THE ECONOMIC FACTORS OF PROGRESS
_The Efforts of Man to Satisfy Physical Needs_.--All knowledge of
primitive man, whether derived from the records of cultures he has left
or assumed from analogy of living tribes of a low order of
civilization, discovers him wandering along the streams in the valleys
or by the shores of lakes and oceans, searching for food and
incidentally seeking protection in caves and trees. The whole earth
was his so far as he could appropriate it. He cared nothing for
ownership; he only wanted room to search for the food nature had
provided. When he failed to find sufficient food as nature left it, he
starved. So in his wandering life he adapted himself to nature as he
found it. In the different environments he acquired different customs
and habits of life. If he came in contact with other tribes, an
exchange of knowledge and customs took place, and both tribes were
richer thereby. However, the universality of the human mind made it
possible for two detached tribes, under similar environment and similar
stimuli, to develop the same customs and habits of life, provided they
had the same degree of development. Hence, we have independent group
development and group borrowing.
When nature failed to provide him with sufficient food, he learned to
force her to yield a larger supply. When natural objects were
insufficient for his purposes, he made artificial tools to supplement
them. Slowly he became an inventor. Slowly he mastered the art of
living. Thus physical needs were gradually satisfied, and the
foundation for the superstructure of civilization was laid.
_The Attempt to Satisfy Hunger and to Protect from Cold_.--To this
statement must be added the fact that struggle with {83} his fellows
arose from the attempt to obtain food, and we have practically the
whole occupation of man in a state of savagery. At least, the simple
activities represent the essential forces at the foundation of human
social life. The attempt to preserve life either through instinct,
impulse, emotion, or rational selection is fundamental in all animal
existence. The other great factor at the foundation of human effort is
the desire to perpetuate the species. This, in fact, is the mere
projection of the individual life into the next generation, and is
fundamentally important to the individual and to the race alike. All
modern efforts can be traced to these three fundamental activities.
But in seeking to satisfy the cravings of hunger and to avoid the pain
of cold, man has developed a varied and active life. About these two
centres cluster all the simple forces of human progress. Indeed,
invention and discovery and the advancement of the industrial arts
receive their initial impulses from these economic relations.
We have only to turn our attention to the social life around us to
observe evidences of the great importance of economic factors. Even
now it will be observed that the greater part of economic activities
proceeds from the effort to procure food, clothing, and shelter, while
a relatively smaller part is engaged in the pursuit of education,
culture, and pleasure. The excellence of educational systems, the
highest flights of philosophy, the greatest achievement of art, and the
best inspiration of religion cannot exist without a wholesome economic
life at the foundation. It should not be humiliating to man that this
is so, for in the constitution of things, labor of body and mind, the
struggle for existence and the accumulations of the products of
industry yield a large return in themselves in discipline and culture;
and while we use these economic means to reach higher ideal states,
they represent the ladder on which man makes the first rounds of his
ascent.
_The Methods of Procuring Food in Primitive Times_.--Judging from the
races and tribes that are more nearly in a state of nature than any
other, it may be reasonably assumed that {84} in his first stage of
existence, man subsisted almost wholly upon a vegetable diet, and that
gradually he gave more and more attention to animal food. His
structure and physiology make it possible for him to use both animal
and vegetable food. Primarily, with equal satisfaction the procuring
of food must have been rather an individual than a social function.
Each individual sought his own breakfast wherever he might find it. It
was true then, as now, that people proceeded to the breakfast table in
an aggregation, and flocked around the centres of food supply; so we
may assume the picture of man stealing away alone, picking fruits,
nuts, berries, gathering clams or fish, was no more common than the
fact of present-day man getting his own breakfast alone. The main
difference is that in the former condition individuals obtained the
food as nature left it, and passed it directly from the bush or tree to
the mouth, while in modern times thousands of people have been working
indirectly to make it possible for a man to wait on himself.
Jack London, in his _Before Adam_, gives a very interesting picture of
the tribe going out to the carrot field for its breakfast, each
individual helping himself. However, such an aggregation around a
common food supply must eventually lead to co-operative economic
methods. But we do find even among modern living tribes of low degree
of culture the group following the food quest, whether it be to the
carrot patch, the nut-bearing trees, the sedgy seashore for mussels and
clams, the lakes for wild rice, or to the forest and plains where
abound wild game.
We find it difficult to think otherwise than that the place of man's
first appearance was one abounding in edible fruits. This fact arises
from the study of man's nature and evidences of the location of his
first appearance, together with the study of climate and vegetation.
There are a good many suggestions also that man in his primitive
condition was prepared for a vegetable diet, and indications are that
later he acquired use of meat as food. Indeed, the berries and edible
roots of {85} certain regions are in sufficient quantity to sustain
life throughout a greater part of the year. The weaker tribes of
California at the time of the first European invaders, and for many
centuries previous, found a greater part of their sustenance in edible
roots extracted from the soil, in nuts, seeds of wild grains, and
grasses. It is true they captured a little wild game, and in certain
seasons many of them made excursions to the ocean or frequented the
streams for fish or shell-fish, but their chief diet was vegetable. It
must be remembered, also, that all of the cultivated fruits to-day
formerly existed, in one variety or another, in the wild species. Thus
the citrous fruits, the date, the banana, breadfruit, papaw, persimmon,
apple, cherry, plum, pear, all grew in a wild state, providing food for
man if he were ready to take it as provided. Rational selection has
assisted nature in improving the quality of grains and fruits and in
developing new varieties.
