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property, inheritance, contract, and freedom. Public authority may be looked upon as one of the forces governing the economic process. The conduct of private enterprises is continually being interfered with by State authority. Legal rates of interest are established, and "reasonable" railway charges are substituted for actual charges. The authoritative fixation of wages is a future possibility.

Benevolence, or the caritative principle, may be mentioned as another force in economic society, modifying and supplementing in many ways the work of competition.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Attempt to classify the leading occupations in your city with respect to the social prestige attaching to them.

2. Describe the property relations existing in the Amana Society, or in other communistic groups.

✔ 3. What regulations concerning the inheritance of property are in force in your state?

4. To what extent are gambling contracts valid?

5. Compare the legal freedom of workingmen to-day with the conditions described in the Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chap. X, Part II.

REFERENCES

BAKER, C. W. Monopolies and the People, Chaps. X and XI.

BLISS, W. D. P. Encyclopædia of Social Reform (new ed.), article on Amana Community. See also on sample subject, Ely, R. T., in Harper's Monthly Magazine, October, 1902.

ELY, R. T. Evolution of Industrial Society, Part II, Chaps. I, VII, or XI. GREEN, T. H. Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract, Works, Vol. III, p. 365.

MILL, J. S. On Liberty, Chap. IV.

MILL, J. S. Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chaps. I and II. NICHOLSON, J. SHIELD. Principles of Political Economy, Vol. I, Book II, Chaps. II-VIII.

PATTEN, S. N. Development of English Thought, pp. 22-23.

STEPHENS, J. F. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

SIDGWICK, HENRY. Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chap. XII. WEBB, SIDNEY and BEATRICE. Industrial Democracy, Vol. II, pp. 562-572.

CHAPTER III

THE EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC SOCIETY

In the preceding chapter were described the fundamental institutions of the present economic order. Here a brief sketch will be given of the origin and development of these institutions. Such a study is advisable in a general survey of the field of political economy because many of the problems and proposed reforms which are met with raise questions as to the soundness of the very foundations of our present economic life, and these can only be understood when they are viewed as historical products.

The evolution of economic society is but one of many standpoints from which the development of mankind may be considered. The history of literature, the history of government, the history of religion, each treats of man in one line of his activities. Many thinkers have considered the economic activities of mankind as the fundamental factor in social progress, determining in the long run even our ethical and religious conceptions. Probably human life is too complex for any such simple explanation. The economic factor, however, is clearly of the most fundamental importance in the sense that the higher things in life cannot be cultivated if man's entire time is spent in getting a mere subsistence, so that economic progress, or gaining control over the forces of nature, must accompany general social advancement, at least for the mass of the community. Under primitive methods of production, only a select few can have this leisure time.

The Economic Stages. Many attempts have been made to divide economic history into stages through which mankind passed in arriving at modern industrial civilization. These attempts have been the subject of lively criticism, but it appears that the classification which in the past has been most widely used is still, with

some modifications, the most serviceable, and in the main, this will be followed in the present chapter.

The basis of this classification is the increasing power of man over nature. This is the fundamental fact in man's economic development, and his position in the scale of economic civilization is higher in proportion as this power over nature increases. Increasing control of nature is accompanied by changes in man himself, especially by a growth and diversification in his wants, so that we may say that economic civilization consists largely in wanting many things and in learning how to make and use them. From this standpoint economic history may be divided into the following stages:

I. Direct Appropriation.
II. The Pastoral Stage.
III. The Agricultural Stage.
IV. The Handicraft Stage.
V. The Industrial Stage.

I. DIRECT APPROPRIATION

The economy of primitive man is characterized by finding things ready to use instead of making them. It is not intended to assert that the lowest examples of mankind that we know do absolutely nothing in the way of transforming the materials of nature for use. The lowest types know the use of fire and have rude tools, but, nevertheless, the farther back we go, the more direct do we find the reliance on nature. One cannot read descriptions of the Negritos, Veddahs, Fuegians, or native Australians without being impressed with the similarity between the economy of these peoples and that of the lower animals. But there are many tribes commonly regarded as savages that show a great advancement over those that have been mentioned. Among the North American Indians, for example, we find a rude sort of cultivation of the soil along with hunting and fishing. Such soil cultivation has been termed "hoe-culture," and is to be distinguished from agriculture with the aid of domesticated animals found in a later stage of development.

