The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-25
Letters From
the People
- ssk> IL - ~ Aak~S =
PROGRESS UPWARDS AND COM
PETITION

Editor ertiser:-Although there
is no immediate danger of a law being
passed for compulsory closing of the
stores at FIVE o'clock as suggested by
Mr. II. Culman in an article that ap-
peared in your Sunday paper, 1t is well
to be reminded that it is no longer the
saying-the greatest good to the greatest
number-but the greatest good to all.
Under our present social system such
a restriction as he advocates would be
entirely out of place. Such restraint
would run contrary to the spirit of
our laws and institutions, which guar
antee-the free field and no favor.
Gameness and endurance are still
success factors in the commercial game.
And commercial life is the main
spring of civilization All the bless
ings of life are the direct outcome of
this struggle, there is no substitute
for it.
The spirit of competition, if there
be any truth in evolution at all, is the
SOuECN VI dll GudG uSN clODIHHut WHICH,
we so proudly call progress.
To adopt any methods in order to
check or even lessen the struggle is
therefore deemed disastrous when APP
piled to the mass of humanity.
1t is wrong to reduce the prizes of
success artifcially.
All the prizes in the shape of wealth,
social advantage, ease, leisure and any
of the other desirable things, all can
gain. 1t only requires the Cosnlic urge.
No attempt should be made to ar
rest the getting of the necessaries of
life, lest the starvation of the primary
instincts may cause the disappearance
of the virtues developed by the free
operation of those instincts.
In commercial life the methods of
scientific militarism are employed, and
any check to these methods has no real
place in the constitution of our present
day advanced society.
The social order of today is estab-
lished for ''the good of all. y
Already in some countries measures
have been adopted for poor relief, old
age pensions, state medical aid and
public charity which always stands
ready for the good of all, but legal
restraint should be avoided as contra
vening the sacred principle of I'M
limited and unrestricted competition.
The iron law of nature is everywhere
to be found to assist man in the path
of human progress, and the whole up
ward struggle of rational man, wheth-
er physically, socially or morally has
been with the help of this hard tyrant
of nature the law of competition.
In the physical world man has ae-
complished mastery through inventions.
Every utensil of labor, every me-
chanical device, every object of design
and every artificial form that serves
the human purpose is triumph OF
man over obstacles, with the always
present help and spur of competition.
In the social world it is human in
situations, religion, government, law
that have been thought out and adopt
ed to advance "the good for all. -
That competition is natural force is
undeniable. This is natures plan of
improving the type and developing in
dividuals, and finally the perfecting OF
the State as an organism.
This condition is very unfavorable
to the development of idlers, but it is
an environment" whose goal is the
Improvement and greatest "good for
all.' A COUPON CLIPPER.