LAW OF MUTUAL HELP, OR ALTRUISM. 65 



" No man is great till he can see 

 How less than little he would be 

 If all alone and stark and bare 

 He hung his sign out anywhere." Riley. 



Will altruism do away with the struggle for exist- 

 ence ? Can we save all the waste of competition by 

 cooperation ? Can do little more than do our own 

 duty, and work for civic freedom, justice, and honesty. 

 Evolution moves slowly. The world never moved by 

 dynamite, nor lifted by boot-straps. 



Loss in altruism. Mutual help induces mutual 

 dependence. The self-sufficiency of single all the 

 independence 'of Robinson Crusoe. Weakness of civ- 

 ilization. But this price must be paid for the ad- 

 vantages. Specialization goes with integration ; that 

 with mutual dependence. 



Degradation of cooperation. 



Hydroids. Corals. Sponges. Portuguese man-of-war. 



Wherever there is no premium placed on variations 

 nor on superior self-activity, degeneration sets in. 



New Harmony. Icaria. Kaweah. Bellamy's plans. 

 All colonies must fail where men reap who have not 

 sown ; where rewards come alike to the active and the 

 idle, the bright and the dull ; where drones and 

 workers have equal access to the honey cells. Each 

 man must be responsible for his own destiny. 



Marriage by official selection. Life of official per- 

 mission. Failure of socialistic attempts through see- 

 ing half-truths only. Law of self-activity must not be 

 impeded by law of help. 



Future possibilities of altruism. Tendencies towards 

 state socialism. Dangers. 



