530 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and with the progress of industry an increasing amount — of capital 

 was required. So from the first those that possessed capital had a 

 superior claim to the control of the surplus source, and as industry 

 developed the validity of this claim increased. Those that had labor 

 alone to offer were consequently compelled to work for wages for those 

 who had capital to contribute; but if from their wages the laborers 

 could save enough, they too might become capitalists and enter upon 

 the competitive struggle on their own account. Nor among the capital- 

 ists were the conditions of the contest entirely equal. For the develop- 

 ment of some surplus sources more capital was required than for the 

 development of others; and again, though as far as the surplus source 

 itself was concerned, small capital could compete with large capital, 

 still by reason of the economy of great organizations the small cap- 

 italist might nevertheless be at a disadvantage. So from the first the 

 large capitalist had a superior claim to the control of the surplus source, 

 and with the development of industry the validity of this claim also 

 increased. 



From this it is evident that the competitive system must 

 result in the gradual elimination of the weaker competitors until 

 in the end only the strong survive. Indeed, this movement has 

 already gone so far as to be unmistakable, particularly in this land of 

 ours where the competitive system was given the fairest chance to prove 

 its economic efficiency. As the competitive field was gradually re- 

 stricted, the laborers naturally were first excluded. Though they 

 continued to save, as time went on they found that more and more 

 capital was required to enter into business for themselves, either because 

 the industries in their neighborhood were already absorbed by large 

 capitalists, or because the industries they might still embark upon with 

 their small capital were far removed from their neighborhood. The 

 next to be excluded from the competitive struggle were the small cap- 

 italists. As some capitalists secured control of the natural monopolies 

 and others succeeded in establishing artificial monopolies, the small 

 producers were unable to hold their own on the market and one by one 

 they have either been extinguished by or absorbed in the larger concerns, 

 until now, as a matter of fact, only the few strong competitors remain. 



Properly interpreted this modern movement so familiar to us all 

 means simply this: the gradual monopolization of the sources of the 

 industrial surplus. Formerly these surplus sources were too wide- 

 spread to be monopolized, hence the passing existence of the competi- 

 tive system; but nowadays the ramifications of capital are nearly as 

 widespread as the surplus sources themselves, hence, as I see it, the 

 inevitable recrudescence of the coercive system. B}' the opening up 

 of new lands through colonization and by the development of fresh 

 surplus sources through invention, this movement has been stayed time 



