it may wither away or split into factions as Volapük did.[1] Or it may
continue to grow and flourish, but others of its numerous rivals may
secure adherents and dispute its claim. This would be even worse. It is
far harder to rally a multitude of conflicting rivals in the same camp,
than it is to take over a well-organized, homogeneous, and efficient
volunteer force, legalize its position, and raise it to the status of a
regular army. In any case, if no concerted action be taken, the question
will remain in a state of chaos, and the lack of official organization
brings a great risk of overlapping, dissension, and creation of rival
interests, and generally produces a state of affairs calculated to
postpone indefinitely the supply of the demand. Competition that neither
tends to keep down the price nor to improve the quality of the thing
produced is mere dissipation of energy.

[1]Esperanto itself is admirably organized (see p. 119) [Part II,
Chapter VII], and there are no factions or symptoms of dissension.
But Esperantists need official support and recognition.

In a word, the one thing needful at present is not a more highly
perfected language to adopt, but the adoption of the highly perfected
one we possess. By the admission of experts, no less than by the
practical experience of great numbers of persons in using it over a
number of years, it has been found adequate. Once found adequate, its
absolute utility merely depends upon universal adoption.

With utility in direct proportion to numbers of adherents, every recruit
augments its value—a thought which may well encourage waverers to make
the slight effort necessary to at any rate learn to read it.