38 EVOLUTION OF RELIGION 



tion must continue to be an important factor in evo- 

 lution, and hence that it is not well to check the 

 scope of that principle by a charitable preservation of 

 the incompetent. 1 But why stop merely at the incom- 

 petent ? Do not the spoilers and the exploiters of our 

 race, the criminal, the vicious, the parasitic among 

 mankind, militate equally, if not more, against the 

 general good ? Does not the selfishly egotistical class 

 equally jeopardize the survival of the truly fittest? 

 Life is undoubtedly a fight, a struggle for existence; 

 but there is such a thing as fighting fair and fighting 

 foul. There is such a thing as striking below the belt, 

 or being open and above-board in one's blows. There 

 is such a thing as playing the game squarely and letting 

 the best man win, or playing crooked, with stacked 

 cards and loaded dice, thus allowing the lecher, the 

 thief, and the parasite to issue triumphant. If our 

 view of mankind is not to rise above the level of that 

 of a sort of sublimated " stock farm," in all conscience 

 let us see to it that the stock farm idea be carried out to 

 its rigorous logical conclusion. Let us make the con- 

 ditions of the game as severe as we please, but let us 

 also apply those conditions with rigid impartiality to 

 all alike. Let us make all men abide by the rules of 

 the game, so that the truly fittest shall really survive. 



SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 



You have seen, therefore, that man's intelligence as 

 well as man's emotions can lead him occasionally to 

 i Int. Cyc. vol. IV. p. 617. 



