THE CONSERVATIVE MAN
395
tunttles for education. All such social groups are inclined to
become conservative because they want to maintain the status quo
in society as well as in their own private spheres. The more numer–
ous these conservatives are, the easier it is to rule the country, to
maintain "law and order" without the suppression of freedom and
liberty for the people. When, however, such conservative strata do
not exist, the Government must resort to suppressive measures,
relying on military and police forces, on an autocratic bureaucracy
which denies or restricts civil rights and liberties.
Western Europe was the international bulwark of our Con–
servative Man. Old traditions of bourgeois order in countries like
Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands had created a strong
feeling of economic security and respect for governmental author–
ity. This gave particular strength to the Conservative Man. He
represented that large section of the population which had secured
more or less steady incomes and which thought it had a fair chance
to make a decent living in the traditional way.
The Conservative Man pervaded all strata of Western society.
His final growth was that of rentier. The rentier did not necessarily
live the idle life of a retired business man. The industrialist re–
garded the income he earned for being a manager, as a "salary"
or a rent which he was sure of for his entire life. Moreover, he
often owned stocks and real estate, and other properties which
secured additional income-payments of interest and dividends or
rents. The small business man often owned an apartment house as
an additional source of income. He was a rentier although he
continued to run his bakery or butcher shop. And even many
workers accumulated savings which gave them a feeling of eco–
nomic security and imbued them with the spirit of the rentier.
There was neither need nor desire for changes in the political
system as long as the spirit of the rentier pervaded the greater part
of the population. "Unlike the small business man, the profes–
sional, and the artisan (who suffer under economic insecurity),
the rentier is the potential adherent of fascism or communism only
in
the most unusual circumstances. For he is essentially a lever
for the status quo, and his interests are those of the maintenance of
property rights, especially the value of money. The rentier class
grew up before the World War (1914-1918) and exerted a greater
