the least remuneration receive employment, and under these restrictions all can strive for what advancement they can secure, the condition being continually aggravated by the constant arrival of new men by birth, and ameliorated by the departure of those whom death calls away, and by the inventions and discoveries that increase the power of labor to produce life-sustenance.

"Nonsense!" my reader will probably exclaim; "these sons of poor men concerning whose condition you complain, eventually become heirs to the earth themselves, when their forefathers die, and thus leave it to the generation which succeeds them, so there is no injustice."

The poor man's child never becomes an heir to any part of earth, and his relation to society is essentially that of slavery from which, in a country having great resources and a comparatively sparse population, he may easily work out his freedom, but in which he usually remains in life servitude where the monopolization of opportunities for existence has become more extreme.

There is no monopoly so great, no trust so gigantic, no power so tyrannical as the social combination which exists in every country of the civilized world, and which says to every penniless little immigrant from the shores of that mysterious country whence all humanity comes: "You must toil as we direct, or you shall starve. Land you have none; wealth you have none; rights you have none. The earth with all there is upon it is absolutely our own, and unless you labor under the conditions that we may impose, you shall not exist."

CHAPTER IV.

DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST.

"Even the best of modern civilizations appears to me to exhibit a condition of mankind which neither embodies any worthy ideal nor even possesses the merit of stability. I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if there is no hope of a large improvement of the condition of the greater part of the human family; if it is true that the increase of knowledge, the winning of a greater domain over nature which is its consequence, and the wealth which follows upon that domain are to make no difference in the extent and the intensity of want with its concomitant physical and moral degradation among the masses of the people, I should hail the advent of some kindly comet which would sweep the whole affair away as a desirable consummation."-THOMAS H. HUXLEY.

THE ideas of competition and individual effort are at the basis of society in all parts of the civilized world in the nineteenth century. That is, although we have business partnerships under varying methods, designated as firms and corporations, and matrimonial partnerships, (in which business is very frequently the controlling motive,) and occasionally a movement among a few enthusiastic theorists to inaugurate social co-operation on a limited colonial scale, there exists no really great or general partnership amongst all the people of any nation, whereby they labor either equally or in proportion to the ability of each for the common good and share either equally or in proportion to their needs from a common fund of wealth. A savage tribe in which the individuals hunt their game and gather their fruits by general effort into a common stock, from which each afterwards draws his personal supplies, is a simple example of co-operation.

When each savage of the tribe hunts and fishes for himself, regardless of what the others secure, their social

existence is an example of competitive effort. Each system has advantages and disadvantages that may be briefly noted, although a comparison of the merits and demerits of communism and competition would alone require a volume larger than this book.

Co-operation is economical, for the units of that form of society do not purposely obstruct or interfere with one another's efforts, nor hinder progress that is sure to result in the general good. When our savages hunt co-operatively, they do not purposely frighten the game away from one another, but all assist harmoniously in capturing it. While, on the other hand, competition lacks this advantage, it is, nevertheless, a keen spur to effort and progress. When a man feels that his own unaided efforts must win his success and comforts, or protect him from want, he thinks and he works. He is carried forward by a fierce energy that could never stimulate him under cooperation, but he is continually set back in all his efforts by the adverse struggles of other men animated by the same fears and desires that urge him onward. Under competition the savage often frightens away the game he desires but cannot take himself, rather than see his opponent capture it. Men existing under a co-operative system would probably become less selfish but more indolent. Under competition, their characters have displayed energy, activity, shrewdness, selfishness, and greed.

Except in isolated and limited communities where enthusiasts have temporarily established co-operative colonies, all civilization has been accomplished under competition, either among individuals or among tribes ; and individual competition existing for generation after generation has undoubtedly had its effect in developing the shrewd, active, daring, an 1 greedy natures that form such a preponderance of humanity.

Edward Bellamy, by glimpses of life in the Twentieth Century, revealed in "Looking Backward," presents an interesting view of national co-operation.

To some people this picture of co-operation is attractive; others, preferring the boisterous struggle of individual effort and the excitement attending the prospect of great success accompanied by the dread alternative of dismal failure, are repelled; still others believe in the benefits but not in the present practicability of co-operative society.

Extended discussion of nationalism is in the present, perhaps, comparatively useless, for the promised land is, probably, still far away from us, and we are actually living in the nineteenth century, with a dangerous social problem before us, which has been developed under competition and which must, apparently, be solved under the same system of human effort.

There can be no immediate change from competition to co-operation, for social evolution is never accomplished in that way.

Society is now progressing under competition, and it must so continue in the main for many years.

Having agreed to test the justice of such propositions. as are advanced in this book by the competitive creed, the author will now inquire: What does every man regard as just conditions under competition? The natural and usual answer, accepted by all who have sense enough and pluck enough to struggle, is expressed in the common saying: "A fair field and no favors."

Every man should have an equal opportunity.

Give no man any advantage.

If competition be a race, give every man, when possible, an equal start.

If life be a battle, see that every warrior is armed equally for the fray, and let the dazzling sun shine directly in the eyes of none.

Regard life just as you would view a tournament, and do not clap your hands for a victor who is armed and mounted, and who, therefore, vanquishes an opponent guarded only by nature's naked fists.

Every creature inspired with genuine manliness of the militant type is willing to say: "I will struggle for prosperity on the bosom of Mother Earth and accept my chances and my fate in competition with every other man in the race of life, if I have a fair start and an equal opportunity to secure my share of wealth and comforts of earth that should belong to us all.

"I want merely justice.

"If my competitor is better equipped by nature for the struggle than I am, or if he be more fortunate under fair opportunities, I regret my deficiency and my bad luck; but I must acknowledge that, under such circumstances, if injustice exists, it is in the laws of nature, whereby some men are made stronger and some better than others, and not in the laws of man. He who wins in a fair struggle of this kind is entitled to the rewards of victory."

The motto of men engaged in competition is: "Devil take the hindmost!" It is a sad condition for the weaklings and a cruelly wasteful condition for all.

It would seem that men are nearly good enough and wise enough to provide a better system of human effort and social order, but, nevertheless, competition remains. During the progress of any generation, the energetic, the far-seeing, the frugal, and the fortunate man accumulates a certain degree of wealth.

His idle, wasteful, improvident or unfortunate neighbor may or may not have enjoyed a more comfortable existence, but he lives from hand to mouth and dies without a penny.

Humanity recognizes this result under competition as being just and quotes the admonition: "He who doth not