In the tropical regions was found the greatest supply of edible fruits.
Thus the Malays and the Papuans find sufficient food on trees to supply
their wants. Many people in some of the groups in the South Sea
Islands live on cocoanuts. In South America several species of trees
are cultivated by the natives for the food they furnish. The palm
family contributes much food to the natives, and also furnishes a large
supply of food to the markets of the world. The well-known breadfruit
tree bears during eight successive months in the year, and by burying
the fruit in the ground it may be preserved for food for the remaining
four months. Thus a single plant may be made to provide a continuous
food supply for the inhabitants of the Moluccas and Philippines. Many
other instances of fruits in abundance, such as the nuts from the
araucarias of South America, and beans from the mesquite of Mexico,
might be given to show that it is possible for man to subsist without
the use of animal food.
_The Variety of Food Was Constantly Increased_.--Undoubtedly, one of
the chief causes of the wandering of primitive man over the earth, in
the valleys, along stream, lake, and ocean, {86} over the plains and
through the hills, was the quest for food to preserve life; and even
after tribes became permanent residents in a certain territory, there
was a constant shifting from one source of food supply to another
throughout the seasons. However, after tribes became more settled, the
increase of population encroached upon the native food supply, and man
began to use his invention for the purpose of its increase. He learned
how to plant seeds which were ordinarily believed to be sown by the
gods, and to till the soil and raise fruits and vegetables for his own
consumption. This was a period of accidental agriculture, or hoe
culture, whereby the ground was tilled by women with hoes of stone, or
bone, or wood. In the meantime, the increase of animal food became a
necessity. Man learned how to snare and trap animals, to fish and to
gather shell-fish, learning by degrees to use new foods as discovered
as nature left them. Life become a veritable struggle for existence as
the population increased and the lands upon which man dwelt yielded
insufficient supply of food. The increased variety of food allowed man
to adapt himself to the different climates. Thus in the colder
climates animal food became desirable to enable him to resist more
readily the rigors of climate. It was not necessary, it is supposed,
to give him physical courage or intellectual development, for there
appear to be evidences of tribes like the Maoris of New Zealand, who on
the diet of fish and roots became a most powerful and sagacious people.
But the change from a vegetable diet to a meat-and-fish diet in the
early period brought forth renewed energy of body and mind, not only on
account of the necessary physical exertion but on account of the
invention of devices for the capture of fish and game.
_The Food Supply Was Increased by Inventions_.--Probably the first meat
food supply was in the form of shell-fish which could be gathered near
the shores of lakes and streams. Probably small game was secured by
the use of stones and sticks and by running the animal down until he
was exhausted or until he hid in a place inaccessible to the pursuer.
The {87} boomerang, as used by the Australians in killing game, may
have been an early product of the people of Neolithic Europe. In the
latter part of the Paleolithic Age, fish-hooks of bone were used, and
probably snares invented for small game. The large game could not be
secured without the use of the spear and the co-operation of a number
of hunters. In all probability this occurred in the New Stone Age.
The invention of the bow-and-arrow was of tremendous importance in
securing food. It is not known what led to its invention, although the
discovery of the flexible power of the shrub, or the small sapling,
must have occurred to man as he struggled through the brush. It is
thought by some that the use of the bow fire-drill, which was for the
purpose of striking fire by friction, might have displayed driving
power when the drill wound up in the string of the bow flew from its
confinement. However, this is conjectural; but, judging from the
inventions of known tribes, it is evident that necessity has always
been the moving power in invention. The bow-and-arrow was developed in
certain centres and probably through trade and exchange extended to
other tribes and groups until it was universally used. It is
interesting to note how many thousands of years this must have been the
chief weapon for destroying animals or crippling game at a distance.
Even as late as the Norman conquest, the bow-and-arrow was the chief
means of defense of the Anglo-Saxon yeoman, and for many previous
centuries in the historic period had been the chief implement in
warfare and in the chase. The use of the spear in fishing supplemented
that of the hook, and is found among all low-cultured tribes of the
present day. The American Indian will stand on a rock in the middle of
a stream, silently, for an hour if necessary, watching for a chance to
spear a salmon. These small devices were of tremendous importance in
increasing the food supply, and the making of them became a permanent
industry.
Along with the bow and arrow were developed many kinds of spears, axes,
and hammers, invented chiefly to be used in {88} war, but also used for
economic reasons. In the preparation of animal food, in the tanning of
skins, in the making of clothing, another set of stone implements was
developed. So, likewise, in the grinding of seeds, the mortar and
pestle were used, and the small hand-mill or grinder was devised. The
sign of the mortar and pestle at the front of drug-stores brings to
mind the fact that its first use was not for preparing medicines, but
for grinding grains and seeds.
