Abstract
According to Sumner, the Forgotten Man and Forgotten Woman are the simple, honest laborers who make a living by productive work and pay all of society’s bills. Their taxes pay for public offices to be filled through patronage (as a reward for serving in the military or working for a political party), and for the system of “jobbery” whereby vested interests get money from the government to do things they should do themselves (such as flood control for farmers in the Mississippi valley or taking over unprofitable canals). However, the biggest form of jobbery is the protective tariff which is a form of universal plunder. All the Forgotten Man and Forgotten Woman want is to be left alone to live in liberty.
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Hart, D.M., Chartier, G., Kenyon, R.M., Long, R.T. (2018). William Graham Sumner, “The Forgotten Man” (1883). In: Hart, D., Chartier, G., Kenyon, R., Long, R. (eds) Social Class and State Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64894-1_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64894-1_25
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