xvi AIUSTOCRA C Y AND E VGL UTION 



PAGE 



We can see this by considering the progress of knowledge which, as 



J. S. Mill says, is the foundation of all progress . . . 132 



But all progress in knowledge is the work of "decidedly exceptional 



individuals" , . . . . . .134 



as Mill admits, though in curiously confused language . . 135 



Now how do the exceptional individuals, when they acquire knowledge, 



promote progress by doing so ? . . . . .136 



They promote progress by conveying their knowledge to, and imposing 



their conclusions on, others . . . . -137 



A similar thing is true of invention, which is knowledge applied . 138 



Invention promotes progress only because the inventor influences the 



actions of the workmen who make and use his machines . . 139 



The man of business ability promotes progress also only by so ordering 



others that the precise wants of the public are supplied . . 140 



And the same principle is obviously true in the domain of war, politics, 



and religion ....... 141 



Greatness, however, is not in all cases equally beneficial . . 142 



The influence of some great men is more advantageous than that of 



others ........ 143 



Progress, then, involves a struggle through which the fittest great men 

 shall secure influence over others, and destroy the influence of the 

 less fit ........ 143 



We now come to another point of difference between the fittest great 



man and the fittest survivor ..... 143 



The social counterpart to the Darwinian struggle for survival is to be 



found in the struggle of labourers to find employment . . 1/14 



But this is not the struggle to which historical progress is due . . 145 



For the most rapid progress has taken place without any increased fit- 

 ness in the labourers ...... 145 



The progressive struggle in industry is confined entirely to the em- 

 ployers ; . . ... 146 



and in every domain of progress it is confined to the leaders, to the 



exclusion of those who are led ..... 146 



In the progressive struggle between great men, the mass of the com- 

 munity play no part whatever . . . . .147 



Let us take, for instance, two rival hotel-keepers . . .148 



One becomes bankrupt, and the other takes over his hotel and his 



staff ........ 148 



The sole struggle is between the employers, not the employed . 148 



