The Theory of Evolution 23 



disapproval of the authoritative religion they' 

 had disciplined was further expressed in the 

 adoption of creeds wherein each soul made his 

 own contract with heaven, and in which the 

 individualistic point of view was consistently- 

 held. 



It should, perhaps, be observed that the 

 phase of business which formed the cutting 

 edge of the forces breaking up the old order 

 was the commercial rather than the productive, 

 and it is consequently the commercial point of 

 view which gives shape to the newly develop- 

 ing social relations. Now, in commerce the 

 contracting parties met in the theoretical equal- 

 ity of the market place and haggled competi- 

 tively for the best bargain they could severally 

 secure. Trade thus assumed as fundamental 

 principles the whole-hearted pursuit of indi- 

 vidualistic interests, the right to the possession 

 of all the property that one could produce or 

 acquire through contract, and the equality of 

 all men as free agents in bargaining. Practi- 

 cally, this equality worked out much like pitting 

 against each other in a tournament contest- 

 ants who actually were very unequal; when 

 forced upon those who were not assertive in 

 bargaining it resulted little to their advantage. 



