Bailey: War and Biology 



53 



by *^rcat feats of engineering, by com- 

 pleter utilization of the possibilities of 

 the planet, by vast discoveries in the 

 unknown, and by the final enlargement 

 of the soul; and in these fields shall be 

 the heroes. The most virile and up- 

 standing qualities can find expression 

 in the conquest of the earth. In war, 

 the rank and file do not rise to greater 

 heights; but in the contest with the 

 planet every man may feel himself 

 grow. 



What we have done in times past 

 shows the way by which we have come; 

 it does not provide a program of pro- 

 cedure for days that are coming ; or if it 

 does, then we deny the effective evolu- 

 tion of the race. We have passed witch- 

 craft, religious persecution, the inquisi- 

 tion, subjugation of women, the en- 

 slavement of our fellows except alone 

 enslavement in war. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 



Here I come to a very real situation 

 that I want to present to you as farmers 

 and as teachers of farmers, to you who 

 stand close to nature and who ought to 

 understand the meaning of the natural 

 world. I want to ask you to interpret 

 to mankind what is implied in the 

 struggle for existence; for war is justi- 

 fied as a necessary part of the nature of 

 things, as all organisms must struggle 

 in order to live. 



Before I enter on this subject, I must 

 pause to say that I would not of myself 

 found an argument either for war or 

 against it on the analogies of the 

 struggle for existence. Man has re- 

 sponsibilities quite apart from the con- 

 ditions that obtain in the lower creation. 

 Man is a moral agent; animals and 

 plants are not moral agents. But the 

 argument for war is so often founded on 

 this struggle in nature, that the question 

 must be considered. I am making these 

 statements only in the interest of a fair 

 interpretation of nature and, I hope, for 

 the guidance of ourselves. 



It has been persistently repeated for 

 years that in nature the weakest perish 

 and that the victory is with the strong, 

 meaning by that the physically power- 

 ful. I have heard such statements from 



boyhood. There can l^e no falser teach- 

 ing than this, nothing that leads men 

 farther from the truth. It is the result 

 of an entire misconception of the teach- 

 ing of evolution. 



Our minds dwell on the capture and 

 the carnage in nature — the hawk swoop- 

 ing on its prey, the cat stealthily watch- 

 ing for the mouse, wolves hunting in 

 packs, ferocious beasts lying in wait, 

 sharks that follow ships, serpents with 

 venomous fangs; and with the poet we 

 say that nature is "red in tooth and 

 claw." Of course, we are not to deny 

 the struggle of might against might; 

 but the weak and the fragile and the 

 small have been the organisms that 

 have persisted. There are thousands of 

 little and soft things still abundant in 

 the world that have outlived the 

 fearsome ravenous monsters of ages 

 past ; there were Goliaths in those days, 

 but the Davids have outlived them, and 

 Gath is not peopled by giants. The big 

 and strong have not triimiphed. 



I was impressed in reading Roose- 

 velt's "African Game Trails" with the 

 great extent of small, and defenseless 

 and fragile animal life that abounds in 

 the midst of the terrible beasts — little, 

 uncourageous things that hide in the 

 crevices, myriads that fly in the air, 

 those that ride on the rhinos, that swim 

 and hide in the pools, and bats that 

 hang in the acacia trees. He travelled 

 in the region of the lion, in the region 

 that "holds the mightiest creatures that 

 tread the earth or swim in its rivers; 

 it also holds distant kinsfolk of these 

 same creatures, no bigger than wood- 

 chucks, which dwell in crannies of the 

 rocks, and in the tree tops. There are 

 antelope smaller than hares and antelope 

 larger than oxen. There are creatures 

 which are the embodiment of grace ; and 

 others whose huge ungainliness is like 

 that of a shape in a nightmare. The 

 plains are alive with droves of strange 

 and beautiful animals whose like is not 

 known elsewhere." The lion is mighty; 

 he is the king of beasts ; but he keeps his 

 place and he has no kingdom. He has 

 not mastered the earth. No beast has 

 ever overcome the earth ; and the 

 natural world has never been conquered 

 bv force. 



