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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c87a98e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69888 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69888) diff --git a/old/69888-0.txt b/old/69888-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e5cbad3..0000000 --- a/old/69888-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10937 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The instinct of workmanship, by -Thorstein Veblen - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The instinct of workmanship - and the state of industrial arts - -Author: Thorstein Veblen - -Release Date: January 28, 2023 [eBook #69888] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Emmanuel Ackerman, Art Chimes, Charlie Howard, and the - Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INSTINCT OF -WORKMANSHIP *** - - - - - -THE INSTINCT OF WORKMANSHIP - - - - -[Illustration] - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS - ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO - - MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED - LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA - MELBOURNE - - THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. - TORONTO - - - - - THE INSTINCT OF - WORKMANSHIP - - AND THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS - - - BY - THORSTEIN VEBLEN - AUTHOR OF “THE THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS” - - - New York - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - 1914 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1914, - BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1914. - -[Illustration] - - - - - TO - B K N - - - - -PREFACE - - -The following essay attempts an analysis of such correlation as is -visible between industrial use and wont and those other institutional -facts that go to make up any given phase of civilisation. It is assumed -that in the growth of culture, as in its current maintenance, the -facts of technological use and wont are fundamental and definitive, -in the sense that they underlie and condition the scope and method of -civilisation in other than the technological respect, but not in such -a sense as to preclude or overlook the degree in which these other -conventions of any given civilisation in their turn react on the state -of the industrial arts. - -The analysis proceeds on the materialistic assumptions of modern -science, but without prejudice to the underlying question as to the -ulterior competency of this materialistic conception considered as -a metaphysical tenet. The inquiry simply accepts these mechanistic -assumptions of material science for the purpose in hand, since these -afford the currently acceptable terms of solution for any scientific -problem of the kind in the present state of preconceptions on this head. - -As should appear from its slight bulk, the essay is of the nature -of a cursory survey rather than an exhaustive inquiry with full -documentation. The few references given and the authorities cited -in the course of the argument are accordingly not to be taken as an -inclusive presentation of the materials on which the inquiry rests. It -will also be remarked that where authoritative documents are cited the -citation is general and extensive rather than specific and detailed. -Wherever detailed references are given they will be found to bear on -specific facts brought into the argument by way of illustrative detail. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - PAGE - INTRODUCTORY 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - CONTAMINATION OF INSTINCTS IN PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY 38 - - - CHAPTER III - - THE SAVAGE STATE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS 103 - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE PREDATORY CULTURE 138 - - - CHAPTER V - - OWNERSHIP AND THE COMPETITIVE SYSTEM 187 - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE ERA OF HANDICRAFT 231 - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE MACHINE INDUSTRY 299 - - - - -THE INSTINCT OF WORKMANSHIP - - - - -CHAPTER I - -INTRODUCTORY - - -For mankind as for the other higher animals, the life of the species -is conditioned by the complement of instinctive proclivities and -tropismatic aptitudes with which the species is typically endowed. Not -only is the continued life of the race dependent on the adequacy of its -instinctive proclivities in this way, but the routine and details of -its life are also, in the last resort, determined by these instincts. -These are the prime movers in human behaviour, as in the behaviour -of all those animals that show self-direction or discretion. Human -activity, in so far as it can be spoken of as conduct, can never exceed -the scope of these instinctive dispositions, by initiative of which man -takes action. Nothing falls within the human scheme of things desirable -to be done except what answers to these native proclivities of man. -These native proclivities alone make anything worth while, and out of -their working emerge not only the purpose and efficiency of life, but -its substantial pleasures and pains as well. - - * * * * * - -Latterly the words “instinct” and “instinctive” are no longer well -seen among students of those biological sciences where they once had -a great vogue. Students who occupy themselves with the psychology -of animal behaviour are cautiously avoiding these expressions, and -in this caution they are doubtless well advised. For such use the -word appears no longer to be serviceable as a technical term. It has -lost the requisite sharp definition and consistency of connotation, -apparently through disintegration under a more searching analysis -than the phenomena comprised under this concept had previously been -subjected to. In these biological sciences interest is centering not on -the question of what activities may be set down to innate propensity -or predisposition at large, but rather on the determination of the -irreducible psychological--and, indeed, physiological--elements that -go to make up animal behaviour. For this purpose “instinct” is a -concept of too lax and shifty a definition to meet the demands of exact -biological science. - -For the sciences that deal with the psychology of human conduct a -similarly searching analysis of the elementary facts of behaviour -is doubtless similarly desirable; and under such closer scrutiny of -these facts it will doubtless appear that here, too, the broad term -“instinct” is of too unprecise a character to serve the needs of an -exhaustive psychological analysis. But the needs of an inquiry into -the nature and causes of the growth of institutions are not precisely -the same as those of such an exhaustive psychological analysis. A -genetic inquiry into institutions will address itself to the growth -of habits and conventions, as conditioned by the material environment -and by the innate and persistent propensities of human nature; and -for these propensities, as they take effect in the give and take of -cultural growth, no better designation than the time-worn “instinct” -is available. - -In the light of recent inquiries and speculations it is scarcely to -be questioned that each of these distinguishable propensities may be -analysed into simpler constituent elements, of a quasi-tropismatic -or physiological nature;[1] but in the light of every-day experience -and common notoriety it is at the same time not to be questioned that -these simple and irreducible psychological elements of human behaviour -fall into composite functional groups, and so make up specific and -determinate propensities, proclivities, aptitudes that are, within the -purview of the social sciences, to be handled as irreducible traits -of human nature. Indeed, it would appear that it is in the particular -grouping and concatenation of these ultimate psychological elements -into characteristic lines of interest and propensity that the nature of -man is finally to be distinguished from that of the lower animals. - -These various native proclivities that are so classed together as -“instincts” have the characteristic in common that they all and -several, more or less imperatively, propose an objective end of -endeavour. On the other hand what distinguishes one instinct from -another is that each sets up a characteristic purpose, aim, or -object to be attained, different from the objective end of any other -instinct. Instinctive action is teleological, consciously so, and the -teleological scope and aim of each instinctive propensity differs -characteristically from all the rest. The several instincts are -teleological categories, and are, in colloquial usage, distinguished -and classed on the ground of their teleological content. As the term -is here used, therefore, and indeed as it is currently understood, -the instincts are to be defined or described neither in mechanical -terms of those anatomical or physiological aptitudes that causally -underlie them or that come into action in the functioning of any -given instinct, nor in terms of the movements of orientation or taxis -involved in the functioning of each. The distinctive feature by the -mark of which any given instinct is identified is to be found in the -particular character of the purpose to which it drives.[2] “Instinct,” -as contra-distinguished from tropismatic action, involves consciousness -and adaptation to an end aimed at. - -It is, of course, not hereby intended to set up or to prescribe a -definition of “instinct” at large, but only to indicate as closely as -may be what sense is attached to the term as here used. At the same -time it is believed that this definition of the concept does violence -neither to colloquial usage nor to the usage of such students as have -employed the term in scientific discussion, particularly in discussion -of the instinctive proclivities of mankind. But it is not to be -overlooked that this definition of the term may be found inapplicable, -or at least of doubtful service, when applied to those simpler and -more immediate impulses that are sometimes by tradition spoken of as -“instinctive,” even in human behaviour,--impulses that might with -better effect be designated “tropismatic.” In animal behaviour, for -instance, as well as in such direct and immediate impulsive human -action as is fairly to be classed with animal behaviour, it is often a -matter of some perplexity to draw a line between tropismatic activity -and instinct. Notoriously, the activities commonly recognised as -instinctive differ widely among themselves in respect of the degree of -directness or immediacy with which the given response to stimulus takes -place. They range in this respect all the way from such reactions as -are doubtfully to be distinguished from simple reflex action on the -one hand, to such as are doubtfully recognised as instinctive because -of the extent to which reflection and deliberation enter into their -execution on the other hand. By insensible gradation the lower (less -complex and deliberate) instinctive activities merge into the class of -unmistakable tropismatic sensibilities, without its being practicable -to determine by any secure test where the one category should be -declared to end and the other to begin.[3] Such quasi-tropismatic -activities may be rated as purposeful by an observer, in the sense -that they are seen to further the life of the individual agent or of -the species, while there is no consciousness of purpose on the part -of the agent under observation; whereas “instinct,” in the narrower -and special sense to which it seems desirable to restrict the term for -present use, denotes the conscious pursuit of an objective end which -the instinct in question makes worth while. - - * * * * * - -The ends of life, then, the purposes to be achieved, are assigned -by man’s instinctive proclivities; but the ways and means of -accomplishing those things which the instinctive proclivities so make -worth while are a matter of intelligence. It is a distinctive mark of -mankind that the working-out of the instinctive proclivities of the -race is guided by intelligence to a degree not approached by the other -animals. But the dependence of the race on its endowment of instincts -is no less absolute for this intervention of intelligence; since it is -only by the prompting of instinct that reflection and deliberation come -to be so employed, and since instinct also governs the scope and method -of intelligence in all this employment of it. Men take thought, but -the human spirit, that is to say the racial endowment of instinctive -proclivities, decides what they shall take thought of, and how and to -what effect. - -Yet the dependence of the scheme of life on the complement of -instinctive proclivities hereby becomes less immediate, since a more or -less extended logic of ways and means comes to intervene between the -instinctively given end and its realisation; and the lines of relation -between any given instinctive proclivity and any particular feature of -human conduct are by so much the more devious and roundabout and the -more difficult to trace. The higher the degree of intelligence and the -larger the available body of knowledge current in any given community, -the more extensive and elaborate will be the logic of ways and means -interposed between these impulses and their realisation, and the more -multifarious and complicated will be the apparatus of expedients and -resources employed to compass those ends that are instinctively worth -while. - -This apparatus of ways and means available for the pursuit of whatever -may be worth seeking is, substantially all, a matter of tradition out -of the past, a legacy of habits of thought accumulated through the -experience of past generations. So that the manner, and in a great -degree the measure, in which the instinctive ends of life are worked -out under any given cultural situation is somewhat closely conditioned -by these elements of habit, which so fall into shape as an accepted -scheme of life. The instinctive proclivities are essentially simple and -look directly to the attainment of some concrete objective end; but -in detail the ends so sought are many and diverse, and the ways and -means by which they may be sought are similarly diverse and various, -involving endless recourse to expedients, adaptations, and concessive -adjustment between several proclivities that are all sufficiently -urgent. - -Under the discipline of habituation this logic and apparatus of ways -and means falls into conventional lines, acquires the consistency of -custom and prescription, and so takes on an institutional character -and force. The accustomed ways of doing and thinking not only become -an habitual matter of course, easy and obvious, but they come likewise -to be sanctioned by social convention, and so become right and proper -and give rise to principles of conduct. By use and wont they are -incorporated into the current scheme of common sense. A elements of -the approved scheme of conduct and pursuit these conventional ways -and means take their place as proximate ends of endeavour. Whence, in -the further course of unremitting habituation, as the attention is -habitually focussed on these proximate ends, they occupy the interest -to such an extent as commonly to throw their own ulterior purpose -into the background and often let it be lost sight of; as may happen, -for instance, in the acquisition and use of money. It follows that -in much of human conduct these proximate ends alone are present in -consciousness as the object of interest and the goal of endeavour, and -certain conventionally accepted ways and means come to be set up as -definitive principles of what is right and good; while the ulterior -purpose of it all is only called to mind occasionally, if at all, as an -afterthought, by an effort of reflection.[4] - - * * * * * - -Among psychologists who have busied themselves with these questions -there has hitherto been no large measure of agreement as to the -number of specific instinctive proclivities that so are native to -man; nor is there any agreement as to the precise functional range -and content ascribed to each. In a loose way it is apparently taken -for granted that these instincts are to be conceived as discrete and -specific elements in human nature, each working out its own determinate -functional content without greatly blending with or being diverted by -the working of its neighbours in that spiritual complex into which they -all enter as constituent elements.[5] For the purposes of an exhaustive -psychological analysis it is doubtless expedient to make the most of -such discreteness as is observable among the instinctive proclivities. -But for an inquiry into the scope and method of their working-out in -the growth of institutions it is perhaps even more to the purpose -to take note of how and with what effect the several instinctive -proclivities cross, blend, overlap, neutralise or reënforce one another. - -The most convincing genetic view of these phenomena throws the -instinctive proclivities into close relation with the tropismatic -sensibilities and brings them, in the physiological respect, into -the same general class with the latter.[6] If taken uncritically and -in general terms this view would seem to carry the implication that -the instincts should be discrete and discontinuous among themselves -somewhat after the same fashion as the tropismatic sensibilities with -which they are in great measure bound up; but on closer scrutiny such -a genetic theory of the instincts does not appear to enforce the view -that they are to be conceived as effectually discontinuous or mutually -exclusive, though it may also not involve the contrary,--that they -make a continuous or ambiguously segmented body of spiritual elements. -The recognised tropisms stand out, to all appearance, as sharply -defined physiological traits, transmissible by inheritance intact and -unmodified, separable and unblended, in a manner suggestively like the -“unit characters” spoken of in latter day theories of heredity.[7] - -While the instinctive sensibilities may not be explained as derivatives -of the tropisms, there is enough of similarity in the working of the -two to suggest that the two classes of phenomena must both be accounted -for on somewhat similar physiological grounds. The simple and more -narrowly defined instinctive dispositions, which have much of the -appearance of immediate reflex nervous action and automatically defined -response, lend themselves passably to such an interpretation,--as, for -example, the gregarious instinct, or the instinct of repulsion with its -accompanying emotion of disgust. Such as these are shared by mankind -with the other higher animals on a fairly even footing; and these are -relatively simple, immediate, and not easily sophisticated or offset -by habit. These seem patently to be of much the same nature as the -tropismatic sensibilities; though even in these simpler instinctive -dispositions the characteristic quasi-tropismatic sensibility -distinctive of each appears to be complicated with obscure stimulations -of the nerve centres arising out of the functioning of one or another -of the viscera. And what is true of the simpler instincts in this -respect should apply to the vaguer and more complex instincts also, but -with a larger allowance for a more extensive complication of visceral -and organic stimuli. - -Whether these subconscious stimulations of the nerve centres through -the functioning of the viscera are to be conceived in terms of -tropismatic reaction is a difficult question which has had little -attention hitherto. But in any case, whatever the expert students -of these phenomena may have to say of this matter, the visceral or -organic stimuli engaged in any one of the instinctive sensibilities -are apparently always more than one and are usually somewhat complex. -Indeed, while it seems superficially an easy matter to refer any one of -the simple instincts directly to some certain one of the viscera as the -main or primary source from which its appropriate stimulation comes to -the nerve centres, it is by no means easy to decide what one or more of -the viscera, or of the other organs that are not commonly classed as -viscera, will have no part in the matter. - -It results that, on physiological grounds, the common run of human -instincts are not to be conceived as severally discrete and elementary -proclivities. The same physiological processes enter in some measure, -though in varying proportions, into the functioning of each. In -instinctive action the individual acts as a whole, and in the conduct -which emerges under the driving force of these instinctive dispositions -the part which each several instinct plays is a matter of more or less, -not of exclusive direction. They must therefore incontinently touch, -blend, overlap and interfere, and can not be conceived as acting each -and several in sheer isolation and independence of one another. The -relations of give and take among the several instinctive dispositions, -therefore--of inosculation, “contamination” and cross purposes--are -presumably slighter and of less consequence for the simpler and -more apparently tropismatic impulses while on the other hand the -less specific and vaguer instinctive predispositions, such as the -parental bent or the proclivity to construction or acquisition, will -be so comprehensively and intricately bound in a web of correlation -and inter-dependence--will so unremittingly contaminate, offset or -fortify one another, and have each so large and yet so shifting a -margin of common ground with all the rest--that hard and fast lines -of demarcation can scarcely be drawn between them. The best that -can practically be had in the way of a secure definition will be a -descriptive characterisation of each distinguishable propensity, -together with an indication of the more salient and consequential -ramifications by which each contaminates or is contaminated by the -working of other propensities that go to make up that complex of -instinctive dispositions that constitutes the spiritual nature of the -race. So that the schemes of definition that have hitherto been worked -out are in great part to be taken as arrangements of convenience, -serviceable apparatus for present use, rather than distinctions -enforced at all points by an equally sharp substantial discreteness of -the facts.[8] - -This fact, that in some measure the several instincts spring from a -common ground of sentient life, that they each engage the individual -as a whole, has serious consequences in the domain of habit, and -therefore it counts for much in the growth of civilisation and in the -everyday conduct of affairs. The physiological apparatus engaged in the -functioning of any given instinct enters in part, though in varying -measure, into the working of some or of any other instinct; whereby, -even on physiological grounds alone, the habituation that touches -the functioning of any given instinct must, in a less degree but -pervasively, affect the habitual conduct of the same agent when driven -by any other instinct. So that on this view the scope of habit, in so -far as it bears on the instinctive activities, is necessarily wider -than the particular concrete line of conduct to which the habituation -in question is due. - - * * * * * - -The instincts are hereditary traits. In the current theories of -heredity they would presumably be counted as secondary characteristics -of the species, as being in a sense by-products of the physiological -activities that give the species its specific character; since these -theories in the last resort run in physiological terms. So the -instinctive dispositions would scarcely be accounted unit characters, -in the Mendelian sense, but would rather count as spiritual traits -emerging from a certain concurrence of physiological unit characters -and varying somewhat according to variations in the complement of -unit characters to which the species or the individual may owe his -constitution. Hence would arise variations of individuality among -the members of the race, resting in some such manner as has just -been suggested on the varying endowment of instincts, and running -back through these finally to recondite differences of physiological -function. Some such account of the instinctive dispositions and their -relation to the physical individual seems necessary as a means of -apprehending them and their work without assuming a sheer break between -the physical and the immaterial phenomena of life. - - * * * * * - -Characteristic of the race is a degree of vagueness or generality, -an absence of automatically determinate response, a lack of concrete -eventuality as it might be called, in the common run of human -instincts. This vague and shifty character of the instincts, or -perhaps rather of the habitual response to their incitement, is to -be taken in connection with the breadth and variability of their -physiological ground as spoken of above. For the long-term success -of the race it is manifestly of the highest value, since it leaves a -wide and facile margin of experimentation, habituation, invention and -accommodation open to the sense of workmanship. At the same time and by -the same circumstance the scope and range of conventionalisation and -sophistication are similarly flexible, wide and consequential. No doubt -the several racial stocks differ very appreciably in this respect. - -The complement of instinctive dispositions, comprising under that term -both the native propensity and its appropriate sentiment, makes up what -would be called the “spiritual nature” of man--often spoken of more -simply as “human nature.” Without allowing it to imply anything like -a dualism or dichotomy between material and immaterial phenomena, the -term “spiritual” may conveniently be so used in its colloquial sense. -So employed it commits the discussion to no attitude on the question -of man’s single or dual constitution, but simply uses the conventional -expression to designate that complement of functions which it has by -current usage been employed to designate. - -The human complement of instincts fluctuates from one individual -to another in an apparently endless diversity, varying both in the -relative force of the several instinctive proclivities and in the -scheme of co-ordination, coalescence or interference that prevails -among them. This diversity of native character is noticeable among -all peoples, though some of the peoples of the lower cultures show a -notable approach to uniformity of type, both physical and spiritual. -The diversity is particularly marked among the civilised peoples, -and perhaps in a peculiar degree among the peoples of Europe and her -colonies. The extreme diversity of native character, both physical -and spiritual, noticeable in these communities is in all probability -due to their being made up of a mixture of racial stocks. In point -of pedigree, all individuals in the peoples of the Western culture -are hybrids, and the greater number of individuals are a mixture of -more than two racial stocks. The proportions in which the several -transmissible traits that go to make up the racial type enter into -the composition of these hybrid individuals will accordingly vary -endlessly. The number of possible permutations will therefore be -extremely large; so that the resulting range of variation in the -hybrids that so result from the crossing of these different racial -stocks will be sufficiently large, even when it plays within such -limits as to leave the generic human type intact. From time to time -the variation may even exceed these limits of human normality and give -a variant in which the relative emphasis on the several constituent -instinctive elements is distributed after a scheme so far from the -generically human type as to throw the given variant out of touch -with the common run of humanity and mark him as of unsound mind or as -disserviceable for the purposes of the community in which he occurs, or -even as disserviceable for life in any society. - -Yet, even through these hybrid populations there runs a generically -human type of spiritual endowment, prevalent as a general average of -human nature throughout, and suitable to the continued life of mankind -in society. Disserviceably wide departures from this generically human -and serviceable type of spiritual endowment will tend constantly to be -selectively eliminated from the race, even where the variation arises -from hybridism. The like will hold true in a more radical fashion as -applied to variants that may arise through a Mendelian mutation. - -So that the numerous racial types now existing represent only -such mutants as lie within the limits of tolerance imposed by the -situation under which any given mutant type has emerged and survived. -A surviving mutant type is necessarily suited more or less closely -to the circumstances under which it emerged and first made good its -survival, and it is presumably less suited to any other situation. -With a change in the situation, therefore, such as may come with the -migration of a given racial stock from one habitat to another, or with -an equivalent shifting growth of culture or change of climate, the -requirements of survival are likely to change. Indeed, so grave are the -alterations that may in this way supervene in the current requirements -for survival, that any given racial stock may dwindle and decay for no -other reason than that the growth of its culture has come to subject -the stock to methods of life widely different from those under which -its type of man originated and made good its fitness to survive. So, -in the mixture of races that make up the population of the Western -nations a competitive struggle for survival has apparently always -been going on among the several racial stocks that enter into the -hybrid mass, with varying fortunes according as the shifting cultural -demands and opportunities have favoured now one, now another type of -man. These cultural conditions of survival in the racial struggle -for existence have varied in the course of centuries, and with grave -consequences for the life-history of the race and of its culture; -and they are perhaps changing more substantially and rapidly in the -immediate present than at any previous time within the historical -period. So that, for instance, the continued biological success of any -given one of these stocks in the European racial mixture has within a -moderate period of time shifted from the ground of fighting capacity, -and even in a measure from the ground of climatic fitness, to that of -spiritual fitness to survive under the conditions imposed by a new -cultural situation, by a scheme of institutions that is insensibly but -incessantly changing as it runs.