CHAP, xx SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 289 



working of deep but only half-articulate convic- 

 tions and instincts. Men cannot answer the glib 

 logician, but they are sure there is something upon 

 their side of the case to which he has failed to do 

 justice. Socially and morally it would be no ad- 

 vance if mankind laid aside their conservative mis- 

 givings, and sought to set up an age of reason, 

 with all the schoolboy enthusiasm of the Jacobins. 

 Convictions which are more slowly reached are 

 more deeply grounded. 



Mr. Kidd lays stress upon the sort of competition 

 noted in political economy, personal competition be- 

 tween man and man. Unquestionably this has been 

 a vast historical influence. It had its limits. Cus- 

 tom, as economists since J. S. Mill have taught, very 

 widely forestalled competition in the history of 

 human trade. But the two factors are not neces- 

 sarily inconsistent. They may co-operate, as when 

 custom fixes the amount of a fee, while competition 

 settles who shall do most business and carry off 

 most fees. In that way, or in some fuller way, 

 competition is likely to assert itself irresistibly as 

 the pressure intensifies. Struggle ensures the maxi- 

 mum product. 



But we have not done with custom when we 

 have recognised the increasing power of competi- 

 tion. In other ways social custom has conditioned 

 the working of competition, notably in the class 

 standard of comfort. Men have never competed en 

 masse for the necessaries of life, or for the chance 

 of piling up a fortune by miserliness. Both per- 

 sonal inclination and social pressure have con- 

 strained those who rise in the world to modify 



