Page:Essays on the Social Problem.pdf/5

 Let us examine into the foundation of this remark and see if it will bear the light of investigation. If the theory of the survival of the fittest is true, and if we admit the premises, there is no escaping the conclusion. Not being satisfied with the conclusion, it becomes necessary to re-examine the premises and see if they accord with the facts.

The theory, briefly stated, is this: Given a definite area of soil—an acre or the entire earth—a number of plants and animals start life together. They increase in numbers in a geometric ratio. As long as there is room for the ever increasing numbers, there is no struggle, but the increased numbers overflow into the unoccupied territory. But when the entire given area is fully occupied, the constant increase of individuals makes the continued existence of them all impossible. Hence the struggle for existence which is presented in plant and animal life. In this struggle some must perish, others will survive. Those that survive are termed the fittest, because they have survived, their survival being the proof of their fitness. Alter the conditions under which this struggle is going on, and immediately those plants and animals which were the fittest become the unfit and perish, while those which had previously been amongst the unfit, immediately prove themselves the fittest, and either partially or wholly, exterminate those that previously dominated the field. It is evident, then, that fitness to survive, depends upon the conditions under which the struggle for existence takes place. Then, again, it is only when the means of subsistence are limited, and the beings dependent upon these means exceed the number that can possibly subsist thereon, that the struggle for existence reaches that stage where some must perish in order that others may exist.

Bearing these facts in mind it is clear that any theory which justifies the luxury of some and squalor of others, as survival of the fittest, is not founded on facts, but on a false premise, for the purpose of misleading those not thoroughly acquainted with the facts upon which the theory rests.

I am free to admit that, under any given conditions, the fittest must survive. This is simply a fact, and does not imply justice nor injustice. If, then, political economists are right in considering the present conditions an evolution, not within our power to change, the logic of the argument is—the means of subsistence being limited, the ones that can supply their wants, and thus survive, are the fittest. The cruel, the cunning, the unscrupulous and indifferent to sufferings of others, under these conditions, become the fittest.

Let this idea get possession of the mass of suffering humanity, that it is intended to keep in subjection, and they may see the logic of it and make short work of those who consider themselves the fittest, and by the force of their numbers, and through desperation, prove themselves the fittest to survive, in a remorseless war of extermination. Who would be the fittest if the cities were burned and the cold chilly rain drizzling down incessantly on men, women and children, sheltering themselves as best they might, in poorly constructed hovels? The theory of the survival of the fittest justifies mob violence as well as the lawful methods of commerce. It is only a question of might.

But does the number of human beings now on the earth so press upon the means of subsistence that strife and violence are necessary to determine who shall exist and who shall perish? Most assuredly not. The struggle for existence now is due to monopoly: to the legal restriction of natural opportunities. It is an indisputable fact, that there are an abundance of resources to supply a much larger population than now exists on earth. This being the case there is no reason for any struggle between individuals in order to exist.

If those who now enjoy life at the expense of others insist on preventing others from utilizing the natural resources, and thus providing themselves with the necessities of life, and in thus making human life a fierce struggle, then they