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This kind of agriculture is found in its highest state of development among the negroes of Africa. "The ground for cultivation," says Ratzel, “is cleared by means of fire, or with the hatchet or small ax. On the east coast a broad chopper with a spear-shaped blade and short handle is also used. The lance or spearhead has, in general, to serve many peaceful purposes. Larger trees are killed by barking. Thorny branches are placed as a border to the fields, under the shelter of which close, quick hedges gradually grow up. The ground is broken and cleared of weeds with a wooden spade sharpened to an edge at either end. Many peoples have hitherto not ventured to use iron tools, since they keep away the rain. When the ground has been got ready, somewhere about the beginning of the rainy season, the sower walks over the field, scraping a hole with his naked foot at every step, into which he lets some grains fall from his hand; the foot covers them up, and if the good witch doctor makes rain enough, and the bad one does not keep it back, there is nothing more to be done until harvest, unless to hoe the weeds once. . . . To the present day the plow is practically strange to them."1

The following characterization of the economy of primitive man applies with varying force to the many tribes that may be placed in this first stage.

Characteristics of Primitive Man. -The range of wants is narrow, as the savage is almost completely satisfied if he obtains mere subsistence of the rudest sort. In the satisfaction of these few wants he is, according to our modern standards, remarkably inefficient. From the best natural resources he manages to get a very poor living, depending as he does largely on the spontaneous products of nature. Magic and ritual are very generally relied upon as aids to wealth production. Primitive man is improvident, for he does not feel keenly the uncertainties of the future, and fails to make provision for them. Hence we find him subjected to alternate periods of starvation and plenty. Only a scanty population is possible in this stage, as a tribe must have a large expanse of territory from which to draw its sustenance. The place of abode is easily changed, and warfare with neighboring tribes frequent. Cannibalism is found among many primitive peoples. Private property in land is absent, although the beginning of the institution of ownership appears in the recognition of the individual's right to articles of personal use. There is little division of labor. What one man can do, all can do. The soil

'Ratzel, History of Mankind, trans. by A. J. Butler, Vol. II, pp. 380-382.

cultivation by the women and the specialized work of the medicine man are exceptions. As each tribe is economically self-sufficient, the development of trade is slight. The beginning of slavery may be observed, but this institution plays no important part in the economy of primitive man, except among the most advanced tribes.

II. THE PASTORAL STAGE

In the older accounts of economic evolution, the impression is given that hunting peoples learned to domesticate animals and then led a pastoral life, later learning to subdue the vegetable kingdom, and then becoming agriculturalists. This view is not accurate. It is possible that the domestication of animals was developed in regions where considerable progress had been made in hoe-culture. As this knowledge spread, certain tribes became and remained pastoral nomads in regions where agriculture was impossible. But whatever the actual steps may have been, the pastoral peoples represent a type of culture that is lower than that of the agricultural stage (as distinguished from hoe-culture), and higher than that of the hunter. Within this stage also are classed together tribes of varying advancement. Illustrations of existing pastoral life are found in the tribes of central Asia, many of the Arabian and African tribes, and the Todas of India. Attempts have been made to trace the pastoral stage in the early history of the Hebrews, Germans, Greeks, and Britons.

Characteristics of Pastoral Peoples. Some marked features of the first stage are found also among pastoral peoples. A fixed abode is not possible, as food must be found for the herds and flocks. Cities do not develop. Moreover, while the land will now support many more inhabitants per square mile than before, much land is still needed for pasture, and there is frequent collision and warfare between neighboring tribes. It follows also that there is very little private ownership of land among these peoples. Tribes as a whole lay claim to certain districts and try to keep other tribes from pasturing on them. In this stage there are frequently individual accumulations of wealth, consisting mostly of herds or

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