ings
and inefficients will perish, where every inefficient will have as much
as he wants to eat as many times a day as he desires, and where all will
marry and have progeny--the weak as well as the strong. What will be the
result? No longer will the strength and life-value of each generation
increase. On the contrary, it will diminish. There is the Nemesis of
your slave philosophy. Your society of slaves--of, by, and for,
slaves--must inevitably weaken and go to pieces as the life which
composes it weakens and goes to pieces.

"Remember, I am enunciating biology and not sentimental ethics. No state
of slaves can stand--"

"How about the United States?" a man yelled from the audience.

"And how about it?" Martin retorted. "The thirteen colonies threw off
their rulers and formed the Republic so-called. The slaves were their
own masters. There were no more masters of the sword. But you couldn't
get along without masters of some sort, and there arose a new set of
masters--not the great, virile, noble men, but the shrewd and spidery
traders and money-lenders. And they enslaved you over again--but not
frankly, as the true, noble men would do with weight of their own right
arms, but secretly, by spidery machinations and by wheedling and cajolery
and lies. They have purchased your slave judges, they have debauched
your slave legislatures, and they have forced to worse horrors than
chattel slavery your slave boys and girls. Two million of your children
are toiling to-day in this trader-oligarchy of the United States. Ten
millions of you slaves are not properly sheltered nor properly fed."

"But to return. I have shown that no society of slaves can endure,
because, in its very nature, such society must annul the law of
development. No sooner can a slave society be organized than
deterioration sets in. It is easy for you to talk of annulling the law
of development, but where is the new law of development that will
maintain your strength? Formulate it. Is it already formulated? Then
state it."

Martin took his seat amidst an uproar of voices. A score of men were on
their feet clamoring for recognition from the chair. And one by one,
encouraged by vociferous applause, speaking with fire and enthusiasm and
excited gestures, they replied to the attack. It was a wild night--but
it was wild intellectually, a battle of ideas. Some strayed from the
point, but most of the speakers replied directly to Martin. T