The times., 1897-12-19
The Struggle of Life

correspondent of The Times asks why
we insist that the struggle of life has ad-
vanced from individuals to ma tions. The
fabrics Were made in the cottage, on a
handlu-m. and when the product of the
loom tound its market in the neighboring
village. liz exchange for groceries /; nd
ton. flax. and other things are concentrated
at cente:s, where there are vast aggrega-
tionS of capital and enormous plants. and
where armies of laboring people are en-
There are one or two In Amarica, speak
ing Of cotton manufacture, by way e il
lustration, and there are Others in England
Now, when it comes to a struggle be-
tween the looms OF this and other countries
to supply the waits or tile world, the
struggle OF existence" has mounted from
personal or sectional bases to a struggle
between nations. We have used cotton
merely as an illustration. Take the iron
industry, Ter example. There was time,
and not long ago, when Great Britain
dominated it. Its coal mines and the
red heTnatite ores of Yorkshire made the
price OF all products of the iron mines.
But that day is past. Birmingham, Ala !,
dictates the price OF pig-iron the world
around, and our ability cheapiy to mine Goa |,
to make irtn, and to make steel in ccmpeti-
tion wifi all the other producing countries
OF the world renders il practicable for US
to lay the rails OF English railways and
to make the pipes for Japanese water
works. This is the struggle OF life be-
tween nations, and are we to suppose
that countries like England and Germany,
who also make steel rails and Ppies. who
raising coal ana iron ore, and turning them
into iron and steel products, will stand it
forever?
No, These things mean that the ability
OF America to turn out the basic com N 0di-
ties OF human interchange, at a cost less
than that at which they can be produced
III other regions, is a menace to he in
dustriaI populations OF Europe, ami Count
6oluchowsl:y was not far wrong when
he said that, If the Western hemisphere
Were to adopt bimeta llisIn. the commercial
power OF western Europe would be lost.
The proposition is simple one. With
our population OF over T0,00O,0O ecple:
with the military power that Suca an
aeEregatiun includes, and with the W w,alth,
energy nd naval force that the American
Union could show, the powers Of Europe
are thoioughly well aware that the great
western Republic, In time, might be n
match for All of them combined.
What are they doing in the face of these
prospects? They are represented by lobby
in Washington this winter, ready to spend
millions to defeat the annexation of Ia
waii, which would give US the con-rol of
American canal between the oceans! II
it is conceivable that they could accom-
plish this, that they could buy statesmen
enough to destroy our hopes as to Aincri-
struggle of life, indeed. back to its sim
plest limits in America. They could Ina Ike
us a miserable provincial mass of people.
without hope OF foreign commerce, without
the possibility OF remunerative surplus pro-
duction, and without the slightest chance
OF influence in the affairs OF the world
To impress these American views upon
our people is part OF the mission of The
OF being able TO do il. All around us
the bristinS Qualifications and fleet guns
of Great Britain warn us that the day
when we may have co fight for our coal
mines. our iron plants, our wheat fields
and our cotton mills is almost at hand.