[9] - -These unremitting changes and adaptations that go forward in the scheme -of institutions, legal and customary, unremittingly induce new habits -of work and of thought in the community, and so they continually -instil new principles of conduct; with the outcome that the same -range of instinctive dispositions innate in the population will work -out to a different effect as regards the demands of race survival. -To all appearance, what counts first in this connection toward the -selective survival of the several European racial stocks is their -relative fitness to meet the material requirements of life,--their -economic fitness to live under the new cultural limitations and with -the new training which this altered cultural situation gives. But the -fortunes of the Western civilisation as a cultural scheme, apart from -the biological survival or success of any given racial constituent -in the Western peoples, is likewise bound up with the viability of -European mankind under these institutional changes, and dependent -on the spiritual fitness of inherited human nature successfully and -enduringly to carry on the altered scheme of life so imposed on these -peoples by the growth of their own culture. Such limitations imposed on -cultural growth by native proclivities ill suited to civilised life are -sufficiently visible in several directions and in all the nations of -Christendom. - - * * * * * - -What is known of heredity goes to say that the various racial types of -man are stable; so that during the life-history of any given racial -stock, it is held, no heritable modification of its typical make-up, -whether spiritual or physical, is to be looked for. The typical human -endowment of instincts, as well as the typical make-up of the race -in the physical respect, has according to this current view been -transmitted intact from the beginning of humanity, that is to say from -whatever point in the mutational development of the race it is seen -fit to date humanity,--except so far as subsequent mutations have -given rise to new racial stocks, to and by which this human endowment -of native proclivities has been transmitted in a typically modified -form. On the other hand the habitual elements of human life change -unremittingly and cumulatively, resulting in a continued proliferous -growth of institutions. Changes in the institutional structure are -continually taking place in response to the altered discipline of -life under changing cultural conditions, but human nature remains -specifically the same. - -The ways and means, material and immaterial, by which the native -proclivities work out their ends, therefore, are forever in process of -change, being conditioned by the changes cumulatively going forward in -the institutional fabric of habitual elements that governs the scheme -of life. But there is no warrant for assuming that each or any of these -successive changes in the scheme of institutions affords successively -readier, surer or more facile ways and means for the instinctive -proclivities to work out their ends, or that the phase of habituation -in force at any given point in this sequence of change is more suitable -to the untroubled functioning of these instincts than any phase that -has gone before. Indeed, the presumption is the other way. On grounds -of selective survival it is reasonably to be presumed that any given -racial type that has endured the test of selective elimination, -including the complement of instinctive dispositions by virtue of which -it has endured the test, will on its first emergence have been passably -suited to the circumstances, material and cultural, under which the -type emerged as a mutant and made good its survival; and in so far as -the subsequent growth of institutions has altered the available scope -and method of instinctive action it is therefore to be presumed that -any such subsequent change in the scheme of institutions will in some -degree hinder or divert the free play of its instinctive proclivities -and will thereby hinder the direct and unsophisticated working-out of -the instinctive dispositions native to this given racial type. - -What is known of the earlier phases of culture in the life-history -of the existing races and peoples goes to say that the initial phase -in the life of any given racial type, the phase of culture which -prevailed in its environment when it emerged, and under which the -stock first proved its fitness to survive, was presumably some form of -savagery. Therefore the fitness of any given type of human nature for -life after the manner and under the conditions imposed by any later -phase in the growth of culture is a matter of less and less secure -presumption the farther the sequence of institutional change has -departed from that form of savagery which marked the initial stage in -the life-history of the given racial stock. Also, presumably, though -by no means assuredly, the younger stocks, those which have emerged -from later mutations of type, have therefore initially fallen into and -made good their survival under the conditions of a relatively advanced -phase of savagery,--these younger races should therefore conform with -greater facility and better effect to the requirements imposed by a -still farther advance in that cumulative complication of institutions -and intricacy of ways and means that is involved in cultural growth. -The older or more primitive stocks, those which arose out of earlier -mutations of type and made good their survival under a more elementary -scheme of savage culture, are presumably less capable of adaptation to -an advanced cultural scheme. - -But at the same time it is on the same grounds to be expected that -in all races and peoples there should always persist an ineradicable -sentimental disposition to take back to something like that scheme -of savagery for which their particular type of human nature once -proved its fitness during the initial phase of its life-history. This -seems to be what is commonly intended in the cry, “Back to Nature!” -The older known racial stocks, the offspring of earlier mutational -departures from the initially generic human type, will have been -selectively adapted to more archaic forms of savagery, and these show -an appreciably more refractory penchant for elementary savage modes -of life, and conform to the demands and opportunities of a “higher” -civilisation only with a relatively slight facility, amounting in -extreme cases to a practical unfitness for civilised life. Hence the -“White Man’s burden” and the many perplexities of the missionaries. - - * * * * * - -Under the Mendelian theories of heredity some qualification of these -broad generalisations is called for. As has already been noted above, -the peoples of Europe, each and several, are hybrid mixtures made up -of several racial stocks. The like is true in some degree of most of -the peoples outside of Europe; particularly of the more important and -better known nationalities. These various peoples show more or less -distinct and recognisable national types of physique--or perhaps rather -of physiognomy--and temperament, and the lines of differentiation -between these national types incontinently traverse the lines that -divide the racial stocks. At the same time these national types have -some degree of permanence; so much so that they are colloquially spoken -of as types of race. While no modern anthropologist would confuse -nationality with race, it is not to be overlooked that these national -hybrid types are frequently so marked and characteristic as to simulate -racial characters and perplex the student of race who is intent on -identifying the racial stocks out of which any one of these hybrid -populations has been compounded. Presumably these national and local -types of physiognomy and temperament are to be rated as hybrid types -that have been fixed by selective breeding, and for an explanation of -this phenomenon recourse is to be taken to the latterday theories of -heredity. - -To any student familiar with the simpler phenomena of hybridism it will -be evident that under the Mendelian rules of hybridisation the number -of biologically successful--viable--hybrid forms arising from any cross -between two or more forms may diverge very widely from one another and -from either of the parent types. The variation must be extreme both in -the number of hybrid types so constructed and in the range over which -the variation extends,--much greater in both respects than the range of -fluctuating (non-typical) variations obtainable under any circumstances -in a pure-bred race, particularly in the remoter filial generations. -It is also well known, by experiment, that by selective breeding from -among such hybrid forms it is possible to construct a composite type -that will breed true in respect of the characters upon which the -selection is directed, and that such a “pure line” may be maintained -indefinitely, in spite of its hybrid origin, so long as it is not -crossed back on one or other of the parent stocks, or on a hybrid stock -that is not pure-bred in respect of the selected characters. - -So, if the conditions of life in any community consistently favour -a given type of hybrid, whether the favouring conditions are of a -cultural or of a material nature, something of a selective trend will -take effect in such a community and set toward a hybrid type which -shall meet these conditions. The result will be the establishment of a -composite pure line showing the advantageous traits of physique and -temperament, combined with a varying complement of other characters -that have no such selective value. Traits that have no selective value -in the given case will occur with fortuitous freedom, combining in -unconstrained diversity with the selectively decisive traits, and so -will mark the hybrid derivation of this provisionally established -composite pure line. With continued intercrossing within itself any -given population of such hybrid origin as the European peoples, would -tend cumulatively to breed true to such a selectively favourable hybrid -type, rather than to any one of the ultimate racial types represented -by the parent stocks out of which the hybrid population is ultimately -made up. So would emerge a national or local type, which would show -the selectively decisive traits with a great degree of consistency -but would vary indefinitely in respect of the selectively idle traits -comprised in the composite heredity of the population. Such a composite -pure line would be provisionally stable only; it should break down -when crossed back on either of the parent stocks. This “provisionally -stable composite pure line” should disappear when crossed on pure-bred -individuals of one or other of the parent stocks from which it is -drawn,--pure-bred in respect of the allelomorphic characters which give -the hybrid type its typical traits. - -But whatever the degree of stability possessed by these hybrid national -or local types, the outcome for the present purpose is much the same; -the hybrid populations afford a greater scope and range of variation in -their human nature than could be had within the limits of any pure-bred -race. Yet, for all the multifarious diversity of racial and national -types, early and late, and for all the wide divergence of hybrid -variants, there is no difficulty about recognising a generical human -type of spiritual endowment, just as the zoölogists have no difficulty -in referring the various races of mankind to a single species on the -ground of their physical characters. The distribution of emphasis among -the several instinctive dispositions may vary appreciably from one -race to another, but the complement of instincts native to the several -races is after all of much the same kind, comprising substantially the -same ends. Taken simply in their first incidence, the racial variations -of human nature are commonly not considerable; but a slight bias of -this kind, distinctive of any given race, may come to have decisive -weight when it works out cumulatively through a system of institutions, -for such a system embodies the cumulative sophistications of untold -generations during which the life of the community has been dominated -by the same slight bias.[10] - -Racial differences in respect of these hereditary spiritual traits -count for much in the outcome, because in the last resort any race is -at the mercy of its instincts. In the course of cultural growth most of -those civilisations or peoples that have had a long history have from -time to time been brought up against an imperative call to revise their -scheme of institutions in the light of their native instincts, on pain -of collapse or decay; and they have chosen variously, and for the most -part blindly, to live or not to live, according as their instinctive -bias has driven them. In the cases where it has happened that -those instincts which make directly for the material welfare of the -community, such as the parental bent and the sense of workmanship, have -been present in such potent force, or where the institutional elements -at variance with the continued life-interests of the community or the -civilisation in question have been in a sufficiently infirm state, -there the bonds of custom, prescription, principles, precedent, have -been broken--or loosened or shifted so as to let the current of life -and cultural growth go on, with or without substantial retardation. But -history records more frequent and more spectacular instances of the -triumph of imbecile institutions over life and culture than of peoples -who have by force of instinctive insight saved themselves alive out of -a desperately precarious institutional situation, such, for instance, -as now faces the peoples of Christendom. - - * * * * * - -Chief among those instinctive dispositions that conduce directly to -the material well-being of the race, and therefore to its biological -success, is perhaps the instinctive bias here spoken of as the sense -of workmanship. The only other instinctive factor of human nature that -could with any likelihood dispute this primacy would be the parental -bent. Indeed, the two have much in common. They spend themselves on -much the same concrete objective ends, and the mutual furtherance of -each by the other is indeed so broad and intimate as often to leave -it a matter of extreme difficulty to draw a line between them. Any -discussion of either, therefore, must unavoidably draw the other into -the inquiry to a greater or less extent, and a characterisation of the -one will involve some dealing with the other. - -As the expression is here understood, the “Parental Bent” is an -instinctive disposition of much larger scope than a mere proclivity -to the achievement of children.[11] This latter is doubtless to be -taken as a large and perhaps as a primary element in the practical -working of the parental solicitude; although, even so, it is in no -degree to be confused with the quasi-tropismatic impulse to the -procreation of offspring. The parental solicitude in mankind has a -much wider bearing than simply the welfare of one’s own children. This -wider bearing is particularly evident in those lower cultures where -the scheme of consanguinity and inheritance is not drawn on the same -close family lines as among civilised peoples, but it is also to be -seen in good vigour in any civilised community. So, for instance, what -the phrase-makers have called “race-suicide” meets the instinctive -and unsolicited reprobation of all men, even of those who would not -conceivably go the length of contributing in their own person to the -incoming generation. So also, virtually all thoughtful persons,--that -is to say all persons who hold an opinion in these premises,--will -agree that it is a despicably inhuman thing for the current generation -wilfully to make the way of life harder for the next generation, -whether through neglect of due provision for their subsistence and -proper training or through wasting their heritage of resources and -opportunity by improvident greed and indolence. Providence is a virtue -only so far as its aim is provision for posterity. - -It is difficult or impossible to say how far the current solicitude -for the welfare of the race at large is to be credited to the parental -bent, but it is beyond question that this instinctive disposition has a -large part in the sentimental concern entertained by nearly all persons -for the life and comfort of the community at large, and particularly -for the community’s future welfare. Doubtless this parental bent in -its wider bearing greatly reënforces that sentimental approval of -economy and efficiency for the common good and disapproval of wasteful -and useless living that prevails so generally throughout both the -highest and the lowest cultures, unless it should rather be said that -this animus for economy and efficiency is a simple expression of the -parental disposition itself. It might on the other hand be maintained -that such an animus of economy is an essential function of the instinct -of workmanship, which would then be held to be strongly sustained at, -this point by a parental solicitude for the common good. - -In making use of the expression, “instinct of workmanship” or “sense -of workmanship,” it is not here intended to assume or to argue that -the proclivity so designated is in the psychological respect a simple -or irreducible element; still less, of course, is there any intention -to allege that it is to be traced back in the physiological respect -to some one isolable tropismatic sensibility or some single enzymotic -or visceral stimulus. All that is matter for the attention of those -whom it may concern. The expression may as well be taken to signify a -concurrence of several instinctive aptitudes, each of which might or -might not prove simple or irreducible when subjected to psychological -or physiological analysis. For the present inquiry it is enough to -note that in human behaviour this disposition is effective in such -consistent, ubiquitous and resilient fashion that students of human -culture will have to count with it as one of the integral hereditary -traits of mankind.[12] - -As has already appeared, neither this nor any other instinctive -disposition works out its functional content in isolation from the -instinctive endowment at large. The instincts, all and several, though -perhaps in varying degrees, are so intimately engaged in a play of give -and take that the work of any one has its consequences for all the -rest, though presumably not for all equally. It is this endless[13] -complication and contamination of instinctive elements in human -conduct, taken in conjunction with the pervading and cumulative effects -of habit in this domain, that makes most of the difficulty and much of -the interest attaching to this line of inquiry. - -There are few lines of instinctive proclivity that are not crossed and -coloured by some ramification of the instinct of workmanship. No doubt, -response to the direct call of such half-tropismatic, half-instinctive -impulses as hunger, anger, or the promptings of sex, is little if at -all troubled with any sentimental suffusion of workmanship; but in -the more complex and deliberate activities, particularly where habit -exerts an appreciable effect, the impulse and sentiment of workmanship -comes in for a large share in the outcome. So much so, indeed, that, -for instance, in the arts, where the sense of beauty is the prime -mover, habitual attention to technique will often put the original, -and only ostensible, motive in the background. So, again, in the life -of religious faith and observance it may happen now and again that -theological niceties and ritual elaboration will successfully, and -in great measure satisfactorily, substitute themselves for spiritual -communion; while in the courts of law a tenacious following out of -legal technicalities will not infrequently defeat the ends of justice. - -As the expression is here understood, all instinctive action is -intelligent in some degree; though the degree in which intelligence is -engaged may vary widely from one instinctive disposition to another, -and it may even fall into an extremely automatic shape in the case -of some of the simpler instincts, whose functional content is of a -patently physiological character. Such approach to automatism is even -more evident in some of the lower animals, where, as for instance in -the case of some insects, the response to the appropriate stimuli is -so far uniform and mechanically determinate as to leave it doubtful -whether the behaviour of the animal might not best be construed -as tropismatic action simply.[14] Such tropismatic directness of -instinctive response is less characteristic of man even in the case -of the simpler instinctive proclivities; and the indirection which so -characterises instinctive action in general, and the higher instincts -of man in particular, and which marks off the instinctive dispositions -from the tropisms, is the indirection of intelligence. It enters more -largely in the discharge of some proclivities than of others; but -all instinctive action is intelligent in some degree. This is what -marks it off from the tropisms and takes it out of the category of -automatism.[15] - -Hence all instinctive action is teleological. It involves holding to -a purpose. It aims to achieve some end and involves some degree of -intelligent faculty to compass the instinctively given purpose, under -surveillance of the instinctive proclivity that prompts the action. And -it is in this surveillance and direction of the intellectual processes -to the appointed end that the instinctive dispositions control and -condition human conduct; and in this work of direction the several -instinctive proclivities may come to conflict and offset, or to concur -and reënforce, one another’s action. - -The position of the instinct of workmanship in this complex of -teleological activities is somewhat peculiar, in that its functional -content is serviceability for the ends of life, whatever these ends -may be; whereas these ends to be subserved are, at least in the main, -appointed and made worth while by the various other instinctive -dispositions. So that this instinct may in some sense be said to be -auxiliary to all the rest, to be concerned with the ways and means of -life rather than with any one given ulterior end. It has essentially -to do with proximate rather than ulterior ends. Yet workmanship is -none the less an object of attention and sentiment in its own right. -Efficient use of the means at hand and adequate management of the -resources available for the purposes of life is itself an end of -endeavour, and accomplishment of this kind is a source of gratification. - -All instinctive action is intelligent and teleological. The generality -of instinctive dispositions prompt simply to the direct and unambiguous -attainment of their specific ends, and in his dealings under their -immediate guidance the agent goes as directly as may be to the end -sought,--he is occupied with the objective end, not with the choice of -means to the end sought; whereas under the impulse of workmanship the -agent’s interest and endeavour are taken up with the contriving of ways -and means to the end sought. - -The point of contrast may be unfamiliar, and an illustration may -be pertinent. So, in the instinct of pugnacity and its attendant -sentiment of anger[16] the primary impulse is doubtless to a direct -frontal attack, assault and battery pure and simple; and the more -highly charged the agent is with the combative impulse, and the higher -the pitch of animation to which he has been wrought up, the less is -he inclined or able to take thought of how he may shrewdly bring -mechanical devices to bear on the object of his sentiment and compass -his end with the largest result per unit of force expended. It is -only the well-trained fighter that will take without reflection to -workmanlike ways and means at such a juncture; and in case of extreme -exasperation and urgency even such a one, it is said, may forget -his workmanship in the premises and throw himself into the middle -of things instead of resorting to the indirections and leverages to -which his workmanlike training in the art of fighting has habituated -him. So, again, the immediate promptings of the parental bent urge -to direct personal intervention and service in behalf of the object -of solicitude. In persons highly gifted in this respect the impulse -asserts itself to succour the helpless with one’s own hands, to do for -them in one’s own person not what might on reflection approve itself -as the most expedient line of conduct in the premises, but what will -throw the agent most personally into action in the case. Notoriously, -it is easier to move well-meaning people to unreflecting charity on an -immediate and concrete appeal than it is to secure a sagacious, well -sustained and well organised concert of endeavour for the amelioration -of the lot of the unfortunate. Indeed, refinements of workmanlike -calculation of causes and effects in such a case are instinctively felt -to be out of touch with the spirit of the thing. They are distasteful; -not only are they not part and parcel of the functional content of -the generous impulse, but an undue injection of these elements of -workmanship into the case may even induce a revulsion of feeling and -defeat its own intention. - -The instinct of workmanship, on the other hand, occupies the interest -with practical expedients, ways and means, devices and contrivances of -efficiency and economy, proficiency, creative work and technological -mastery of facts. Much of the functional content of the instinct of -workmanship is a proclivity for taking pains. The best or most finished -outcome of this disposition is not had under stress of great excitement -or under extreme urgency from any of the instinctive propensities with -which its work is associated or whose ends it serves. It shows at its -best, both in the individual workman’s technological efficiency and in -the growth of technological proficiency and insight in the community -at large, under circumstances of moderate exigence, where there is work -in hand and more of it in sight, since it is initially a disposition to -do the next thing and do it as well as may be; whereas when interest -falls off unduly through failure of provocation from the instinctive -dispositions that afford an end to which to work, the stimulus to -workmanship is likely to fail, and the outcome is as likely to be an -endless fabrication of meaningless details and much ado about nothing. -On the other hand, in seasons of great stress, when the call to any one -or more of the instinctive lines of conduct is urgent beyond measure, -there is likely to result a crudity of technique and presently a loss -of proficiency and technological mastery. - -It is, further, pertinent to note in this connection that the instinct -of workmanship will commonly not run to passionate excesses; that it -does not, under pressure, tenaciously hold its place as a main interest -in competition with the other, more elemental instinctive proclivities; -but that it rather yields ground somewhat readily, suffers repression -and falls into abeyance, only to reassert itself when the pressure -of other, urgent interests is relieved. What was said above as to -the paramount significance of the instinct of workmanship for the -life of the race will of course suffer no abatement in so recognising -its characteristically temperate urgency. The grave importance that -attaches to it is a matter of its ubiquitous subservience to the ends -of life, and not a matter of vehemence. - -The sense of workmanship is also peculiarly subject to bias. It does -not commonly, or normally, work to an independent, creative end of -its own, but is rather concerned with the ways and means whereby -instinctively given purposes are to be accomplished. According, -therefore, as one or another of the instinctive dispositions is -predominant in the community’s scheme of life or in the individual’s -every-day interest, the habitual trend of the sense of workmanship -will be bent to one or another line of proficiency and technological -mastery. By cumulative habituation a bias of this character may come -to have very substantial consequences for the range and scope of -technological knowledge, the state of the industrial arts, and for the -rate and direction of growth in workmanlike ideals. - - * * * * * - -Changes are going forward constantly and incontinently in the -institutional apparatus, the habitual scheme of rules and principles -that regulate the community’s life, and not least in the technological -ways and means by which the life of the race and its state of culture -are maintained; but changes come rarely--in effect not at all--in the -endowment of instincts whereby mankind is enabled to employ these -means and to live under the institutions which its habits of life -have cumulatively created. In the case of hybrid populations, such -as the peoples of Christendom, some appreciable adaptation of this -spiritual endowment to meet the changing requirements of civilisation -may be counted on, through the establishment of composite pure -lines of a hybrid type more nearly answering to the later phases -of culture than any one of the original racial types out of which -the hybrid population is made up. But in so slow-breeding a species -as man, and with changes in the conditions of life going forward -at a visibly rapid pace, the chance of an adequate adaptation of -hybrid human nature to new conditions seems doubtful at the best. It -is also to be noted that the vague character of many of the human -instincts, and their consequent pliability under habituation, affords -an appreciable margin of adaptation within which human nature may -adjust itself to new conditions of life. But after all has been said -it remains true that the margin within which the instinctive nature -of the race can be effectively adapted to changing circumstances is -relatively narrow--narrow as contrasted with the range of variation in -institutions--and the limits of such adaptation are somewhat rigid. As -the matter stands, the race is required to meet changing conditions -of life to which its relatively unchanging endowment of instincts is -presumably not wholly adapted, and to meet these conditions by the -use of technological ways and means widely different from those that -were at the disposal of the race from the outset. In the initial -phases of the life-history of the race, or of any given racial stock, -the exigencies to which its spiritual (instinctive) nature was -selectively required to conform were those of the savage culture, as -has been indicated above,--presumably in all cases a somewhat “low” or -elementary form of savagery. This savage mode of life, which was, and -is, in a sense, native to man, would be characterised by a considerable -group solidarity within a relatively small group, living very near -the soil, and unremittingly dependent for their daily life on the -workmanlike efficiency of all the members of the group. The prime -requisite for survival under these conditions would be a propensity -unselfishly and impersonally to make the most of the material means -at hand and a penchant for turning all resources of knowledge and -material to account to sustain the life of the group. - -At the outset, therefore, as it first comes into the life-history of -any one or all of the racial stocks with which modern inquiry concerns -itself, this instinctive disposition will have borne directly on -workmanlike efficiency in the simple and obvious sense of the word. -By virtue of the stability of the racial type, such is still its -character, primarily and substantially, apart from its sophistication -by habit and tradition. The instinct of workmanship brought the life -of mankind from the brute to the human plane, and in all the later -growth of culture it has never ceased to pervade the works of man. But -the extensive complication of circumstances and the altered outlook of -succeeding generations, brought on by the growth of institutions and -the accumulation of knowledge, have led to an extension of its scope -and of its canons and logic to activities and conjunctures that have -little traceable bearing on the means of subsistence. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -CONTAMINATION OF INSTINCTS IN PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY - - -All instinctive behaviour is subject to development and hence to -modification by habit.[17] Such impulsive action as is in no degree -intelligent, and so suffers no adaptation through habitual use, is -not properly to be called instinctive; it is rather to be classed as -tropismatic. In human conduct the effects of habit in this respect -are particularly far-reaching. In man the instincts appoint less of -a determinate sequence of action, and so leave a more open field for -adaptation of behaviour to the circumstances of the case. When instinct -enjoins little else than the end of endeavour, leaving the sequence -of acts by which this end is to be approached somewhat a matter of -open alternatives, the share of reflection, discretion and deliberate -adaptation will be correspondingly large. The range and diversity of -habituation is also correspondingly enlarged. - -In man, too, by the same fact, habit takes on more of a cumulative -character, in that the habitual acquirements of the race are handed on -from one generation to the next, by tradition, training, education, -or whatever general term may best designate that discipline of -habituation by which the young acquire what the old have learned. -By similar means the like elements of habitual conduct are carried -over from one community or one culture to another, leading to further -complications. Cumulatively, therefore, habit creates usages, customs, -conventions, preconceptions, composite principles of conduct that run -back only indirectly to the native predispositions of the race, but -that may affect the working-out of any given line of endeavour in much -the same way as if these habitual elements were of the nature of a -native bias. - -Along with this body of derivative standards and canons of conduct, -and handed on by the same discipline of habituation, goes a cumulative -body of knowledge, made up in part of matter-of-fact acquaintance with -phenomena and in greater part of conventional wisdom embodying certain -acquired predilections and preconceptions current in the community. -Workmanship proceeds on the accumulated knowledge so received and -current, and turns it to account in dealing with the material means -of life. Whatever passes current in this way as knowledge of facts -is turned to account as far as may be, and so it is worked into a -customary scheme of ways and means, a system of technology, into which -new elements of information or acquaintance with the nature and use of -things are incorporated, assimilated as they come. - -The scheme of technology so worked out and carried along in the routine -of getting a living will be serviceable for current use and have a -substantial value for a further advance in technological efficiency -somewhat in proportion as the knowledge so embodied in technological -practice is effectually of the nature of matter-of-fact. Much of -the information derived from experience in industry is likely to be -of this matter-of-fact nature; but much of the knowledge made use of -for the technological purpose is also of the nature of convention, -inference and authentic opinion, arrived at on quite other grounds -than workmanlike experience. This alien body of information, or -pseudo-information, goes into the grand total of human knowledge quite -as freely as any matter of fact, and it is therefore also necessarily -taken up and assimilated in that technological equipment of knowledge -and proficiency by use of which the work in hand is to be done. - -But the experience which yields this useful and pseudo-useful knowledge -is got under the impulsion and guidance of one and another of the -instincts with which man is endowed, and takes the shape and color -given it by the instinctive bias in whose service it is acquired. At -the same time, whatever its derivation, the knowledge acquired goes -into the aggregate of information drawn on for the ways and means of -workmanship. Therefore the habits formed in any line of experience, -under the guidance of any given instinctive disposition, will have -their effect on the conduct and aims of the workman in all his work -and play; so that progress in technological matters is by no means an -outcome of the sense of workmanship alone. - -It follows that in all their working the human instincts are in this -way incessantly subject to mutual “contamination,” whereby the working -of any one is incidentally affected by the bias and proclivities -inherent in all the rest; and in so far as these current habits and -customs in this way come to reënforce the predispositions comprised -under any one instinct or any given group of instincts, the bias -so accentuated comes to pervade the habits of thought of all the -members of the community and gives a corresponding obliquity to the -technological groundwork of the community. So, for instance, addiction -to magical, superstitious or religious conceptions will necessarily -have its effect on the conceptions and logic employed in technological -theory and practice, and will impair its efficiency by that much. A -people much given to punctilios of rank and respect of persons will -in some degree carry these habitual predilections over into the field -of workmanship and will allow considerations of authenticity, of -personal weight and consequence, to decide questions of technological -expediency; so that ideas which have none but a putative efficiency may -in this way come in for a large share in the state of the industrial -arts. A people whose culture has for any reason taken on a pronounced -coercive (predatory) character, with rigorous class distinctions, an -arbitrary governmental control, formidable gods and an authoritative -priesthood, will have its industrial organisation and its industrial -arts fashioned to meet the demands and the logic of these institutions. -Such an institutional situation exerts a great and pervasive constraint -on the technological scheme in which workmanship takes effect under -its rule, both directly by prescribing the things to do and the time, -place and circumstance of doing them, and indirectly through the habits -of thought induced in the working population living under its rule. -Innovation, the utilisation of newly acquired technological insight, is -greatly hindered by such institutional requirements that are enforced -by other impulses than the sense of workmanship. - -In the known lower cultures such institutional complications as might -be expected greatly to hinder or deflect the sense of workmanship -are commonly neither large, rigorous nor obvious. Something of the -kind there apparently always is, in the way, for instance, of the -customary prerogatives and perquisites of the older men, as well as -their tutelary oversight of the younger generation and of the common -interests of the group.