INFANCY AND THE STATE.
[To TILE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,2—No doubt Professor Ridgeway is right in applying the doctrine of the survival of the fittest to modern social conditions. At- the same time, Mr•. Bertram Hill (Spectator, September 19th) is right in pointing out that the struggle has evolved an animal, man, who is capable of protecting himself against that struggle. What is civilisation but protection against the horrors of the struggle ? So far as social conditions are concerned, the struggle implies protection. Professor• Ridgeway is as well aware of this as Mr. Bertram Hill. The end and object of all social order being protective, the question arises : What will happen if the struggle is abso- lutely eliminated as our• Socialist friends desire ? The evils of competition are great,—can we do without it? Professor Ridgeway points out that we may go too far in protecting the /diver classes. Similarly all Free-traders think that we may go too far in protecting them from the competition of peoples such as the Chinese, who have a lower standard of living. Competition is good and Protection is good; the difficulty is to find the golden mean.—I am, Sir, &c., OLD LIBERAL.
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