The Moral Equivalent for War 63 



gress? Since the struggle against the physical 

 environment is the most constant struggle which 

 the individual has to endure, it is natural that the 

 amount of happiness should be in direct proportion 

 to the importance of the victory attained in this 

 field. But this victory is the adaptation of the 

 environment to the needs of the individual. 

 Adaptation is obtained by economic work. To say 

 that progress results from collective homicide is 

 equivalent to affirming that the well-being of man 

 does not result from the adaptation of his environ- 

 ment to his needs. This disregard of the existence 

 of the universe constitutes the most profound de- 

 ception imaginable in the realm of social science. 

 The importance of labour as the real struggle 

 of the human race is recognized increasingly by all 

 students of social problems. One of them sums up 

 the case against the first error of the philosophy 

 of force as follows : 



Labour is the great Conqueror. Not War butWork, 

 is the great Educator; and the essential watchword of 

 all permanent advance. ... It is not the men that 

 give up fighting, who lose stamina and virility, but 

 the men who give up work. The most "unfit" are 

 they who least co-operate in the great struggle of their 

 race against whatever in its environment obstructs 

 real progress and development. And of all such 

 obstacles War is the greatest, as may at any time 

 clearly be seen from the condition of those peoples 

 who chiefly occupy their time in conflict, either with 

 their neighbours or among themselves.^ 



' W. L. Grane, The Passing of War, p. 6i. 



