Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-05-19
STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.

SIhUGGL6 fOh hAlo bNOb'
The moment a living being appears
in the world murderouS army sets
to work to kill it. Consider the bugs
that beset the infant cucumber vino
and the crawling, creeping, Shiny
tribes that prey upon the nascent
rosebush. No sooner does the apple
tree put forth its fragrant bloom than
the insidious coddling moth lays her
destructive egg where it will blight
and blast. As for the humaa infant,
it is wonder of wonders that he
ever lives to years of discretion under
the assault of his foes. If he sucks
his bottle flood of lethal germs pour
down into his stomach with the mill
The air swarms with germs of ! her
culosis lying in wait to lodge in his
lungs. If he goes out of doors the
alienation of heat and cold slays
him. If he stays in the house. the
even temperature weakens him.
There is death for the unWary child
in the luscious green apple, and the
enticing carbolic acid bottle. The
world is bent upon his destruction. If
he escapes, it is either because Prov
idence keeps special watch and ward
over his ways, or more likely because
he was made so tough TO start with
that he is indestructible, like an old
hoop skirt or an Indian rubber shoe.
Such is the struggle for existence
which in our faulty we SET upon n
pedestal and worship as If ii ~as an
idol made entirely of gold instead of
being for the most part of clay. 1t is
a warfare of the whole universe
against each individual, unfair, cruel
and wasteful.We say that it developes
in men many high and noble qualities,
but when We say so we speak unthink-
ingly; because the struggle for exist
ence developes those qualities only
which are useful in the struggle. All
others it eliminates. What would
happen to the lion which would show
pity to the bleating kid? He would
starve. The benificent struggle for
existence would swiftly make an end
of him, while his wiser rival would de-
YOUR the kid just the same. What
would become of the man in business
who would conduct his affairs accord
ing to the golden rule! The bank
ruptcy court yawns for such as he.
The salmon and the shad lay a mil
lion eggs for every one that comes to
maturity when they are left to take
their chances in the struggle for ex-
istence. Nor is it the fish of the
sweetest meat and the fattest which
escapes its foes, but the swiftest, the
most wary and toughest.
The struggle for existence is as un-
intelligent as it is cruel and wasteful. |
1t knows nothing of excellence or of |
good or bad. 1t preserves the typhoid |
germ with the same care as the ap-
pie seed, but with no more. it treats
Shakespeare and the rattlesnake PIE
cisely alike. 1t reaches its end by
slaughter.
1t never invented an intelligent de-
vice or economical method. The in
slant any living being comes into
of a glimmer of intelligence
ne uses the glimmer to light the way
nut of the struggle for existence. The
use of intelligence is to
levise protection for its possessor. so
hat he may cease to struggle and
'egin TO live for something better.
Without protection no such thing as
rogress is possible. Nothing can
appen except adaptation to cireum-
tanees and the elimination of every
hing that is not suited TO warfare.
rogress means precisely the opposite I
adoption; it is a triumph over cir
What happens TO the y