_The Discovery and Use of Fire_.--The use of fire was practised in the
early history of man. Among the earliest records in caves are found
evidences of the use of fire. Charcoal is practically indestructible,
and, although it may be crushed, the small particles maintain their
shape in the clays and sands. In nearly all of the relics of man
discovered in caves, the evidences of fire are to be found, and no
living tribe has yet been discovered so low in the scale of life as to
be without the knowledge of fire and probably its simple uses, although
a few tribes have been for the time being without fire when first
discovered. This might seem to indicate that at a very early period
man did not know how to create fire artificially, but carried it and
preserved it in his wanderings. There are indications that a certain
individual was custodian of the fire, and later it was carried by the
priest or _cacique_. Here, as in other instances in the development of
the human race, an economic factor soon assumes a religious
significance, and fire becomes sacred.
There are many conjectures respecting the discovery of fire. Probably
the two real sources are of lightning that struck forest trees and set
them on fire and the action of volcanoes in throwing out burning lava,
which ignited combustible material. Either one or the other, and
perhaps both, of these methods may have furnished man with fire.
Others have suggested that the rubbing together of dead limbs of trees
in the forests after they were moved by the winds, may have created
fire by friction. It is possible, also, that the sun's rays may have,
when concentrated on combustible {89} material, caused spontaneous
ignition. The idea has been advanced that some of the forest fires of
recent times have been ignited in this way. However, it is evident
that there are enough natural sources in the creation of fire to enable
tribes to use it for the purposes of artificial heat, cooking, and
later, in the age of metals, of smelting ores.
There has always been a mystery connected with the origin and use of
fire, which has led to many myths. Thus, the Greeks insisted that
Prometheus, in order to perform a great service to humanity, stole fire
from heaven and gave it to man. For this crime against the authority
of the gods, he was chained to a rock to suffer the torture of the
vulture who pecked at his vitals. Aeschylus has made the most of this
old legend in his great drama of _Prometheus Bound_. Nearly every
tribe or nation has some tradition regarding the origin of fire.
Because of its mystery and its economic value, it was early connected
with religion and made sacred in many instances. It was thus preserved
at the altar, never being allowed to become extinct without the fear of
dire calamity. Perhaps the economic and religious ideas combined,
because tribes in travelling from place to place exercised great care
to preserve it. The use of fire in worship became almost universal
among tribes and ancient nations. Thus the Hebrews and the Aryans,
including Greeks, Romans, and Persians, as well as the Chinese and
Japanese, used fire in worship. Among other tribes it was worshipped
as a symbol or even as a real deity. Even in the Christian religion,
the use of the burning incense may have some psychological connection
with the idea of purification through fire. Whether its mysterious
nature led to its connection with worship, and the superstition
connected with its continued burning, or whether from economic reasons
it became a sacred matter, has never been determined. The custom that
a fire should never go out upon the altar, and that it should be
carried in migrations from place to place, would seem to indicate that
these two motives were closely allied, if not related in cause and
effect.
{90}
Evidently, fire was used for centuries before man invented methods of
reproducing it. Simple as the process involved, it was a great
invention; or it may be stated that many devices were resorted to for
the creation of artificial fire. Perhaps the earliest was that of
rubbing two pieces of dry wood together, producing fire by friction.
This could be accomplished by persistent friction of two ordinary
pieces of dry wood, or by drilling a hole in a dry piece of wood with a
pointed stick until heat was developed and a spark produced to ignite
pieces of dry bark or grass. Another way was to make a groove in a
block of wood and run the end of a stick rapidly back and forth through
the groove. An invention called the fire-drill was simply a method of
twirling rapidly in the hand a wooden drill which was in contact with
dry wood, or by winding a string of the bow several times around the
drill and moving the bow back and forth horizontally, giving rapid
motion to the drill.
As tribes became more advanced, they used two pieces of flint with
which to strike fire, and after the discovery of iron, the flint and
iron were used. How many centuries these simple devices were essential
to the progress and even to the life of tribes, is not known; but when
we realize that but a few short years ago our fathers lighted the fire
with flint and steel, and that before the percussion cap was invented,
the powder in the musket was ignited by flint and hammer, we see how
important to civilization were these simple devices of producing fire
artificially. So simple an invention as the discovery of the friction
match saved hours of labor and permitted hours of leisure to be used in
other ways. It is one of the vagaries of human progress that a simple
device remains in use for thousands of years before its clumsy method
gives way to a new invention only one step in advance of the old.
_Cooking Added to the Economy of the Food Supply_.--Primitive man
doubtless consumed his food raw. The transition of the custom of
uncooked food to cooked food must have been gradual. We only know that
many of the backward tribes of {91} to-day are using primitive methods
of cooking, and the man of the Stone Ages had methods of cooking the
meat of animals. In all probability, the suggestion came as people
were grouped around the fire for artificial heat, and then, either by
intention or desire, the experiment of cooking began. After man had
learned to make water-tight baskets, a common device of cooking was to
put water in the basket and, after heating stones on a fire, put them
in the basket to heat the water and then place the food in the basket
to be cooked. This method is carried on by the Indians in some parts
of Alaska to this day, where they use a water-tight basket for this
purpose. Probably this method of cooking food was a later development
than the roasting of food on coals or in the ashes, or in the use of
the wooden spit. Catlin, in his _North American Indians_, relates that
certain tribes of Indians dig a hole in the ground and line it with
hide filled with water, then place hot stones in the water, in which
they place their fish, game, or meat for cooking. This is interesting,
because it carries out a more or less universal idea of adaptation to
environment. Probably the plains Indians had no baskets or other
vessels to use for this purpose, but they are found to have used
similar methods of cooking grasshoppers. They dig a hole in the
ground, build a fire in the hole, and take the fire out and put in the
grasshoppers. Thus, they have an exhibition of the first fireless
cooker.
