Page:Philosophical Review Volume 25.djvu/109

No. 1.] of human, just as it is a natural law of infra-human existence; the other believes that man's power over nature exempts him from the necessity of such a struggle. Certain it is, however, that this struggle exists amongst us today. We are constantly verifying Malthus's doctrine that the populations increase faster than the supply of food. Two checks which Malthus termed "positive" and "preventive checks" have become measurable by modern statistics. These two checks have been shown to be complementary. The greater the birth rate, the greater will be the death rate from lack of nourishment; whereas the greater the death rate, for any cause, the greater will be the birth rate. We find evidence of wages which cannot supply adequate physical nourishment. The scarcity of other necessaries as well, indicates that the struggle for existence still continues among certain classes of our population. The struggle may be eliminated in two ways: (1) by a more rapid increase in the production of necessaries; (2) by a less rapid rate of reproduction. The existence of these two factors in our civilization shows a tendency to abolish this struggle. Our production of necessaries has lately increased enormously, and the habit of voluntary control of reproduction—a concomitant of high civilization—will in time penetrate to our poorer classes. A vigorous campaign against the high birth rate among poorer people would greatly hasten the time when the struggle for existence among individuals will cease. The objection that mankind would fall into a condition of slothful ease, if the struggle for existence were abolished, is removed by the fact that there is a large class of our population in which no such struggle exists and among whom are found types of men as perfect as are found among those developed by hardship. We find men whose means free them from this struggle excelling in the work of supervision, organization and initiation upon which our modern methods of production so largely depend, and excelling, as well, in the arts and the professions. Natural selection is largely a dead letter in our civilization; and rational selection is rapidly being recognized as the thing to take its place. Even luxuries make for perfection. The desire for them makes for the fullest development of our natures. There still exists, however, the struggle between nations. Yet, as Norman Angell has pointed out, war has to a great extent lost its character as a genuine expression of this struggle. There are powerful forces making for its extinction. Some still consider war a moral tonic. We are gradually recognizing, however, that the same tonic may be gained with much less waste without the deterioration consequent upon war. It is possible for patriotism to be modified so as to embrace a wider field than the nation or the race. The sterner virtues are, moreover, more needed in the arts of peace to-day than in the arts of war. The struggle for existence may, therefore, be eliminated between nations as well as between individuals.