ple
understand each other the better each understands himself; and that
understanding is the best protection against oppression of circumstances
or of men.

_Variation in profits._--Profits in various pursuits, like wages, are
affected by limited competition. The need of special abilities and
experience in any particular undertaking keeps back the timid from that
enterprise, and the accumulation of experience of a peculiar kind hinders
one from turning to other occupations. Even if a young man is willing to
take the risk of inexperience as a manager, he can seldom gain the
confidence of those who control capital. Hence competition in new and
untried enterprises is slight, and profits are often great. Other
undertakings are of such a nature as to involve great uncertainty. The
risk of failure retards the cautious, and so the most enterprising win
great returns. In estimating such returns, we overlook the failures and
count only the great successes. Sometimes accidental opportunities open to
the few a limited range of enormous profits. Legislation fostering
monopoly sometimes favors such opportunities. These are usually temporary,
and such advantage cannot long be maintained under the most fortunate
conditions. Secret methods have sometimes controlled the market for
individuals with enormous gain, and in a few instances a nation has
maintained such secrecy with apparent success. But these, too, quickly
yield before competing enterprise, since wage-earners under such employers
must share to some extent the secret, and will have the stimulant of
enormous profits to use the secret for themselves.

_Profits in competition._--Profits are themselves a stimulant to
competition, and competition in every pursuit tends to reduce the profits.
If any circumstance apparently insures more than average profits in any
undertaking, competition becomes excessive and profits vanish. The promise
of a tariff on wool leads farmers to expect an advance in the profits of
sheep raising. Competition begins in the purchase of flocks, by which the
profits of those already in the business are greatly increased.
Competition continues by multiplication in the flocks until sellers of
sheep are more plenty than buyers. Thus, the stimulant to competition has
operated to lessen profits in the end. A famous sheep raiser in New York,
when asked to give a maxim for success in the business, answered, "Buy
when your neighbors sell, and sell when your neighbors