[18] When this rule of seniority is elaborated -into such set forms as the men’s (secret) societies, with exacting -initiatory ceremonies and class tabus,[19] its effect on workday -life is often very considerable, even though the community may show -little that can fairly be classed as autocracy, chieftainship, or -even aristocratic government. In many or all of these naïve and -early developments of authority, and perhaps especially in those -cultures where the control takes this inchoate form of a customary -“gerontocracy,”[20] its immediate effect is that an abiding sense -of authenticity comes to pervade the routine of daily life, such -as effectually to obstruct all innovation, whether in the ways and -means of work or in the conduct of life more at large. Control by a -gerontocracy appears to reach its best development and to run with the -fullest consistency and effect in communities where an appreciable -degree of predatory exploit is habitual, and the inference is ready, -and at least plausible, that this institution is substantially of a -predatory origin, that the principles (habits of thought) on which it -rests are an outgrowth of pugnacity, self-aggrandisement and fear. -Under favouring conditions of friction and jealousy between groups -these propensities will settle into institutional habits of authority -and deference, and so long as the resultant exercise of control -is vested by custom in the class of elders the direct consequence -is a marked abatement of initiative throughout the community and -a consequent appearance of conservatism and stagnation in its -technological scheme as well as in the customary usages under whose -guidance the community lives.[21] So these instinctive propensities -which have no primary significance in the way of workmanship may come -to count very materially in shaping the group’s technological equipment -of ideas and in deflecting the sense of workmanship from the naïve -pursuit of material efficiency. - -The rule of the elders appears to have been extremely prevalent in the -earlier phases of culture. So much so that it may even be set down as -the most characteristic trait of the upper savagery and of the lower -barbarism; whether it takes the elaborately institutionalised form of -a settled gerontocracy, as among the Australian blacks, with sharply -defined class divisions and perquisites and a consistent subjection of -women and children; or the looser customary rule of the Elders, with -a degree of deference and circumspection on the part of the younger -generation and an uncertain conventional inferiority of women and -children, as seen among the pagans of the Malay peninsula,[22] the -Eskimo of the Arctic seaboard,[23] the Mincopies of the Andamans,[24] -or, on a somewhat higher level, the Pueblo Indians of the American -South-west.[25] Illustrative instances of such an inchoate organisation -of authority are very widely distributed, but the communities that -follow such a naïve scheme of life are commonly neither large, -powerful, wealthy, nor much in the public eye. The presumption is that -the sense of authenticity which pervades these and similar cultures, -amounting to a degree of tabu on innovation, has had much to do -with the notably slow advance of technology among savage peoples. -Such appears presumably to have been the prevalent run of the facts -throughout the stone age in all quarters of the Earth. - -It is not altogether plain just what are the innate predispositions -chiefly involved in this primitive social control which at its -untroubled best develops into a “gerontocracy.” There can apparently -be little question but that its prime motive force is the parental -bent, expressing itself in a naïve impulsive surveillance of the -common interests of the group and a tutelage of the incoming -generation. But here as in other social relations the self-regarding -sentiments unavoidably come into play; so that (_a_) the tutelage -of the elders takes something of an authoritative tone and blends -self-aggrandisement with their quasi-parental solicitude, giving an -institutional outcome which makes the young generation subservient -to the elders, ostensibly for the mutual and collective good of -both parties to the relation; (_b_) if predatory or warlike exploit -in any degree becomes habitual to the community the sentiment of -self-aggrandisement gets the upper hand, and subservience to the -able-bodied elders becomes the dominant note in this relation of -tutelage, and their parental interest in the welfare of the incoming -generation in a corresponding degree goes into abeyance under the -pressure of the appropriate sentiments of pugnacity and self-seeking, -giving rise to a coercive régime of a more or less ruthless character; -(_c_) correlatively, along with unwearying insistence on their own -prerogatives and collective discretion, on the part of the elders, -there goes, on the part of the community at large, a correspondingly -habitual acceptance of their findings and the precedents they have -established, resulting in a universal addiction to the broad principles -of unmitigated authenticity, with no power anywhere capable of breaking -across the accumulated precedents and tabus. Even the ruling class of -elders, being an unwieldy deliberative body or executive committee, -is held by parliamentary inertia, as well as by a circumspect regard -for their prescriptive rights, to a due observance of the customary -law. The force of precedent is notoriously strong on the lower levels -of culture. Under the rule of the elders deference to precedent grows -into an inveterate habit in the young, and when presently these come to -take their turn as discretionary elders the habit of deference to the -precedents established by those who have gone before still binds them, -and the life and thought of the community never escape the dead hand of -the parent. - -When worked out into an institution of control in this way, and crossed -with the other instinctive propensities that go to make governmental -authority, it is apparently unavoidable that the parental bent should -suffer this curious inversion. In the simplest and unsophisticated -terms, its functional content appears to be an unselfish solicitude -for the well-being of the incoming generation--a bias for the highest -efficiency and fullest volume of life in the group, with a particular -drift to the future; so that, under its rule, contrary to the dictum of -the economic theorists, future goods are preferred to present goods[26] -and the filial generation is given the preference over the parental -generation in all that touches their material welfare. But where the -self-regarding sentiments, self-complacency and self-abasement, come -largely into play, as they are bound to do in any culture that partakes -appreciably of a predatory or coercive character, the prerogatives of -the ruling class and the principles of authentic usage become canons -of truth and right living and presently take precedence of workmanlike -efficiency and the fulness of life of the group. It results that -conventional tests of validity presently accumulate and increasingly -deflect and obstruct the naïve pursuit of workmanlike efficiency, in -large part by obscuring those matters of fact that lend themselves to -technological insight. - -But like other innate predispositions the parental bent continually -reasserts itself in its native and untaught character, as an ever -resilient solicitude for the welfare of the young and the prospective -fortunes of the group. As such it constantly comes in to reënforce the -instinct of workmanship and sustain interest in the direct pursuit of -efficiency in the ways and means of life. So closely in touch and so -concurrent are the parental bent and the sense of workmanship in this -quest of efficiency that it is commonly difficult to guess which of the -two proclivities is to be credited with the larger or the leading part -in any given line of conduct; although taken by and large the two are -after all fairly distinct in respect of their functional content. This -thorough and far-going concurrence of the two may perhaps be taken to -mean that the instinct of workmanship is in the main a propensity to -work out the ends which the parental bent makes worth while. - -It seems to be these two predispositions in conjunction that have -exercised the largest and most consistent control over that growth -of custom and conventional principles that has standardised the life -of mankind in society and so given rise to a system of institutions. -This control bears selectively on the whole range of institutions -created by habitual response to the call of the other instincts and -has the effect of a “common-sense” surveillance which prevents the -scheme of life from running into an insufferable tangle of grotesque -extravagances. That their surveillance has not always been decisive -need scarcely be specifically called to mind; human culture in all -ages presents too many imbecile usages and principles of conduct to -let anyone overlook the fact that disserviceable institutions easily -arise and continue to hold their place in spite of the disapproval of -native common sense. The selective control exercised over custom and -usage by these instincts of serviceability is neither too close nor too -insistent. Wide, even extravagant, departures from the simple dictates -of this native common sense occur even within the narrow range of the -domestic and minor civil institutions, where these two common-sense -predispositions should concur to create a prescriptive usage looking -directly to the continuation and welfare of the race. Considerations, -or perhaps rather conventional preconceptions, running on other -grounds, as, for instance, on grounds of superstition or religion, of -propriety and gentility, of pecuniary or political expediency, have -come in for a large share in ordering the institutions of family and -neighbourhood life. Yet doubtless it is the parental bent and the sense -of workmanship in concurrence that have been the primary and persistent -factors in (selectively) shaping the household organisation among -all peoples, however great may have been the force of other factors, -instinctive and habitual, that have gone to diversify the variegated -outcome. - -It appears, then, that so long as the parental solicitude and the -sense of workmanship do not lead men to take thought and correct the -otherwise unguarded drift of things, the growth of institutions--usage, -customs, canons of conduct, principles of right and propriety, the -course of cumulative habituation as it goes forward under the driving -force of the several instincts native to man,--will commonly run at -cross purposes with serviceability and the sense of workmanship.[27] - -That such should be the case lies in the nature of things, as will -readily appear on reflection. Under given circumstances and under the -impulsion of a given instinctive propensity a given line of behaviour -becomes habitual and so is installed by use and wont as a principle -of conduct. The principle or canon of conduct so gained takes its -place among the habitual verities of life in the community and is -handed on by tradition. Under further impulsion of the same and other -instinctive propensities, and under altered circumstances, conduct in -other, unrelated lines will be referred to this received principle -as a bench-mark by which its goodness is appraised and to which all -conduct is accommodated, giving a result which is related to the -exigencies of the case only at the second remove and by channels of -habit which have only a conventional relevancy to the case. The farther -this manner of crossing and grafting of habitual elements proceeds -in the elaboration of principles and usage, the larger will be the -mass and the graver will be the complication of materially irrelevant -considerations present in any given line of conduct, the more extensive -and fantastic will be the fabric of conventionalities which come to -condition the response to any one of the innate human propensities, and -the more “irrelevant, incompetent and impertinent” will be the line of -conduct prescribed by use and wont. Except by recourse to the sense -of workmanship there is no evading this complication of ineptitudes -and irrelevancies, and such recourse is not easily had. For the bias -of settled habit goes to sustain the institutional fabric of received -sophistications, and these sophistications are bound in such a network -of give and take that a disturbance of the fabric at any point will -involve more or less of a derangement throughout. - -This body of habitual principles and preconceptions is at the same -time the medium through which experience receives those elements -of information and insight on which workmanship is able to draw in -contriving ways and means and turning them to account for the uses of -life. And the conventional verities count in this connexion almost -wholly as obstructions to workmanlike efficiency. Worldly wisdom, -insight into the proprieties and expediencies of human intercourse, -the scheme of tabus, consanguinities, and magical efficacies, yields -very little that can effectually be turned to account for technological -ends. The experience gained by habituation under the stress of these -other proclivities and their derivative principles is necessarily -made use of in workmanship, and so enters into the texture of the -technological system, but a large part of it is of very doubtful value -for the purpose. Much of this experience runs at cross purposes with -workmanship, not only in that the putative information which this -experience brings home to men has none but a putative serviceability, -but also in that the habit of mind induced by its discipline obscures -that insight into matter of fact that is indispensable to workmanlike -efficiency. - - * * * * * - -But the most obstructive derangement that besets workmanship is what -may be called the self-contamination of the sense of workmanship -itself. This applies in a peculiar degree to the earlier or more -elementary phases of culture, but it holds true only with lessening -force throughout the later growth of civilisation. The hindrance -to technological efficiency from this source will often rise to -large proportions even in advanced communities, particularly where -magical, religious or other anthropomorphic habits of thought are -prevalent. The difficulty has been spoken of as anthropomorphism, or -animism,--which is only a more archaic anthropomorphism. The essential -trait of anthropomorphic conceptions, so far as bears on the present -argument, is that conduct, more or less fully after the human fashion -of conduct, is imputed to external objects; whether these external -objects are facts of observation or creatures of mythological fancy. -Such anthropomorphism commonly means an interpretation of phenomena in -terms of workmanship, though it may also involve much more than this, -particularly in the higher reaches of myth-making. But the simpler -anthropomorphic or animistic beliefs that pervade men’s every-day -thinking commonly amount to little if anything more than the naïve -imputation of a workmanlike propensity in the observed facts. External -objects are believed to do things; or rather it is believed that they -are seen to do things. - -The reason of this imputation of conduct to external things is -simple, obvious, and intimate in all men’s apprehension; so much -so, indeed, as not readily to permit its being seen in perspective -and appreciated at anything like its effectual force. All facts of -observation are necessarily seen in the light of the observer’s habits -of thought, and the most intimate and inveterate of his habits of -thought is the experience of his own initiative and endeavours. It is -to this “apperception mass” that objects of apperception are finally -referred, and it is in terms of this experience that their measure is -finally taken. No psychological phenomenon is more familiar than this -ubiquitous “personal equation” in men’s apprehension of whatever facts -come within their observation. - -The sense of workmanship is like all human instincts in the respect -that when the occasion offers, the agent moved by its impulse not -only runs through a sequence of actions suitable to the instinctive -end, but he is also given to dwelling, more or less sentimentally, -on the objects and activities about which his attention is engaged -by the promptings of this instinctive propensity. In so far as he is -moved by the instinct of workmanship man contemplates the objects with -which he comes in contact from the point of view of their relevancy to -ulterior results, their aptitude for taking effect in a consequential -outcome. Habitual occupation with workmanlike conceptions,--and in the -lower cultures all men and women are habitually so occupied, since -there is no considerable class or season not engaged in the quest of -a livelihood,--this occupation with workmanlike interests, leaving -the attention alert in the direction towards workmanlike phenomena, -carries with it habitual thinking in the terms in which the logic of -workmanship runs. The facts of observation are conceived as facts -of workmanship, and the logic of workmanship becomes the logic of -events. Their apprehension in these terms is easy, since it draws into -action the faculties of apperception and reflection that are already -alert and facile through habitual use, and it assimilates the facts -in an apperceptive system of relationships that is likewise ready -and satisfactory, convincing through habitual service and by native -proclivity to this line of systematisation. By instinct and habit -observed phenomena are apprehended from this (teleological) point of -view, and they are construed, by way of systematisation, in terms of -such an instinctive pursuit of some workmanlike end. In latterday -psychological jargon, human knowledge is of a “pragmatic” character. - -As all men habitually act under the guidance of instincts, and -therefore by force of sentiment instinctively look to some end in all -activity, so the objects with which the primitive workman has to do are -also conceived as acting under impulse of an instinctive kind; and a -bent, a teleological or pragmatic nature, is in some degree imputed to -them and comes as a matter of course to be accepted as a constituent -element in their apprehended make-up. A putative pragmatic bent innate -in external things comes in this way to pass current as observed matter -of fact. By force of the sense of workmanship external objects are -in great part apperceived in respect of what they will do; and their -most substantial characteristic therefore, their intimate individual -nature, in so far as they are conceived as individual entities, is that -they will do things. - -In the workmanlike apprehension of them the nature of things is -twofold: (_a_) what can be done with them as raw material for use -under the creative hand of the workman who makes things, and (_b_) -what they will do as entities acting in their own right and working -out their own ends. The former is matter of fact, the latter matter of -imputation; but both alike, and in the naïve apprehension of uncritical -men both equally, are facts of observation and elements of objective -knowledge. The two are, of course, of very unequal value for the -purposes of workmanship. It should seem, at least on first contact with -the distinction, that the former category alone can have effectually -conduced or contributed to workmanlike efficiency, and so it should be -the only substantial factor in the growth of technological insight and -proficiency: while the latter category of knowledge should presumably -have always been an unmitigated hindrance to effective work and to -technological advance. But such does not appear on closer scrutiny -to have been the case in the past: whether such sheer discrimination -against the technological serviceability of all these putative facts -would hold good in latterday civilisation is a question which may -perhaps best be left to the parties in interest in “pragmatic” and -theological controversy. - -These two categories of knowledge, or of _cognoscenda_, are -incongruous, of course, and they seem incompatible when applied to the -same phenomena, the same external objects. But such incongruity does -not disturb anyone who is at all content to take facts at their face -value,--for both ways of apprehending the facts are equally given in -the face value of the facts apprehended. And on the known lower levels -of culture it appears that in the workman’s apprehension of the facts -with which he has to do there is no evident strain due to this twofold -nature and twofold interpretation of the objects of knowledge. So, -for instance, the Pueblo potter (woman) may (putatively) be aware of -certain inherent, quasi-spiritual, pragmatic qualities, claims and -proclivities personal to the clay beds from which her raw material -is drawn: different clay beds have, no doubt, a somewhat different -quasi-personality, which has, among other things, to do with the -goodness of the raw material they afford. Even the clay in hand will -have its pragmatic peculiarities and idiosyncracies which are duly -to be respected; and, notably, the finished pot is an entity with a -life-history of its own and with temperament, fortunes and fatalities -that make up the substance of good and evil in its world.[28] But all -that does not perceptibly affect the technology of the Pueblo potter’s -art, beyond carrying a sequence of ceremonial observance that may run -along by the side of the technological process; nor does it manifestly -affect the workmanlike use of the pot during its lifetime, except -that the pragmatic nature of the given pot will decide, on grounds -of ceremonial competency, to what use it may be put.[29] Matter of -fact and matter of imputation run along side by side in inextricable -contact but with slight apparent mutual interference across the line. -The potter digs her clay as best she has learned how, and it is a -matter of workmanlike efficiency, in which empirical knowledge of the -mechanical qualities of the material is very efficiently combined -with the potter’s trained proficiency in the discretionary use of her -tools; the tools, of course, also have their (putative) temperamental -idiosyncracies, but they are employed in her hands in uncritical -conformity with such matter-of-fact laws of physics as she has learned. -The clay is washed, kneaded and tempered with the same circumspect -regard to the opaque facts known about clay through long handling of -it. What and how much tempering material may best be used, and how -it is to be worked in, may all have a recondite explanation in the -subtler imputed traits of the clay; a certain clay may have a putative -quasi-spiritual affinity for certain tempering material; but the work -of selection and mixing is carried out with a watchful regard to the -mechanical character of the materials and without doubt that the given -materials will respond in definite, empirically ascertained ways to the -pressure brought on them by the potter’s hands, and without questioning -the matter of fact that such and so much of manipulation will mix -such and so much of tempering material with the given lot of clay. -The clay is “as wax in her hands;” what comes of it is the product of -her insight and proficiency. Still the pragmatic nature of all these -materials viewed as distinct entities is never to be denied, and in -those respects in which she does not creatively design, manipulate -and construct the work of her hands, its putative self-sufficiency of -existence, meaning and propensity goes on its own recognisances unshorn -and inalienable. - -Technological efficiency rests on matter-of-fact knowledge, as -contrasted with knowledge of the traits imputed to external objects in -making acquaintance with them. Therefore every substantial advance in -technological mastery necessarily adds something to this body of opaque -fact, and with every such advance proportionably less of the behaviour -of inanimate things will come to be construed in terms of an imputed -workmanlike or teleological bent. At the same time the imputation of -a teleological meaning or workmanlike bent to the external facts that -are made use of is likely to take a more circumspect, ingenious and -idealised form. Under the circumstances that condition an increasing -technological mastery there is an ever-growing necessity to avoid -conflict between the imputed traits of external objects and those -facts of their behaviour that are constantly in evidence in their -technological use. In so far, therefore, as a simple and immediate -imputation of workmanlike self-direction is seen manifestly to traverse -the facts of daily use its place will be supplied by more shadowy -anthropomorphic agencies that are assumed to carry on their life -and work in some degree of detachment from the material objects in -question, and to these anthropomorphic agencies which so lie obscurely -in the background of the observed facts will be assigned a larger and -larger share of the required initiative and self-direction. For so -alien to mankind, with its instinctive sense of workmanship, is the -mutilation of brute creation into mere opaque matter-of-fact, and -so indefeasibly does the “consciousness of kind” assert itself, that -each successive renunciation of such an imputed bias of workmanship in -concrete objects is sought to be redeemed by pushing the imputation -farther into the background of observed phenomena and running their -putative workmanlike bias in more consummately anthropomorphic terms. -So an animistic conception[30] of things comes presently to supplement, -and in part supplant, the more naïve and immediate imputation of -workmanship, leading up to farther and more elaborate myth-making; -until in the course of elaboration and refinement there may emerge a -monotheistic and providential Creator seated in an infinitely remote -but ubiquitous space of four dimensions. - -This imputation of bias and initiative has doubtless lost ground -among civilised communities, as contrasted with the matter-of-fact -apprehension of things, so that where it once was the main body of -knowledge it now is believed to live and move only within that margin -of things not yet overtaken by matter-of-fact information,--at least -so it is held in the vainglorious scepticism of the Western culture. -Meantime it is to be noted that the proclivity to impute a workmanlike -bias to external facts has not been lost, nor has it become inoperative -even among the adepts of Occidental scepticism. On the one hand it -still enables the modern scientist to generalise his observations in -terms of causation,[31] and on the other hand it has preserved the life -of God the Father unto this day. It is as the creative workman, the -Great Artificer, that he has taken his last stand against the powers of -spiritual twilight. - -Out of the simpler workday familiarity with the raw materials and -processes employed in industry, in the lower cultures, there emerges -no system of knowledge avowed as such; although in all known instances -of such lower cultures the industrial arts have taken on a systematic -character, such as often to give rise to definite, extensive and -elaborate technological processes as well as to manual and other -technological training; both of which will necessarily involve -something like an elementary theory of mechanics systematised on -grounds of matter-of-fact, as well as a practical routine of empirical -ways and means. In the lower cultures the growth of this body of opaque -facts and of its systematic coherence is simply the habitual growth -of technological procedure. Considered as a knowledge of things it is -prosy and unattractive; it does not greatly appeal to men’s curiosity, -being scarcely interesting in itself, but only for the use to be -made of it. Its facts are not lighted up with that spiritual fire of -pragmatic initiative and propensity which animates the same phenomena -when seen in the light of an imputed workmanlike behaviour and so -construed in terms of conduct. On the other hand, when the phenomena -are interpreted anthropomorphically they are indued with a “human -interest,” such as will draw the attention of all men in all ages, as -witness the worldwide penchant for myth-making. - -Such animistic imputation of end and endeavour to the facts of -observation will in no case cover the whole of men’s apprehension of -the facts. It is a matter of imputation, not of direct observation; -and there is always a fringe of opaque matter-of-fact bound up with -even the most animistically conceived object. Such is unavoidably the -case. The animistic conception imputes to its subject a workmanlike -propensity to do things, and such an imputation necessarily implies -that, as agent, the object in question engages in something like a -technological process, a workmanlike manipulation wherein he has his -will with the raw materials upon which his workmanlike force and -proficiency spends itself. Workmanship involves raw material, and in -the respect in which this raw material is passively shaped to his -purposes by the workman’s manipulation it is not conceived to be -actively seeking its own ends on its own initiative. So that by force -of the logic of workmanship the imputation of a workmanlike (animistic) -propensity to brute facts, itself involves the assumption of crude -inanimate matter as a correlate of the putative workmanlike agent. The -anthropomorphic fancy of the primitive workman, therefore, can never -carry the teleological interpretation of phenomena to such a finality -but that there will always in his apprehension be an inert residue of -matter-of-fact left over. The material facts never cease to be, within -reasonable limits, raw material; though the limits may be somewhat -vague and shifting. And this residue of crude matter-of-fact grows and -gathers consistency with experience and always remains ready to the -hand of the workman for what it is worth, unmagnified and unbeautified -by anthropomorphic interpretation. - -The animistic, or better the anthropomorphic, elements so comprised by -imputation in the common-sense apprehension of things will pass in the -main for facts of observation. With the current of time and experience -this may under favourable conditions grow into a developed animistic -system and come to the dignity of myth, and ultimately of theology. -But as it plays its part in the cruder uses of technology its common -and most obstructive form is the inchoate animism or anthropomorphic -bias spoken of above. In its bearing on technological efficiency, it -commonly vitiates the available facts in a greater or less degree. -Matter-of-fact knowledge alone will serve the uses of workmanship, -since workmanship is effective only in so far as its outcome is -matter-of-fact work. Any higher and more subtle potencies found in or -imputed to the facts about which the artificer is engaged can only -serve to divert and defeat his efforts, in that they lead him into -methods and expedients that have only a putative effect. - - * * * * * - -This obstructive force of the anthropomorphic interpretation of -phenomena is by no means the same in all lines of activity. The -difficulty, at least in the earlier days, seems to be greatest along -those lines of craft where the workman has to do with the mechanical, -inanimate forces--the simplest in point of brute concreteness and the -least amenable to a consistent interpretation in animistic terms. -While man is conventionally distinguished from brute creation as a -“tool-using animal,” his early progress in the devising and use of -efficient tools, taking the word in its native sense, seems to have -gone forward very slowly, both absolutely and as contrasted with those -lines of workmanship in which he could carry his point by manual -dexterity unaided by cunningly devised implements and mechanical -contrivances;[32] and still more striking is the contrast between -the incredibly slow and blindfold advance of the savage culture -shown in the sequence of those typical stone implements which serve -conventionally as land-marks of the early technology, on the one hand, -and the concomitant achievements of the same stone-age peoples in the -domestication and use of plants and animals on the other hand. - -No man can offer a confident conjecture as to how long a time and what -a volume of experience was taken up in the growth of technological -insight and proficiency up to the point when the neolithic period -begins in European prehistory. In point of duration it has been found -convenient to count it up roughly in units of geologic time, where a -thousand years are as a day. Attempts to reduce it to such units as -centuries or millennia have hitherto not come to anything appreciable. -In the present state of information on this head it is doubtless a safe -conjecture that the interval between the beginning of the human era and -the close of palæolithic time, say in Europe or within the cultural -sequence in which Europe belongs, is to be taken as some multiple of -the interval that has elapsed from the beginning of the neolithic -culture in Europe to the present;[33] and the neolithic period itself -was in its turn no doubt of longer duration than the history of Europe -since the bronze first came in.[34] - -The series of stone implements recovered from palæolithic deposits show -the utmost reach of palæolithic technology on its mechanical side, -in the way of workmanlike mastery of brute matter simply; for these -implements are the tools of the tool-makers of that technological era. -They indicate the ultimate terms of the technological situation on the -mechanical side, for the craftsman working in more perishable materials -could go no farther than these primary elements of the technological -equipment would carry him. - -The strict limitation imposed on the technology of any culture, on its -mechanical side, by the “state of the industrial arts” in respect of -the primary tools and materials available, whether availability is a -question of knowledge or of material environment, is illustrated, for -instance, by the case of the Eskimo, the North-west Coast Indians, -or some of the islands of the South Sea. In each of these cultures, -perhaps especially in that of the Eskimo, technological mastery had -been carried as far as the circumstances of the case would permit, -and in each case the decisive circumstances that limit the scope and -range of workmanship are the character of the primary tools of the -tool-maker and the limits of his knowledge of the mechanical properties -of the materials at his disposal for such use. The Eskimo culture, for -instance, is complete after its kind, worked out to the last degree -of workmanlike mastery possible with the Eskimo’s knowledge of those -materials on which he depended for his primary tools and on which -he was able to draw for the raw materials of his industry. At the -same time the Eskimo shows how considerable a superstructure of the -secondary mechanic arts may be erected on a scant groundwork of the -primary mechanical resources.