THE PRICE OF DEVELOPMENT 



dominant are so by virtue of their superior quali- 

 ties, physical, moral, or intellectual. It is not a 

 question of might except in so far as this question 

 is linked with the question of moral and intellectual 

 superiority. 



Is there, then, no such thing as equity, justice, 

 fair play in the world? Shall I seize my neighbor's 

 farm and despoil him of his goods and chattels be- 

 cause I am stronger than he? Shall one state in- 

 vade and despoil another, or seize its territory, be- 

 cause it is stronger and considers itself more fit to 

 survive? 



The rule of might, as I have said, prevails 

 throughout the world of matter and of life below 

 man, and long prevailed in pre-human and human 

 history. But the old law of nature has been limited 

 and qualified by a new law which has come into the 

 world and which is just as truly a biological law in 

 its application to man as was the old law of might. 

 I refer to the law of man's moral nature, the source 

 of right, justice, mercy. The progress of the race 

 and of the nations is coming more and more to 

 depend upon the observance of this law. Without 

 it there is no organization, no cooperation, no com- 

 merce, no government. Without it anarchy would 

 rule, and our civilization would crumble and society 

 disintegrate. 



The moral sense of mankind is now the dominant 

 fact in human history; the rule of might has been 



141 



