122 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



sequent power, acquired by manufacture and trade, 

 have likewise fallen to the share of the incapable as 

 well as to the capable, to the exclusion of the greater 

 number of individuals belonging to both classes. 

 Those who lived on the seacoast where to the south 

 and east the construction of harbourage was possible, 

 profited by the development of the trade which at 

 one time arose in those districts ; while later on, 

 and after the establishment of colonies to the 

 west, in the States and Canada, those who lived in 

 the coast district to the west profited in their turn by 

 western trade. Individuals holding land of value to 

 the agriculturist alone, and in its turn yielding great 

 return, have found themselves penniless on account 

 of the importation, at low prices, of agricultural pro- 

 duce. Others holding land containing certain 

 mineral wealth have found themselves greatly in- 

 creased in riches, and everyone in the district has 

 profited by the find. It does not follow, therefore, 

 that because A has acquired wealth and B has not, 

 that A is even a better acquirer of wealth than B, 

 let alone other qualities in which B may have an 

 advantage. It might follow, and would follow in 

 most cases, that A and B would determine their 

 equality or inequality, were they placed under similar 

 conditions. But as we have seen, their conditions 

 seldom are similar ; indeed, to a great extent, wealth 

 acquisition is a lottery. While it cannot be granted 