It is thought by some that the need of vessels which would endure the
heat was the cause of the invention of pottery. While there seems to
be little evidence of this, it is easy to conjecture that when water
was needed to be heated in a basket, a mass of clay would be put on the
bottom of the basket before it was put over the coals of fire. After
the cooking was done, the basket could easily be detached from the
clay, leaving a hard-baked bowl. This led to the suggestion of making
bowls of clay and baking them for common use. Others suggest that the
fact of making holes in the ground for cooking purposes gave the
suggestion that by the use of clay a portable vessel might be made for
similar purposes.
{92}
The economic value of cooking rests in the fact that a larger utility
comes from the cooked than from the raw food. Though the phenomena of
physical development of tribes and nations cannot be explained by the
chemical constituents of food, although they are not without a positive
influence. Evidently the preparation of food has much to do with man's
progress, and the art of cooking was a great step in advance. The
better utilization of food was a time-saving process--and, indeed, in
many instances may have been a life-saving affair.
_The Domestication of Animals_.--The time and place of the
domestication of animals are not satisfactorily determined. We know
that Paleolithic man had domesticated the dog, and probably for
centuries this was the only animal domesticated; but it is known that
low forest tribes have tamed monkeys and parrots for pets, and savage
tribes frequently have a band of dogs for hunting game or guarding the
hut. While it may be supposed that domestication of animals may have
occurred in the prehistoric period, the use of such animals has been in
the historic period. There are many evidences of the domesticated dog
at the beginning of the Neolithic period. However, these animals may
have still been nearly half wild. It is not until the period of the
Lake Dwellings of Switzerland that we can discriminate between the wild
animals and those that have been tamed. In the Lake Dwelling debris
are found the bones of the wild bull, or _urus_, of Europe. Probably
this large, long-horned animal was then in a wild state, and had been
hunted for food. Alongside of these remains are those of a small,
short-horned animal, supposed to have been domesticated. Later, though
still in the Neolithic period, remains of short-horned tame cattle
appear in the refuse of the Lake Dwellings. It is thought by some that
these two varieties--the long-horned _urus_ and the short-horned
domesticated animal brought from the south--were crossed, which gave
rise to the origin of the present stock of modern cattle in central
Europe. Pigs and sheep were probably domesticated in Asia {93} and
brought into Europe during the later Neolithic or early Bronze period.
The horse was domesticated in Asia, and Clark Wissler[1] shows that to
be one great centre of cultural distribution for this animal. It
spread from Asia into Europe, and from Europe into America. The llama
was early domesticated in South America. The American turkey had its
native home in Mexico, the hen in Asia. The dog, though domesticated
very early in Asia, has gone wherever the human race has migrated, as
the constant companion of man. The horse, while domesticated in Asia,
depends upon the culture of Europe for his large and extended use, and
has spread over the world. We find that in the historic period the
Aryan people everywhere made use of the domesticated goat, horse, and
dog. In the northern part of Europe, the reindeer early became of
great service to the inhabitants for milk, meat, and clothing. The
great supply of milk and meat from domesticated animals added
tremendously to the food supply of the race, and made it possible for
it to develop in other lines. Along with the food supply has been the
use of these animals for increasing the clothing supply through hides,
furs, skins, and wool. The domestication of animals laid the
foundation for great economic advancement.
_The Beginnings of Agriculture Were Very Meagre_.--Man had gathered
seeds and fruit and berries for many years before he conceived the
notion of planting seeds and cultivating crops. It appears to be a
long time before he knew enough to gather seeds and plant them for a
harvest. Having discovered this, it was only necessary to have the
will and energy to prepare the soil, sow the seed, and harvest a crop
in order to enter upon agriculture. But to learn this simple act must
have required many crude experiments. In the migrations of mankind
they adopted a little intermittent agriculture, planting the grains
while the tribe paused for pasture of flocks and herds, and resting
long enough for a crop to be harvested. {94} They gradually began to
supplement the work of the pastoral with temporary agriculture, which
was used as a means of supplementing the food supply. It was not until
people settled in permanent habitations and ceased their pastoral
wanderings that real agriculture became established. Even then it was
a crude process, and, like every other economic industry of ancient
times, its development was excessively slow.
The wandering tribes of North America at the time of the discovery had
reached the state of raising an occasional crop of corn. Indeed, some
tribes were quite constant in limited agriculture. The sedentary
Indians of New Mexico, old Mexico, and Peru also cultivated corn and
other plants, as did those of Central America. The first tillage of
the soil was meagre, and the invention of agricultural implements
proceeded slowly. At first wandering savages carried a pointed stick
to dig up the roots and tubers used for food. The first agriculturists
used sticks for stirring the soil, which finally became flattened in
the form of a paddle or rude spade. The hoe was evolved from the stone
pick or hatchet. It is said that the women of the North American
tribes used a hoe made of an elk's shoulder-blade and a handle of wood.
