The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1916-10-02
SURVIVAL OF THE FlTTEST.

Of recent years volumes have been written III
defense Of the scheme of life defined III the above
phrase. It's advocates refer US to nature IN all
wondrous workings-the manner IN Whlcn she &C
~curately fulf!ls the biblical promise that TO him
that hath shall be given; but from him that hath
not. shall be taken away even that he hath"
Perhaps no scheme of life half SO pernicious
has ever been promulgated by the sane men in any
age of the world. True, nature, in the person OF
the brute, works strictly along this line. 1t is
absolutely necessary there. 1t is necessary from
the fact that unless every energy OF the brute
were given to the task Of preserving self. then
self, as represented by the brute, would soon cease
to exist.
Scientists define the difference between man
and the brute thusly: The brute knows, but knows
not that it knows. Man knows, and knows that
he knows. And in these truths lie the great dan
ger to humanity of the Survival of the tittest"
theory. The brute, knowing not that it knows,
recognizes absolutely no rights but its own. For
it the question Of right does not exist. Nature
has equipped it to make of self the very best
specimen possible, even to the absorbing in many
instances of the rights and very persons of all
others. That is it's first instinct, and were any
other course followed it would be fatal to the life
of the brute creation.
But when, through the faithful adherance Of
this primal instinct, the brute has reached brute
perfection-well, it's nothing but a brute anyway.
A magnificent brute it may be, but merely a brute.
With man, however, the reverse is true.
Knowing, and knowing that he knows, he conse-
quently must know that he has rights. That be-
ing the case, he is compelled to know that all 9TH
ers (who are in every way as essential as himself)
must have rights coequal with his own. There
in lies his utter futility of attempting to usurp
any Of the rights of others without doing violence
to his own character. In brief, the moment he
attempts to survive at the expense of the weaker
brother, just that moment he becomes most en-
phatically the "unfttest' in every sense of the
brute sense. He becomes as the brute.
So much for "the survival of the fttest."
But what about the survival of the unfit
test?"
This subject might we'll engage the atten-
ton OF the advocates of eugenics and other would
be "uplifters," of the human race. Go after the
man who has never had a chance and give him a
character. Lift up the brother who has fallen by
the way and start him on the road again. En-
courage the Respondent. Help the weak. Strive
to e~qualize the burdens of life. If all would act
thus there soon would be no unfit. All would be
fit.
1.-THE survival of the 6ttest," as man applied to
man, means a race of splendid brutes.
The revival of the unfttest," as applied to
man, means an ultimate approach to the grand
ideal conceived in his creation. "In the image of
his maker"
Theodore Roosevelt gave utterance to one
phrase which should make his name immortal, will
make it so. He will be remembered by future gen.
eratlons as the one who demanded for every man a
square deal"-a sermon in a sentence.