His independence is for himself alone, and in that
relation he is forced by _conditions of his surroundings_ to
neglect and trespass on the rights of his fellow-man to keep his
individual supremacy, and to develop various promptings of his soul,
which are ofttimes good, great and noble.
In the early days of civilization, free competition develops the
resources of man. The prospect of wealth, and the power it brings with
it, encourages trade to seek the ends of the earth, and from its
products vast enterprises are built up. As every fruit has in it that
which causes its final dissolution, and within it also the germs of a
future and higher life, so civilized society carries in it the germs of
its decay and dissolution, society being a natural product, as fruit
is, of God's providence. _Free competition_ is the destructive
agent, or one of the most important agents in its dissolution. Observe
that the power which ripens a natural fruit causes, in the end, its
destruction. Observe also that free competition, which in the early
stages of civilization glorifies and typifies it, by continuing at its
work will finally destroy it.
There is another element which is called capital. In savage life there
is hardly anything which can be called capital.
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