In Sweden the earliest records of tillage represent a huge hoe made
from a stout limb of spruce with the sharpened root. This was finally
made heavier, and men dragged it through the soil in the manner of
ploughing. Subsequently the plough was made in two pieces, a handle
having been added. Finally a pair of cows yoked together were
compelled to drag the plough. Probably this is a fair illustration of
the manner of the evolution of the plough in other countries. It is
also typical of the evolution of all modern agricultural implements.
We need only refer to our own day to see how changes take place. The
writer has cut grain with the old-fashioned sickle, the scythe, the
cradle, and the reaper, and has lived to see the harvester cut and
thresh the grain in the field. The Egyptians use until this day wooden
ploughs of an ancient type formed from limbs of trees, having a share
pointed with metal. {95} The old Spanish colonists used a similar
plough in California and Mexico as late as the nineteenth century.
From these ploughs, which merely stirred the soil imperfectly, there
has been a slow evolution to the complete steel plough and disk of
modern times. A glance at the collection of perfected farm machinery
at any modern agricultural fair reveals what man has accomplished since
the beginning of the agricultural art. In forest countries the
beginning of agriculture was in the open places, or else the natives
cut and burned the brush and timber, and frequently, after one or two
crops, moved on to other places. The early settlers of new territories
pursue the same method with their first fields, while the turning of
the prairie sod of the Western plains was frequently preceded by the
burning of the prairie grass and brush.
The method of attachment to the soil determined economic progress. Man
in his early wanderings had no notion of ownership of the land. All he
wished was to have room to go wherever the food quest directed him, and
apparently he had no reflections on the subject. The matters of fact
regarding mountain, sea, river, ocean, and glacier which influenced his
movements were practically no different from the fact of other tribes
that barred his progress or interfered with his methods of life. In
the hunter-fisher stage of existence, human contacts became frequent,
and led to contention and warfare over customary hunting grounds. Even
in the pastoral period the land was occupied by moving upon it, and
held as long as the tribe could maintain itself against other tribes
that wished the land for pasture. Gradually, however, even in
temporary locations, a more permanent attachment to the soil came
through clusters of dwellings and villages, and the habit of using
territory from year to year for pastorage led to a claim of the tribe
for that territory. So the idea of possession grew into the idea of
permanent ownership and the idea of rights to certain parts of the
territory became continually stronger. This method of settlement had
much to do with not only the economic life of people, but in
determining the nature of their {96} social organizations and
consequently the efficiency of their social activity. Evidently, the
occupation of a certain territory as a dwelling-place was the source of
the idea of ownership in land.
Nearly all of Europe, at least, came into permanent cultivation through
the village community.[2] A tribe settled in a given valley and held
the soil in common. There was at a central place an irregular
collection of rude huts, called the village. Each head of the family
owned and permanently occupied one of these. The fertile or tillable
land was laid out in lots, each family being allowed the use of a lot
for one or more years, but the whole land was the common property of
the tribe, and was under the direction of the village elders. The
regulation of the affairs of the agricultural community developed
government, law, and social cohesion. The social advancement after the
introduction of permanent agriculture was great in every way. The
increased food supply was an untold blessing; the closer association
necessary for the new kind of life, the building of distinct homes, and
the necessity of a more general citizenship and a code of public law
brought forth the social or community idea of progress. Side by side
with the village community system there was a separate development of
individual ownership and tillage, which developed into the manorial
system. It is not necessary to discuss this method here except to say
that this, together with the permanent occupation of the house-lot in
the village, gave rise to the private ownership of property in land.
As to how private ownership of personal property began, it is easy to
suppose that, having made an implement or tool, the person claimed the
right of perpetual possession or ownership; also, that in the chase the
captured game belonged to the one who made the capture; the clothing to
the maker. In some instances where game was captured by the group,
each was given a share in proportion to his station in life, or again
in proportion to the service each performed in the capture. Yet, in
this {97} early period possessory right was frequently determined on
the basis that might makes right.
_The Manufacture of Clothing_.--The motive of clothing has been that of
ornament and protection from the pain of cold. The ornamentation of
the body was earlier in its appearance in human progress than the
making of clothing for the protection of the body; and after the latter
came into use, ornamentation continued, thus making clothing more and
more artistic. As to how man protected his body before he began to
kill wild animals for food, is conjectural. Probably he dwelt in a
warm climate, where very little clothing was needed, but, undoubtedly,
the cave man and, in fact, all of the groups of the race occurring in
Europe and Asia in the latter part of the Old Stone Age and during the
New Stone Age used the skins of animals for clothing. Later, after
weaving had begun, grasses and fibres taken from plants in a rude way
were plaited for making clothing. Subsequently these fibres were
prepared, twisted into thread, and woven regularly into garments. The
main source of supply came from reeds, rushes, wild flax, cotton,
fibres of the century plant, the inner bark of trees, and other sources
according to the environment.
