Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/281

* COMPETENCE. 233 COMPETITIOlg. it is employed in the law of France and of other Latin eountiius, as the eijuivalent of our tonn 'jurisdiction,' the competence of a tribunal being its authority or jurisdiction over a j,'ivcn per- fcou or proceeding. In English and American law, the word is specifically used to denote the legal fitness or eligibility of a witness to be heard, or of a judge or juror to jiarticipate in the trial of a cause. Competency, in the legal sense of the tcnn, does not refer to mental or physical ability, but to purely legal groimds of qualification — as that a judge or juror shall not be personally interested in the issue to be tried; that a witness shall not be so related to the transaction on which the suit is based as to be incapacitated by law from giving evidence thereof. Such facts as the credibility of a witness, the relevancy of his testimony, or even his actual knowledge of the transaction in question, have no bearing upon the question of his competency. He may be competent to participate as a witness, and may yet be utterly untrustworthy or ignorant of the facts involved in the issue. So, not having been an actual, percipient witness of the facts to which he is called upon to testify, he may have his testimony excluded as mere hearsay, without thereby having his legal competency questioned. In that case it is not the witness, but the evi- dence ofl'ered by him, that is 'incompetent.' Com- petency, whether of judge, or juror, or witness, is alwaj's presumed, until it is impeached and the contrary shown. The question is one for the court, which may inquire into the facts for the purpose of arriving at a judgment ipon it. The law as to the competency of witnesses will be considered under the title Witness. See, also, KviDEXCE : .TruoE; Juky; and the authorities there referred to. COMPETITION (Lat. com pet if io, rivalry, from compctcre, to vie,, from co»i-, together + /)t7f;r, to seek) . This term has been defined as the struggle for existence carried into human affairs. It is, in general, the conflict of efforts directed to the same goal. In this sense it is applied to the method of appointing government officials under civil-service rules, to the contests of political parties, the often amusing rivalrj' of one city with another for population, trade, etc., and a host of similar rivalries. In the world of economic efi'ort it is recognized as the great regulative principle which holds in check the overreaching designs of individuals, and makes their selfish efforts contribute to the general welfare. As self-preservation is said to be the law of nature, so ma}' self-interest be said to be the law of industrial society. Every man labors for his own ends. To provide food and raiment, to minister to his necessities and to his enjoyments, is the motive which leads him to action. In the pursuit of his individual welfare he is not wholly unrestrained, for the influences of law and moral- ity set bounds to his permissible actions. But within those hounds every man seeks first his own welfare. Nevertheless, at every step he comes into contact with others whose actions limit his own. If he is a seller of merchandise his interest is to secure the highest price: but other sellers are equally eager to part with their goods, and in this rivalry prices are lowered to a point at which all the goods may be transferred. If he is a buyer he offers tl>e lowest price, but he finds other buyers offering higher prices, and he must raise his olVer to such a he that all the buyers, able to alVord the first price, can be satisfied by at least a share in the goods to be sold. The rivalry of buyers and sellers is the comjietition of the market, which becomes an equitable ad- justment of supply and demand. The process by which the competition of in- dividuals increa.ses the aggregate wealth and simple. If the producer must sell at the market price, his only chance for gain consists in lower- ing his costs and increasing the margin between what he obtains for his goods and what he gives for them. Competition, therefore, makes him keen to obtain the most effective results of his activity, to economize his labor, to improve his methods, to lop off wasteful practices and useless expenditures ; to scrutinize, in short, every detail of the process of making and selling his goods in order that wherever possible he may effect economies. This ingenuity inures in the first instiince to his own benefit ; but as other pro- ducers follow the same practice, the general cost of producing goods is lowered, and with it the price of the goods. For if price be not lowered, the iniusual rewards which the enterprise offers will tempt others to undertake it. and, by en- hancing the volume of goods to be sold, inevitably lower their price. A decrease in the cost of production results in an increase of the volume of goixis produced by the expenditure of the same effort. It is this increase which consti- tutes the growth of wealth for the community at large. The same competition which regulates the price of goods governs, in large measure, the relations of capital and labor. It is the com- petition of employers for labor, and that of labor- ers for employment, that fixes at any given time the rate of wages. This competition is not so free as that between buyers and sellers. Capital may lie idle for a time without dimi- nution, but the laborer may not cease work with- out starvation. Hence the contest seems at times a very unequal one, and the issue to be decided by the needs of the laborer rather than anything else. If all the competition were among laborers themselves, and if there were in- sufficient employment offered, workmen would be forced to make such tenns as they could. But it is quite as likely that there should be an abundance of emploj'ment seeking workers, and in such cases the workman might make what terms he pleases. It must be conceded that, important as are the workings of competition, ideal competition in which the buyer always seeks the cheapest and the seller the dearest market, in which' capital is free to seek the place where labor is cheapest, and labor able to select the employment which ofiers the best wages, is not and cannot be realized. As tendencies, the laws of competition are valuable regulative principles in the world's economic activity, even if they cannot be fulfilled to the letter. It has, however, been found impos- sible wholly to overcoTue the inertia of custom, and impracticable to check all attempts at com- bination which seek to destroy the competitive jirinciple. Custom and sentiment are supposed to have no place in business, and in wholesale transactions this is quite true, but in the small transactions
 * )ronioles the welfare of society at large is very