Judged by an ethical standard, nothing can be less satisfactory than
the position in which we find ourselves. In a real, though incomplete,
degree we have attained the condition of peace which is the main object
of social organization; and, for argument's sake, it may be assumed
that we desire nothing but that which is in itself innocent and
praiseworthy--namely, the enjoyment of the fruits of honest industry.
And lo! in spite of ourselves, we are in reality engaged in an
internecine struggle for existence with our presumably no less peaceful
and well-meaning neighbours. We seek peace and we do not ensue it. The
moral nature in us asks for no more than is compatible with the general
good; the non-moral nature proclaims and acts upon that fine old
Scottish family motto, "Thou shalt starve ere I want." Let us be under
no illusions, then. So long as unlimited multiplication goes on, no
social organization which has ever been devised, or is likely to be
devised, no fiddle-faddling with the distribution of wealth, will
deliver society from the tendency to be destroyed by the reproduction
within itself, in its intensest form, of that struggle for existence the
limitation of which is the object of society. And however shocking
to the moral sense this eternal competition of man against man and of
nation against nation may be; however revolting may be the accumulation
of misery at the negative pole of society, in contrast with that of
monstrous wealth at the positive pole; this state of things must abide,
and grow continually worse, so long as Istar holds her way unchecked. It
is the true riddle of the Sphinx; and every nation which does not solve
it will sooner or later be devoured by the monster itself has generated.