144 UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION 



natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, in the 

 struggle for existence, is, and it is never done "in the 

 interest of a few superiors," but in the interest of the 

 increased power, or struggle of the whole cosmos, in- 

 cluding man, who seems to be only one passing phase 

 of it. 



"The orderly and beautiful world which we see 

 around us" has been thus orderly and beautiful ever 

 since life began on the globe. What is called "the 

 struggle for existence" in all animal and vegetable life 

 is as much a struggle now as it ever was. It is not a 

 conflict of arms with great turmoil and personal war. 

 It is a silent natural process, unconscious to the contest- 

 ants, and without apparent design. Natural selection 

 is a negative, not a positive force, and Darwin said that 

 he was unfortunate in calling it by the name "natural 

 selection." Perhaps the better term is the "survival 

 of the fittest." The unfit naturally and quietly die, 

 while the fit survive, not by their own consent or effort, 

 but by a law beyond the control of either. This is so, 

 not only with individuals, but with all forms of social 

 aggregations. The struggles constantly going on in 

 commercialism, for instance, called competition among 

 men, while designed by the men themselves, are subject 

 to the same law. Over ninety per cent, of business units 

 succumb because their methods are unfit. Tribes, soci- 

 eties, nations, come and go, by the same law. This is no 

 argument against the use of reason by men. But that 

 reason must be used for the purpose of conforming 

 man's and society's efforts, to discovering what is fit, 

 and therefore enduring. The reason cannot change 

 the law. It may eventually be able to bring society 

 in proper relation to it, but it has not done so yet. The 

 small per cent, of individuals in society who are in 



