no public question, and trouble nobody at all. He is the Forgotten Man again, and as soon as he is drawn from his obscurity we see that he is just what each one of us ought to be."
I was able to read this essay online via the link below:
https://mises.org/library/forgotten-man
The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes, 2007
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What the Social Classes Owe Each Other, Sumner, 1883
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18603...
Economics in One Lesson, Hazlitt,1946
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
September 13, 2009
This book is actually a speech that was given in 1883. The concept of this speech is that the lawmakers ask for help for the poor and overlook the class of people that make life in the country possible, the forgotten man.
There were a few ideas and beliefs that the author talks about in which I don't agree with, but he makes very valid arguments for his ideas. I also did agree with some of what he mentions, however I don't know how feasable his ideas are, and if they would work in the society that we live in today.
One thing that surprised me is that even though this speech was written over 100 years ago it was still pertinent to today. I don't know if that is a sign of a great speech writer, to write something that holds true for over 100 years, or if it is a sign that our country really hasn't changed that much in 100 years.
It was a quick read, and if nothing else it makes you think about our social and political structure. It was a bit on the rough side to read, because it was pretty dry, but I think more of that was because it was written as a speech rather than a book or a story. I think it was interesting and was worth the hour or so it took me to read it.
There were a few ideas and beliefs that the author talks about in which I don't agree with, but he makes very valid arguments for his ideas. I also did agree with some of what he mentions, however I don't know how feasable his ideas are, and if they would work in the society that we live in today.
One thing that surprised me is that even though this speech was written over 100 years ago it was still pertinent to today. I don't know if that is a sign of a great speech writer, to write something that holds true for over 100 years, or if it is a sign that our country really hasn't changed that much in 100 years.
It was a quick read, and if nothing else it makes you think about our social and political structure. It was a bit on the rough side to read, because it was pretty dry, but I think more of that was because it was written as a speech rather than a book or a story. I think it was interesting and was worth the hour or so it took me to read it.
June 8, 2016
Excelent
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews