Economic Rivalry or Competition 223 



the industrial world. It is not, nor is it analogous to, 

 biological struggle for existence. 



In another point commercial competition involves psy- 

 chological factors ; appeal is made to the desire and choice 

 of the consumer — what is known as 'demand.' This de- 

 mand may be reached either by direct rivalry for the con- 

 sumer's patronage, or indirectly through means which 

 increase the use of certain articles, set the style, limit 

 variety, etc. In these ways of directing, stimulating, and 

 controlHng demand, all the competitors may be alike bene- 

 fited by the success of one. This is different from the 

 use of brute force, and also from the division of a fixed 

 amount of patronage or gain — processes which would 

 present analogies with the usual methods of biological 

 rivalry. 



{U) The second form of economic rivalry — ' restricted ' 

 competition — is a different matter. It arises when indi- 

 viduals band together either voluntarily or under social 

 compulsion or persuasion to pursue common economic 

 ends in association. This gives to the group economic 

 standing as an agency ; and the members cease to act as 

 individuals. The result is the formulation of purely eco- 

 nomic rules of procedure — of defence and offence — and 

 the elimination of individual temper, judgment, and sense 

 of personal and social responsibility. 



The direct result is that such a society becomes 2, group, 

 and when engaged in competition with other groups gives 

 the phenomenon of ' group selection,' yet it is group selec- 

 tion, in the strict biological sense, only in part. As to 

 the struggle, strictly speaking, of group with group — 

 it is struggle for existence in so far as it means elimina- 

 tion of some groups and survival of others. But its results 