[35] - -In the light of such a familiar instance as the Eskimo or the -Polynesian culture it is evident that very much must be allowed, in -the case, _e. g._, of the European stone age, for work in perishable -materials that have disappeared; but after all allowance of this -kind, the showing for palæolithic man is not remarkable, considering -the ample time allowed him, and considering also that, in Europe at -least, he was by native gift nowise inferior to some of the racial -elements that still survive in the existing population and that are not -notoriously ill furnished either in the physical or the intellectual -respect. And what is true of palæolithic times as regards the native -character of this population is true in a more pronounced degree for -later prehistoric times.[36] - -The very moderate pace of the technological advance in early times in -the mechanic arts stands out more strikingly when it is contrasted with -what was accomplished in those arts, or rather in those occupations, -that have to do immediately with living matter. Some of the crop -plants, for instance, and presently some of the domestic animals, -make their appearance in Denmark late in the period of the kitchen -middens; which falls in the early stone age of the Danish chronology, -that is to say in the early part of the neolithic period as counted in -terms of the European chronology at large. These, then, are improved -breeds of plants and animals, very appreciably different from their -wild ancestors, arguing not only a shrewd insight and consistent -management in the breeding of these domesticated races but also a -long continued and intelligent use of these items of technological -equipment, during which the nature and uses of the plants and animals -taken into domestication must have been sufficiently understood and -taken advantage of, at the same time that a workmanlike selection and -propagation of favourable variations was carried out. Some slight -reflection on what is implied in the successful maintenance, use and -improvement of several races of crop plants and domestic animals will -throw that side of the material achievements of the kitchen-midden -peoples into sufficiently high contrast with their chipped flint -implements and the degree of mechanical insight and proficiency which -these implements indicate. - -To this Danish illustrative case it may of course be objected, and with -some apparent reason, that these plants and animals which begin to come -in evidence in a state of domestication in the kitchen middens, and -which presently afforded the chief means of life to the later stone-age -population, were introduced in a domestic state from outside; and -that this technological gain was the product of another and higher -culture than that into which they were thus intruded. The objection -will have what force it may; the facts are no doubt substantially -as set forth. However, the domestication and use of these races of -plants and animals embodied no less considerable a workmanlike mastery -of its technological problem wherever it was worked out, whether in -Denmark--as is at least highly improbable--or in Turkestan, as may -well have been the case. And the successful introduction of tillage -and cattle-breeding among the kitchen-midden peoples from a higher -culture, without the concomitant introduction of a corresponding gain -in the mechanic arts from the same source, leaves the force of the -argument about as it would be in the absence of this objection. The -comparative difficulty of acquiring the mechanic arts, as compared -with the arts of husbandry, would appear in much the same light -whether it were shown in the relatively slow acquirement of these arts -through a home growth of technological mastery or in the relatively -tardy and inept borrowing of them from outside. So far as bears on -the present question, much the same habits of mind take effect in the -acquirement of such a technological gain whether it takes place by -home growth or by borrowing from without. In either case the point -is that the peoples of the kitchen-middens appear to have been less -able to learn the use of serviceable mechanical expedients than to -acquire the technology of tillage and cattle-breeding. The appearance -of tillage and cattle-breeding (“mixed farming”) at this period of -Danish prehistory, without the concomitant appearance of anything like -a similar technological gain in the mechanic arts, argues either (_a_) -that in the culture from which husbandry was ultimately borrowed -and in which the domestication was achieved there was no similarly -substantial gain made in the mechanic arts at the same time, so that -this culture from which the crop plants and animals originally came -into the North of Europe had no corresponding mechanical gain to offer -along with husbandry; or (_b_) that the kitchen-midden peoples, and the -other peoples through whose hands the arts of husbandry passed on their -way to the North, were unable to profit in a like degree by what was -offered them in the primary mechanic arts. The known evidence seems to -say that the visible retardation in the mechanic arts, as compared with -husbandry, in prehistoric Denmark was due partly to the one, partly to -the other of these difficulties. - -To avoid confusion and misconception it may be pertinent to recall -that, taken absolutely, the rate and magnitude of advance in the -primary mechanic arts in Denmark at this time was very considerable; -so much so indeed that the visible absolute gain in this respect has -so profoundly touched the imagination of the students of that culture -as to let them overlook the disparity, in point of the rate of gain, -between the mechanic arts and husbandry. In the same connection it -is also to be remarked that the entire neolithic culture of the -kitchen-middens, as well as their husbandry, was introduced from -outside of Europe, having been worked out in its early rudiments before -the kitchen-midden peoples reached the Baltic seaboard. At the same -time the raw materials for the mechanic arts of the neolithic culture -were available to the kitchen-midden technologist in abundant quantity -and unsurpassed quality; while the raw material of husbandry, the crop -plants and domestic animals, were exotics. Further, in point of race, -and therefore presumably in point of native endowment, the peoples of -the Baltic seaboard at that time were substantially the same mixture of -stocks that has in modern times carried the technology of the mechanic -arts in western Europe and its colonies to a pitch of mastery never -approached before or elsewhere. And the retardation in the mechanic -arts as contrasted with husbandry is no greater, probably less, in -neolithic Denmark than in any other culture on the same general level -of efficiency. - -Wherever the move may have been made, in one or in several places, -and whatever may have been the particular circumstances attending the -domestication and early use of crop plants and animals, the case sums -up to about the same result. Through long ages of work and play men -(perhaps primarily women) learned the difficult and delicate crafts of -husbandry and carried their mastery of these pursuits to such a degree -of proficiency, and followed out the lead given by these callings -with such effect, that by the (geologic) date of early neolithic -times in Europe virtually all the species of domesticable animals in -three continents had been brought in and had been bred into improved -races.[37] At the same time the leading crop plants of the old world, -those on whose yield the life of the Western peoples depends today, -had been brought under cultivation, improved and specialised with -such effect that all the advance that has been made in these respects -since the early neolithic period is greatly less than what had been -accomplished up to that time. By early neolithic times as counted in -West Europe, or by the early bronze age as counted in western Asia, -the leading domestic animals had been distributed, in domesticated and -improved breeds, throughout central and western Asia and the inhabited -regions of Europe and North Africa. The like is true for the main -crop plants that now feed the occidental peoples, except that these, -in domesticated and specialised breeds, were distributed through this -entire cultural region at an appreciably earlier date,--earlier by some -thousands of years.[38] In late modern times there have been added -to the civilised world’s complement of crop plants a very large and -important contingent whose domestication and development was worked out -in America and the regions of the Pacific; though most of these belong -in the low latitudes and are on that account less available to the -Western culture than what has come down from the prehistoric cultures -of the old world. These are also the work of the stone age, in large -part no doubt dating back to palæolithic times. - -America, with the Polynesian and Indonesian cultural regions, shows -the correlation and the systematic discrepancy in time between the -rate, range and magnitude of the advance in tillage on the one -hand and of the primary mechanic arts on the other hand. When this -culture was interrupted it had, in the mechanical respect, reached -an advanced neolithic phase at its best; but its achievements in the -crop plants are perhaps to be rated as unsurpassed by all that has -been done elsewhere in all time.[39] In the primary mechanic arts this -cultural region had in the same time reached a stage of perfection -comparable at its best with pre-dynastic Egypt, or neolithic Denmark, -or pre-Minoan Crete. The really great advance achieved was in the -selection, improvement, use and cultivation of the crop plants; and -not in any appreciable degree even in the mechanical appliances -employed in the cultivation and consumption of these crops; though -something considerable is to be noted in this latter respect in such -inventions as the mandioca squeezer and the metate; and great things -were done in the way of irrigation and road building.[40] But the -contrast, for instance, between the metate and the contrivances for -making paper bread on the one side, and the technologically consummate -corn-plant (maize) on the other, should be decisive for the point -here in question. The mechanic appliances of corn cultivation had not -advanced beyond the digging stick, a rude hoe and a rudimentary spade, -though here as well as in other similar connections the local use of -well-devised irrigation works, terraced fields,[41] and graneries is -not to be overlooked; but the corn itself had been brought from its -grass-like ancestral form to the maize of the present corn crop. Like -most of the American crop plants the maize under selective cultivation -had been carried so far from its wild form as no longer to stand a -chance of survival in the wild state, and indeed so far that it is -still a matter of controversy what its wild ancestor may have been. - -Perhaps the races of this American-Polynesian region are gifted -with some special degree of spiritual (instinctive) fitness for -plant-breeding. They seem to be endowed with a particular proclivity -for sympathetically identifying themselves with and patiently waiting -upon the course of natural phenomena, perhaps especially the phenomena -of animate nature, which never seem alien or incomprehensible to the -Indian. Such at least is the consistent suggestion carried by their -myths, legends and symbolism. The typical American cosmogony is a -tissue of legends of fecundity and growth, even more than appears -to hold true of primitive cosmogonies elsewhere.[42] And yet some -caution in accepting such a generalisation is necessary in view, -for instance, of the mythological output along similar lines on the -Mediterranean seaboard in early times. By native gift the Indian is -a “nature-faker,” given to unlimited anthropomorphism. Mechanical, -matter-of-fact appreciation of external and material phenomena seems -to be in a peculiar degree difficult, irrelevant and incongruous with -the genius of the race. But even if it should seem that this race, or -group of races, is peculiarly given to such sympathetic interpretation -of natural phenomena in terms of human instinct, the difference between -them and the typical racial stocks of the old world in this respect is -after all a difference in degree, not in kind. The like proclivity is -in good evidence throughout, wherever any race of men have endeavoured -to put their acquaintance with natural phenomena into systematic form. -The bond of combination in the making of systems, whether cosmologic, -mythic, philosophic or scientific, has been some putative human trait -or traits. It may be that in their appreciation of facts and their -making of systems the American races have by some peculiar native gift -been inclined to an interpretation in terms of fertility, growth, -nurture and life-cycles. - - * * * * * - -Any predisposition freely to accept and use the deliverances of -sensible perception on their own recognisances simply, in the terms in -which they come, and to connect them up in a system of knowledge in -their own terms, without imputation of a spiritual (anthropomorphic) -substratum,--for the purposes of workmanship such a predisposition -should be of the first importance for effective work in the mechanic -arts; and a strong instinctive bias to the contrary should be -correspondingly pernicious. Any instinctive bias to colour, distort -and derange the facts by imputing elements of human nature will -unavoidably act to hinder and deflect the agent from an effectual -pursuit of mechanical design. But the like is not true in the same -degree as regards men’s dealings with animate nature. Anthropomorphic -interpretation is more at home and less disserviceable here. With less -serious derangement in the objective results, plants and animals may -be construed to have a conscious purpose in life and to pursue their -ends somewhat after the human fashion; witness the facility with which -the story-tellers recount plausible episodes (feigned or real) from the -life of animals and plants, and the readiness with which such tales -get a hearing. Readers and hearers find no great difficulty, if any, -in giving make-believe credence to the tales so long as they recount -only such adventures as are physically possible to the animals of -which (whom?) they are told; the hearers are always ready to go with -the story-teller down this highway of make-believe into the subhuman -fairy land. Mechanical phenomena, happenings in the mechanic arts, -characteristics of the existence of inanimate objects and the changes -which they undergo, lend themselves with much less happy effect to the -anthropomorphic story-teller’s make-believe. Episodes from the feigned -life-history of tools, machines and raw materials are not drawn on with -anything like the same frequency, nor do the tales that recount them -meet with the same untiring attention. There is always an unreality -about them which even the most robust make-believe can overcome only -for a short and doubtful interval. Witness the relative barrenness -of primitive folk-tales on this inanimate side, as compared with the -exuberance of the myths and legends that interpret the life of plants -and animals; and where inanimate phenomena are drawn into the net of -personation it happens almost unavoidably that a feigned person is -thrown into the foreground of the tale plausibly to take the part of -bearer, controller or intrigant in the episodes related.[43] - -Even more to the same purpose, as showing the same insidious facility -of anthropomorphic interpretation, are the bona-fide constructions of -scientists and pseudo-scientists running on the imputation of purpose -and deliberation to explain the behaviour of animals. Indeed, at the -worst, and still in good faith, it may go so far as to impute some sort -of quasi-conscious striving on the part of plants.[44] As good and -temperate an instance as may be had of such anthropomorphic imputation -of workmanlike gifts is afforded, for instance, by the work of Romanes -on the behaviour of animals.[45] It goes to show how very plausibly -some of the lower animals may be credited with these spiritual -aptitudes and how far and well the imputation may be made to serve -the scientist’s end. So plausible, indeed, is this anthropomorphism -as to disarm even the scepticism of the trained sceptic. It will also -appear in the later course of this inquiry that anthropomorphism, and -especially the imputation of workmanship, has borne a much greater part -in the work of the scientists than the members of that craft would like -to avow; so that the scientific use of the anthropomorphic fancy is by -no means a unique distinction of Romanes and the large group or school -of biologists of which his work is typical; nor does the presence of -this bias in their work by any means strip it of scientific value. -In point of fact, it seems to touch the substance of their objective -results much less seriously than might be apprehended. - -The modern scientist’s watchward is scepticism and caution; and what -he may be led to do concessively, in spite of himself, by too broad a -consciousness of kind, the savage does joyously and with conviction. -His measure of what he sees about him is himself, and his apprehension -of what takes place is a comprehension of how such things would be -done in the course of human conduct if they were physically possible -to man. The man (more often perhaps the woman) who busies himself with -the beginnings of plant and animal-breeding will sympathetically put -himself in touch with their inclinations and aptitudes with a degree of -intimacy and assurance never approached by the followers of Romanes. -It is for him to use common sense and fall in with the drift and -idiosyncracies of these others who are, mysteriously, denied the gift -of speech. By the unambiguous leading of the anthropomorphic fancy he -puts himself in the place of his ward, his animal or vegetable friend -and cousin, and can so learn something of what is going on in the -putative vegetable or animal mind, through patient observation of what -comes to light in response to his attentions in the course of his joint -life with them. The plant or animal manifestly does things, and the -question follows, Why do these speechless others do those things which -they are seen to do?--things which often do not lie within the range -of things desirable to be accomplished, humanly speaking. Manifestly -these non-human others seek other ends and seek them in other ways than -man. Some of the objective results which it lies in their nature to -accomplish in so working out their scheme of life are useful to their -human cousins; and it stands to reason that when they are dealt kindly -with, when man takes pains to further their ends in life, they will -take thought and respond somewhat in kind. To turn the proposition -about, those things which men find, by trial and error, to bring a -good and kindly return from the speechless others are manifestly -well received by them and must obviously be of a kind to fall in -with their bent and minister to their inclinations; and prudence and -fellow-feeling combine to lead men farther along the way so indicated -at each move in the propitious direction. - -To the unsophisticated--and even to the sophisticated sceptic--it -is manifest that animate objects do things. What they aim to do, as -well as the logic of their conduct in carrying out their designs, -are not precisely the same as in the case of man. But by staying by -and learning what they are bent on doing, and observing how they go -about it, any peculiarity in the nature of their needs, spiritual -and physical, and in their manner of approaching their ends, may be -learned and assimilated; and their life-work can be furthered and -amplified by judiciously ministering to their ascertained needs and -making the way smooth for them in what they undertake, so long as their -undertakings are such as man is interested in bringing to a successful -issue. Of course they work toward ends that are good in their sight, -though not always such as men would seek; but that is their affair -and is not to be pried into beyond the bounds of a decent neighbourly -interest. And they work by methods in some degree other, often wiser, -than those of men, and these it is man’s place to learn if he would -profit by their companionship. - -Much of the scheme of life of these speechless others is a scheme -of fecundity, growth and nurture, and all these matters are natural -to women rather than to men; and so in the early stages of culture -the consciousness of kind and congruity has made it plain to all the -parties in interest that the care of crops and animals belongs in the -fitness of things to women. Indeed there is such a spiritual (magical) -community between women and the fecundity of animate things that any -intrusion of the men in the affairs of growth and fertility may by -force of contrast come to be viewed with the liveliest apprehension. -Since the life of plants and animals is primarily of a spiritual -nature, since the initiative and trend of vegetable and animal life is -of this character, it follows that some sort of propitious spiritual -contact and communion should be maintained between mankind and that -world of fertility and growth in which these animate things live and -move. So a line of communication, of a spiritual kind, is kept open -with the realm of the speechless ones by means of a sign-language -systematised into ritual, and by a symbolism of amity reënforced with -gifts and professions of good-will. Hence a growth of occult meanings -and ceremonial procedure, to which the argument will have to return -presently.[46] - -By this indirect, animistic and magical, line of approach the -matter-of-fact requirements of tillage and cattle-breeding can be -determined and fulfilled in a very passable fashion, given only the -necessary time and tranquillity. Time is by common consent allowed the -stone-age culture in abundant measure; and common consent is coming, -through one consideration and another, to admit that the requisite -conditions of peace and quiet industry are also a characteristic -feature of that early time. The fact, broad and profound, that the -known crop plants and animals were for the most part domesticated in -that time is perhaps in itself the most persuasive argument for the -prevalence of peaceful conditions among those peoples, whoever they -may have been, to whose efforts, or rather to whose routine of genial -superstition, this domestication is to be credited. This domestication -and use of plants and animals was of course not a mere blindfold -diversion. Here as ever the instinct of workmanship was present -with its prompting to make the most of what comes to hand; and the -technology of husbandry, like the technology of any other industrial -enterprise, has been the outcome of men’s abiding penchant for making -things useful. - -The peculiar advantage of tillage and cattle-breeding over the primary -mechanic arts, that by which the former arts gained and kept their -lead, seems to have been the simple circumstance that the propensity -of workmanlike men to impute a workmanlike (teleological) nature to -phenomena does not leave the resulting knowledge of these phenomena -so wide of the mark in the case of animate nature as in that of brute -matter. It will probably not do to say that the anthropomorphic -imputation has been directly serviceable to the technological end -in the case of tillage and cattle-breeding; it is rather that the -disadvantage or disserviceability of such an interpretation of facts -has been greater in the mechanic arts in early times. The instinct of -workmanship, through the sentimental propensity to impute workmanlike -qualities and conduct to external facts, has defeated itself more -effectually in the mechanic arts. And as in the course of time, under -favourable local conditions, the habitual imputation of teleological -capacities has in some measure fallen into disuse, the mechanic arts -have gained; and every such gain has in its turn, as conditions -permitted, acted cumulatively toward the discredit and disuse of the -teleological method of knowledge, and therefore toward an acceleration -of technological gain in this field. - -The inanimate factors which early man has to turn to account as a -condition precedent to any appreciable advance in the industrial arts, -outside of husbandry and of the use of fruits and fibres associated -with it, do not lend themselves to an effectual approximation from the -anthropomorphic side. Flint and similar minerals are refractory, they -have no spiritual nature and no scheme or cycle of life that can be -interpreted in some passable fashion as the outcome of instinctive -propensities and workmanlike management. Anthropomorphic insight -does not penetrate into the secret ways of brute matter, for all the -reasonable concession to idiosyncracies, to recondite conceits, occult -means and devious methods, with which unsophisticated man stands ready -to meet them. He can see as far into a millstone as anyone along that -line; but that is not far enough to be of any use, and he is debarred -by his workmanlike common sense from systematically looking into the -matter along any other line. It is only the blindfold, unsystematic -accretions of opaque fact coming in, disjointed and unsympathetic, from -the inhuman side of his technological experience that can help him out -here. And experience of that kind can come upon him only inadvertently, -for he has no basis on which to systematise these facts as they come, -and so he has no means of intelligently seeking them. His intelligent -endeavours to get at the nature of things will perforce go on the mass -of knowledge which his intelligence has already comprehended, which -is a knowledge of human conduct. Anthropomorphism is almost wholly -obstructive in this field of brute matter, and in early times, before -much in the way of accumulated matter-of-fact knowledge had forced -itself upon men, the propensity to a teleological interpretation -seems to have been nearly decisive against technological progress in -the primary and indispensable mechanic arts. And in later phases of -culture, where anthropomorphic interpretations of workmanship have been -worked out into a rounded system of magic and religion, they have at -times brought the technological advance to a full stop, particularly on -the mechanical side, and have even led to the cancelment of gains that -should have seemed secure. - -It is likewise a notable fact that, as already intimated above, -myth and legend have found this brute matter as refractory in their -service as the instinct of workmanship has found it in the genesis of -technology; and for the good reason that the same human penchant for -teleological insight and elaboration has ruled in the one as in the -other. Inanimate matter and the phenomena in which inanimate matter -manifests its nature and force have, of course, taken a large place -in folk-lore; but the folk-lore, whether myth, legend or magic, in -which inanimate matter is conceived as speaking in its own right and -working out its own spiritual content is relatively very scant. In -magic it commonly plays a part as an instrumentality only, and indeed -as an instrument which owes its magical efficacy to some efficacious -circumstance external to it. It has most frequently an induced rather -than intrinsic efficacy, being the vehicle whereby the worker of magic -materialises and conveys his design to its execution. It is susceptible -of magical use, rather than creative of magical effects.[47] No -doubt this characterisation of the magical offices of inert matter -applies to early and primitive times and situations rather than to the -high-wrought later systems of occult science and alchemical lore that -are built on some appreciable knowledge of metallurgy and chemical -reactions. So likewise early myth and legend have had to take recourse -to the intervention of personal, or at least animate agents, to make -headway in the domain of brute matter, which figures commonly as -means in the hands of manlike agents of some sort, rather than as a -self-directing agent with initiative and a natural bent of its own. The -phenomena of inanimate nature are likely to be thrown into the hands of -such putative agents, who are then conceived to control them and turn -them to account for ulterior ends not given in the native character of -the inanimate objects themselves.[48] Even so exceptionally available -a range of phenomena as those of fire have not escaped this inglorious -eventuality. In the mythical legends of fire it will be found that -the fire and all its works come into the plot of the story only as -secondary elements, and the interest centres about the fortunes of some -manlike agency to whose initiative and exploits all the phenomena of -fire are referred as their cause or occasion.[49] The legends of fire -have commonly become legends of a fire-bringer, etc.,[50] and have come -to turn about the plots and counterplots of anthropomorphic beasts and -divinities who are conceived to have wrestled for, with and about the -use of fire. - -So, on the other hand, as an illustration from the side of technology, -to show how matters stood in this connection through the best days of -anthropomorphism, fire had been in daily and indispensable use through -an indefinite series of millennia before men, in the early modern -times of Occidental civilisation, learned the use of a chimney. And -all that hindered the discovery of this simple mechanical expedient -seems to have been the fatal propensity of men to impute a teleological -nature and workmanlike design to this phenomenon with which no truce or -working arrangement can be negotiated in spiritual terms.[51] - - * * * * * - -A doubt may plausibly suggest itself as to the competency of such -an explanation of these phenomena. It would seem scarcely to lie -in the nature of an instinct of workmanship to enlist the workman -in the acquisition of knowledge which he cannot use, and guide him -in elaborating it into a system which will defeat his own ends; to -build up obstructions to its own working, and yet in the long run to -overcome them. In part this discrepancy in the outcome arises from the -fact that the sense of workmanship affords a norm of systematisation -for the facts that come into knowledge. This leads to something like -a dramatisation of the facts, whereby they fall into some sort of -a sequence of conduct among themselves, become personalised, are -conceived as gifted with discrimination, inclinations, preferences and -initiative; and in so far as the facts are conceived to be involved -in immaterial or hyperphysical relations of this character they -cannot effectually be made use of for the purposes of technology. All -conceptions that exceed the scope of material fact are useless for -technology, and in so far as such conceptions are intruded into the -body of information drawn on by the workman they become obstructive. - -But in good part the discrepancies of the outcome are due to -complications with an instinctive curiosity, the presence of which has -tacitly been assumed throughout the argument,--an “idle” curiosity by -force of which men, more or less insistently, want to know things, -when graver interests do not engross their attention. Comparatively -little has been made of this instinctive propensity by the students of -culture, though the fact of its presence in human nature is broadly -recognised by psychologists,[52] and the like penchant comes in -evidence among the lower animals, as appears in many investigations -of animal behaviour.[53] Indeed, it has been taken somewhat lightly, -in a general way, as being a genial infirmity of human nature rather -than a creative factor in civilisation. And the reason of its being -dealt with in so slight a manner is probably to be found in the nature -of the instinct itself. With the instinct of workmanship it shares -that character of pliancy and tractability common in some degree to -the whole range of instincts, and especially characteristic of those -instinctive predispositions that distinguish human nature from the -simpler and more refractory spiritual endowment of the lower animals. - -Like the other instinctive propensities, it is to be presumed, the -idle curiosity takes effect only within the bounds of that metabolic -margin of surplus energy that comes in evidence in all animal life, -but that appears in larger proportions in the “higher” animals and in -a peculiarly obtrusive manner in the life of man. It seems to be only -after the demands of the simpler, more immediately organic functions, -such as nutrition, growth and reproduction, have been met in some -passably sufficient measure that this vaguer range of instincts which -constitutes the spiritual predispositions of man can effectually draw -on the energies of the organism and so can go into effect in what -is recognised as human conduct. The wider the margin of disposable -energy, therefore, the more freely should the characteristically -human predispositions assert their sway, and the more nearly this -metabolic margin is drained by the elemental needs of the organism -the less chance should there be that conduct will be guided by what -may properly be called the spiritual needs of man. It is accordingly -characteristic of this whole range of vaguer and less automatically -determinate predispositions that they transiently yield somewhat -easily to the pressure of circumstances. This is eminently true of the -idle curiosity, as it is also true in a somewhat comparable degree -of the sense of workmanship. But these instincts at the same time, -and perhaps by the same fact, have also the other concomitant and -characteristically human trait of a ubiquitous resiliency whenever and -in so far as there is nothing to hinder. Their staying power is, in -a way, very great, though their driving force is neither massive nor -intractable. So that even though the idle curiosity, like the sense of -workmanship, may be momentarily thrust aside by more urgent interests, -yet its long-term effects in human culture are very considerable. Men -will commonly make easy terms with their curiosity when there is a -call to action under the spur of a more elemental need, and even when -circumstances appear to be favourable to its untroubled functioning a -sustained and consistent response to its incitement is by no means an -assured consequence. The common man does not eagerly pursue the quest -of the idle curiosity, and neither its guidance nor its award of fact -is mandatory on him.