260 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



tries to apply this principle of altruism only to his 

 fellow men and not to animals, and only to those 

 whom he regards as friends, not to his enemies. 

 Within the limits of his nation he endeavors to bring 

 about a condition in which fraternal contests shall 

 cease. The most extreme aspect of this new prin- 

 ciple is in what is known as socialism, for socialism 

 is primarily an attempt to abolish absolutely this 

 condition of rivalry which leads to personal struggle. 

 Socialism tries to make competition impossible by 

 bringing about a new condition of society where there 

 will be no incentive thereto. Whether it would be 

 successful is not for us to answer here. What does 

 concern us is, to notice that civilization develops 

 only as man succeeds in producing an amelioration 

 of the struggle which man has with man. We can, 

 indeed, almost measure the state of civilization by 

 the state of this personal contest. Social progress 

 has ever been ethical in direction and aim. It has 

 ever been along the line of encouraging the individ- 

 ual to take greater interest in his neighbor, and this 

 principle includes all phases of the ethical nature. 



The general upward trend of history has been con- 

 stant. However numerous may have been its ups 

 and downs, the advance of the altruistic nature of 

 man has been constant and has been parallel with 

 the growth of organization. By ups and downs 

 altruism has advanced. A leader centers in himself 

 the support of numerous adherents, and he may use 

 this power for a time to benefit the people. Then 

 he or his followers become despotic, are overthrown, 

 and the power is consigned to some new centralizing 

 force, and the history is repeated. By successive 

 revolutions the history of man proceeds, but each 