Nothing can be more interesting than the progress made in clothing,
combining as it does the objects of protection from cold, the adornment
of the person, and the preservation of modesty. Indians of the forests
of the tropical regions and on the Pacific coast, when first
discovered, have been found entirely naked. These were usually without
modesty. That is, they felt no need of clothing on account of the
presence of others. There are many evidences to show that the first
clothing was for ornament and for personal attraction rather than for
protection. The painting of the body, the dressing of the hair, the
wearing of rings in the nose, ears, and lips, the tattooing of the
body, all are to be associated with the first clothing, which may be
merely a narrow belt or an ornamental piece of cloth--all merely for
show, for adornment and attraction.
{98}
There are relics of ornaments found in caves of early man, and, as
before mentioned, relics of paints. The clothing of early man can be
conjectured by the implements with which he was accustomed to dress the
skins of animals. Among living tribes the bark of trees represents the
lowest form of clothing. In Brazil there is found what is known as the
"shirt tree," which provides covering for the body. When a man wants a
new garment he pulls the bark from a tree of a suitable size, making a
complete girdle. This he soaks and beats until it is soft, and,
cutting holes for the arms, dons his tailor-made garment. In some
countries, particularly India, aprons are made of leaves. But the
garment made of the skins of animals is the most universal among living
savage and barbarous tribes, even after the latter have learned to spin
and weave fabrics. The tanning of skins is carried on with a great
deal of skill, and rich and expensive garments are worn by the
wealthier members of savage tribes.
The making of garments from threads, strings, or fibres was an art
discovered a little later. At first rude aprons were woven from long
strips of bark. The South Sea Islanders made short gowns of plaited
rushes, and the New Zealanders wore rude garments from strings made of
native flax. These early products were made by the process of working
the fibres by hand into a string or thread. The use of a simple
spindle, composed of a stone like a large button, with a stick run
through a hole in the centre, facilitated the making of thread and the
construction of rude looms. It was but a step from these to the
spinning-wheels and looms of the Middle Ages. When the Spaniards
discovered the Pueblo Indians, they were wearing garments of their own
weaving from cotton and wood fibres. Strong cords attached to the
limbs of trees and to a piece of wood on the ground formed the
framework of the loom, and the native sat down to weave the garment.
With slight improvements on this old style, the Navajos continue to
weave their celebrated blankets. What an effort it must have cost,
what a necessity must have crowded man to have compelled him to resort
to this method of procuring clothing!
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The artistic taste in dress has always accompanied the development of
the useful, although dress has always been used more or less for
ornament, and taste has changed by slow degrees. The primitive races
everywhere delighted in bright colors, and in most instances these
border on the grotesque in arrangement and combination. But many
people not far advanced in barbarism have colors artistically arranged
and dress with considerable skill. Ornaments change in the progress of
civilization from coarse, ungainly shells, pieces of wood, or bits of
metal, to more finely wrought articles of gold and silver.
_Primitive Shelters and Houses_.--The shelters of primitive man were
more or less temporary, for wherever he happened to be in his
migrations he sought shelter from storm or cold in the way most
adaptable to his circumstances. There was in this connection, also,
the precaution taken to protect against predatory animals and wild men.
As his stay in a given territory became more permanent, the home or
shelter gradually grew more permanent. So far as we can ascertain, man
has always been known to build some sort of shelter. As apes build
their shelters in trees, birds build their nests, and beavers dam water
to make their homes, it is impossible to suppose that man, with
superior intelligence, was ever simple enough to continue long without
some sort of shelter constructed with his own hands. At first the
shelter of trees, rocks, and caves served his purpose wherever
available. Subsequently, when he had learned to build houses, their
structure was usually dependent more upon environment than upon his
inventive genius. Whether he built a platform house or nest in a tree,
or provided a temporary brush shelter, or bark hut, or stone or adobe
building, depended a good deal upon the material at hand and the
necessity of protection. The main thing was to protect against cold or
storm, wild animals, and, eventually, wild men.
The progress in architecture among the nations of ancient civilization
was quite rapid. Massive structures were built for capacity and
strength, which the natives soon learned to {100} decorate within and
without. The buildings were made of large blocks of hewn stone, fitted
together mechanically by the means of cement, which made secure
foundations for ages. When in the course of time the arch was
discovered, it alone became a power to advance the progress of
architecture. We have seen pass before our eyes a sudden transition in
dwelling houses.
The first inhabitants of some parts of the Western prairies dwelt in
tents. These were next exchanged for the "dugout," and this for a rude
hut. Subsequently the rude hut was made into a barn or pig-pen, and a
respectable farmhouse was built; and finally this, too, has been
replaced by a house of modern style and conveniences. If we could
consider this change to have extended over thousands of years, from the
first shelter of man to the finished modern building, it would be a
picture of the progress of man in the art of building. In this slow
process man struggled without means and with crude notions of life in
every form. The aim, first, was for protection, then comfort and
durability, and finally for beauty. The artistic in building has kept
pace with other forms of civilization evinced in other ways.
One of the most interesting exhibits of house-building for protection
is found in the cliff dwellings, whose ruins are to be seen in Arizona
and New Mexico. Tradition and other evidences point to the conclusion
that certain tribes had developed a state of civilization as high as a
middle period of barbarism, on the plains, where they had made a
beginning of systematic agriculture, and that they were afterward
driven out by wilder tribes and withdrew, seeking the cliffs for
protection. There they built under the projecting cliffs the large
communal houses, where they dwelt for a long period of time.