[54] Sporadic individuals who are endowed with -this supererogatory gift largely in excess of the common run, or who -yield to its enticements with very exceptional abandon, are accounted -dreamers, or in extreme cases their more sensible neighbours may even -rate them as of unsound mind. But the long-term consequences of the -common run of curiosity, helped out by such sporadic individuals in -whom the idle curiosity runs at a higher tension, counts up finally, -because cumulatively, into the most substantial cultural achievement of -the race,--its systematised knowledge and quasi-knowledge of things. - -This instinctive curiosity, then, comes in now and again serviceably to -accelerate the gain in technological insight by bringing in material -information that may be turned to account, as well as by persistently -disturbing the habitual body of knowledge on which workmanship draws. -Human curiosity is doubtless an “idle” propensity, in the sense that -no utilitarian aim enters in its habitual exercise; but the material -information which is by this means drawn into the agent’s available -knowledge may none the less come to serve the ends of workmanship. -A good share of the facts taken cognisance of under the spur of -curiosity is of no effect for workmanship or for technological insight, -and that any of it should be found serviceable is substantially a -fortuitous circumstance. This character of “idleness,” the absence of a -utilitarian aim or utilitarian sentiment in the impulse of curiosity, -is doubtless a great part of the reason for its having received such -scant and rather slighting treatment at the hands of the psychologists -and of the students of civilisation alike. - -Of the material so offered as knowledge, or fact, workmanship makes use -of whatever is available. In ways already indicated this utilisation -of ascertained “facts” is both furthered and hindered by the fact that -the information which comes to hand through the restless curiosity of -man is reduced to systematic shape, for the most part or wholly, under -canons of workmanship. For the large generality of human knowledge this -will mean that the raw material of observed fact is selectively worked -over, connected up and accumulated on lines of a putative teleological -order of things, cast in something like a dramatic form. From which -it follows that the knowledge so gained is held and carried over from -generation to generation in a form which lends itself with facility to -a workmanlike manipulation; it is already digested for assimilation -in a scheme of teleology that instinctively commends itself to the -workmanlike sense of fitness. But it also follows that in so far as -the personalised, teleological, or dramatic order so imputed to the -facts does not, by chance, faithfully reflect the causal relations -subsisting among these facts, the utilisation of them as technological -elements will amount to a borrowing of trouble. So that the concurrence -of curiosity and workmanship in the assimilation of facts in this -way may, and in early culture must, result in a retardation of the -technological advance, as contrasted with what might conceivably -have been the outcome of this work of the idle curiosity if it had -not been congenitally contaminated with the sense of workmanship and -thereby lent itself to conceptions of magical efficacy rather than to -mechanical efficiency.[55] - - * * * * * - -The further bearing of the parental bent on the early growth of -technology also merits attention in this connection. This instinct -and the sentiments that arise out of its promptings will have had -wide and free play in early times, when the common good of the group -was still perforce the chief economic interest in the habitual view -of all its members. It will have had an immediate effect on the -routine of life and work, presumably far beyond what is to be looked -for at any later stage. In the time when pecuniary competition had -not yet become an institution, grounded in the ownership of goods in -severalty and on their competitive consumption, the promptings of this -instinct will have been more insistent and will have met with a more -unguarded response than later on, after these institutional changes -have taken effect. A manifest and inveterate distaste of waste, in -great part traceable on analysis to this instinct, still persistently -comes in evidence in all communities, although it is greatly disguised -and distorted by the principles of conspicuous waste[56] among all -those peoples that have adopted private ownership of goods; and -serviceability to the common good likewise never ceases to command -at least a genial, speculative approval from the common run of men, -though this, too, may often take some grotesque or nugatory form due to -preconceptions of a pecuniary kind. This bias for serviceability and -against waste falls in directly with the promptings of the instinct -of workmanship, so that these two instinctive predispositions will -reënforce one another in conducing to an impersonally economical use -of materials and resources as well as to the full use of workmanlike -capacities, and to an endless taking of pains. - -Some reference has also been made already to the technological value of -those kindly, “humane” sentiments that are bound up with the parental -bent,--if they may not rather be said substantially to constitute the -parental bent. It is of course in the non-mechanical arts of plant and -animal breeding that these humane extensions of the parental instinct -have their chief if not their only industrial value, both in furthering -the day’s work and in contributing to the advance of technology. In the -primary mechanic arts, _e. g._, an affectionate disposition of this -kind toward the inanimate appliances with which their work is occupied -does no doubt still, as ever, to some extent animate the workmen as -well as those who may have the remoter oversight of the work. But the -part played by such humane sentiments is after all relatively slight -in men’s dealings with brute matter, nor do they invariably conduce -to expeditious work or to a hard-headed insight into the mechanics -of those things with which this work has to do. In fact such tender -emotions so placed may somewhat easily become a source of mischief, -in a manner similar to the mischievous technological consequences of -anthropomorphism already spoken of. - -It is otherwise with the bearing of the parental bent on the arts of -tillage and cattle-breeding. Here its promptings are almost wholly -serviceable to technological gain as well as to assiduous workmanship. -The kindly sentiments intrinsic to the parental bent are admirably in -place in the care of plants and animals, and their good effects in -so giving a propitious turn to the technology of early tillage and -cattle-breeding are only re-enforced by the parental and workmanlike -inclination to husband resources and make the most of what comes to -hand. The particular turn given to the anthropomorphic bias by this -line of preconceptions also is rather favourable than otherwise to -a working insight into the requirements of the art. And it has had -certain specific consequences for the early technology of husbandry, as -well as for the early culture in which husbandry was the chief material -factor, such as to call for a more circumstantial account. - -Under the canons of workmanship a teleological animus--an instinctive -or “spiritual” nature--is imputed to the plants and animals brought -into domestication. The art of husbandry proceeds on the apprehended -needs and proclivities so imputed, and the technology of the craft -therefore takes the form of a “tendance” designed to further these -quasi-animistically conceived beings in whatever ends they have at -heart by virtue of their natural bent, and to so direct this tendance -upon them as will conduce to shaping their scheme of life in ways -advantageous to man. Like other sentient beings, as is known to -shrewd and unsophisticated man, they have spiritual needs as well -as material needs, and they are putatively to be influenced by the -attitude of their human cousins towards them and their conduct, -interests, and adventures. Further, their life and comfort are -manifestly conditioned by the run of the seasons and of the weather; -various inclemencies are discouraging and discomforting to them, as to -mankind, and other vicissitudes of rain and shine and tempest are of -the gravest consequence to them for good or ill. Under these delicate -circumstances it is incumbent on the keepers of crops and flocks to -walk circumspectly and cultivate the good-will not only of their crops -and flocks but also of the natural phenomena that count for so much in -the life of the crops and flocks. These natural phenomena are of course -also conceived anthropomorphically, in the sense that they too are seen -to follow their natural bent and do what they will,--or perhaps more -commonly what the personal agents will, in whose keeping these natural -phenomena are conceived to lie; for unsophisticated man has no other -available terms in which to conceive them and their behaviour than the -terms of initiative, design and endeavour immediately given in his own -conscious action. - -Now, as has already been said, the scheme of life of the crops and -flocks is, at least in the main, and particularly in so far as it -vitally and always interests their keepers, a scheme of fecundity, -fertility and growth. But these matters, visibly and by conscious -sentiment, pertain in a peculiarly intimate sense to the women. They -are matters in which the sympathetic insight and fellow-feeling of -womankind should in the nature of things come very felicitously to -further the propitious course of things. Besides which the life of the -women falls in these same lines of fecundity, nurture and growth, so -that their association and attendance on the flocks and crops should -further the propitious course of things also by the subtler means of -sympathetic suggestion. There is a magical congruity of great force -as between womankind and the propagation of growing things. And these -subtler ways of influencing events are especially to the point in all -contact with these non-human sentient beings, since they are speechless -and must therefore in the main be led by living example rather than by -precept and expostulation. And, again, being sentient, somewhat after -the fashion of mankind, it is not to be believed that they have not the -gift visibly common to mankind and many animals, of following their -leader by force of sympathetic imitation. It may not be easy to say -how far this instinctive impulse of imitation, necessarily credited to -all phenomena to which anthropomorphic traits are imputed, is to be -accounted the ground of all sympathetic magic; but it is at least to be -accepted as sufficient to account for much of what is done to induce -fertility in flocks and crops. - -So that on many accounts it is evident that in the nature of things, -the care of flocks and crops is the women’s affair, and it follows -that all intercourse with the flocks and crops in the early days had -best be conducted by the women, who alone may be presumed intuitively -to apprehend what is timely, due and permissible in these premises. -It is all the more evident that communion with these wordless others -should fall to the women, since the like wordless communion with their -own young is perhaps the most notable and engaging trait of their -own motherhood. The parental bent also throws a stress of sentiment -on this simple and obvious phase of motherhood, such as has made -it in all men’s apprehension the type of all kindly and unselfish -tendance; at the same time this ubiquitous parental instinct tends -constantly to place motherhood in the foreground in all that concerns -the common good, in as much as all that is worth while, humanly -speaking, has its beginning here. In that early phase of culture in -which the beginnings of tillage and cattle-breeding were made and in -which the common good of the group was still the chief daily interest -about which men’s solicitude and forethought are habitually engaged, -motherhood will always have been the central fact in the scheme of -human things. So that in this cultural phase the parental bent and -the sense of workmanship will have worked together to bring the women -into the chief place in the technological scheme; and the sense of -imitative propriety, as well as the recognised constraining force -exercised by example and mimetic representation through the impulse of -imitation, will have guided workmanship shrewdly to play up womankind -and motherhood in an ever-growing scheme of magical observances -designed to further the natural increase of flocks and crops. Where -anthropomorphic imputation runs free and with conviction, such -observances, designed to act sympathetically on the natural course of -phenomena, unavoidably become an integral feature of the technological -scheme, no less indispensable and putatively no less efficacious to -this end than the mechanical operations with which these observances -are associated. There is no practicable line of division to be drawn -between sympathetic magic and anthropomorphic technology; and in -the known cultures of this early type it is for the most part an -open question whether the magical observances are to be accounted an -adjunct to what we would recognise as the technological routine of the -art, or conversely. The two are not commonly held apart as distinct -categories, and both are efficacious and indispensable; and in both the -felt efficacy runs on much the same grounds of imputed anthropomorphic -traits.[57] - -On grounds of magical-technological expediency, then, as well as by -force of the sense of intrinsic propriety, women come to take the -leading rôle in the industrial community of the early time, and the -community’s material interests come to centre about them and their -relation to the natural products of the fields; and since this interest -bears immediately on the fecundity of the flocks and crops, it is -particularly in their character of motherhood that the women come -most vitally into the case. The natural produce on which the life of -the group depends, therefore, will appertain to the women, in some -intimate sense of congruity, so that in the fitness of things this -produce will properly come to the good of the community through their -hands and will logically be dispensed somewhat at their discretion. -So great is the reach of this logic of congruity that in the known -cultures which show much reminiscence of this early technological phase -it is commonly possible to detect some remnant of such discretionary -control of the natural produce by the women. And modern students, -imbued with modern preconceptions of ownership and predaceous mastery, -have even found themselves constrained by this evidence to discover -a system of matriarchy and maternal ownership in these usages that -antedate the institution of ownership. Conceivably, the usages growing -out of this preferential position of women in the technology and -ritual of early husbandry will, now and again, by the uniform drift of -habituation have attained such a degree of consistency, been wrought -into so rigid a form of institutions, as to have been carried over -into a later phase of culture in which the ownership of goods is of -the essence of the scheme; and in such case these usages may then have -come to be reconstrued in terms of ownership, to the effect that the -ownership of agricultural products vests of right in the woman, the -mother of the household. - -But if the magical-technological fitness and efficacy of women has -led to the growth of institutions vesting the disposal of the produce -in the women, in a more or less discretionary way, the like effect -has been even more pronounced, comprehensive and lasting as regards -the immaterial developments of the case. With great uniformity the -evidence from the earlier peaceable agricultural civilisations runs -to the effect that the primitive ritual of husbandry, chiefly of a -magical character, is in the hands of the women and is made up of -observances presumed to be particularly consonant with the phenomena -of motherhood.[58] And presently, when the more elaborate phases of -these magical rites of husbandry come, by further superinduction of -anthropomorphism, to grow into religious observances and mythological -tenets, the greater _daimones_ and divinities that emerge in the -shuffle are women, and again it is the motherhood of women that is in -evidence. The deities, great and small, are prevailingly females; and -the great ones among them seem invariably to have set out with being -mothers. - -In the creation of female and maternal divinities the parental -instinct has doubtless greatly re-enforced the drift of the instinct -of workmanship in the same direction. The female deities have two main -attributes or characteristics because of which they came to hold their -high place; they are goddesses of fertility in one way or another, -and they are mothers of the people. It is perhaps unnecessary to hold -these two concomitant attributions apart, as many if not most of the -great deities claim precedence on both grounds. But the lower orders of -female divinities in the matriarchal scheme of things divine will much -more commonly specialise in fertility of crops than in maternity of the -people. The number of divinities that have mainly or solely to do with -fertility is greater than that of those which figure as mothers of the -people, either locally or generally. And perhaps in the majority of -cases there is some suggestive evidence that the great female deities -have primarily been goddesses of fertility having to do with the growth -of crops--and, usually in the second place, of animals--rather than -primarily mothers of the tribe;[59] which would suggest that their -genesis and character is due to the canons of the sense of workmanship -more than to the parental bent, although the latter seems to have had -its part in shaping many of them if not all. - -The female divinities belong characteristically to the early or -simpler agricultural civilisation, and what has been said goes to -argue that they rest on technological grounds in the main; indeed, in -their genesis and early growth, they are in good part of the nature of -technological expedients. They are at home with the female technology -of early tillage especially, and perhaps only in the second place do -they serve the magical and religious needs of peoples given mainly to -breeding flocks and herds; although it is to be noted that most of the -greater known goddesses of the ancient Western world, as well as many -of the minor ones, are also found to be closely related to various -of the domestic animals. In America and the Far East, of course, any -connection with the domestication of animals would appear improbable. - -With a change of base, from this early husbandry to a civilisation -in which the main habitual interest is of another kind, and in which -the habitual outlook of men is less closely limited by the same -anthropomorphic conceptions of nurture and growth, the goddesses begin -to lose their preferential claim on men’s regard and fall into place -as adjuncts or consorts of male divinities designed on other lines -and built out of different materials and serving new ends.[60] But -the hegemony of the mother goddesses has unquestionably been very -wide-reaching and very enduring, as it should be to answer to the -extent in time and space of the civilisation of tillage as well as to -its paramount importance in the life of mankind, and as it is shown to -have been by the archæological and ethnological evidence. - -A further concomitant variation in the cultural scheme, associated -with and presumably traceable to the same technological ground, is -maternal descent, the counting of relationship primarily or solely in -the female line. In the present state of the evidence on this head it -would probably be too broad a proposition to say that the counting -of relationship by the mother’s side is due wholly to preconceptions -arising out of the technology of fertility and growth and that it so is -remotely a creature of the instinct of workmanship; but it is at least -equally probable that that ancient conceit must be abandoned according -to which the system of maternal descent arises out of an habitual doubt -of paternity. The mere obvious congruity of the cognatic system as -contrasted with the agnatic, has presumably had as much to do with the -matter as anything, and under the rule of the primitive technology -of tillage and cattle-breeding this obvious congruity of the cognate -relationship will have been very materially re-enforced by the current -preconceptions regarding the preferential importance of the female -line for the welfare of the household and the community. And so long -as that technological era lasted, and until the more strenuous culture -of predation and coercion came on and threw the male element in the -community into the place of first consequence, maternal descent as well -as the mother goddess appear to have held their own. - - * * * * * - -It will have been noticed that through all this argument runs the -presumption that the culture which included the beginnings and early -growth of tillage and cattle-breeding was substantially a peaceable -culture. This presumption is somewhat at variance with the traditional -view, particularly with the position taken as a matter of course by -earlier students of ethnology in the nineteenth century. Still it is -probably not subject to very serious question today. As the evidence -has accumulated it has grown increasingly manifest that the ancient -assumption of a primitive state of nature after the school of Hobbes -cannot be accepted. The evidence from contemporary sources, as to -the state of things in this respect among savages and many of the -lower barbarians, points rather to peace than to war as the habitual -situation, although this evidence is by no means unequivocal; besides -which, the evidence from these contemporary lower cultures bears -only equivocally on the point of first interest here,--viz., the -antecedents of the Western civilisation. What is more to the point, -though harder to get at in any definitive way, is the prehistory of -this civilisation. Here the inquiry will perforce go on survivals and -reminiscences and on the implications of known facts of antiquity as -well as of certain features still extant in the current cultural scheme. - -It seems antecedently improbable that the domestication of the crop -plants and animals could have been effected at all except among -peoples leading a passably peaceable, and presently a sedentary life. -And the length of time required for what was achieved in remote -antiquity in this respect speaks for the prevalence of (passably) -peaceable conditions over intervals of time and space that overpass all -convenient bounds of chronology and localisation. Evidence of maternal -descent, maternal religious practices and maternal discretion in the -disposal of goods meet the inquiry in ever increasing force as soon -as it begins to penetrate back of the conventionally accepted dawn of -history; and survivals and reminiscences of such institutions appear -here and there within the historical period with increasing frequency -the more painstaking the inquiry becomes. And that institutions of -this character require a peaceable situation for their genesis as well -as for their survival is not only antecedently probable on grounds of -congruity, but it is evidenced by the way in which they incontinently -decay and presently disappear wherever the cultural situation takes -on a predatory character or develops a large-scale civilisation, with -a coercive government, differentiation of classes--especially in the -pecuniary respect--warlike ideals and ambitions, and a considerable -accumulation of wealth. - -Some further discussion of this early peaceable situation will -necessarily come up in connection with the technological grounds of -its disappearance at the transition to that predatory culture which -has displaced it in all cases where an appreciably advanced phase of -civilisation has been reached. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE SAVAGE STATE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS - - -Technological knowledge is of the nature of a common stock, held -and carried forward collectively by the community, which is in -this relation to be conceived as a going concern. The state of the -industrial arts is a fact of group life, not of individual or private -initiative or innovation. It is an affair of the collectivity, not -a creative achievement of individuals working self-sufficiently in -severalty or in isolation. In the main, the state of the industrial -arts is always a heritage out of the past; it is always in process -of change, perhaps, but the substantial body of it is knowledge that -has come down from earlier generations. New elements of insight and -proficiency are continually being added and worked into this common -stock by the experience and initiative of the current generation, -but such novel elements are always and everywhere slight and -inconsequential in comparison with the body of technology that has been -carried over from the past. - -Each successive move in advance, every new wrinkle of novelty, -improvement, invention, adaptation, every further detail of workmanlike -innovation, is of course made by individuals and comes out of -individual experience and initiative, since the generations of mankind -live only in individuals. But each move so made is necessarily made by -individuals immersed in the community and exposed to the discipline of -group life as it runs in the community, since all life is necessarily -group life. The phenomena of human life occur only in this form. It is -only as an outcome of this discipline that comes with the routine of -group life, and by help of the commonplace knowledge diffused through -the community, that any of its members are enabled to make any new -move that may in this way be traceable to their individual initiative. -Any new technological departure necessarily takes its rise in the -workmanlike endeavours of given individuals, but it can do so only by -force of their familiarity with the body of knowledge which the group -already has in hand. A new departure is always and necessarily an -improvement on or alteration in that state of the industrial arts that -is already in the keeping of the group at large; and every expedient -or innovation, great or small, that so is hit upon goes into effect -by going into the common stock of technological resources carried by -the group. It can take effect only in this way. Such group solidarity -is a necessity of the case, both for the acquirement and use of this -immaterial equipment that is spoken of as the state of the industrial -arts and for its custody and transmission from generation to generation. - -Within this common stock of technology some special branch or line of -proficiency, bearing on some special craft or trade, may be held in -a degree of isolation by some caste-like group within the community, -limited by consanguinity, initiation, and the like, and so it may be -held somewhat out of the common stock and transmitted in some degree -of segregation. In the lower cultures the elements of technology that -are so engrossed by a fraction of the community and held out of the -common stock are most commonly of a magical or ceremonial nature, -rather than effective elements of workmanship; since any such matters -of ritual observance lend themselves with greater facility to exclusive -use and transmission within lines of class limitation than do the -matter-of-fact devices of actual workmanship. In the lower cultures -the exclusive training and information so held and transmitted in -segregation by various secret organisations appear in the main to be -of this magical or ceremonial character;[61] although there is no -reason to doubt that this technological make-believe is taken quite -seriously and counts as a substantial asset in the apprehension of its -possessors. In a more advanced state of the industrial arts, where -ownership and the specialisation of industry have had their effect, -trade secrets, patent and copyrights are often of substantial value, -and these are held in segregation from the common stock of technology. -But it is evident without argument that facts of this class are after -all of no grave or enduring consequence in comparison with the great -commonplace body of knowledge and skill current in the community. At -the same time, any such segregated line of technological gain and -transmission, if it has any appreciable significance for the state of -the industrial arts and is not wholly made up of ritual observances, -leans so greatly on the technological equipment at large that its -isolation is at the most partial and one-sided; it takes effect only -by the free use of the general body of knowledge which is not so -engrossed, and it has also in all cases been acquired and elaborated -only by the free use of that commonplace knowledge that is held in -no man’s exclusive possession. Such is more particularly the case in -all but those latest phases of the industrial development in which -the volume of the technology and the consequent specialisation of -occupations have been carried very far. - -In the earlier, or rather in all but the late phases of culture and -technology, this immaterial equipment at large is accessible to all -members of the community as a matter of course through the unavoidable -discipline that comes with the workday routine of getting along. Few, -if any, can avoid acquiring the essential elements of the industrial -scheme by use of which the community lives, although they need not -each gain any degree of proficiency in all the manual operations or -industrial processes in which this technological scheme goes into -effect, and few can avoid being so trained into the logic of the -current scheme that their habitual thinking will in all these bearings -run within the bounds of experience embodied in this general scheme. - -All have free access to this common stock of immaterial equipment, -but in all known cultures there is also found some degree of special -training and some appreciable specialisation of knowledge and -occupations; which is carried forward by expert workmen whose peculiar -and exceptional proficiency is confined to some one or a few distinct -lines of craft. And in all, or at least in all but the lowest known -cultures, the available evidence goes to say that this joint stock of -technological mastery can be maintained and carried forward only by -way of some such specialisation of training and differentiation of -employments. No one is competent to acquire such mastery of all the -lines of industry included in the general scheme as would enable him -(or her) to transmit the state of the industrial arts to succeeding -generations unimpaired at all points. - -Some degree of specialisation there always is, even where there appears -to be no urgent technological need of it. The circumstances of their -life differ sufficiently for different individuals, so that a certain -individuation in workmanship will result from commonplace experience, -even apart from any deliberate specialisation of occupations. And with -any considerable increase in the size of the group a more or less -deliberate specialisation of occupations will also set in. Individuals -who are in this way occupied wholly or mainly with some one particular -line of work will carry proficiency in this line to a higher pitch than -the generality of workmen and will bring out details of technological -procedure that may never fully become the common possession of the -group at large, that may not in all details become part of the -commonplace technological information current in the community. There -seems, in fact, never to have been a time when the industrial scheme -was so slight and narrow that all members of the community could master -it in the greatest feasible degree of proficiency at every point. But -at the same time it holds true for all the more archaic phases of the -development that all members of the community appear always to have had -a comprehensive and passably exhaustive acquaintance with the technique -of all industries practised in their time. - -This necessary specialisation and detail training has large -consequences for the growth of technology as well as for its custody -and transmission. It follows that a large and widely diversified -industrial scheme is impossible except in a community of some -size,--large enough to support a number and variety of special -occupations. In effect, substantial gains in industrial insight and -proficiency can apparently be worked out only through such close -and sustained attention to a given line of work as can be given -only within the lines of a specialised occupation. At the same time -the industrial community must comprise a full complement of such -specialised occupations, and must also be bound together in a system of -communication sufficiently close and facile to allow the technological -contents of all these occupations to be readily assimilated into a -systematic whole. The industrial system so worked out need not be of -the same extent as any one local group of the people who get their -living by its use; but it seems to be required that if several local -groups are effectively to be comprised in a single industrial system -conditions of peace must prevail among them. Community of language -seems also to be nearly necessary to the maintenance of such a system. -Where the various local groups are on hostile terms, each will tend to -have an industrial system of its own, with a technological character -somewhat distinct from its neighbours.[62] If the degree of isolation -is pronounced, so that traffic and communication do not run freely -between groups, the size of the local group will limit the state of -the industrial arts somewhat rigidly; and on the other hand a marked -advance in the industrial arts, such as the domestication of crop -plants or animals or the introduction of metals, is likely to bring -about such a redistribution of population and industry as to increase -the effective size of the community.[63] - -Among the peoples on the lower levels of culture there prevails -commonly a considerable degree of isolation, or even of estrangement. -In a great degree each community is thrown on its own resources, and -under these circumstances the size of the community may become a matter -of decisive importance for the industrial arts. Where a serious decline -in the numbers of any of these savage or barbarous peoples is recorded -it is also commonly noted that they have suffered a concomitant decay -in their technological knowledge and workmanship.