community to prevent any of its members from dying of starva- 

 tion. Thus famine can only operate in the remote contingency of 

 national bankruptcy. War, again, has not in the present century 

 been waged to such an e:Stent or with such severity as to seriously 

 affect the question. The mitigation and prevention of various 

 forms of disease which is undertaken by the community similarly 

 show that the strain has been transferred from the shoulders of 

 the individual to those of the community. 



The principle of unlimited competition which was taught as 

 an article of faith by Adam Smith, for many years naturally led 

 to non-intervention in industrial concerns. The philanthropist 

 was the first to break through this barrier and make the country 

 feel that human life was of greater value than to follow out the 

 logical consequences of the " dismal science." Once the State 

 had intervened by limiting the hours of labour of women and 

 children and by forbidding them from undertaking certain kinds 

 of labour, the sluice gates were opened and it only became a 

 question of time as to how soon State Socialism on a gigantic 

 scale should replace the strict Individualism of the older 

 economists. When Trades Unions secured legal recognition of 

 their activity a further momentous stride had been taken. 



The Elementary Education of all children, and the provision 

 of funds for assisting workmen to obtain a mastery of their trade 

 through Technical Education, are further steps in the collectivist 

 direction. The action of the central Grovernment in undertaking 

 the post-ofiice and telegraph, and more recently the telephone, 

 and in offering to collect savings and to insure lives ; and of 

 local bodies in undertaking to provide water, gas, and electricity, 

 to run tramways, build houses, &c., for the community, are other 

 instances in* point. The last and most ominous sign is the 

 demand that our local bodies shall provide work in winter for the 

 " unemployed !" Nationalization of the land has not yet become 

 a plank in any influential political platform in England ; but in 

 Australia and New Zealand it has been partially tried. None of 

 these steps when once taken can be retraced. It is evident that 

 the pressure of the struggle for existence tends to be more and 

 more transferred from the individual to the community. 

 When we pass from civilization to the principles of morality, and 

 when the principle of self-denial becomes a powerful motive in 

 the life of the members of a community, we have introduced a 

 new moral environment which alters very largely the results of 

 evolution. In this respect man to a large extent makes his own 

 environment. It is evident that the effect of this altered moral 



