78 DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 



from the struggle for existence" ? That would 

 be a valid objection, if we suppose the present 

 system of free competition in the labour market 

 to continue for ever. If employers of labour 

 remain a separate class (instead of becoming 

 directors of labour, acting solely on behalf of 

 the whole community), and are free to import 

 the labour of cheaper and more prolific races, 

 as we have seen even the patriotic Strauss 

 suggesting, there would certainly be a con- 

 tinuous degeneration of the species. But, most 

 assuredly, the day will come and very soon, 

 when the workers of all the more civilised 

 nations will join together not to undersell each 

 other ; and by that time employers will not be 

 absolutely free to import Chinese or Malays, 

 who would practically be slaves of a new type. 

 It might, however, be objected that if the 

 more civilised nations keep their numbers fairly 

 on a level with the means of subsistence at 

 home, there will no longer be the stream of 

 emigrants pouring forth from our shores to 

 civilise the world and develop the resources 

 of new countries : " the abler races " will be 

 " withdrawing from the struggle for existence." 

 There are some people who seem to think that 



