328 Social Evolution 



societies where the individual's happiness is on the 

 whole highest, and where progress is most real and 

 valuable, are precisely these where the grinding com- 

 petition and the struggle for mere existence is least 

 severe. Undoubtedly in very progressive society 

 there must be a certain sacrifice of individuals, so 

 that there must be a certain proportion of failures 

 in every generation ; but the actual facts of life prove 

 beyond shadow of doubt that the extent of this 

 sacrifice has nothing to do with the rapidity or worth 

 of the progress. The nations that make most prog- 

 ress may do so at the expense of ten or fifteen indi- 

 viduals out of a hundred, whereas the nations that 

 make least progress, or even go backward, may sacri- 

 fice almost every man out of the hundred. 



This last statement is in itself partly an answer 

 to the position taken by Mr. Kidd that there is for 

 the individual no "rational sanction" for the con- 

 ditions of progress. In a progressive community, 

 where the conditions provide for the happiness of 

 four-fifths or nine-tenths of the people, there is un- 

 doubtedly a rational sanction for progress both for 

 the community at large and for the great bulk of its 

 members; and if these members are on the whole 

 vigorous and intelligent, the attitude of the smaller 

 fraction who have failed will be a matter of little 

 consequence. In such a community the conflict be- 

 tween the interests of the individual and the organ- 

 ism of which he is a part, upon which Mr. Kidd lays 

 so much emphasis, is at a minimum. The stress is 

 severest, the misery and suffering greatest, among 



