DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 75 



to the whole community in time of peace than 

 .his military training is to the peasant or artisan. 

 Of all the objections made to the equality of 

 the sexes the only one that deserves very 

 serious attention is that made by Sir James 

 Fitzjames Stephen in his clever attack on J. S. 

 Mill. He points out (in Liberty, Equality, 

 Fraternity, 1 ) that women may suffer more than 

 they have done, if plunged into a nominally 

 equal but really unequal contest in the already 

 overcrowded labour market. The conclusion 

 usually drawn from this argument is a senti- 

 mental reaction in favour of the old family 

 ideal (for instance in Mr. Besant's books). 

 There is another alternative, and that is the 

 socialistic. The elevation of the status of 

 women and the regulation of the conditions of 

 labour are ultimately inseparable questions. 

 On the basis of individualism I cannot see how 

 it is possible to answer the objections of Sir J. 

 Fitzjames Stephen. 



1 Pp. 253, 254. (Edit. 2.) Sir J. F. Stephen sees quite 



clearly what is hid from the eyes of many Liberals, that the 



change from status to contract produces "not equality but 



inequality in its harshest and least sympathetic form " (p. 



-249). 





