Authors:
  • The territorial aristocracy of former ages was either bound by law, or thought itself bound by usage, to come to the relief of its serving-men and to relieve their distresses. But the manufacturing aristocracy of our age first impoverishes and debases the men who serve it and then abandons them to be supported by the charity of the public.

    "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II, Book Two, Chapter XX, 1840.