Workmen's advocate., 1888-05-19

earth; if it be taken to the top of mountain its boiling point is lowered and if it be mixed with saline matter, as sea water, its freezing point iS raised. In the same way there are notifications to the laws of biology as other laws.
 To-day it is not the fatalities of nature that destroy us, but the artificial tatali ties, the result of our snCia and eConom- lCal system; the Overworking, over crowding, under-feeding and insufficient clothing of the wealth producing masses; whilst the land, the mines, and the means of production, the result of the social collective labor of the past. are monOpolized by the wealth-eXploiting classes. It is not nature that distributes the advantages and disadvantages of her children to-day so much as society, which is human and reyisable. All wealth, both material and intellectual, is social in its origin, and repres nts the power of man over nature; and the more humanity advanceS, the more power it will have over nature. Wealth and power are not the result of natural su- periority, no more than poverty and misery are that of natural inferiorty, whether considered physically, mentally or morally. Physical strength, mental ability and moral reCtitude have little influence on the distribution of the wealth created by the collective labor of past and contemporary generations.
 The indivdualists of the iuiSSez- -fOne school, with their perverted ideas of Darwiniansm, find in tittest very convenient word to play quibbles with, and base their fallaCies upon. In egolu- tion, what is meant by natural selection, or the survival of the tittest, is that those beings which are least qualified for or adaped to certain environment will tend to die out If the conditions be favorable to a higher life, higher type of beings will be evolved; but if the con ditions be unfavorable to a high life, then more degraded beings will be de veloped. By survival of the littest is meant not survival of the best, save in the sense of best adapted for that par ticular environment. The civilized Eu- ropean cannot contend with the unfaVor- able conditions of some countries, such as the Arctic regions, the West Coast of Africa, the malarlous districts of Amer l iCa, whilst the aboriglnes, through | adaptation of generations, can. The un- favorable social, political and economical | conditions of country, like these un- favorable natural conditions, tend to the | develOpment of those individuals adaI t. | ed to such a condition and to crush out | the best of humanity. Will those that prate so loudly of the survival of the titteSt as the explanation of the cause of extreme poverty on the one hand, and | extreme Opulence on the other, justify | the burning of philosophers at the stake | during the Middle Ages on the same ground? It is but the logical outcome
 of the same argument We do not say | that the laws of biology, any more than l the law of gravitation, can be abolished | or suspended, we maintain that like
 other laws, they can be modified, and | should be modified in the interest of hu-
 manity. But that the law as stated by | our opponents does not apply to society
 to-day as they would have us believe
 can be seen by the fact of a philosopher | being born ill cottage, and an idiot in the palatial residence of duke. Society
 has been established by the victory it l has obtained over nature, and society
 should cherish and foster those individ
 uals that benefit and support society,
 and instead of destroying the droneS
 convert them into workers, and in place
 of the struggle for existence between in | dividuals society that has grown out of | barbarism should strive for the co.Opera-
 tion for the existence of society as so-
 ciety. The struggle for existence being | replaced by the struggle of the whole to
 bring about a better system, where the
 interest of one shall be the interest of
 all, and the devil-take-the -hindermost
 doctrine, which is only fit for wolves
 and hyenas. will be succeeded by the re
 hgion of Socialism-the only religion
 that will save society-that of each for
 all and all for each-the solidarity of the
 workers and the emancipation of hu-
 manity. ". Halis-HdrriS, m London
 Justice.