26o Force and the Social Structure 



of ideas and force — of the intellectual and the 

 physiological struggle — in civilization. 



The essential function of business as a co- 

 operative link between an existing demand and a 

 possible source of supply, and its basis in mutual 

 confidence and the observance of contract is often 

 overshadowed in the minds of business men by 

 the more obvious elements of competition. The 

 English author of a recent book states the philo- 

 sophy of force for the business world as follows: 



You cannot abolish war from a competitive system 

 of civilization: competition is the root-basis of the 

 system of civilization and competition is war. When 

 a business man crushes a trade rival from the market 

 by cut prices, there is exactly the same process at 

 work as when a business nation crushes a trade rival 

 by physical force. The means vary but the end in 

 view and the ethical principles in question are identical. 

 In both cases the weaker goes to the wall; in both 

 cases it is woe to the vanquished. ^ 



Monopoly in business reproduces the principle 

 of compulsory co-operation of the philosophy of 

 force. Admiral Mahan^ has stated the analogy 

 between industrial and political organization 

 thus: 



The force of concentrated capital is as real and 

 material as the force of an organized army, and it has 

 the same advantage over a multitude of unorganized 



' Rifleman, The Struggle for Bread, p. 209. 

 ' "The Place of Force in International Relations," North 

 American Review, January, 1912. 



