The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-11-24
AN IMMUTABLE LAW.
The UnremittlnS Competition Which IL Mt
Work Wherever We May Go.

The Unremittlng Competition Which Il Mt
Work Wherever We May Go.
The man who fears to go into an en-
terprise on account of competition is
not made of that sort of stuff which
leads to marked success. Whether
recognized or not, there is no living
except under the most unremitting
competition. Whether millionaire or
pauper, old business man or the one
of new enterprises, competition in
some of its forms is ever at work, and
he who would escape competition must
escape from life. This is well illus
trated by Kingsley's ''Do-as-you-lile
race" a race who were provided for
by the droppings from trees. With
nothing to do, the race degenerated
below the apes, and finally ceased to
eXist-simplY because they had nothing
to do.
Competition means strife, antagon-
ism; in short, war. 1t exists both in
the natural world and the business
world. Sir William Grove. in lecture
delivered at the Royal Institution OF
Great Britain on 'antagOnism, says
that lit is a necessity of existence. and
of the organism of the universe, so far
as we understand it; that motion and
life can not go on without it; that it is
not mere casual adjunct of nature,
but that without it there would be no
nature, at all events as we conceive it;
that it is inevitably associated with I'M
organized matter, with organized mat
ter, and with sentient beings" This
is q very broad definition, but it is I'M
qualifedly true. AS an example Of an
tagonism in nature, the lecturer speaks
first of pulling forces between the
planets. If the one pulling force is not
counterbalanced by the other, then the
one body falls into the other; is, in fact,
wiped out by competition. In the sub
stance of the earth force and resistance
are constantly at work; nothing is at
rest, and every atom seems to be com
peting with its neighbor. When we
come to organic life we find the law of
competition still more plainly to be
seen; every blade of grass, every plant,
is fighting with its neighbor for the
means of living. 1t is Darwin's ''strug-
gle for existence" and this very
struggle is necessary to the life of the
vegetable world. In animal life the
struggle or competition is still palmer
to the view The naturalist no longer
talks of peaceful nature" for he
knows there is no such thing, but ma
ture is scene of incessant warfare.
Birds in their little nests do not agree,
but the stoutest push the weaker ones
out.
Coming to man, we find the Same
competition, the same struggle for eX-
istence. In the most barbaric races
those who can not stand the competition,
who can no longer take care of them
selves, are killed to get them out OF
the way. In civilized society, however,
while there is no change in the war
fare going on, the victims are some
what better treated. Instead of being
killed by the victorious competitors,
these latter pass around the hat, so to
speak, to provide the necessaries O
life for those who have been conquered
This, we suppose, is what may be
called the amenities of life.
Advancing from the individual tC
communities, the same warfare is al
work. Community is against commu-
nifty, town against town. city against
city, nation against nation. In the
moral world the same forces are at
work. From the law of competition
there is no escape, and it is "a good
thing for the well-being of all.-StorcS
and HardUure.