212 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE v 



be devised, no fiddle-faddling with the distribu- 

 tion of wealth,, will deliver society from the ten- 

 dency to be destroyed by the reproduction within 

 itself,, in its intensest form, of that struggle for 

 existence the limitation of which is the object of 

 society. And however shocking to the moral 

 sense this eternal competition of man against man 

 and of nation against nation may be; however 

 revolting may be the accumulation of misery at 

 the negative pole of society, in contrast with that 

 of monstrous wealth at the positive pole; * this 

 state of things must abide, and grow continually 

 worse, so long as Istar holds her way unchecked. 

 It is the true riddle of the Sphinx; and every 

 nation which does not solve it will sooner or later 

 be devoured by the monster itself has generated. 



The practical and pressing question for us, just 

 now, seems to me to be how to gain time. " Time 

 brings counsel," as the Teutonic proverb has it; 

 and wiser folk among our posterity may see their 

 way out of that which at present looks like an 

 impasse. 



It would be folly to entertain any ill-feeling 

 towards those neighbours and rivals who, like our- 

 selves, are slaves of Istar; but, if somebody is to 

 be starved, the modern world has no Oracle of 

 Delphi to which the nations can appeal for an 



* [It is hard to say whether the increase of the un- 

 employed poor, or that of the unemployed rich, is the 

 greater social evil.- 1894.] 



