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sire for gain would of itself ensure adequate regulation of industry is certainly not true under existing conditions. Natural law is not, as he assumed, always beneficent in its operation. It is just as liable to produce harm as benefit unless it is regulated, controlled and directed by appropriate human agencies. It needs no argument to convince one that this is true so far as the forces of the physical world are concerned. Gravitation, steam and electricity contributed nothing to human progress until man discovered the means whereby they could be harnessed and controlled. Material civilization means nothing else but the development of control over and the consequent utilization of the materials and forces of the physical world. The important part played by mere human agencies is the only feature that distinguishes civilization from barbarism. Everything which in any way contributes to material progress augments the power of man to control, modify and adapt his environment.

And though it may not be so obvious, this general principle is just as true in the moral and spiritual world as in the physical. All progress, material and moral, consists in the due subordination of natural to human agencies. Laws, institutions and systems of government are in a sense artificial creations, and must be judged in relation to the ends which they have in view. They are good or bad according as they are well or poorly

adapted to social needs. Civilization in its highest sense means much more than the mere mastery of mind over inanimate nature; it implies a more or less effective social control over individual conduct. Certain impulses, instincts and tendencies must be repressed; others must be encouraged, strengthened, and developed.

It is a mistake to suppose that the unrestrained play of mere natural forces ensures progress. Occasional advance is the outcome, but so also is frequent retrogression. There is no scientific basis for the belief in a natural order that everywhere and always makes for progress. Competition or the struggle for existence ensures at most merely the survival of the fittest; but survival of the fittest does not always mean survival of the best. Competition is nature's means of adapting life to its environment. If the environment is such as to give the more highly organized individuals the advantage, progress is the result. But if it is such as to place them at a disadvantage, retrogression, not progress, is the outcome. higher types of character, no less than the higher organic forms, presuppose external conditions favorable to their development. Competition is merely the means through which conformity to these external conditions is enforced. It eliminates alike that which is better than the environment and that which is worse. It is indifferent to good or bad, to high or low.

The

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simply picks out, preserves and perpetuates those types best suited to environing conditions. Both progress and retrogression are a process of adaptation, and their cause must be sought, not in the principle of competition itself, but in the general external conditions to which it enforces conformity. Success, then, is a matter of adaptation to the environment, or the power to use it for individual ends-not the power to improve and enrich it. The power to take from, is nature's sole test of fitness to live; but the power to enrich is a higher test, and one which society must enforce through appropriate legislation.

Laws, institutions and methods of trade which make it possible for the individual to take from more than he adds to the general resources of society tend inevitably toward general social deterioration. Competition is wholesome only when all our social arrangements are such as to discourage and repress all individual activities not in harmony with the general interests of society. This is the point of view from which all social and industrial questions must be studied. The problem which democracy has to solve is the problem of so organizing the environment as to assure progress through the success and survival of the best.

INDEX

Alien and sedition laws, 166.
Amendment, Articles of Con-

federation, 57; Australia, 62;
England, 62; France, 62; Revo-
lutionary state constitutions, 59;
state
235;

constitutions after 1787,
Switzerland, 63; checks
on undemocratic, 63. See Con-
stitution of the United States.
American colonies, government of,

12.

American government, aristo-

cratic, 79, 103, 126. See
Checks and Balances, Constitu-
tion of the United States,
House of Representatives,
President, Senate, Supreme
Court.

American revolution, change in
the spirit of, 13; results of, 27.
Anarchism. See Checks and
Balances.

Articles of Confederation, demo-

cratic tendency of, 25, 57;
weakness of, 23.

Baldwin, Simeon E., on the
source of the Constitution, 28.
Bank of North America, repeal

of the charter of, 321.
Boutmy, Emile, on the powers of
the Supreme Court, 98; on the
relation of the House of Rep-
resentatives to treaties, 138; on
hasty voting in the House, 202;
on the sovereignty of the ma-
jority in France, 301.
the opposition
Bryce, James, on
of the masses to the ratification
of the Constitution, 49; on the

ratification of the last three
amendments, 54; on the com-
mittee system, 196.

Budget. See House of Repre-

sentatives.

Burgess, John W., on the diffi-
culty of amending the Consti-
tution, 47; on the veto power
of the Supreme Court, 90; on
the desire of the framers to
avoid popular choice of Presi-
dential electors, 134 note; on
the protection of private prop-
erty by the Supreme Court, 299.
Butler, C. H., on the attitude of
the Supreme Court toward
treaties, 119.

Calhoun, John C., on popular
government, 132; on state
rights, 178.

Channing, Edward, on removal of
judges, 71.

Checks and balances, American
system of artificial, 130; an-
archism an extreme application
of, 132; belief of framers in,
125; in early state constitu-
tions, 21; in English govern.
ment, 8; limitation of power of
the people under, 129; origin
of, 126; Poland an example of,
131; practical limit to
sion of, 130; relation of, to
laissez faire, 131; subordination
of House of Representatives not
in accord with, 147. See Con-
stitution of the United States.
Chinese exclusion act, 315.

exten-

Common law, influence of the

ruling class upon, II.
Constitutional convention of 1787.
See Constitution of the United
States.
Constitutional government, origin

century

to

of

of, 3; relation to democracy, 3.
Constitution of the United States,
a product of 18th
thought, 28; change in the atti-
tude of the people toward, 184;
germs of national government
in, 161; influence of the Fed-
eralists upon the development
of, 164; limitation of the taxing
power in, 318; no provision for
political parties in, 205; numer-
ical majority not recognized in,
176; power of minority
modify, 167; protection
property in, 298; purpose of,
misrepresented by the framers,
77; relation of, to individual
liberty, 297; relation of, to the
doctrine of nullification, 169;
responsible for the state rights
controversy, 163; significance
of, economic, 299; states not
expressly subordinated in, 161;
substitutes for monarchy and
aristocracy in, 132; vote in the
conventions ratifying, 53 note;
an insignificant minority may
prevent amendment of, 46;
Patrick Henry's objection to
the amendment feature of, 44;
number of amendments pro-
posed, 47; power of two-thirds
of the states to call a constitu-
tional convention, 346; impor-
tance of this provision, 346;
difficulty of securing the CO-
operation of the smaller states,
347; the first ten amendments,
53; the eleventh amendment,
53; the twelfth amendment, 53;
the last three amendments, 54.
See House of Representatives,

President, Senate, Supreme
Court.

Contracts, laws impairing the ob-
ligation of, 320-325.

Cooley, T. M., on the difference
between judicial and political
power, 107; on the attitude of
the fathers toward publicity,
156; on the evils of legislative
interference in municipal af-
fairs, 284; on the influence of
the Dartmouth College decision
upon the growth of corporate
power, 325; on government cen-
sorship of printing, 381 note.
Coxe, Brinton, on the judicial veto
in England, 85; on the judicial
veto in the early state govern-
ments, 88, 89.

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