COMPETITION. 234 COMPLEMENT. of daily life they have a large place. They owe it to the fact that we are slow to change acquired liabits, especially where the gain to be secured is sliglit. Thus we find everywhere cus- tomary prices for certain commodities and ser- vices. The fares of railroads, ferries, cabs, street railways, the services of physicians and lawyers, the fees of various public entertainments, are governed almost whollj' by custom. These we accept or reject, but we do not haggle about them. In the long run, competition has some- thing to do with such prices or w-ith the goods or services they command, but in each individual transaction it hardly enters in as a factor. In the sale of completed commodities competition works out its eft'ects most clearly. In the field of production it works amid inherent obstacles to its full development, and cannot liave so ab- solute a scope. Cajjital, as we have before hinted, is not migratory; it has its permanent instruments, which cannot be easily uprooted and transplanted. The farmer is not free to leave his farm when he sees a chance of greater profit elsewhere. The workman is not free to pass from one employment to another, for he may lack the requisite training; nor is he often free to run to more remunerative fields of labor. Thus the immobility of capital and labor acts as a restraint upon the action of competition. If the freest competition is in the interest of the community at large, it is equally true that such competition is always irksome to the com- petitors. It cannot be wondered that they seek means of counteracting its force through com- bination. Such a combination may be a tacit understanding such as frequently exists among local dealers. It may be organized in great ag- gregations of capital, which seek to dominate entire fields of productive effort. To a certain extent, such combinations may supplant direct competition as a regulative principle, but they cannot obliterate it entirely. Nor is the regime of competition absolutely free from interference by law or governmental authority. Certain of the older economists ve- hemently denounced factory legislation as an inroad upon the domain of competition. In more recent times it is, however, recognized that, while maintaining free competition as the basic prin- ciple of industrial organization, it is in the gen- eral interest that some of the conditions of competition be fixed by State action. Consult: Nettleton (editor). Trusts or Competition: Both sides of the great question in business, law, and politics (Chicago, 1900). See Labor Legisla- tion; Political Economy; Monopoly; Trades- Unions; Trusts; and consult the authorities there referred to. COMPIEGNE, kSN'pya'ny' (Lat. Compen- dium). A town in the Department of Oise, France, on the river Oise. a little below its junc- tion with the Aisne, and 33 miles east-southeast of Beauvais (JNIap: France, J 2). A fine stone bridge crosses the river at this point. The town is irregularly built, but is picturesque and has a remarkable Gothic Hotel de Ville. with museum and library, and a magnificent palace built anew by Louis XV. and splendidly fitted up by Napo- leon I., and again by Napoleon III., both of whom often occupied it. It contains a library, a pic- ture gallery, and various objects of interest. The park is extensive, and adjoining the gar- dens is the beautiful Forest of Comi)i?gne. ex- tending over altout 30,000 acres. The indus- tries of the place are rope-making, boat-buildiug, and weaving hosiery. There is considerable trade in wool, grain, and cattle. Population, in 1901, 14,009; commune. 16,503. Compi&gne is mentioned in the times of Clovis under the name of Compendium; and it w'as the seat of several political assemblies and ecclesiastical councils. It was at the siege of this tuwn, in 1430, that Jeanne d'Are, the Maid of Orleans, was cajjtured, and here, in ISIO, Napoleon and Maria Louisa of Austria first met, on the occasion of their mar- riage. COM'PITA'LIA, or LuDi Compitalicii (Lat., Compitulian games, from rumpituni, cross-road, from competere, to coincide, from com-, together + petcrc, to seek) . A festival in Eome in honor of lares compitales, the divinities presiding over places where two or more roads meet. Jlacro- bius says that Tarquinius Superbus restored the festival, which had been neglected, and sacrificed boys as a part of the sei-vices. Human sacrifices, if ever really made, did not survive the Tarquins ; for. after their expulsion, garlic and poppies were oiTcred. Consult Fowler, Ronian Festivals of the Period of the Repnhlie (London, 1889). COMPLAINT, The. A collection of poems in blank verse, by Edward Young (1742), better known under their secondary title, ISiight Thoughts. They were written after the death of his stepdaughter and her husband, who are re- ferred to under the names of Narcissa and Phi- lander. COMPLAINT OF MARS AND VENUS, The. a poem by Chaucer, written about 1380, containing an introduction and two separate poems. "The Complaint of Mars" and "The Com- plaint of Venus." At the conclusion, the author says it was taken from the French of 'Graun- son.' The introduction tells how Venus and Mars are waked by 'Phoebns's Light,' and how, fearing his burning rays, Venus flees to a cavern in the tower of Ciclinius, who guards her from danger. Wiile she is there, unknown to Mars, he raves about the universe, making com- plaint for his lost love. The complaint of Venus is hardly an answer to his complaint, but rather a regret that even the best of men are liable to jealousy. COMPLAINT OF PITY, The. "How Pitie is dead and buried in a gentle Herte;" a poem by Chaucer ( 1 3fi7 1 . COMPLAINT TO HIS PUBSE. A short serio-comii' ])oem of twenty-one lines by Chaucer; in which, at the end of each stanza, he entreats his empty purse to "Be heavy againe, or els mote I die." The poem was sent as an appeal to King Henry TV., and resulted in an increase of the poet's pension. It was, by some, attributed to Occleve. COMPLEAT ANGLER, The. A famous work on angling, by Izaak Walton (1653). It is written in a pleasing style; parts being in the form of conversations between Piscator, Vena- tor, and Viator — a fisherman, a huntsman, and a pedestrian — interspersed with a few quaint old songs. COMPLEMENT (Lat. complementtim, that which fills up. from romplere. to fill up, from com-, together + plere, to fill ; connected with Gk. ■n-i/iTT'S.dvai, pimplanai, Skt. piir, par, to fill.
