Nothing could foreshadow the ruin of a system founded on what is strongest in human nature, pride and cupidity.
However, keen observers discovered several grounds for uneasiness.

The most certain, although the least apparent, were of an economic order, and consisted in the continually increasing amount of over-production, which entailed long and cruel interruptions of labour, though these were, it is true, utilized by the manufacturers as a means of breaking the power of the workmen, by facing them with the prospect of a lock-out.

A more obvious peril resulted from the physiological state of almost the entire population.

"The health of the poor is what it must be," said the experts in hygiene, "but that of the rich leaves much to be desired." It was not difficult to find the causes of this.

The supply of oxygen necessary for life was insufficient in the city, and men breathed in an artificial air.