[64] In view of these -considerations it is probably safe to say that under settled conditions -any community is, commonly, no larger than is required to keep up and -carry forward the state of the industrial arts as it runs. The known -evidence appears to warrant the generalisation that the state of the -industrial arts is limited by the size of the industrial community, -and that whenever a given community is broken up or suffers a serious -diminution of numbers its technological heritage will deteriorate and -dwindle even though it may apparently have been meagre enough before. - -The considerations recited above are matters of commonplace observation -and might fairly be taken for granted without argument. But so much -of current and recent theoretical speculation proceeds on tacit -assumptions at variance with these commonplaces that it seems pertinent -to recall them, particularly since they will come in as premises in -later passages of the inquiry. - - * * * * * - -Given the material environment, the rate and character of the -technological gains made in any community will depend on the initiative -and application of its members, in so far as the growth of institutions -has not seriously diverted the genius of the race from its natural -bent; it will depend immediately and obviously on individual talent for -workmanship--on the workmanlike bent and capacity of the individual -members of the community. Therefore any difference of native endowment -in this respect between the several races will show itself in the -character of their technological achievements as well as in the rate -of gain. Races differ among themselves in this matter, both as to the -kind and as to the degree of technological proficiency of which they -are capable.[65] It is perhaps as needless to insist on this spiritual -difference between the various racial stocks as it would be difficult -to determine the specific differences that are known to exist, or to -exhibit them convincingly in detail. To some such ground much of the -distinctive character of different peoples is no doubt to be assigned, -though much also may as well be traceable to local peculiarities of -environment and of institutional circumstances. Something of the kind, -a specific difference in the genius of the people, is by common consent -assigned, for instance, in explanation of the pervasive difference in -technology and workmanship between the Western culture and the Far -East. The like difference in “genius” is still more convincingly shown -where different races have long been living near one another under -settled cultural conditions.[66] - -It should be noted in the same connection that hybrid peoples, such -as those of Europe or of Japan, where somewhat widely distinct racial -stocks are mingled, should afford a great variety and wide individual -variation of native gifts, in workmanship as in other respects. -Hybrid stocks, indeed, have a wider range of usual variability than -the combined extreme limits of the racial types that enter into the -composition of the hybrid. So that a great variety, even aberration -and eccentricity, of native gifts is to be looked for in such cases, -and this wide range of variation in workmanlike initiative should -show itself in the technology of any such peoples. Yet there may -still prevail a strikingly determinate difference between any two -such hybrid populations, both in the characteristic features of their -technology and in their routine workmanship; as is illustrated in -the contrast between Japan and the Western nations. These racial -differences in point of endowment may be slight in the first instance, -but as they work cumulatively their ulterior effect may still be -very marked; and they may result in marked differences not only in -respect of the character of the technological situation at a given -point of time but also in the rate of advance and the direction taken -by the technological advance. So in the case of the Far East, as -contrasted with the Occidental peoples, the genius of the races engaged -has prevailingly taken the direction of proficiency in handicraft, -rather than that somewhat crude but efficient recourse to mechanical -expedients which chiefly distinguishes the technology of the West. - - * * * * * - -The stability of racial types makes it possible to study the innate -characters of the existing population under less complex and confusing -circumstances than those of the cultural situation in which this -population is now found. By going back into the earlier phases of -the Western culture the scrutiny of the living population of Europe -and its colonies can, in effect, be pushed back in a fragmentary way -over an interval of some thousands of years. Such acquaintance as may -in this way be gained with the spiritual make-up of the peoples of -the Western culture at any point in its past history and prehistory -should bear immediately and without serious abatement on the native -character of the generation in whose hands the fortunes of that culture -now rest; provided only that the inquiry assures itself of the racial -continuity, racial identity, of these peoples through this period of -time. This question of race identity is no longer a matter of serious -debate so far as concerns the peoples of northern and western Europe, -within the effective bounds of the Occidental civilisation and as far -back as the beginning of the neolithic period. Assuredly there is -debate and uncertainty as to local details of racial mixture in nearly -all parts of this cultural area at some point in past time, but these -uncertainties of detail are not of such a nature or such magnitude as -to vitiate the data for an inquiry into the general characteristics of -the races concerned. By and large, the mixture of races in north Europe -has apparently not varied greatly since early neolithic times, and the -changes that have taken place are known with some confidence, in the -main. Much the same holds true for the Mediterranean seaboard, although -the changes in that region appear to have been more considerable and -are perhaps less readily traceable. For northern and western Europe -taken together, in spite of considerable local fluctuations, the -variations in the general racial composition of the peoples has, on -the whole, not been extensive or extremely serious since the latter -part of the stone age. The three great racial stocks[67] of Western -civilisation have apparently shared their joint dominance in this -culture among themselves since about the time when the use of bronze -first came into Europe, which should be before the close of the stone -age. And these three stocks are not greatly alien to one another; two -of them, the Mediterranean and the blond, being apparently somewhat -closely related in point of descent and therefore presumably in point -of spiritual make-up. - -It is with less confidence that any student of these modern cultures -can test his case by evidence drawn from existing or historical -communities living on the savage or lower barbarian plane and not -closely related, racially, to the peoples of Western Europe. The -discrepancies in such a case are of two kinds: (_a_) The racial -type, and therefore the spiritual (instinctive) make-up of these -alien savages or barbarians, is not the same as that of the modern -Europeans; hence the culture worked out under the control of their -somewhat different endowment of instincts should come to a different -result, particularly since any such racial discrepancy in the matter -of instincts should be expected to work cumulatively to a different -cultural outcome. These alien communities of the lower cultures can -therefore not be accepted off-hand as representing an earlier phase -of Occidental civilisation. This infirmity attaches to any recourse -to an existing savage or barbarian community for object-lessons to -illustrate the working of European human nature in similarly primitive -circumstances, in the degree in which the community in question may be -remote from the Europeans in point of racial type; which reduces itself -to a difficult question as to the point in the family-tree of the races -of man from which the two contrasted races have diverged, and of the -number, character, and magnitude of the racial mutations that may have -intervened between the presumed point of divergence and the existing -racial types so contrasted. (_b_) It is commonly said, and it is -presumably true enough, that all known communities on the lower levels -of culture are far from a state of primitive savagery; that they are -not to be taken as genuinely archaic, but are the result either of a -comparatively late reversion, under special circumstances, from a past -higher stage, or they are peoples which have undergone so protracted -an experience in savagery that their present state is one of extreme -sophistification in all “the beastly devices of the heathen,” rather -than substantially an early or archaic type of culture, such as would -have marked a transient stage in the development of those peoples that -have attained civilised life. - -No doubt there is some substance to these objections, but they contain -rather a modicum of truth than an inclusive presentation of the facts -relevant to the case. As to (_a_), the races of man are, after all, -more alike than unlike, and the evidence drawn from the experience of -any one racial stock or mixture is not to be disregarded as having no -significance for the probable course of things experienced by any other -racial stock during a corresponding interval in its life-history. Yet -there is doubtless a wide and debatable margin of error to be allowed -for in the use of all evidence of this class. As to (_b_), by virtue of -the stability of racial types the populations of existing communities -of the lower cultures should be today what they were at the outset, -in respect of the most substantial factor in their present situation, -their spiritual (instinctive) make-up; and this unaltered complement -of instincts should, under similar circumstances and with a moderate -allowance of time, work out substantially the same general run of -cultural results whether the resulting phase of culture were reached -by approach from a near and untroubled beginning or by regression from -a “higher plane.” So that the existing communities of savages or lower -barbarians should present a passably competent object lesson in archaic -savagery and barbarism whether their past has been higher, lower, or -simply more of the same. - -All this, of course, assumes the stability of racial types. But since, -tacitly, that assumption is habitually made by ethnologists, all that -calls for apology or explanation here is the avowal of it. The greater -proportion of ethnological generalisations on this range of questions -would be quite impotent without that assumption as their major premise. -What has not commonly been assumed or admitted, except by subconscious -implication, is the necessary corollary that these stable types with -which ethnologists and anthropologists busy themselves must have -arisen by mutation from previously existing types, rather than by a -long continued and divergent accumulation of insensible variations. A -result of avowing such a view of the genesis of races will be that the -various races cannot be regarded as being all of the same date and -racial maturity, or of the same significance for any discussion bearing -on the higher cultures. The races engaged in the Western culture will -presumably be found to be of relatively late date, as having arisen -out of relatively late mutational departures, as rated in terms of the -aggregate life-history of mankind. Presumably also many of the other -races will be found to be somewhat widely out of touch with the members -of this Occidental aggregation of racial stocks; some more, others less -remotely related to them, according as their mutational pedigree may be -found to indicate. - -An advantage derivable from such an avowal of the stability of types, -as against its covert assumption and overt disavowal, is that it -enables the student to look for the beginning, in time and space, of -any given racial stock with which his inquiry is concerned, and to -handle it as a unit throughout its life-history. - - * * * * * - -In all probability each of the leading racial stocks of Europe began -its life-history on what would currently be accounted a low level of -savagery. And yet this phase of savagery, whatever it may have been -like, will have been removed from the first beginnings of human culture -by a long series of thousands of years. That such was the case, for -instance, with the European blond is scarcely to be questioned;[68] and -it is at least highly probable that the other stocks now associated -with the blond, though probably older, must also have come into being -relatively late in the life-history of the species. - -Vague as this dating may be, it signifies that the initial phase -in the life-history of at least one, and presumably of all, of the -leading races of Europe falls in a savage culture of a relatively -advanced kind as compared with the rudest human beginnings. Therefore -when these stocks began life, and so were required to make good their -survival, the selective conditions imposed on them, and to which they -were required to conform on pain of extinction, were the conditions of -a savage culture which had already made some appreciable advance in -the arts of life. They had not to meet brute nature in the helpless -nakedness of those remote ancestors in whom humanity first began. -Mutationally speaking, the stock was born to the use of tools and to -the facile mastery of a relatively advanced technology. And conversely -it is a fair inference that these stocks that have peopled Europe -would have been unfit to survive if they had come into the world -before some appreciable advance in technology had been made. That is -to say, these stocks could not by native gift have been fit for a wild -life, in the unqualified sense of the term; nor have they ever lived -a life of nature in any such sense. They came into the savage world -after the race had lived through many thousand years of technological -experience and (presumably) many successive mutational alterations of -racial type, and they were fitted to the exigencies of the savage -world into which they came rather than those of any earlier phase of -savagery. The youngest of them, the latest mutant, emerged in early -neolithic times, and since he eminently made good his fitness to -survive under those conditions he presumably emerged with such an -endowment of traits, physical and spiritual, as those conditions called -for; and also presumably with no appreciable burden of aptitudes, -propensities, instincts, capacities that would be disserviceable, or -perhaps even that would be wholly unserviceable, in the circumstances -in which he was placed. And since the other racial elements of the -European population, at least the two main ones, do not differ at all -radically from the blond in their native capacities, it is likewise to -be presumed that they also emerged from a mutation under circumstances -of culture, and especially of technology, not radically different in -degree from those that first surrounded the blond. - -The difference between these three racial stocks is much more evident -in their physical traits than in their instinctive gifts or their -intellectual capacity; and yet the similarity of the three is so great -and distinctive even on the physical side that anthropologists are -inclined to class the three together as all and several distinctively -typical of a “white” or “caucasic” race, to which they are held -collectively to belong. Something to the like effect seems to hold -true for the distinctive groups of racial stocks that have made the -characteristic civilisations of the Far East on the one hand and of -southern Asia on the other hand; and something similar might, again, -be said for the group of stocks that were concerned in the ancient -civilisations of America. - -It may be pertinent to add that, except for a long antecedent growth -of technology, that is to say a long continued cumulative experience -in workmanship, with the resultant accumulated knowledge of the ways -and means of life, none of the characteristic races of Europe could -have survived. In the absence of these antecedent technological gains, -together with the associated growth of institutions, such mutants, with -their characteristic gifts and limitations, must have perished. - - * * * * * - -On that level of savagery on which these European stocks began, and to -which the several European racial types with their typical endowment -of instincts are presumably adapted, men appear to have lived a fairly -peaceable, though by no means an indolent life; in relatively small -groups or communities; without any of the more useful domestic animals, -though probably with some domestic plants; and busied with getting -their living by daily work. Since they survived under the conditions -offered them it is to be presumed that these men and women, say of the -early neolithic time, took instinctively and kindly to those activities -and mutual relations that would further the life of the group; and -that, on the whole, they took less kindly and instinctively to such -activities as would bring damage and discomfort on their neighbours and -themselves.[69] Any racial type of which this had not been true, under -the conditions known then to have prevailed in their habitat, must have -presently disappeared from the face of the land, and the later advance -of the Western culture would not have known their breed. Some other -racial type, temperamentally so constituted as better to meet these -requirements of survival under neolithic conditions, would have taken -their place and would have left their own offspring to populate the -region.[70] - -What is known of the conditions of life in early neolithic times[71] -indicates that the first requisite of competitive survival was a -more or less close attention to the business in hand, the providing -of subsistence for the group and the rearing of offspring--a closer -attention, for instance, than was given to this business by those other -rival stocks whom the successful ones displaced; all of which throws -into the foreground as indispensable native traits of the successful -race the parental bent and the sense of workmanship, rather than those -instinctive traits that make for disturbance of the peace.[72] - -But through it all the suggestion insinuates itself that the latest, or -youngest, of the three main European stocks, the blond, has more rather -than less of the pugnacious and predatory temper than the other two, -and that this stock made its way to the front in spite of, if not by -force of these traits. The advantage of the blond as a fighter seems to -have been due in part to an adventurous and pugnacious temper, but also -in part to a superior physique,--superior for the purpose of fighting -hand to hand or with the implements chiefly used in warfare and piracy -down to a date within the nineteenth century. The same physical traits -of mass, stature and katabolism will likewise have been of great -advantage in the quest of a livelihood under the conditions that -prevailed in the North-sea region, the habitat of the dolicho-blond, in -the stone age. Something to the same effect is true of the spiritual -traits which are said to characterise the blond,--a certain canny -temerity and unrest.[73] So that the point is left somewhat in doubt; -the traits which presently made the northern blond the most formidable -disturber of the peace of Europe and kept him so for many centuries -may at the outset have been chiefly conducive to the survival of the -type by their serviceability for industrial purposes under the peculiar -circumstances of climate and topography in which the race first came up -and made good its survival. - -In modern speculations on the origins of culture and the early -history of mankind it has until recently been usual to assume, -uncritically, that human communities have from the outset of the race -been entangled in an inextricable web of mutual hostilities and beset -with an all-pervading sentiment of fear; that the “state of nature” -was a state of blood and wounds, expressing itself in universal -malevolence and suspicion. Latterly, students of primitive culture, -and more especially those engaged at first hand in field work, who -come in contact with peoples of the lower culture, have been coming -to realise that the facts do not greatly support such a presumption, -and that a community which has to make its own living by the help of -a rudimentary technological equipment can not afford to be habitually -occupied with annoying its neighbours, particularly so long as its -neighbours have not accumulated a store of portable wealth which -will make raiding worth while. No doubt, many savage and barbarian -peoples live in a state of conventional feud or habitual, even if -intermittent, war and predation, without substantial inducement in -the way of booty. But such communities commonly are either so placed -that an easy livelihood affords them a material basis for following -after these higher things out of mere fancy;[74] or they are peoples -living precariously hand-to-mouth and fighting for their lives, in -great part from a fancied impossibility of coming to terms with their -alien and unnaturally cruel neighbours.[75] Communities of the latter -class are often living in a state of squalor and discomfort, with a -population far short of what their environment would best support even -with their inefficient industrial organisation and equipment, and their -technology is usually ill-suited to a settled life and unpromising for -any possible advance to a higher culture. There is no urgent reason -for assuming that the races which have made their way to a greater -technological efficiency, with settled life and a large population, -must have come up from this particular phase of civilisation as their -starting point, or that such a culture should have been favourable to -the survival and increase of the leading racial stocks of Europe, since -it does not appear to be especially favourable to the success of the -communities known to be now living after that fashion.[76] - -The preconception that early culture must have been warlike has not -yet disappeared even among students of these phenomena, though it is -losing their respect; but a derivative of it still has much currency, -to the effect that all savage peoples, as also the peoples of the -lower barbarism, live in a state of universal and unremitting fear, -particularly fear of the unknown. This chronic fear is presumed to -show itself chiefly in religion and other superstitious practices, -where it is held to explain many things that are otherwise obscure. -There is not a little evidence from extant savage communities looking -in this direction, and more from the lower barbarian cultures -that are characteristically warlike.[77] Wherever this animus is -found its effect is to waste effort and divert it to religious and -magical practices and so to hinder the free unfolding of workmanship -by enjoining a cumbersome routine of ritual and by warning the -technologist off forbidden ground. But it is doubtless a hasty -generalisation to carry all this over uncritically and make it apply -to all peoples of the lower culture, past and present. It is known not -to be true of many existing communities,[78] and the evidence of it in -some ancient cultures is very dubious. Such a characterisation of the -neolithic culture of Europe, whether north-European or Ægean, finds no -appreciable support in the archæological evidence. These two regions -are the most significant for the neolithic period in Europe, and the -material from both is relatively very poor in weapons, as contrasted -with tools, on the one hand, and there is at the same time little or -nothing to indicate the prevalence of superstitious practices based -on fear. Indeed, the material is surprisingly poor in elements of any -kind that can safely be set down to the account of religion or magic, -whether as inspired by fear or by more genial sentiments. It is one of -the puzzles that beset any student who insists on finding everywhere a -certain normal course of cultural sequence, which should in the early -times include, among other things, a fearsome religion, a wide fabric -of magical practices, and an irrepressible craving for manslaughter. -And when, presently, something of a symbolism and apparatus of -superstition comes into view, in the late neolithic and bronze ages, -the common run of it is by no means suggestive of superstitious fear -and religious atrocities. The most common and characteristic objects -of this class are certain figurines and certain symbolical elements -suggestive of fecundity, such as might be looked for in a peaceable, -sedentary, agricultural culture on a small scale.[79] A culture -virtually without weapons, whose gods are mothers and whose religious -observances are a ritual of fecundity, can scarcely be a culture of -dread and of derring-do. With the fighting barbarians, on the other -hand, male deities commonly take the first rank, and their ritual -symbolises the mastery of the god and the servitude of the worshipper. - -It is true, of course, that both of weapons and of cult objects far -the greater number that were once in use will have disappeared, -since most of the implements and utensils of stone-age cultures are, -notoriously, made of wood or similar perishable materials.[80] So that -the finds give no complete series of the appliances in use in their -time; whole series of objects that were of first-rate importance in -that culture having probably disappeared without leaving a trace. But -what is true in this respect of weapons and cult objects should be -equally true of tools, or nearly so. So that the inference to be drawn -from the available material would be that the early neolithic culture -of north Europe, the Ægean, and other explored localities presumed -to belong in the same racial and cultural complex, must have been of -a prevailingly peaceable complexion. With the advance in technology -and in the elaboration and abundance of objects that comes into sight -progressively through the later neolithic period, down to its close, -this disproportion between tools and weapons (and cult objects) grows -more impressive and more surprising. Hitherto this disproportion has -been more in evidence in the Scandinavian finds than in the other -related fields of stone-age culture, unless an exception should be made -in favour of the late neolithic sites explored at Anau.[81] But this -archæological outcome, setting off the Baltic stone age as peculiarly -scant of weapons and peculiarly rich in tools, may be provisional only, -and may be due to the more exhaustive exploration of the Scandinavian -countries and the uncommonly abundant material from that region. In -the later (mainly Scandinavian) neolithic material, where the weapons -are to be counted by dozens the tools are to be counted by hundreds, -according to a scheme of classification in which everything that can be -construed as a weapon is so classed, and there are many more hundreds -of the one class than there are dozens of the other.[82] As near as -can be made out, cult objects are similarly infrequent among these -materials even after some appreciable work in pottery comes in evidence. - -What has just been said is after all of a negative character. It says -that nothing like a warlike, predatory, or fearsome origin can be -proven from the archæological material for the neolithic culture of -those racial stocks that have counted for most in the early periods of -Europe. The presumption raised by this evidence, however, is fairly -strong. And considerations of the material circumstances in which -this early culture was placed, as well as of the spiritual traits -characteristically required by these circumstances and shown by the -races in question, point to a similar conclusion. The proclivity to -unreasoning fear that is visible in the superstitious practices of so -many savage communities and counts for so much in the routine of their -daily life,[83] is to all appearance not so considerable an element in -the make-up of the chief European stocks. Perhaps it enters in a less -degree in the spiritual nature of the European blond than in that of -any other race; that race--or its hybrid offspring--has at any rate -proved less amenable to religious control than any other, and has also -shown less hesitation in the face of unknown contingencies. And the -circumstances of the presumed initial phase of the life-history of this -race would appear not to have favoured a spiritual (instinctive) type -largely biassed by an alert and powerful sentiment of unreasoning fear. -So also an aggressive humanitarian sentiment is as well at home in the -habits of thought of the north-European peoples as in any other, such -as sorts ill with a native predatory animus. If it be assumed, as seems -probable, that the situation which selectively tested the fitness of -this stock to survive was that of the early post-glacial time, when -its habitat in Europe was slowly being cleared of the ice-sheet, it -would appear antecedently probable that the new (mutant) type, which -made good its survival in following up the retreating fringe of the -ice-sheet and populating the land so made available, will not have been -a people peculiarly given to fear or to predation. A great facility of -this kind, with its concomitants of caution, conservatism, suspicion -and cruelty, would not be serviceable for a race so placed.[84] - - * * * * * - -Even if it were a possible undertaking it would not be much to the -present purpose to trace out in detail the many slow and fumbling -moves by which any given race or people, in Europe or elsewhere, -have worked out the technological particulars that have led from the -beginnings down through the primitive and later growth of culture. -Such a work belongs to the ethnologists and archæologists; and it is -summed up in the proposition that men have applied common sense, more -or less hesitatingly and with more or less refractory limitations, to -the facts with which they have had to deal; that they have accumulated -a knowledge of technological expedients and processes from generation -to generation, always going on what had already been achieved in ways -and means, and gradually discarding or losing such elements of the -growing technological scheme as seemed no longer to be worth while,[85] -and carrying along a good many elements that were of no material -effect but were imposed by the logic of the scheme or of its underlying -principles (habits of thought). - - * * * * * - -Of the early technological development in Europe, so far as it is -genetically connected with the later Western civilisation, the culture -of the Baltic region affords as good and illustrative an object -lesson as may be had; its course is relatively well known, simple and -unbroken. Palæolithic times do not count in this development, as the -neolithic culture begins with a new break in Europe. - -It is known, then, that by early neolithic times on the narrow -Scandinavian waters men had learned to make and use certain rude -stone and bone implements found in the kitchen-middens (refuse heaps, -shell-mounds of Denmark), that they had ways and appliances (the -nature of which is not known) for collecting certain shellfish and for -catching such game and fish as their habitat afforded, and that they -presently, if not from the outset, had acquired the use of certain -crop plants and had learned to make pottery of a crude kind. From -this as a point of departure in the period of the kitchen-middens the -stone implements were presently improved and multiplied, the methods -of working the material (flint) and of using the products of the flint -industry were gradually improved and extended, until in the long -course of time the utmost that has anywhere been achieved in that -class of industry was reached. Domestic animals began to be added to -the equipment relatively early,[86] though at a long interval from -the neolithic beginnings as counted in absolute time. Improvement and -extension in all lines of stone-working and wood-working industry -went forward: except that stone-dressing and masonry are typically -absent, owing, no doubt, to the extensive use of woodwork instead.[87] -Along with this advance in the mechanic arts goes a growing density -of population and a wide extension of tillage; until, at the coming -of bronze, the evidence shows that these communities were populous, -prosperous, and highly skilled in those industrial arts that lay within -their technological range. - -Apart from the pottery, which may have some merit as an art product, -there is very little left to show what may have been their proficiency -in the decorative arts, or what was their social organisation or their -religious life. The evidences of warlike enterprise and religious -practices are surprisingly scanty, being chiefly the doubtful evidence -of many and somewhat elaborate tombs. From the tombs (mounds and -barrows) and their distribution something may be inferred as to the -social organisation; and the evidence on this head seems to indicate -a widespread agricultural population, living (probably) in small -communities, without much centralised or authoritative control, but -with some appreciable class differences in the distribution of wealth -in the later phases of the period. - -With interruptions, more or less serious, from time to time, and with -increasing evidence of a penchant for warlike or predatory enterprise -on the one hand and of class distinctions on the other hand, much the -same story runs on through the ages of bronze and early iron. Evidences -of borrowing from outside, mainly the borrowing of decorative technique -and technological elements, are scattered through the course of this -development from very early times, showing that there was always some -intercourse, perhaps constant intercourse, with other peoples more or -less distant. So that in time, by the beginning of the bronze age, -there is evidence of settled trade relations with peoples as remote as -the Mediterranean seaboard. - -In many of its details this prehistoric culture shows something of -the same facility in the use of mechanical expedients as has come so -notably forward again in the late development of the industrial arts of -western Europe. It is in its mechanical efficiency that the technology -of the latterday Western culture stands out preëminent, and it is -similarly its easy command of the mechanical factors with which it -deals that chiefly distinguishes the prehistoric technology of North -Europe. In other respects the prehistoric material from this region -does not argue a high level of civilisation. There are no ornate or -stupendous structures; what there is of the kind is mounds and barrows -of moderately great size and using only undressed stone where any -is used, but making a mechanically effective use of this. There is, -indeed, nothing from the stone age in the way of edifices, fabrics or -decorative work that is to be classed, in point of excellence in design -or execution, with the polished-flint woodworking axe or chisel of that -time. From the bronze age at its best there is much excellent bronze -work of great merit both in workmanship and in decorative effect; but -the artistic merit of this work (from the middle and early half of the -bronze age) lies almost wholly in its workmanlike execution and in -the freedom and adequacy with which very simple mechanical elements -of decoration are employed. It is an art which appeals to the sense -of beauty chiefly through the sense of workmanship, shown both in the -choice of materials and decorative elements and in the use made of -them. When this art aspires to more ambitious decorative effects or to -representation of life forms, or indeed to any representation that has -not been conventionalised almost past recognition, as it does in the -later periods of the bronze age, the result is that it can be commended -for its workmanship alone, and so far as regards artistic effect it is -mainly misspent workmanship.