288 LETTERS TO THE " TIMES " v 



he would be at. If the " struggle for existence is 

 always going on " ; and if, as I suppose will be 

 granted, industrial competition is one phase of 

 that struggle, I fail to see how my conclusion that 

 it is sheer wickedness to tell ignorant men that 

 " envy " is a corner-stone of competition can be 

 disputed. 



Mr. Cunningham has followed the lead of that 

 polished and instructed person, Mr. Ben Tillett, 

 in rebuking me for (as the associates say) attack- 

 ing Mr. Booth's personal character. Of course, 

 when I was writing, I did not doubt that this 

 very handy, though not too clean, weapon would 

 be used by one or other of Mr. Booth's supporters. 

 And my action was finally decided by the follow- 

 ing considerations : I happen to be a member of 

 one of the largest life insurance societies. There 

 is a vacancy in the directory at present, for which 

 half a dozen gentlemen are candidates. Now, I 

 said to myself, supposing that one of these gentle- 

 men (whose pardon I humbly beg for starting the 

 hypothesis), say Mr. A., in his administrative 

 capacity and as a man of business, has been the 

 subject of such observations as a Judge on the 

 Bench bestowed upon Mr. Booth, is he a person for 

 whom I can properly vote ? And, if I find, when 

 I go to the meeting of the policy-holders, that 

 most of them know nothing of this and other 

 evidences of what, by the mildest judgment, must 

 be termed Mr. A.'s unfitness for administrative 



