Did Nineteenth-CenturyCapitalistsWantthe Poorto Die? 21cautioncorrespondingto the dangerto be shunned.Are thereany whodesireto facilitate
the process?Let themdispelerror;and,providedtheydo this in a legitimateway,the
fastertheydo it the better.But to guardignorantmenagainstthe evilsof theirignor-
ance—to divorcea causeandconsequence.. .”^87 Backin 1843,Spencerstatedon this
samesubjectthat he intendedfor someonewhoconsumedquackmedicinesto learnfrom
his previousacts of poorjudgment.The “misfortunesof one,” he wrote,“are lessonsfor
thousands—thatthe worldgenerallylearnsmoreby its mistakesthanby its success-
es.. .”^88
Universityof BelfastsciencehistorianPeterJ. Bowlerdemonstratesa morecareful
readingand muchmoreaccurateunderstandingof Spencer—“He extolledthe sufferings
that are a consequenceof failureas the bestpossiblestimulusencouragingthe individual
to do betternexttime.”^89 To wit,Spencerunderstoodthatin circumstancessuchas this,
inductivelessonswerefrequentlythe mostpowerfuland instructive.Thus,Starr’s Pulit-
zer-winningbookpaintsan inaccuratepictureof Spencer’s argument.But suchmisrepre-
sentationsof Spencerare legion.My studycannotscratchthe surfacewhenit comesto the
taskof erodingthe plaquebuildupof falsificationsaboutSpencerstickingto the academic
record.For instance,I spottedsucha fabricationin a hagiographyof socialistpropagan-
dist UptonSinclairwrittenby IdahoStateUniversityhumanitiesdeanJon A. Yoder.In
thatwork,Yoderassumesthathe discreditsSpencerby repeatingthisquotationfrom
JohnsHopkinsUniversityhistorianJohnHigham(1920–2003):“in theireagernessto con-
vertsocialvaluesintobiologicalfacts,Darwinianoptimistsunblinkinglyread‘the fittest’
to mean‘the best.’”^90
I shallrevealto you Spencer’s actualwordson the subject.Spencerwasveryclearon
thispointwhenoneof his contemporarycritics,JamesMartineau,deliveredthe very
sameaccusationthat Yoderand Highamlaterwould.In an 1872issueofThe Contemporary
Review, Spencerelaboratedthatwhenhe wroteof survivalof the fittest,he wasnot
implyingthatmerelythe bestbeingsor organismssurvived.Nor,he continued,washe
implyingthatanychildlesspersonor beastthatdiedshouldbe judged,perforce,as
inferior.“Mr. Martineau,” saidSpencer,“speaksof the ‘survivorshipof the better,’ as
thoughthat werethe statement” of the biologicalprinciples thatSpencer famously
named.“But the words” that Martineau“hereusesare his own,not the wordsof thosehe
opposes.The law is the survivalof thefittest. Probably,in substituting‘better’ for ‘fittest,’
Mr. Martineaudid not supposehe waschangingthe meaning.... Hadhe examinedthe
facts,he wouldhavefoundthat the law is not the survivalof the ‘better’ or ‘stronger’... It
is the survivalof thosewhichare constitutionallyfittestto thriveunderthe conditionsin
whichtheyare placed.. .”^91 (emphasisSpencer’s). Recallthe examplefromBookTwo
aboutpepperedmothsin a forest,somewhiteandsomeblack,tryingto camouflage
themselveson the barkof trees.Shouldthe treebarkbe whitish,the whitemothswill
camouflagebetterthanthe blackmoths.Shoulda nearbyfactory’s sootstainthe tree bark
as black,the blackmothswillbe morecamouflaged.Fitnessin thatcontextdependson
the circumstancesand not on one typeof mothbeinginherentlysuperiorto another.
Yes,Jon A. YoderandJohnHighamproclaimthatwhen“Darwinianoptimists” read
of Spencer’s allusionstosurvivalof the fittest, they“read‘the fittest’ to mean‘the best.’”
Whichever“Darwinianoptimists” Yoderand Highamwereindicting,the criticismcannot
realisticallyapplyto Spencer.Unfortunately,ratherthanactuallyreadany of Spencer’s
booksfor comprehension,someallegedfree-marketadvocates,too, simplyopt to accept
at facevaluethe libelousallegationsleveledagainstthe man.We witnessedthatfrom
BrinkLindseyfromthe CatoInstitute.Likewise,the anti-regulationeconomistMark
SkousensimilarlytagsSpenceras a socialDarwinist.SkousenaccusesSpencerof profess-
ing that society’s “weakestmembersshouldgo to the wall” because“this wouldimprove
societyby weedingout the less intelligentand less industrious.”^92