128 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



its ferocity. When two lion cubs of the same htter 

 begin to shift for themselves, they must naturally com- 

 pete in the same territory, and their contest is keener 

 than that which involves either of them and a young 

 lion born ten or fifteen miles away. The seeds of one 

 parent plant falling in a restricted area will be engaged in 

 a competitive struggle for existence that is much more 

 intense than many other parts of nature's warfare. 

 In brief, the intensity of the competition will be directly 

 proportional to the similarity of two organisms in 

 constitution and situation, and to the consequent 

 similarity of vital welfare. The interests of the white 

 man and the Indian ran counter to each other a few 

 hundred years ago, and the more powerful colonists 

 won. The assumption of the white man's burden too 

 often demonstrates the natural effect of diversity of 

 interest, and the domination of the stronger over the 

 weaker. In any civihzed community the manufacturer, 

 farmer, financier, lawyer, and doctor must struggle 

 to maintain themselves under the conditions of their 

 total inorganic and social environments ; and in so far 

 as the object of each is to make a living for himself, 

 they are competitors. But the contest becomes more 

 absorbing when it involves broker and broker, lawyer 

 and lawyer, financier and magnate, because in each 

 case the contestants are striving for an identical meed 

 of success. 



Although the severity of the conflict imposed by 

 nature is somewhat modified in the case of social 

 organisms, where community competes with com- 

 munity and nation with nation, no form of social 

 organization has yet been developed where the individ- 