Subsequently their descendants went into the valleys and developed the
Pueblo villages, with their large communal houses of _adobe_.
_Discovery and Use of Metals_.--It is not known just when the human
race first discovered and used any one of the metals {101} now known to
commerce and industry, but it can be assumed that their discovery
occurred at a very early period and their use followed quickly.
Reasoning back from the nature and condition of the wild tribes of
to-day, who are curiously attracted by bright colors, whether in metals
or beads or clothing, and realizing how universally they used the
minerals and plants for coloring, it would be safe to assume that the
satisfaction of the curiosity of primitive man led to the discovery of
bright metals at a very early time. Pieces of copper, gold, and iron
would easily have been found in a free state in metal-bearing soil, and
treasured as articles of value. Copper undoubtedly was used by the
American Indians, and probably by the inhabitants of Europe during the
Neolithic Age--it being found in a native state in sufficient
quantities to be hammered into implements.
Thus copper has been found in large pieces in its native state, not
only in Europe but in Mexico and other parts of North America,
particularly in the Lake Superior region; but as the soft hematite iron
was found in larger quantities in a free state, it would seem that the
use of iron in a small degree must have occurred at about the same
time, or perhaps a little later. The process of smelting must have
been suggested by the action of fire built on or near ore beds, where a
crude process of accidental smelting took place. Combined with tin
ore, the copper was made into bronze in Peru and Mexico at the time of
the discovery. In Europe there are abundant remains to show the early
use of metals. Probably copper and tin were in use before iron,
although iron may have been discovered first. There are numerous tin
mines in Asia and copper mines in Cyprus. At first, metals were
probably worked while cold through hammering, the softest metals
doubtless being used before others.
It is difficult to tell how smelting was discovered, although the
making and use of bronze implements is an indication of the first
process of smelting ores and combining metals. When tin was first
discovered is not known, but we know that bronze {102} implements made
from an alloy of copper, tin, and usually other metals were used by the
Greeks and other Aryan peoples in the early historic period, about six
thousand years ago. In Egypt and Babylon many of the inscriptions make
mention of the use of iron as well as bronze, although the extended use
of the former must have come about some time after the latter. At
first all war instruments were stone and wood and later bronze, which
were largely replaced by iron at a still later period. The making of
spears, swords, pikes, battle-axes, and other implements of war had
much to do with the development of ingenious work in metals. The final
perfection of metal work could only be attained by the manufacture of
finely treated steel. Probably the tempering of steel began at the
time iron came prominently into use.
Other metals, such as silver, quicksilver, gold, and lead, came into
common use in the early stages of civilization, all of which added
greatly to the arts and industries. Nearly all of the metals were used
for money at various times. The aids to trade and commerce which these
metals gave on account of their universal use and constant measure of
value cannot be overestimated.
_Transportation as a Means of Economic Development_.--Early methods of
carrying goods from one place to another were on the backs of human
beings. Many devices were made for economy of service and strength in
carrying. Bands over the shoulders and over the head were devised for
the purpose of securing the pack on the back. An Indian woman of the
Southwest would carry a large basket, or _keiho_, on her back, secured
by a band around her head for the support of the load. A Pueblo woman
will carry a large bowl filled with water or other material, on the top
of her head, balancing it by walking erect. Indeed, in more recent
times washerwomen in Europe, and of the colored race in America, carry
baskets of clothes and pails of water on their heads. The whole
process of the development of transportation came about through
invention to be relieved from this bodily service.
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As the dog was the first animal domesticated, he was early used to help
in transportation by harnessing him to a rude sled, or drag, by means
of which he pulled articles from one place to another. The Eskimos
have used dogs and the sled to a greater extent than any other race.
The use of the camel, the llama, the horse, and the ass for packing
became very common after their domestication. Huge packs were strapped
upon the backs of these animals, and goods thus transported from one
place to another. To such an extent was the camel used, even in the
historic period, for transportation in the Orient that he has been
called the "ship of the desert." The plains Indians had a method of
attaching two poles, one at each side of an Indian pony, which extended
backward, dragging on the ground. Upon these poles was built a little
platform, on which goods were deposited and thus transported from one
camp to another.
It must have been a long time before water transportation performed any
considerable economic service. It is thought by some that primitive
man conceived the idea of the use of water for transportation through
his experience of floating logs, or drifts, or his own process of
swimming and floating. Jack London pictures two primitives playing on
the logs near the shore of a stream. Subsequently the logs cast loose,
and the primitives were floated away from the shore. They learned by
putting their hands in the water and paddling that they could make the
logs move in the direction which they wished to go. Perhaps this
explanation is as good as any, inasmuch as the beginnings of modern
transportation still dwell in the mist of the past. However, in
support of the log theory is the fact that modern races use primitive
boats made of long reeds tied together, forming a loglike structure.
The _balsa_ of the Indians of the north coasts of South America is a
very good representation of this kind of boat.
