In the sophisticated form in which they enter into the modern, peaceable emulation, the possession of these traits in some measure is almost a necessary of life to the civilized man.

But while they are indispensable to the competitive individual, they are not directly serviceable to the community.

So far as regards the serviceability of the individual for the purposes of the collective life, emulative efficiency is of use only indirectly if at all.

Ferocity and cunning are of no use to the community except in its hostile dealings with other communities; and they are useful to the individual only because there is so large a proportion of the same traits actively present in the human environment to which he is exposed.

Any individual who enters the competitive struggle without the due endowment of these traits is at a disadvantage, somewhat as a hornless steer would find himself at a disadvantage in a drove of horned cattle.
The possession and the cultivation of the predatory traits of character may, of course, be desirable on other than economic grounds.