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)

§2

THE NEW COMPETITION

play golf against Col. Bogey, but all such attempts are
called competition only by courtesy. They lack the vital,
the stimulating elements of knowledge against knowledge,
strength against strength—of man against man—that make
real competition, competition that is worth while to those
who compete and to those who look on—to competitors
and public.

Ill
From the foregoing it follows that true competition ex-
ists only where
(A) There are two or more competitors,
(B) Competing under conditions that enable each to
know and fairly judge what the others are doing.
The essence of competition lies in the element of knowl-
edge, it is real, true, and beneficial in proportion to its
openness and frankness, its freedom from secrecy and
underhand methods.

IV
A carpenter in a small town is asked to make a bid on
a piece of work. The owner says he intends to get other
bids and will let the work to the lowest; as a matter of
fact he may have no intention of asking for additional
bids. To get the lowest possible figure the carpenter is led
to believe he is competing with others; he is in the position
of a runner in a walled track who is falsely told some one
is running against him in an adjoining track.
The carpenter needs the work, he labors over his esti-
mate, he makes a figure so close to cost there is barely a
living wage in it.
What happens ? The tricky owner looks at the bid, and
shakes his head. “Too bad, you’re too high.” The poor