the whole fabric of modern civilization. A watch could as well run without a mainspring, as the world make progress with this universal tonic wanting. But a sickly and sentimental paternalism sees competition as a principle which is inimical to the interests of the "laboring man." Is such a man disconnected from, and an exception to, all the rest of humanity? One would so conclude, for his champions often assume that his welfare lies in direct opposition to that of the rest of society. But the fact is that competition is his best friend. It impels him toward the very industry, merit, and progress which his self-imposed leaders and guardians discourage. The desire to excel in the laboring man is the great lever to lift him higher. But for that he would forever delve on the low plane of mediocrity. It prompts and spurs him to better service and higher attainment. It uplifts, not merely by pushing from behind, but through ideals from above. Its motto is ever, Excelsior! Every one who is competent, and competing, gives the world his co-operation by raising the general average.

The term "laboring man" has been mistakenly limited in its popular significance, so as only to include those who labor in a particular way. The law of labor is both universal and beneficent; and he who strives to evade it, and does not in some way work, in and for the world, will suffer for its violation.

The disparagement of competition by labor unions is a costly mistake, for it virtually puts a premium upon incompetency. Individual excellence, and an ambition to rise above the dead level of other incompetents, meets with thinly disguised disapprobation. A most baseless and mischievous theory has attained wide acceptance, that, in the process of rising, one necessarily pulls another down. The exact opposite.is true, for every wholesome example really forms a general ideal and stimulus. Prevailing fallacies directly lessen and deteriorate product, while the irrepeal

able law ever remains, that in the long run excellence alone confers value. The combined labor unions of the world cannot permanently lift wages above their natural value, neither can the united "trusts" of the world confer abnormal value that will last. Quality and demand together form the only permanent basis of value in the commercial world, and the united force of combination and legislation cannot render it otherwise.

Were it possible to do away with the law of competition, humanity would settle down to a stagnant level, and evolution be turned back.

When, in the future, mental and spiritual evolution shall have ushered in the ideal reign of unselfishness and altruism, there will still be an active competition in kindly deeds and loving ministry.

THE LAW OF CO-OPERATION.

"In union there is strength."

"United we stand, divided we fall."

MORRIS.

"Men will live and communicate, and plough, and reap, and govern, as by added etherial power, when once they are united; as in a celebrated experiment, by expiration and respiration exactly together, four persons lift a heavy man from the ground by the little finger only, and without a sense of weight. But this union must be inward, and not one of covenants, and is to be reached by a reverse of the methods they use. The union is only perfect when all the members are isolated. It must be ideal in actual individualism."

EMERSON.

"A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together."

IV.

THE LAW OF CO-OPERATION.

IN the preceding chapter the fact was noted that the laws of competition and co-operation supplement, but do not antagonize each other. Either, taken alone, is fragmentary and incomplete. Like supply and demand, each rounds out its counterpart. They are therefore friendly, both being indispensable in the normal Whole.

Every orderly commercial transaction includes the cooperative principle. Though one may be a buyer and the other a seller the action is concurrent. The true co-opera

tive spirit in commerce presupposes that both parties are benefited. A farmer exchanges a load of potatoes for a coat. His need and that of the clothier are both supplied, and the trade is co-operation. Commerce always implies both competition and co-operation. It is not true that in business transactions, one is naturally a loser and the other a gainer. Both should gain. Where it is otherwise, the fault is not in commerce, law, or system, but in individual judgment or integrity. If one is cheated, there is a lack of co-operation. There is also a want of competition, for if this element be fully present it is a protection against loss, or a poor bargain." In every normal commercial transaction both parties are co-operators and also gainers, because surrounding competition furnishes a kind of guaranty that neither shall lose. Viewed in itself, then, the present economic order, with all its inherent laws, is beneficent. Commerce, per se, is altruistic. All possible failure must therefore find its location in individual character.

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