Evidently, the first canoes were made by hollowing logs and sharpening
the ends at bow and stern. This form of boat-making has been carried
to a high degree of skill by the {104} Indians of the northwest coast
of America and by the natives of the Hawaiian Islands. The birch-bark
canoe, made for lighter work and overland transportation, is more
suggestive of the light reed boat than of the log canoe. Also, the
boats made of a framework covered with the skins of animals were
prominent at certain periods of the development of races who lived on
animal food. But later the development of boats with frames covered
with strips of board and coated with pitch became the great vehicle of
commerce through hundreds of years. It certainly is a long journey
from the floating log to the modern floating passenger palace, freight
leviathan, or armed dreadnought, but the journey was accomplished by
thousands of steps, some short and some long, through thousands of
years of progress.
_Trade, or Exchange of Goods_.--In Mr. Clark Wissler's book on _Man and
Culture_, he has shown quite conclusively that there are certain
culture areas whereby certain inventions, discoveries, or customs have
originated and spread over a given territory. This recognition of a
centre of origin of custom or invention is in accordance with the whole
process of social development. For instance, in a given area occupied
by modern civilized people, there are a very few who invent or
originate things, and others follow through imitation or suggestion.
So it was with the discoveries and inventions of primitive man. For
example, we know that in Oklahoma and Arkansas, as well as in other
places in the United States, certain stone quarries or mines are found
that produce a certain kind of flint or chert used in making
arrow-heads or spearheads and axes. Tribes that developed these traded
with other tribes that did not have them, so that from these centres
implements were scattered all over the West. A person may pick up on a
single village site or battle-ground different implements coming from a
dozen or more different quarries or centres and made by different
tribes hundreds of miles apart in residence.
This diffusion of knowledge and things of material {105} workmanship,
or of methods of life, is through a system of borrowing, trading, or
swapping--or perhaps sometimes through conquest and robbery; but as
soon as an article of any kind could be made which could be subjected
to general use of different tribes in different localities, it began to
travel from a centre and to be used over a wide area. Certain tribes
became special workers in specialized lines. Thus some were
bead-makers, others expert tanners of hides, others makers of bows and
arrows of peculiar quality, and others makers of stone implements. The
incidental swapping of goods by tribes finally led to a systematic
method of a travelling trader who brought goods from one tribe to
another, exchanging as he went. This early trade had an effect in more
rapid extension of culture, because in that case one tribe could have
the invention, discovery, and art of all tribes. In connection with
this is to be noted the slow change of custom regarding religious
belief and ceremony or tribal consciousness. The pride of family and
race development, the assumption of superiority leading to race
aversion, interfered with intelligence and the spread of ideas and
customs; but most economic processes that were not bound up with
religious ceremonies or tribal customs were easily exchanged and
readily accepted between the tribes.
Exchange of goods and transportation went hand in hand in their
development, very slowly and surely. After trade had become pretty
well established, it became necessary to have a medium of exchange.
Some well-known article whose value was very well recognized among the
people who were trading became the standard for fixing prices in
exchange. Thus, in early Anglo-Saxon times the cow was the unit of the
measure of value. Sometimes a shell, as a _cowrie_ of India or the
wampum of the American Indian, was used for this purpose. Wheat has
been at one time in America, and tobacco in another, a measure of
exchange because of the scarcity of money.
Gradually, as the discovery and use of precious metals became common
and desirable because of their brightness {106} and service in
implement and ornament, they became the medium of exchange. Thus,
copper and gold, iron and bronze have been used as metallic means of
exchange--that is, as money. So from the beginning of trade and
swapping article for article, it came to be common eventually to swap
an article for something called money and then use the money for the
purchase of other desirable articles. This made it possible for the
individual to carry about in a small compass the means of obtaining any
article in the market within the range of the purchasing power of his
money. Trade, transportation, and exchange not only had a vast deal to
do with economic progress but were of tremendous importance in social
development. They were powerful in diffusion, extension, and promotion
of culture.
_The Struggle for Existence Develops the Individual and the Race_.--The
remnants and relics of the arts and industries of man give us a fair
estimate of the process of man's mind and the accomplishment of his
physical labor. It is through the effort involved in the struggle for
existence that he has made his various steps forward. Truly the actual
life of primitive man tends to verify the adage that "necessity is the
mother of invention." It was this tremendous demand on him for the
means of existence that caused him to create the things that protected
and improved his life. It was the insistent struggle which forced him
to devise means of taking advantage of nature and thus led to invention
and discovery. Every new invention and every new discovery showed the
expansion of his mind, as well as gave him the means of material
improvement. It also added to his bodily vigor and added much to the
development of his physical powers. Upon this economic foundation has
been built a superstructure of intellectual power, of moral worth and
social improvement, for these in their highest phases of existence may
be traced back to the early beginnings of life, where man was put to
his utmost effort to supply the simplest of human wants.
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SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY
1. The change in social life caused by the cultivation of the soil.
2. The effect of the discovery and use of fire on civilization.
3. What was the social effect of the exchange of economic products?
4. What influence had systematic labor on individual development?
5. Show how the discovery and use of a new food advances civilization.
6. Compare primitive man's food supply with that of a modern city
dweller.
7. Trace a cup of coffee to its original source and show the different
classes of people engaged in its production.
[1] _Man and Culture_.
[2] See Chapter III.
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