The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-12-10

for existence and say that competition
bruta ICES the race inasmuch as man
sinks to the level of brute in striving
for something that others are In need
s +. This is thought worthy of con-
sideration. Does competitions brutal
ize the race? Not by any means as
much as the reformers would have us
believe. 1t does harden individuals to
a certain extent and causes men to
drive some very hard bargains. Yet it
makes stronger men, mentally, morally
and physically than would result under
a non-competitive system. A brute is
supposed to lack sympathy. The more
hard knocks man gives the more he
receives and the more chance there is
for the development of the sympathetic
part of his nature. Strong men are as
naturally charitable and merciful as
weak men are selfish, and as competi-
tion tends to develop strong men it
likewise develops sympathetic men far
removed from the brute, and tends to
raise the standard Of the race as q
whole. Under q competitive system
only the capable can keep up in the
conflict for existence; it is the survival
of the fittest. The weakIings are weed
ed out and left behind; many Of them
die in poverty and despair; others drift
into asylums or workhopses and be-
come public charges in many ways.
All this is very true and very sad, but
is competition to blame? Would we
not have the same conditions under a
non-competitive system and to more
dangerous extent? By very reason of
their hard lot in life this class has very
little chance to marry and increase, but
under the ideal system proposed by
those who favor non-competition, life
would be made 80 pleasant for these
incompetents that they would multiply
in numbers, both by reproduction and
by the addition of others who under
competition are just able to hang on to
the leaders but who would readily be-
come non-workers if the life of this
class was made as pleasant as proposed
under non.competition. For under
non-competition the hardest worker
would not enjoy any benefit not enjoyed
by all. How easy to fall back to the
third grade if the first and second.held
out no inducements!
The incentive competition gives man
to rise would be taken away, and as
the race would not stand still it neces-
sarily follows that al would sink to
the level of the lowest, and the race
would be brutalized indeed. To sum
up tie proposition, competition gives
every man chance to work up from
the lowest to the highest standard.
Non-competition gives the weaklings
and incompetents an opportunity of
pulling everyone down to their l.vel.
1t would be wrong to blame compe-
titiun for the prevalent dishonesty in
business. The individual, not compe-
tition is to hlame. Competition may
make the temptation stronger, but it is
the man allie to Withstand temptation
who W II eventually succeed The dis
honest are always found out, as recent
disclosures show For the past i've
years the country has been unusua' ly
prosperous and very busy, hence oppor-
tunity came and few of the weaker
members Of the business world yielded
Now we are having general cleaning
up, the dishonest men will be dropped
and those remaining will be better and
stronger men from having withstood
temptation. Non-competition might
remove temptations from our way, but
what kind of race would result :?
Who is the stronger, the man who has
never been tempted or the man who
has been tempted and through all has
preserved his honor? Pure food laws
and demand for stricter code of
morals in business show that competi-
tion is alive to this evil and proposes
to remedy it.
Among the alluring prospects held
out by those in favor of abolishing
competition, there is none which appeals
to the masses SO much as the promise
of less work. They claim that if every
one did his share of the work and if
there was no interest, rent and profit
to pay, the worlds work could be done
in five or six hours out of twenty -four.
i 9 are not sure Of these figures, but