[88] - -The same workmanlike insight and facility comes in evidence in the -matter of borrowing, already spoken of. Borrowing goes on throughout -this prehistoric culture, and the borrowed elements are assimilated -with such despatch and effect as to make them seem home-bred almost -from the start. It is a borrowing of technological elements, which are -rarely employed except in full and competent adaptation to the uses -to which they are turned; so much so that the archæologists find it -exceptionally difficult to trace the borrowed elements to specific -sources, in spite of the great volume and frequency of this borrowing. - -There is a further and obscurer aspect to this facile borrowing. In -the cultures where the technological and decorative elements are -first invented, or acquired at first-hand by slow habituation, there -will in the nature of the case come in with them into the scheme of -technology or of art more or less, but presumably a good deal, of -extraneous or extrinsic by-products of their acquirement, in the way -of magical or symbolic efficacy imputed and adhering to them in the -habits of thought of their makers and users. Something of this kind has -already been set out in some detail as regards the domestication and -early use of the crop plants and animals; and the like is currently -held to be true, perhaps in a higher degree, for the beginnings of -art, both representative and decorative, by the latterday students of -that subject; the beginnings of art being held to have been magical -and symbolic in the main, so far as regards the prime motives to its -inception and its initial principles.[89] - -In the origination and indigenous working-out of any given -technological factor, e. g., such as the use of the crop plants or the -domestic animals, elements of imputed anthropomorphism are likely to be -comprised in the habitual apprehension of the nature of these factors, -and so find lodgment in the technological routine that has to do with -them; the result being, chiefly, a limitation on their uses and on the -ways and means by which they are utilised, together with a margin of -lost motion in the way of magical and religious observances presumed -to be intrinsic to the due working of such factors. The ritual -connected with tillage and cattle-breeding shows this magical side of a -home-bred technology perhaps as felicitously as anything; but similar -phenomena are by no means infrequent in the mechanic arts, and in the -fine arts these principles of symbolism and the like are commonly -present in such force as to afford ground for distinguishing one school -or epoch of art from another. - -Now, when any given technological or decorative element crosses the -frontier between one culture and another, in the course of borrowing, -it is likely to happen that it will come into the new culture stripped -of most or all of its anthropomorphic or spiritual virtues and -limitations, more particularly, of course, if the cultural frontier in -question is at the same time a linguistic frontier; since the borrowing -is likely to be made from motives of workmanlike expediency, and the -putative spiritual attributes of the facts involved are not obvious -to men who have not been trained to impute them. The chief exception -to such a rule would be any borrowing that takes effect on religious -grounds, in which case, of course, the magical or symbolic efficacy -of the borrowed elements are the substance that is sought in the -borrowing. Herein, presumably, lies much of the distinctive character -of the north-European prehistoric culture, which was in an eminent -degree built up out of borrowed elements, so far as concerns both its -technology and its art. And to this free and voluminous borrowing may -likewise be due the apparent poverty of this early culture in religious -or magical elements. - -A further effect follows. The borrowing being (relatively) unencumbered -with ritual restrictions and magical exactions attached to their -employment, they would fall into the scheme of things as mere -matter-of-fact, to be handled with the same freedom and unhindered -sagacity with which a workman makes use of his own hands, and could, -without reservation, be turned to any use for which they were -mechanically suited. Something of symbolism and superstition might, -of course, be carried over in the borrowing, and something more would -unavoidably be bred into the borrowed elements in the course of their -use; but the free start would always count for something in the -outcome, both as regards the rate of progress made in the exploitation -of the expedients acquired by borrowing and in the character of the -technological system at large into which they had been introduced. -Both the relative freedom from magical restraint and the growth of -home-made anthropomorphic imputations may easily be detected in the -course of this northern culture and in its outcome in modern times. -Cattle, for instance, are a borrowed technological fact in the Baltic -and North-Sea region, but superstitious practices seem never to have -attached to cattle-breeding in that region in such volume and rigorous -exaction as may be found nearer the original home of the domesticated -species; and yet the volume of folk-lore, mostly of a genial and -relatively unobstructive character, that has in later times grown up -about the care of cattle in the Scandinavian countries is by no means -inconsiderable. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE PREDATORY CULTURE - - -The scheme of technological insight and proficiency current in any -given culture is manifestly a product of group life and is held as a -common stock, and as manifestly the individual workman is helpless -without access to it. It is none too broad to say that he is a workman -only because and so far as he effectually shares in this common stock -of technological equipment. He may be gifted in a special degree -with workmanlike aptitudes, may by nature be stout or dextrous or -keen-sighted or quick-witted or sagacious or industrious beyond his -fellows; but with all these gifts, so long as he has assimilated -none of this common stock of workmanlike knowledge he remains simply -an admirable parcel of human raw material; he is of no effect in -industry. With such special gifts or with special training based on -this common stock an individual may stand out among his fellows as a -workman of exceptional merit and value, and without the common run of -workmanlike aptitudes he may come to nothing worth while as a workman -even with the largest opportunities and most sedulous training. It is -the two together that make the working force of the community; and in -both respects, both in his inherited and in his acquired traits, the -individual is a product of group life. - -Using the term in a sufficiently free sense, pedigree is no less and -no more requisite to the workman’s effectual equipment than the common -stock of technological mastery which the community offers him. But -his pedigree is a group pedigree, just as his technology is a group -technology. As is sometimes said to the same effect, the individual is -a creature of heredity and circumstances. And heredity is always group -heredity,[90] perhaps peculiarly so in the human species. - -The promptings of invidious self-respect commonly lead men to evade -or deny something of the breadth of their inheritance in respect of -human nature. “I am not as the publican yonder,” whether I have the -grace to thank God for this invidious distinction or more simply charge -it to the account of my reputable ancestors in the male line. With a -change of venue by which the cause is taken out of the jurisdiction of -interested parties, its complexion changes. So evident is the fact of -group heredity in the lower animals, for instance, that biologists have -no inclination to deny its pervading force, apart from any conceivably -parthenogenetic lines of descent,--and, to the inconvenience of the -eugenic pharisee, parthenogenetic descent never runs in the male line, -besides being of extremely rare occurrence in the human species. As a -matter of course the Darwinian biologists have the habit of appealing -to group heredity as the main factor in the stability of species, and -they are very curious about the special circumstances of any given -case in which it may appear not to be fully operative: and they have, -on the other hand, even looked hopefully to fortuitous isolation of -particular lines of descent as a possible factor in the differentiation -and fixation of specific types, being at a loss to account for such -differentiation or fixation so long as no insuperable mechanical -obstacle stands in the way of persistent crossing. The like force of -group heredity is visible in the characteristic differences of race. -The heredity of any given race of mankind is always sufficiently -homogeneous to allow all its individuals to be classed under the race. -And when an individual comes to light in a fairly pure-bred community -who shows physical traits that vary obviously from the common racial -type of the community, the question which suggests itself to the -anthropologists is not, How does this individual differ from others of -the same breed? but, What is the alien strain, and how has it come in? -And what is true of the physical characters of the race in this respect -is only less obviously true of its spiritual traits. - -In a culture where all individuals are hybrids, in point of pedigree, -as is the case with all the leading peoples of Christendom, the ways -of this group heredity are particularly devious, and the fortunes of -the individual in this respect are in a peculiar degree exposed to the -caprice of Mendelian contingencies; so that his make-up, physical and -spiritual, is, humanly speaking, in the main a chapter of accidents. -Where each individual draws for his hereditary traits on a wide -ancestry of unstable hybrids, as all civilised men do, his chances are -always those of the common lot, with some slight antecedent probability -of his resembling the nearer ones among his variegated ancestry. But he -has also and everywhere in this hybrid panmixis an excellent chance of -being allotted something more accentuated, for good or ill, in the way -of hereditary traits than anything shown by his varied assortment of -ancestors. It commonly happens in such a hybrid community that in the -new crossing of hybrids that takes place at every marriage, some new -idiosyncracy, slight or considerable, comes to light in the offspring, -beyond anything visible in the parents or the remoter pedigree; -for in the crossing of what may be called multiple-hybrid parents, -complementary characters that may have been dormant or recessive in the -parents will come in from both sides, combine, re-enforce one another, -and cumulatively give an unlooked-for result. So that in a hybrid -community the fortunes of all individuals are somewhat precarious in -respect of heredity. - -Such are the conditions which have prevailed among the peoples of -Europe since the first beginnings of that culture that has led up to -the Western civilisation as known to history. In these circumstances -any individual, therefore, owes to the group not only his share of -that certain typical complement of traits that characterise the -common run, but usually something more than is coming to him in the -way of individual qualities and infirmities if he is in any way -distinguishable from the common run, as well as a blind chance of -transmitting almost any traits that he is not possessed of.[91] - -In the lower cultures, where the division of labour is slight and the -diversity of occupations is mainly such as marks the changes of the -seasons, the common stock of technological knowledge and proficiency is -not so extensive or so recondite but that the common man may compass -it in some fashion, and in its essentials it is accessible to all -members of the community by common notoriety, and the training required -by the state of the industrial arts comes to everyone as a matter of -course in the routine of daily life. The necessary material equipment -of tools and appliances is slight and the acquisition of it is a simple -matter that also arranges itself as an incident in the routine of daily -life. Given the common run of aptitude for the industrial pursuits -incumbent on the members of such a community, the material equipment -needful to find a livelihood or to put forth the ordinary productive -effort and turn out the ordinary industrial output can be compassed -without strain by any individual in the course of his work as he goes -along. The material equipment, the tools, implements, contrivances -necessary and conducive to productive industry, is incidental to the -day’s work; in much the same way but in a more unqualified degree than -the like is true as to the technological knowledge and skill required -to make use of this equipment.[92] - -As determined by the state of the industrial arts in such a culture, -the members of the community co-operate in much of their work, to the -common gain and to no one’s detriment, since there is substantially no -individual, or private, gain to be sought. There is substantially no -bartering or hiring, though there is a recognised obligation in all -members to lend a hand; and there is of course no price, as there is no -property and no ownership, for the sufficient reason that the habits of -life under these circumstances do not provoke such a habit of thought. -Doubtless, it is a matter of course that articles of use and adornment -pertain to their makers or users in an intimate and personal way; which -will come to be construed into ownership when in the experience of -the community an occasion for such a concept as ownership arises and -persists in sufficient force to shape the current habits of thought -to that effect. There is also more or less of reciprocal service -and assistance, with a sufficient sense of mutuality to establish a -customary scheme of claims and obligations in that respect. So also -it is true that such a community holds certain lands and customary -usufructs and that any trespass on these customary holdings is -resented. But it would be a vicious misapprehension to read ideas and -rights of ownership into these practices, although where civilised men -have come to deal with instances of the kind they have commonly been -unable to put any other construction on the customs governing the case; -for the reason that civilised men’s relations with these peoples of -the lower culture have been of a pecuniary kind and for a pecuniary -purpose, and they have brought no other than pecuniary conceptions from -home.[93] There being little in hand worth owning and little purpose -to be served by its ownership, the habits of thought which go to make -the institution of ownership and property rights have not taken shape. -The slight facts which would lend themselves to ownership are not of -sufficient magnitude or urgency to call the institution into effect and -are better handled under customs which do not yet take cognisance of -property rights. Naturally, in such a cultural situation there is no -appreciable accumulation of wealth and no inducement to it; the nearest -approach being an accumulation of trinkets and personal belongings, -among which should, at least in some cases, be included certain weapons -and perhaps tools.[94] These things belong to their owner or bearer -in much the same sense as his name, which was not held on tenure of -ownership or as a pecuniary asset before the use of trade-marks and -merchantable good-will. - -The workman--more typically perhaps the workwoman--in such a culture, -as indeed in any other, is a “productive agent” in the manner and -degree determined by the state of the industrial arts. What is obvious -in this respect here holds only less visibly for any other, more -complicated and technologically full-charged cultural situation, -such as has come on with the growth of population and wealth among -the more advanced peoples. He or she, or rather they--for there is -substantially no industry carried on in strict severalty in these -communities--are productive factors or industrial agents, in the sense -that they will on occasion turn out a surplus above their necessary -current consumption, only because and so far as the state of the -industrial arts enables them to do so. As workman, labourer, producer, -breadwinner, the individual is a creature of the technological scheme; -which in turn is a creation of the group life of the community. Apart -from the common stock of knowledge and training the individual members -of the community have no industrial effect. Indeed, except by grace -of this common technological equipment no individual and no family -group in any of the known communities of mankind could support their -own life; for in the long course of mankind’s life-history, since the -human plane was first reached, the early mutants which were fit to -survive in a ferine state without tools and without technology have -selectively disappeared, as being unfit to survive under the conditions -of domesticity imposed by so highly developed a state of the industrial -arts as any of the savage cultures now extant.[95] The _Homo Javensis_ -and his like are gone, because there is technologically no place for -them between the anthropoids to the one side and the extant types of -man on the other. And never since the brave days when _Homo Javensis_ -took up the “white man’s burden” for the better regulation of his -anthropoid neighbours has the technological scheme admitted of any -individual’s carrying on his life in severalty. So that industrial -efficiency, whether of an individual workman or of the community at -large, is a function of the state of the industrial arts.[96] - -The simple and obvious industrial system of this archaic plan leaves -the individuals, or rather the domestic groups, that make up the -community, economically independent of one another and of the community -at large, except that they depend on the common technological stock -for the immaterial equipment by means of which to get their living. -This is of course not felt by them as a relation of dependence; though -there seems commonly to be some sense of indebtedness on part of the -young, and of responsibility on part of the older generation, for -the proper transmission of the recognised elements of technological -proficiency. It is impossible to say just at what point in the growth -and complication of technology this simple industrial scheme will -begin to give way to new exigencies and give occasion to a new scheme -of institutions governing the economic relations of men; such that -the men’s powers and functions in the industrial community come to -be decided on other grounds than workmanlike aptitude and special -training. In the nature of things there can be no hard and fast limit -to this phase of industrial organisation. Its disappearance or -supersession in any culture appears always to have been brought on by -the growth of property, but the institution of property need by no -means come in abruptly at any determinate juncture in the sequence of -technological development. So that this archaic phase of culture in -which industry is organised on the ground of workmanship alone may come -very extensively to overlap and blend with the succeeding phase in -which property relations chiefly decide the details of the industrial -organisation,--as is shown in varying detail by the known lower -cultures. - -The forces which may bring about such a transition are often complex -and recondite, and they are seldom just the same in any given two -instances. Neither the material situation nor the human raw material -involved are precisely the same in all or several instances, and there -is no coercively normal course of things that will constrain the -growth of institutions to take a particular typical form or to follow -a particular typical sequence in all cases. Yet, in a general way such -a supersession of free workmanship by a pecuniary control of industry -appears to have been necessarily involved in any considerable growth of -culture. Indeed, at least in the economic respect, it appears to have -been the most universal and most radical mutation which human culture -has undergone in its advance from savagery to civilisation; and the -causes of it should be of a similarly universal and intrinsic character. - -It may be taken as a generalisation grounded in the instinctive -endowment of mankind that the human sense of workmanship will -unavoidably go on turning to account what there is in hand of -technological knowledge, and so will in the course of time, by -insensible gains perhaps, gradually change the technological scheme, -and therefore also the scheme of customary canons of conduct answering -to it; and in the absence of overmastering circumstances this -sequence of change must, in a general way, set in the direction of -great technological mastery. Something in the way of an “advance” in -workmanlike mastery is to be looked for, in the absence of inexorable -limitations of environment. The limitations may be set by the material -circumstances or by circumstances of the institutional situation, -but on the lower levels of culture the insurmountable obstacles to -such an advance appear to have been those imposed by the material -circumstances; although institutional factors have doubtless greatly -retarded the advance in most cases, and may well have defeated it -in many. In some of the known lower cultures such an impassable -conjuncture in the affairs of technology has apparently been reached -now and again, resulting in a “stationary state” of the industrial arts -and of social arrangements, economic and otherwise. Such an instance -of “arrested development” is afforded by the Eskimo, who have to all -appearance reached the bounds of technological mastery possible in -the material circumstances in which they have been placed and with -the technological antecedents which they have had to go on. At the -other extreme of the American continent the Fuegians and Patagonians -may similarly have reached at least a provisional limit of the same -nature; though such a statement is less secure in their case, owing -to the scant and fragmentary character of the available evidence. So -also the Bushmen, the Ainu, various representative communities of the -Negrito and perhaps of the Dravidian stocks, appear to have reached a -provisional limit--barring intervention from without. In these latter -instances the decisive obstacles, if they are to be accepted as such, -seem to lie in the human-nature of the case rather than in the material -circumstances. In these latter instances the sense of workmanship, -though visibly alert and active, appears to have been inadequate to -carry out the technological scheme into further new ramifications for -want of the requisite intellectual aptitudes,--a failure of aptitudes -not in degree but in kind. - -The manner in which increasing technological mastery has led over from -the savage plan of free workmanship to the barbarian system of industry -under pecuniary control is perhaps a hazardous topic of speculation; -but the known facts of primitive culture appear to admit at least a -few general propositions of a broad and provisional character. It -seems reasonably safe to say that the archaic savage plan of free -workmanship will commonly have persisted through the palæolithic -period of technology, and indeed somewhat beyond the transition to -the neolithic. This is fairly borne out by the contemporary evidence -from savage cultures. In the prehistory of the north-European culture -there is also reason to assume that the beginnings of a pecuniary -control fall in the early half of the neolithic period.[97] There -seems to be no sharply definable point in the technological advance -that can be said of itself to bring on this revolutionary change in -the institutions governing economic life. It appears to be loosely -correlated with technological improvement, so that it sets in when a -sufficient ground for it is afforded by the state of the industrial -arts, but what constitutes a sufficient ground can apparently not -be stated in terms of the industrial arts alone. Among the early -consequences of an advance in technology beyond the state of the -industrial arts schematically indicated above, and coinciding roughly -with the palæolithic stage, is on the one hand an appreciable resort to -“indirect methods of production”, involving a systematic cultivation -of the soil, domestication of plants and animals; or an appreciable -equipment of industrial appliances, such as will in either case require -a deliberate expenditure of labour and will give the holders of the -equipment something more than a momentary advantage in the quest of -a livelihood. On the other hand it leads also to an accumulation of -wealth beyond the current necessaries of subsistence and beyond that -slight parcel of personal effects that have no value to anyone but -their savage bearer. - -Hereby the technological basis for a pecuniary control of industry is -given, in that the “roundabout process of production” yields an income -above the subsistence of the workmen engaged in it, and the material -equipment of appliances (crops, fruit-trees, live stock, mechanical -contrivances) binds this roundabout process of industry to a more -or less determinate place and routine, such as to make surveillance -and control possible. So far as the workman under the new phase of -technology is dependent for his living on the apparatus and the orderly -sequence of the “roundabout process” his work may be controlled and the -surplus yielded by his industry may be turned to account; it becomes -worth while to own the material means of industry, and ownership of -the material means in such a situation carries with it the usufruct of -the community’s immaterial equipment of technological proficiency. - -The substantial fact upon which the strategy of ownership converges -is this usufruct of the industrial arts, and the tangible items -of property to which the claims of ownership come to attach will -accordingly vary from time to time, according as the state of the -industrial arts will best afford an effectual exploitation of this -usufruct through the tenure of one or another of the material items -requisite to the pursuit of industry. The chief subject of ownership -may accordingly be the cultivated trees, as in some of the South Sea -islands; or the tillable land, as happens in many of the agricultural -communities; or fish weirs and their location, as on some of the -salmon streams of the American north-west coast; or domestic animals, -as is typical of the pastoral culture; or it may be the persons of -the workmen, as happens under divers circumstances both in pastoral -and in agricultural communities; or, with an advance in technology -of such a nature as to place the mechanical appliances of industry -in a peculiarly advantageous position for engrossing the roundabout -processes of production, as in the latterday machine industry, these -mechanical appliances may become the typical category of industrial -wealth and so come to be accounted “productive goods” in some eminent -sense. - -The institutional change by which a pecuniary regulation of industry -comes into effect may take one form or another, but its outcome has -commonly been some form of ownership of tangible goods. Particularly -has that been the outcome in the course of development that has led -on to those great pecuniary cultures of which Occidental civilisation -is the most perfect example. But just in what form the move will be -made, if at all, from free workmanship to pecuniary industry and -ownership, is in good part a question of what the material situation -of the community will permit. In some instances the circumstances -have apparently not permitted the move to be made at all. The Eskimo -culture is perhaps an extreme case of this kind. The state of the -industrial arts among them has apparently gone appreciably beyond -the technological juncture indicated above as critical in this -respect. It involves a considerable specialisation and accumulation of -appliances, such as boats, sleds, dogs, harness, various special forms -of nets, harpoons and spears, and an elaborate line of minor apparatus -necessary to the day’s work and embodying a minutely standardised -technique. At the same time these articles of use, together with -their household and personal effects, represent something appreciable -in the way of portable wealth. Yet in their economic (pecuniary and -industrial), domestic, social, or religious institutions the Eskimo -have substantially not gone beyond the point of customary regulation -commonly associated with the simpler, hand-to-mouth state of the -industrial arts typical of the palæolithic savage culture. And this -archaic Eskimo culture, with its highly elaborated technology, is -apparently of untold antiquity; it is even believed by competent -students of antiquity to have stood over without serious advance or -decline since European palæolithic times--a period of not less than -ten thousand years.[98] The causes conditioning this “backward” type -of culture among the Eskimo, coupled with a relatively advanced and -extremely complete technological system, are presumed to lie in their -material surroundings; which on the one hand do not permit a congestion -of people within a small area or enable the organisation and control of -a compact community of any considerable size; while on the other hand -they exact a large degree of co-operation and common interest, on pain -of extreme hardship if not of extinction. - -More perplexing at first sight is the case of such sedentary -agricultural communities as the Pueblo Indians, who have also not -advanced very materially beyond the simpler cultural scheme of savage -life, and have not taken seriously to a system of property and a -pecuniary control of industry, in spite of their having achieved a -very considerable advance in the industrial arts, particularly in -agriculture, such as would appear to entitle them to something “higher” -than that state of peaceable, non-coercive social organisation, in -which they were found on their first contact with civilised men, with -maternal descent and mother-goddesses, and without much property -rights, accumulated wealth or pecuniary distinction of classes. Again -an explanation is probably to be sought in special circumstances -of environment, perhaps re-enforced by peculiarities of the racial -endowment; though the latter point seems doubtful, since both -linguistically and anthropometrically the Pueblos are found to belong -to two or three distinct stocks, at the same time that their culture is -notably uniform throughout the Pueblo region, both on the technological -and on the institutional side. The peculiar material circumstances -that appear to have conditioned the Pueblo culture are (_a_) a habitat -which favours agricultural settlement only at isolated and widely -separated spots, (_b_) sites for habitation (on detached mesas or on -other difficult hills or in isolated valleys or canyons) easily secured -against aggression from without and not affording notable differential -advantages or admitting segregation of the population within the -pueblo, (_c_) the absence of beasts of burden, such as have enabled the -inhabitants of analogous regions of the old world effectually to cover -long distances and make raiding a lucrative, or at least an attractive -enterprise. - -These, and other peculiar instances of what may perhaps be called -cultural retardation, indicate by way of exception what may have been -the ruling causes that have governed in the advance to a higher culture -under more ordinary circumstances,--by “ordinary” being intended such -circumstances as have apparently led to a different and, it would be -held, a more normal result in the old world, and particularly in the -region of the Western civilisation. - -In the ordinary course, it should seem, such an advance in the -industrial arts as will result in an accumulation of wealth, a -considerable and efficient industrial equipment, or in a systematic -and permanent cultivation of the soil or an extensive breeding of -herds or flocks, will also bring on ownership and property rights -bearing on these valuable goods, or on the workmen, or on the land -employed in their production. What has seemed the most natural -and obvious beginnings of property rights, in the view of those -economists who have taken an interest in the matter, is the storing -up of valuables by such of the ancient workmen as were enabled, by -efficiency, diligence or fortuitous gains, to produce somewhat more -than their current consumption. There are difficulties, though perhaps -not insuperable, in the way of such a genesis of property rights and -pecuniary differentiation within any given community. The temper of -the people bred in the ways of the simpler plan of hand-to-mouth and -common interest does not readily bend itself to such an institutional -innovation, even though the self-regarding impulses of particular -members of the community may set in such a direction as would give the -alleged result.[99] - -There are other and more natural ways of reaching the same results, -ways more consonant with that archaic scheme of usages on which the new -institution of property is to be grafted. (_a_) In the known cultures -of this simpler plan there are usually, or at least frequently, present -a class of magicians (shamans, medicine men, angekut), an inchoate -priestly class, who get their living in part “by their wits,” half -parasitically, by some sort of tithe levied on their fellow members -for supernatural ministrations and exploits of faith that are worth -as much as they will bring.