STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13452, 31 May 1907, Page 6

STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. . Mr. Justice Higoiks, of the Federal High Court, recently delivered a lecture ~, on The Struggle for Existence," in which he said that life* was essentially ft strngglo for existence, an. unholy struggle in which the stronger overcame the weaker in commerce and industry. It ended i* the survival of the fittest. If the starvation and slavery and exploitation of the great masses of the people were essential to human life and - progress, they ought to face the fact, and thus wive a lot of trouble. For if behind all the gloss arid varnish of civilisation there must remain the slow starvation of multitudes, the oppression of the weak by the strong, a system of making gain at the expense of the health and life-blood of their fellow men, then of what use was any attempt to work or legislate for the protection of the masses? They did not thereby lessen th« sum of human misery, but merely prolonged life that had better be ruthlessly crashed. If the old philosophers were right, 'their hopes were converted into despair, j their Arbitration Act and Factory Act | useless, and the efforts of the Labour party unmeaning and silly. All this was very sad, and their hearts were -wrung when I hey thought •of th<e> slum children. growing up without adequate clothing or food. The misery of starvation of the slum children was not due to struggles with other children, as the parents with other parents, but to adverse economic conditions. The practice, however, should not be to fight for existence, but to live in peace. The -struggle • for existence was real, necessarily incidental to their life, and was mainly a struggle against feet* and forms outside the s-pecies, and that j life was not a cruel struggle of one against the other for food. " He admitted there were bitter struggles between men for commercial or industrial supremacy, ; and ■ the struggle was more bitter to-day than in the past. Rockefeller still used his millions to crush his weaker competitor. The struggle for wealth had no limit. Greed was due in many cases *« terrors of poverty, and because men hungered for power. It was said that men would not work hard without the hope o: accumulated wealth. But there were more who toiled for need than for greed, with a desire for fame and the approval of their fellow men. With modern processes there wis enough clothing produced for all wants; in fact enough if the want was much greater. The masses were never so well clothed as they were now, nor so well fed. Poverty was owing to man's own acts and defective social organisations. Legislative interference waff designed for' the benefit of the masses r on the principle of mutual aid.