xviii ARISTOCRACY AND EVOLUTION 



I'AGE 



So-called " co-operation " is merely the wage-system disguised . 163 



There are, then, only two alternatives the wage-system and the slave- 

 system ; . . . . . . . 164 



as we shall find by considering how the socialists can only escape the 



wage-system by substituting slavery . . . .165 



For they would secure industrial obedience by coercion, . . 166 



not through the worker's desire to earn his living. And this is the 



essence of slavery . . . . . . .166 



Next let us consider the means by which the great directors of industry 



compete against one another . . . . .167 



Under capitalism they do so, owing to the fact that the man who 

 cannot direct industry so as to please the public loses his capital, 

 and with it the means of direction .... 167 



The wage -system is the only efficient means of competition of this 



kind 168 



The socialists, though they affect to be opposed to competition alto- 

 gether, ........ 168 



re-introduce it into their own system, . . . . 1 70 



the only change being that it is associated with the slave-system, which 



is very cumbrous and inefficient . . . . .170 



Competition between employers, then, is a part of every system that 



permits of progress ; . . . . . 1 72" 



and since the re-introduction of slavery is practically impossible, we 

 must regard the wage-system as a permanent feature of progressive 

 societies ........ 172 



We might reduce society to ashes, but this system and capitalistic 



competition would arise out of them ; . . . 173 



for capitalistic competition means the domination of the fittest great men 1 74 



The industrial obedience of the many to the few is the fundamental 



condition of progress . . . ./ . .174 



CHAPTER IV 



THE MEANS BY WHICH THE GREAT MAN ACQUIRES POWER 

 IN POLITICS 



In discussing the means by which the great man wields power in 

 politics, the debatable question differs from the question raised by 

 his power in industry ; . . . . . .176 



