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Show SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. Commenting on the million-dollar failure of the banking firm of O. 1). Brown fc Co., Xew York City, theXew York Journal praises Pierpont Mor-I Mor-I pan and the Standard Oil people for their shrewd- 1 ness and financial sagacity in forcing Brown to the I wall- The Journal calls the triumph of Morgan and I Rockefeller an example of the survival of the fittest. The law of the survival of the fittest as applied to the struggles of life is apt to mean the law of the dishonest man the hustler. It is apt, too, as applied by the hustler and speculator to mean that the end justifies the means. In that sense it means the abrogation of scrupulousness and the cnthrone-I cnthrone-I ment of deceit fulness. It means, also, that in the struggle for success the scrupulous man is driven s, to the wall; and. hence, is deemed by the unscrupu lous unfit to sruvive. It does not mean the race to the swift and the battle to the strong, but it means that by unfair methods the strong or the weak I is driven to and crowded against the wall. It means, too, that conscience is a blunder, honor an offense and that the Darwinian law, as interpreted by its votaries, condemns the scrupulous man. The law is a protest against the ten commandments, and a condemnation of the sermon on the Mount. It is a substitution of the ethics of David Ilarum for ihe moral principles laid down by Our Savior for intercourse between man and his fellow creatures. crea-tures. We know that, in-the eyes of Eternal Justice Jus-tice it is and will be different and that a different ! interpretation will be applied to the law and that I different result will follow. For the present, however, the path of the scrupulous man is strewn 1 witli thorns and his balance at the bank not always satisfactory. There is a remarkable passage in the second chapter of the Book of ."Wisdom which deals ef- ; fectnally with unscrupulous men. It is a rather unpleasant dose, but sooner or later the unscrupulous unscrupu-lous man must swallow it. Let us reproduce it here for his edification. The Holy Ghost, referring j , to unjust and unscrupulous men, declares: "That I Ihey have said, reasoning with themselves but not I right. The time of our life is short and tedious, I i fur life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud i, and shall be dispersed as a mist, and our name in ; time shall be forgotten. Come, therefore, and let , i rrijoy the good things that are present. Let us I oppress the poor and the just man, and not Fpnre I the widow, nor honor the ancient gray hairs of the I aged. But let our strength be the law of justice, I for that which is feeble is nothing worth. Let us, therefore, lay in wait for ihe just, for he is con- trary to our ways and upbraideth us (by his life), I with transgressions of the law. I He abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness; I and he prefereth the latter end of the just and glor- I " iHh lhat he hath God for his father. These things I they thought and were deceived; for their own mal- I ie blinded them: and ihey cared not for the jus-? I lice of God, nor hoped for ihe wages of justice, nor esteemed the honor of holiness. For God created I the soul of man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he created him. But by the envy J of the devil, death came into the world. And they I follow him that are of his side." The trite boast I that "the end justify the means' is confronted with the pagan philosopher's aphorism:' "Finis I eoronat opus the end crowns ihe work" and not I until the grave closes over a man does the nd come I for him. He shall then know whether his crown for i f all eternity will be one of happiness or of unending misery and regret. |