96 THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 



dency, tends to continue and intensify it; when a given 

 social order plainly makes for evil and not for good, 

 men naturally enough begin to think it high time to try 

 a fresh experiment. The animal man, finding that the 

 ethical man has landed him in such a slough, resumes 

 his ancient sovereignty, and preaches anarchy; which 

 is, substantially, a proposal to reduce the social cosmos 

 to chaos, and begin the brute struggle for existence 

 once again. 



Any one who is acquainted with the state of the popu- 

 lation of all great industrial centres, whether in this or 

 other countries, is aware that, amidst a large and increas- 

 ing body of that population, la misere reigns supreme. I 

 have no pretensions to the character of a philanthropist, 

 and I have a special horror of all sorts of sentimental 

 rhetoric; I am merely trying to deal with facts, to some 

 extent within my own knowledge, and further evidenced 

 by abundant testimony, as a naturalist; and I take it to 

 be a mere plain truth that, throughout industrial Eu- 

 rope, there is not a single large manufacturing city 

 which is free from a vast mass of people whose condi- 

 tion is exactly that described; and from a still greater 

 mass who, living just on the edge of the social swamp, 

 are liable to be precipitated into it by any lack of de- 

 mand for their produce. And, with every addition to 

 the population, the multitude already sunk in the pit 

 and the number of the host sliding towards it continually 

 increase. 



Argumentation can hardly be needful to make it 

 clear that no society in which the elements of decompo- 

 sition are thus swiftly and surely accumulating can 

 hope to win in the race of industries. 



Intelligence, knowledge, and skill are undoubtedly 

 conditions of success; but of what avail are they likely 

 to be unless they are backed up by honesty, energy, good- 



