Eddy, Arthur Jerome: The new competition: an examination of the conditions underlying the radical change that is taking place in the commercial and industrial world ; the change from a competitive to a cooperative basis (New York [u.a.], 1912)

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THE NEW COMPETITION

The bloodless economist will say, “Let them alone, it is
evolution, the fittest will survive.”
But that is just the question, will the fittest survive?
The strongest may, but fittest! That is another question.
If survival means the displacement of men by women
and girls, and the disintegration of the family into compet-
ing units, if it means a cheapening of quality all around,
above all a cheapening of the atmosphere, if it means loss
of personal interest and personal touch, then it may not be
the fittest for the betterment of either those directly inter-
ested or of the community as a whole.

VIII
Some years ago there was an old and long established
company in England the products of which were standard
the world over.
A powerful American company wished to buy the Eng-
lish company and control the business in Great Britain.
The English company had no desire to sell and refused all
offers.
The American company, to force a sale, established a
factory in England, flooded the country with an inferior
and cheaper product, demoralizing the trade. In the end
the English company was forced to sell.
That was good old-fashioned competition. The prac-
tice is common; it is common in the small town where the
large dealer cuts prices to force a small to either sell out or
get out. It is done in the world of “big business” when the
large corporation deliberately invades the territory of the
small and, by selling below cost, compels the latter to dis-
pose of its business. In fact, it is part of the every-day
tactics of the old competition.
“And why not?” some one cynically asks. “Doesn’t the