The Theory of Evolution 2y 



tem. Their discontent with governmental reg- 

 ulation came to a head in the campaign against 

 the established poor-laws. It appears that Eng- 

 land was, in a measure, relieving the wants of 

 her innumerable beggars, but the unwisely ad- 

 ministered charity had the effect of interfering 

 with dividends, since it eased the harsh condi- 

 tions that served as a spur to labor in the hated 

 factories. As a result of the campaign of the 

 factory lords, charity was eventually curtailed, 

 though some concessions had to be made to the 

 combined forces of custom and sentiment. 

 From the first of the controversy, however, the 

 apologists of the business leaders felt the need 

 of a philosophy that should forcibly represent 

 charity as an evil — a need that presently was 

 supplied, as we shall see. 



In America, the same point of view as to 

 business liberty and the breaking of the restric- 

 tions of government came to prevail. With 

 the active sympathy of the new business classes 

 of England, a revolution was fought to escape 

 the regulations that the imperial government 

 imposed. The American farmers, who had 

 little stake in the cpuarrel, bore the brunt of the 

 conflict, and through their sacrifices the new 

 gospel of free competition was set up in un- 



