The capitalistic system of production not only dominates the social organization but also the political organization. It influences and controls the thoughts and sentiments of society. Capitalism is the ruling power. The capitalist is lord and master of the proletarian, whose labor power he buys as a commodity to be applied and made use of, at a price that oscillates according to supply and demand and the cost of production, as with every other commodity. But the capitalist does not buy labor power “to please God,” or to render a service to the workingman--as he sometimes seeks to present it--but to obtain surplus value by it, which he pockets in the form of profit, interest and rent. This surplus value squeezed out of the workingman--inasmuch as it is not spent by the employer for his personal enjoyment--is crystallized into capital, and enables him steadily to enlarge his plant, to improve the process of production, and to employ more labor power. Thereby again he becomes enabled to encounter his weaker competitor, as a horseman, clad in armor, might encounter an unarmed pedestrian, and to destroy him. This unequal struggle is developing more and more in all domains, and woman, furnishing the cheapest labor power, beside the child, plays an important part in this struggle. The result of these conditions is, that the line of demarcation becomes sharper between a relatively small number of powerful capitalists and the great mass of non-possessors of capital, who depend upon the daily sale of their labor power. With this development the position of the middle classes is becoming more and more unfavorable. One line of industry after another, where until recently the small manufacturers predominated, are being taken hold of by capitalistic enterprise. The competition of the capitalists among themselves compels them constantly to seek new realms to be exploited. Capital goes about “like a roaring lion seeking something to devour.” The small men are ruined, and if they do not succeed in finding some other field of activity--which is becoming increasingly difficult--they sink down into the class of wage-workers. All attempts to prevent the decline of handicraft and the middle class by means of laws and institutions that have been taken from the shelves of the past, prove useless. They may deceive one or another for a little while in regard to his true position, but soon the delusion is dispelled by the force of facts. The process of absorption of the small ones by the great ones is becoming clearly evident to all with the unrelenting force of a natural law. In what manner the social structure of Germany has been transformed during the brief period of twenty-five years--from 1882 to 1895 and from 1895 to 1907--that may be seen by a comparison of the census figures from these years, as shown by the following table: