740 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



likely to be devised ; no fiddle-faddling with the distribution of 

 wealth, will deliver society from the tendency to be destroyed by the 

 reproduction within itself, in its intensest form, of that struggle for 

 existence, the limitation of which is the object of society. And how- 

 ever shocking to the moral sense this eternal competition of man 

 against man and of nation against nation may be ; however revolting 

 may be the accumulation of misery at the negative pole of society, in 

 contrast with that of monstrous wealth at the positive pole ; this state 

 of things must abide, and grow continually worse, so long as Istar 

 holds her way unchecked. It is the true riddle of the Sphinx ; and 

 every nation which does not solve it will sooner or later be devoured 

 by the monster itself has generated. 



The practical and pressing question for us just now seems to me to 

 be how to gain time. " Time brings counsel," as the Teutonic proverb 

 has it ; and wiser folk among our posterity may see their way out of 

 that which at present looks like an impasse. 



It would be folly to entertain any ill-feeling toward those neigh- 

 bors and rivals who, like ourselves, are slaves of Istar ; but, if some- 

 body is to be starved, the modern world has no Oracle of Delphi to 

 which the nations can appeal for an indication of the victim. It is 

 open to us to try our fortune ; and if we avoid impending fate, there 

 will be a certain ground for believing that we are the right people to 

 escape. Securus judicat orbis. 



To this end, it is well to look into the necessary conditions of our 

 salvation by works. They are two, one plain to all the world and 

 hardly needing insistence ; the other seemingly not so plain, since too 

 often it has been theoretically and practically left out of sight. The 

 obvious condition is that our produce shall be better than that of 

 others. There is only one reason why our goods should be preferred 

 to those of our rivals — our customers must find them better at the 

 price. That means that we must use more knowledge, skill, and in- 

 dustry in producing them, without a proportionate increase in the cost 

 of production ; and, as the price of labor constitutes a large element 

 in that cost, the rate of wages must be restricted w^ithin certain limits. 

 It is perfectly true that cheap production and cheap labor arc by no 

 means synonymous ; but it is also true that wages can not increase 

 beyond a certain proportion without destroying cheapness. Cheap- 

 ness, then, with, as part and parcel of cheapness, a moderate price of 

 labor, is essential to our success as competitors in the markets of the 

 world. 



The second condition is really quite as plainly indispensable as the 

 first, if one thinks seriously about the matter. It is social stability. 

 Society is stable when the wants of its members obtain as much satis- 

 faction as, life being what it is, common sense and experience show 

 may be reasonably expected. Mankind, in general, care very little 



