PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES OP THE LIBERAL REGIME 461 



social competition ? Let us allow others to reply. "La libra 

 concurrence," writes Professor Victor Basch, " n'a pas tenu ce 

 qu'eUe a promis. L'harmonie qu'elle avait prevu entre I'interet 

 individuel et I'iateret coUectif ne s'est pas realisee. Dans I'etat 

 social cree conformement a ce principe, dans la societe capitaliste, 

 ce ne sont pas necessairement ni ordinairement les individus les 

 plus meritants qui prosperent et se multiplient d'avantage que 

 ceux de moiridre merite. De plus la justice sociale y est a tout 

 instant violee par le fait . . . que la misere immeritee dans 

 laqueUe naissent et vivent la majorite des autres, ne les empeche 

 pas seulement de triompher dans la lutte, mais meme de I'en- 

 gager." ^ The influence of the prevailing social conditions, result- 

 ing from Liberal polity, on the upper classes is not better than on 

 the lower. Professor Loria has very justly remarked that where 

 the propertied classes live at the expense of the non-propertied 

 classes, the former cannot possibly acquire any force : they are, 

 on the contrary, spoiled by the very fact of their parasitism and 

 inactivity ; whereas those who labour for the whole of society 

 succumb as a result of overwork. In a competition waged under 

 such conditions, individual superiorities have little, if any, chance 

 of being developed, any more than individual inferiority has the 

 chance of being eliminated, as it would be if it were left to its 

 miaided resource, ia accordance with the law of natural selection. ^ 

 Spencer has himself remarked, in this connection, that " there 

 still survives, though much weakened, the behef that it is honour- 

 able to do nothing but seek enjoyment, and relatively dis- 

 honourable to pass Hfe in supplying others with the means to 

 enjoyment." ^ And the regime which has fostered the growth of 

 this eminently anti-social spirit must be held responsible for its 

 products. Let us turn to the result of the Liberal competitive 



* V. Bascli, L '' Individualisme AruircMste : Max Stirner, pp. 203, 204. 

 Paris, Alcan, 1904. 



^ A. Loria, PrdbUmes sociaux corde/nvporains, pp. 123 §. Paris, Giard 

 and Briere, 1897. 



^ The, Study of Sociology, p. 255. 



