clinations
lead them into philanthropic work, and there is a considerable body
of sentiment in the class going to support efforts of reform and
amelioration. And much of this philanthropic and reformatory effort,
moreover, bears the marks of that amiable "cleverness" and incoherence
that is characteristic of the primitive savage. But it may still be
doubtful whether these facts are evidence of a larger proportion of
reversions in the higher than in the lower strata, even if the same
inclinations were present in the impecunious classes, it would not as
easily find expression there; since those classes lack the means and the
time and energy to give effect to their inclinations in this respect.
The prima facie evidence of the facts can scarcely go unquestioned.

In further qualification it is to be noted that the leisure class of
today is recruited from those who have been successful in a pecuniary
way, and who, therefore, are presumably endowed with more than an even
complement of the predatory traits. Entrance into the leisure class lies
through the pecuniary employments, and these employments, by selection
and adaptation, act to admit to the upper levels only those lines of
descent that are pecuniarily fit to survive under the predatory test.
And so soon as a case of reversion to non-predatory human nature shows
itself on these upper levels, it is commonly weeded out and thrown back
to the lower pecuniary levels. In order to hold its place in the class,
a stock must have the pecuniary temperament; otherwise its fortune would
be dissipated and it would presently lose caste. Instances of this kind
are sufficiently frequent. The constituency of the leisure class is kept
up by a continual selective process, whereby the individuals and
lines of descent that are eminently fitted for an aggressive pecuniary
competition are withdraw from the lower classes. In order to reach the
upper levels the aspirant must have, not only a fair average complement
of the pecuniary aptitudes, but he must have these gifts in such an
eminent degree as to overcome very material difficulties that stand in
the way of his ascent. Barring accidents, the nouveaux arrives are a
picked body.

This process of selective admission has, of course, always been going
on; ever since the fashion of pecuniary emulation set in--which is much
the same as saying, ever since the institution of a leisure class was
first installed. But the precise ground of selection