[100] As the industrial efficiency of the -community increases with the technological gain, and an increasing -disposable output is at hand, it should naturally follow, human nature -being what it is, that the services of the priests or magicians should -suffer an advance in value and so enable the priests to lay something -by, to acquire a special claim to certain parcels of land or cultivated -trees or crops or first-fruits or labour to be performed by their -parishioners. There is no limit to the value of such ministrations -except the limit of tolerance, “what the traffic will bear.” And much -may be done in this way, which is in close touch with the accustomed -ways of life among known savages and lower barbarians. To the extent to -which such a move is successful it will alter the economic situation -of the community by making the lay members, in so far, subject to the -priestly class, and will gather wealth and power in the hands of the -priests; so introducing a relation of master and servant, together -with class differences in wealth, the practice of exclusive ownership, -and pecuniary obligations. (_b_) With an accumulation of wealth, -whether in portable form or in the form of plantations and tillage, -there comes the inducement to aggression, predation, by whatever name -it may be known. Such aggression is an easy matter in the common run -of lower cultures, since relations are habitually strained between -these savage and barbarian communities. There is commonly a state of -estrangement between them amounting to constructive feud, though the -feud is apt to lie dormant under a _modus vivendi_ so long as there -is no adequate inducement to open hostilities, in the way of booty. -Given a sufficiently wealthy enemy who is sufficiently ill prepared -for hostilities to afford a fighting chance of taking over this wealth -by way of booty or tribute, with no obvious chance of due reprisals, -and the opening of hostilities will commonly arrange itself. The -communities mutually concerned so pass from the more or less precarious -peaceful customs and animus common to the indigent lower cultures, to a -more or less habitual attitude of predatory exploit. With the advent of -warfare comes the war chief, into whose hands authority and pecuniary -emoluments gather somewhat in proportion as warlike exploits and ideals -become habitual in the community.[101] More or less of loot falls into -the hands of the victors in any raid. The loot may be goods, cattle -if any, or men, women and children; any or all of which may become -(private) property and be accumulated in sufficient mass to make a -difference between rich and poor. Captives may fall into some form of -servitude, and in an agricultural community may easily become the chief -item of wealth. At the same time an entire community may be reduced -to servitude, so falling into the possession of an absentee owner -(master), or under resident masters coming in from the victorious enemy. - -In any or all of these ways the institution of ownership is likely -to arise so soon as there is provocation for it, and in all cases it -is a consequence of an appreciable advance in the industrial arts. -Yet in a number of recorded cases a sufficient advance in technology -does not appear to have been followed by so prompt an introduction of -ownership, at least not in the fully developed form, as the surface -facts would seem to have called for. Custom in the lower cultures is -extremely tenacious, and what might seem an excessive allowance of -time appears to be needed for so radical an innovation in the habitual -scheme of things as is involved in the installation of rights of -ownership. There are cases of a fairly advanced barbarian culture, with -sufficiently coercive government control, an authoritative priesthood, -and well-marked class distinctions which hold good both in economic -and social relations, and yet where the line of demarcation between -ownership and mastery is not drawn in any unambiguous fashion--where -it is perhaps as accurate a statement as the case permits, to say that -this distinction has not yet been made, and so would, if applied, mark -a difference that does not yet exist.[102] - -So long as overt predatory conditions continue to rule the -case,--e. g., so long as the community in question continues, in a -sense, under martial law, “in a state of seige,” where the holders of -the economic advantage hold it on a tenure of prowess or by way of -delegated power and prerogative from a superior of warlike antecedents -and dynastic right,--so long the rights of ownership are not likely -to be well differentiated from those of mastery. Much the same -characterisation of such a state of things is conveyed in the current -phrase that “the rights of person and property are not secure.” The -very wide prevalence in the barbarian cultures of some such state of -things argues that the genesis of property rights is likely to have -been something of this kind in the common run, though it does not in -other cases preclude a different and more peaceable development out of -workmanlike or priestly economies. - -But even if it should be found, when the matter has been sifted, that -the genesis of ownership is of the latter kind, it would also in all -probability be found that among the peoples whose institutional growth -has a serious genetic bearing on the Western culture the holding of -property has, late or early, passed through a phase of predatory tenure -in which the distinction between ownership and mastery has so far -fallen into abeyance as to have had but a slight effect on the further -development. Where, as appears frequently to have been the case both in -Europe and elsewhere, the kingship and temporal power has arisen out of -the priestly office and spiritual power--or perhaps better where the -inchoate kingship was in its origins chiefly of a priestly complexion, -with a gradual shifting of kingly power and prerogative to a temporal -basis,[103]--there the transition from a creation of property and -mastery rights by priestly economies (fraud?) to a tenure of wealth -and authority by royal prerogative (force?) will have so blended -the two methods of genesis as to leave the attempt at a hard fast -discrimination between them somewhat idle. - -But whatever may be conceived to have been the genesis of ownership, -the institution is commonly found, in the barbarian culture, to be -tempered with a large infusion of predatory concepts, of status, -prerogative, differential respect of persons and economic classes, and -a corresponding differential respect of occupations. Whether property -provokes to predation or predation initiates ownership, the situation -that results in early phases of the pecuniary culture is much the same; -and the causal relation in which this situation stands to the advance -in workmanship is also much the same. This relation between workmanship -and the pecuniary culture brought on with the advent of ownership is -a twofold one, or, perhaps better, it is a relation of mutual give -and take. The increase in industrial efficiency due to a sufficient -advance in the industrial arts gives rise to the ownership of property -and to pecuniary appreciations of men and things, occupations and -products, habits, customs, usages, observances, services and goods. -At the same time, since predation and warlike exploit are intimately -associated with the facts of ownership through its early history -(perhaps throughout its history), there results a marked accentuation -of the self-regarding sentiments; with the economically important -consequence that self-interest displaces the common good in men’s -ideals and aspirations. The animus entailed by predatory exploit is -one of self-interest, a seeking of one’s own advantage at the cost of -the enemy, which frequently, in the poetically ideal case, takes such -an extreme form as to prefer the enemy’s loss to one’s own gain. And -in the emulation which the predatory life and its distinctions of -wealth introduce into the community, the end of endeavour is likely -to become the differential advantage of the individual as against his -neighbours rather than the undifferentiated advantage of the group as -a whole, in contrast with alien or hostile groups. The members of the -community come to work each for his own interest in severalty, rather -than for an undivided interest in the common lot. Such sentiment of -group solidarity as there may remain falls also into the invidious -and emulative form; whereby the fighting patriot becomes the type -and exemplar of the public spirited citizen, whose ideal then is to -follow his leader and humble the pride of those whom the chances -of contention have thrown in with the other side of the game. The -sentiment of common interest, itself in good part a diffuse working-out -of the parental instinct, comes at the best to converge on the glory -of the flag instead of the fulness of life of the community at large, -or more commonly it comes to be centred in loyalty, that is to say in -subservience, to the common war-chief and his dynastic successors. - -In the shifting of activities, ideals and aims so brought in with -the advent of wealth and ownership, the part of the priests and -their divinities is not to be overlooked, for herein lies one of the -greater cultural gains brought on by the technological advance at this -juncture. The margin of service and produce available for consumption -in the cult increases, and by easy consequence the spiritual prestige -and the temporal power and prerogatives of the priesthood grow greater. -The jurisdiction of the gods of the victors is extended; through the -vicarious power of the priests, over the subject peoples, and as the -temporal dominion is enlarged and an increasing measure of coercion is -employed in controlling these dominions, so also in the affairs of the -gods and their priests there is an accession of power and dignity. It -commonly happens where predatory enterprise comes to be habitual and -successful that the temporal power tends to centre in an autocratic -and arbitrary ruler; and in this as in so much else, spiritual affairs -are likely to take their complexion from the temporal, resulting in a -strong drift toward an autocratic monotheism, which in the finished -case comes to a climax in an omnipotent, omniscient deity of very -exalted dignity and very exacting temper. For the habits of thought -enforced in the affairs of daily life are carried over into men’s -sense of what is right and good in the life of the gods as well. If -there is any choice among the gods under whose auspices a people has -successfully entered on a career of predation, so that some of the gods -have more of a reputation for rapacity and inhumanity than others, -the most atrocious among them is likely, other things being equal, to -become the war-god of the conquering host, and so eventually to be -exalted to the suzerainty among the gods, and even in time to become -the one and only incumbent of the divine czardom. - -Should it happen that a relatively humane, tolerant and tractable deity -comes in for exaltation to the divine suzerainty, as well may be if -such a one has already a good prior claim standing over from the more -peaceable past, he will readily acquire the due princely arrogance and -irresponsibility that vests the typical heavenly king. It may be added -that as a matter of course no degree of imputed inhumanity in the most -high God will stand in the way of a god-fearing and astute priesthood -volubly ascribing to him all the good qualities that should grace an -elderly patriarchal gentleman of the old school; so that even his most -infamous atrocities become ineffably meritorious and are dispensed of -his mercy.[104] - -With the terrors of a jealous and almighty God behind them, and with -faith in their own mission and sagacity in its administration, the -priesthood are in a position to make the affairs of the heavenly king -count for much in the affairs of men; more particularly since this -spiritual power enters into working arrangements with the temporal -power; so that in the outcome these institutions which in their origins -have grown out of a precarious margin of product above subsistence come -to possess themselves of the output at large and leave a precarious -margin of subsistence to the community at large.[105] - -These further matters of “natural law in the spiritual world” are not -in themselves of direct interest to the present inquiry, and they are -also matters of somewhat tedious commonplace. Yet this run of things -has grave consequences in the further working-out of the technological -situation as well as in the course of material welfare for the -community on whom it is incumbent to turn the technological knowledge -to account, to conserve or improve and transmit it, and for this reason -it has seemed necessary summarily to recall those general features of -the cultural scheme that are inherently associated with the earlier -pecuniary culture,--the full-blown barbarian culture. And it seems -pertinent also to add something further in the same connection before -leaving this aspect of the case. - -It is necessary to hark back to what was said in an earlier chapter, -of the relations of tillage and cattle-breeding to the instinct -of workmanship and the course of technological advance. Both the -technological and the institutional bearing of cattle-breeding is -particularly notable in this connection. As already spoken of in what -has gone before, cattle-breeding has the technological peculiarity -that it may be successfully entered on and carried forward with a -larger admixture of anthropomorphic concepts than the mechanic arts, -or even than the domestication and care of the crop plants. It is -perhaps not to be admitted that the penchant of early man to take -an anthropomorphic view of the lower animals and impute to them -the common traits of human nature has directly conduced to their -successful domestication, but it should be within the mark to say that -this penchant may have been primarily responsible for the course of -conduct that led to the domestication of animals,[106] and that it has -apparently never been a serious drawback to any pastoral culture. Now, -wealth in flocks and herds is peculiar not only in being eminently -portable, even to the extent that in the usual course of this industry -it is necessary for a pastoral community to migrate, or to go over -an extended itinerary with the changing seasons, but it has also the -peculiar quality of multiplying spontaneously, given only a degree of -surveillance and a sufficient range of pasture lands. It follows that -cattle are easy and tempting to acquire by predation, will accumulate -through natural increase without notable exertion on the part of their -owners, and will multiply beyond the bearing capacity of any disposable -range. Hence a pastoral people, or a people given in great part to -pastoral pursuits, will somewhat readily take to a predatory life; -will have to be organised for defence (and offence) against raids or -encroachments from its neighbours engaged in the same pursuits; will -find itself short of range lands through the natural increase of its -flocks or herds, and so will even involuntarily be brought into feud -with neighbouring herdsmen through mutual trespass. Further, the -work of herding, on the scale imposed by the open continental cattle -and sheep ranges, is man’s work, as is also the incidental fighting, -raiding, and cattle-lifting. - -The effects of these technological conditions on the general culture of -a pastoral people are such as are set forth in their most favourable -light in the early historical books of the Old Testament, or such -conditions as may be found today on the great cattle ranges of west and -north-central Asia. The community falls necessarily into a patriarchal -régime; with considerable concentration of wealth in individual hands; -great disparity in wealth and social standing, commonly involving -both chattel slavery and serfdom; a fighting organisation under -patriarchal-despotic leadership, which serves both for civil, political -and religious purposes; domestic institutions of the same cast, -involving a degree of subjection of women and children and commonly -polygamy for the patriarchal upper or ruling class; a religious -system of a monotheistic or monarchical complexion and drawn on lines -of patriarchal despotism; with the priestly office vested in the -patriarchal head of the community (the eldest male of the eldest male -line) if the group is small enough to admit the administration of both -the temporal and spiritual power at the hands of one man--as Israel at -the time of the earlier sojourn in Canaan--or vested in a specialised -priesthood if the group is of great size--as Israel on their return to -Palestine. - -Such a culture is manifestly fit to succeed both in avowedly predatory -enterprise and in pecuniary enterprise of a more peaceable sort, so -long as range lands are at its disposal or so long as it can find a -sufficiently large and compact agricultural community to reduce to -servitude, or so long as it can find ways and means of commercial -enterprise while still occupying a position defensible against all -comers. Its population is organised for offence and defence and trained -in the habits of subordination necessary to any successful war, and the -patriarchal authority and pecuniary ideals inbred in them give them -facility in co-operation against aliens, as well as the due temper for -successful bargaining. Such a culture has the elements of national -strength and solidarity, given only some adequate means of subsistence -while still retaining its militant patriarchal organisation. Not -least among its elements of national strength is its religion, which -fosters the national pride of a people chosen by the Most High, at the -same time that it trains the population in habits of subordination -and loyalty, as well as in patient submission to exactions. But it is -essentially a parasitic culture, despotic, and, with due training, -highly superstitious or religious. What a people of these antecedents -is capable of is shown by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, -the Hindu invaders of India, the Hyksos invaders of Egypt, and in -another line by Israel and the Phœnicians, and in a lesser degree by -the Huns, Mongols, Tatars, Arabs and Turks. - -It is from peoples of this culture that the great religions of the -old world have come, near or remote, but it is not easy to find -any substantial contribution to human culture drawn indubitably -from this source apart from religious creed, cult and poetry. The -domestication of animals, for instance, is not due to them; with the -possible exception of the horse and the dog, that work had to be done -in peaceable, sedentary communities, from whom the pastoral nomads -will have taken over the stock and the industry and carried it out -on a scale and with cultural consequences which do not follow from -cattle-breeding under sedentary conditions. Their religion, on the -other hand, seems in no case to have been carried up to the consummate -stage of despotic monotheism during the nomadic-pastoral phase of their -experience, but to have been worked out to a finished product presently -after they had engaged on a career of conquest and had some protracted -experience of warfare and despotism on a relatively large scale. The -history of these great civilisations with pastoral antecedents appears -to run somewhat uniformly to the effect that they collapsed as soon as -they had eaten their host into a collapse. The incidents along the way -between their beginning in conquest and their collapse in exhaustion -are commonly no more edifying and of no more lasting significance -to human culture than those which have similarly marked the course -of the Turk. These great monarchies were organised by and for an -intrusive dynasty and ruling class, of pastoral antecedents, and they -drew their subsistence and their means of oppression from a subjugated -agricultural population. In the course of this further elaboration of -a predatory civilisation, the institutions proper to a large scale and -to a powerful despotism and nobility resting on a servile people, were -developed into a finished system; in which the final arbiter is always -irresponsible force and in which the all-pervading social relation is -personal subservience and personal authority. The mechanic arts make -little if any progress under such a discipline of personalities, even -the arts of war, and there is little if any evidence of sensible gain -in any branch of husbandry. There were great palaces and cities built -by slave labour and corvée, embodying untold misery in conspicuously -wasteful and tasteless show, and great monarchs whose boast it was that -they were each and several the best friend or nearest relative of some -irresponsible and supreme god, and whose dearest claim to pre-eminence -was that they “walked on the faces of the black-head race.” Seen -in perspective and rated in any terms that have a workmanlike -significance, these stupendous dynastic fabrics are as insignificant as -they are large, and none of them is worth the least of the fussy little -communities that came in time to make up the Hellenic world and its -petty squabbles. - -In their general traits these various civilisations founded (in -conquest) by the pastoral peoples are of the same character as is the -pecuniary culture as found elsewhere, but they have certain special -features which set them off somewhat in a class by themselves. They -are predatory in a peculiarly overt and accentuated degree, so that -their institutions foster the invidious sentiments, the self-regarding -animus of servility and of arrogance, beyond what commonly happens -in the pecuniary culture at large; and they carry a large content -of peculiarly high-wrought religious superstitions and fear of the -supernatural, which likewise works out from and into an animus of -servility and arrogance. In these cultures it is true, even beyond -the great significance which the proposition has in the barbarian -culture elsewhere, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. -The discipline of life in such a culture, therefore, is consistently -unfavourable to any technological gain; the instinct of workmanship is -constantly dominated by prevalent habits of thought that are worse than -useless for any technological purpose. - -Much the same, of course, is true for any civilisation founded on -personal government of the coercive kind, whatever may be the remoter -antecedents of the dynastic and ruling classes; but these other -cultures have not the same secure and ancient patriarchal foundation, -ready to hand, and so they are constrained to build their institutions -of coercion, domestic, civil, political and military, more slowly -and with a more doubtful outcome; nor does their religious system -so readily work out in a monarchical theology with an omnipotent -sovereign and in all-pervading fear of God. A home-bred despotism in -an agricultural community that has set out with maternal descent, a -matriarchal clan system, and mother goddesses, is hampered both on -the temporal and the spiritual side by ancient and inbred usage and -preconceptions that can be effectually overcome only in the long course -of time. The civilisations of Asia-Minor and the Ægean region, and even -of Egypt and Rome, however much of pastoral and patriarchal elements -may have been infused into them in the course of time, show their -shortcomings in this respect to the last; perhaps in their religions -more than in any other one cultural trait, since religion is after all -an epigenetic feature and follows rather than leads in the unfolding of -the cultural scheme. - - * * * * * - -But these great civilisations dominated by pastoral antecedents have -no grave significance for the modern culture, except as drawbacks, -and none at all for modern technology or for that matter-of-fact -knowledge on which modern technology runs. The Western peoples, whose -cultural past is of more immediate interest, have also had their -warlike experience, late and early, but it seems never to have reached -the consummate outcome to be seen in the East. Neither as regards -the scale on which dynastic organisation has been carried out nor -as regards the thoroughness with which their institutions have been -permeated by predatory preconceptions have the Western peoples in their -earlier history approached the standard of the oriental despotisms. -Even now, it may be remarked, advocates of war and armaments commonly -speak (doubtless disingenuously) for the predatory régime as being a -necessity of defence rather than something to be desired on its own -merits. Not that the predatory régime has not been a sufficiently -grave fact in the history of occidental civilisation; to take such -a view of history one would have to overlook the Roman Empire, the -barbarian invasions, the feudal system, the Catholic church, the Era -of statemaking, and the existing armed neutrality of the powers; but -these have, all but the last, proved to be episodes on a grand scale -rather than such an historical finality as any one of the successive -monarchies in the Mesopotamian-Chaldæan country,--the test being that -occidental civilisation has not died of any one of these maladies, -though it has come through more than one critical period. - -Western civilisation has gone through these eras of accentuated -predation and has at all times shown an appreciable admixture of -predatory conceptions in its scheme of institutions and ideals, in its -domestic institutions and its public affairs, in its art and religion, -but it is after all within the mark to say that, at least since the -close of the Dark Ages, a distinctive characteristic that sets off -this civilisation in contradistinction from any definitively predatory -phase of the pecuniary culture, has been a pertinacious pursuit of -the arts of peace, to which those peoples that have led in this -civilisation have ever returned at every respite. For an appreciation -of the relations subsisting between the sense of workmanship and -the discipline of habituation in the modern culture, therefore, the -phenomena of peaceful ownership are of greater, or at least of more -vivid interest than those of the predatory phase of the pecuniary -culture. - -Modern civilisation, and indeed all history for that matter, lies -within the pecuniary culture as a whole; but the Western culture of -modern times belongs, perhaps somewhat precariously, to the secondary -or peaceable phase of this pecuniary culture, rather than to that -predatory phase with which the pecuniary scheme of life began -somewhere in the lower barbarism, and that has repeatedly closed its -life cycle in the collapse of one and another of the great dynastic -empires of the old world. - -As in the predatory phase, so also in the peaceable pecuniary culture, -the dominant note is given by the self-regarding impulses; and the -sense of workmanship is therefore characteristically hedged about and -guided by the institutional exigencies and preconceptions incident to -life under the circumstances imposed by ownership,--in a situation -where the economic interest, the interest in those material means of -life with which workmanship has to deal, converges on property rights. -Ownership is self-regarding, of course, and the rights of ownership are -of a personal, invidious, differential, emulative nature; although in -the peaceable phase of the civilisation of ownership, force and fraud -are, in theory, barred out of the game of acquisition,--wherein this -differs from the predatory phase proper. - -An obvious consequence following immediately on the emergence of -ownership in any community is an increased application to work. This -has been taken as a matter of course in theoretical speculations and -is borne out by the observation of peoples among whom trade relations -have been introduced in recent times. An immediate result is greater -diligence, accompanied apparently in all cases, if the reports of -observers are to be accepted, by an increase in contention, distrust -and chicanery[107] and an increasingly wasteful consumption of goods. -The diligence so fostered by emulative self-interest is directed to -the acquisition of property, in great part to the acquisition of more -than is possessed by those others with whom the invidious comparison -in ownership is made; and under the spur of ownership simply, it is -only secondarily, as a means to the emulative end of acquisition, that -productive work, and therefore workmanship in its naïve sense, comes -into the case at all. Ownership conduces to diligence in acquisition -and therefore indirectly to diligence in work, if no more expeditious -means of acquiring wealth can be devised. In its first incidence the -incentive to diligence afforded by ownership is a proposition in -business not in workmanship. Its effects on workmanship, industry -and technology, therefore, are necessarily somewhat uncertain and -uneven. Apparently from the start there is some appreciable resort -to fraudulent thrift, to the production of spurious or inferior -goods.[108] This of course very presently is corrected in the increased -astuteness and vigilance exercised in men’s dealings with one another, -whereby an appreciable portion of energy goes to defeat these artifices -of disingenuous worldly wisdom. - -It should be added that the pecuniary incentive to work takes the -direction of making the most of the means at hand, considered as -means of pecuniary gain rather than as means of serviceability, and -that it conduces therefore to the fullest (pecuniary) exploitation of -the standard accepted ways and means of industry rather than to the -improvement of these ways and means beyond the conjuncture at hand. -Further, though this is also somewhat of a tedious commonplace, since -the only authentic end of work under the pecuniary dispensation is the -acquisition of wealth; since the possession of wealth in so far exempts -its possessor from productive work; and since such exemption is a mark -of wealth and therefore of superiority over those who have nothing -and therefore must work; it follows that addiction to work becomes a -mark of inferiority and therefore discreditable. Whereby work becomes -distasteful to all men instructed in the proprieties of the pecuniary -culture; and it has even become so irksome to men trained in the -punctilios of the servile, predatory, phase of this culture that it was -once credibly proclaimed by a shrewd priesthood as the most calamitous -curse laid on mankind by a vindictive God. Also, since wealth affords -means for a free consumption of goods, the conspicuous consumption -of goods becomes a mark of pecuniary excellence, and so it becomes -an element of respectability in any pecuniary culture, and presently -becomes a meritorious act and even a requirement of pecuniary decency. -The outcome is conspicuous wastefulness of consumption, the limits of -which, if any, have apparently not been approached hitherto.[109] - -The bearings of this pecuniary culture on workmanship and technology -are wide and diverse. Most immediate and perhaps most notable is the -conventional disesteem of labour spoken of above, which seems to follow -as a necessary consequence from the institution of ownership in all -cases where distinctions of wealth are at all considerable or where -property rights are associated with facts of mastery and prestige. The -pecuniary disrepute of labour acts to discourage industry, but this -may be offset, at least in part, by the incentive given to emulation -by the good repute attaching to acquisition. The wasteful expenditure -of goods and services enjoined by the pecuniary canons of conspicuous -consumption gives an economically untoward direction to industry, at -the same time that it greatly increases the hardships and curtails the -amenities of life. So also, estrangement and distrust between persons, -classes and nations necessarily pervades this cultural era, due to -the incessant gnawing of incompatible pecuniary interests; and this -state of affairs appreciably lowers the aggregate efficiency of human -industry and sets up bootless obstacles to be overcome and irrelevant -asperities to be put up with. - -These and the like consequences of pecuniary emulation are simple, -direct and obvious; but the discipline of the pecuniary culture bears -on workmanship also in a more subtle way, indirect and less evident -at first sight. The discipline of daily life imparts its own bent to -the sense of workmanship through habituation of the workman to that -scheme and logic of things that rules this pecuniary culture. The -outcome as concerns industry is somewhat equivocal; the discipline of -self-seeking at some points favours workmanship and at others not. At -one period or phase of the pecuniary culture, generally speaking an -early or crude phase, the bent so given to workmanship and technology -seems necessarily to be conducive to inefficiency; at another (later or -maturer) phase the contrary is likely to be true. - -The pecuniary discipline of invidious emulation takes effect on the -state of the industrial arts chiefly and most pervasively through the -bias which it gives to the knowledge on which workmanship proceeds. -It may be called to mind that the body of knowledge (facts) turned to -account in workmanship, the facts made use of in devising technological -processes and appliances, are of the nature of habits of thought. -This is particularly applicable to those (tactical) principles under -whose control the information in hand is construed and connected up -into a system of uses, agencies and instrumentalities. These habits of -thought, elements of knowledge, items of information, accepted facts, -principles of reality, in part represent the mechanical behaviour of -objects, the brute nature of brute matter, and in part they stand for -qualities, aptitudes and proclivities imputed to external objects and -their behaviour and so infused into the facts and the generalisations -based on them. The sense of workmanship has much to do with this -imputation of traits to the phenomena of observation, perhaps more than -any other of the proclivities native to man. The traits so imputed to -the facts are in the main such as will be consonant with the sense -of workmanship and will lend themselves to a concatenation in its -terms. But this infusion of traits into the facts of observation, -whether it takes effect at the instance of the sense of workmanship, -or conceivably on impulse not to be identified with this instinct, is -a logical process and is carried out by an intelligence whose logical -processes have in all cases been profoundly biassed by habituation. -So that the habits of life of the individual, and therefore of -the community made up of such individuals, will pervasively and -unremittingly bend this work of imputation with the set of their own -current, and will accordingly involve incoming elements of knowledge -in a putative system of relations consistent with these habits -of life. This comprehensive scheme of habitual apprehensions and -appreciations is what is called the “genius,” spirit, or character -of any given culture. In all this range of habitual preconceptions -touching the nature of things there prevails a degree of solidarity, -of mutual support and re-enforcement among the several lines of -habitual activity comprised in the current scheme of life; so that a -certain characteristic tone or bias runs through the whole,--in so -far as the cultural situation has attained that degree of maturity or -assimilation that will allow it to be spoken of as a distinctive whole, -standing out as a determinate and coherent phase in the life-history -of the race. To this bias of scope and method in the current scheme of -life, intellectual and sentimental, any new element or item must be -assimilated if it is not to be rejected as alien and unreal or to fall -through by neglect. - -All this bears on the scope and method of knowledge, and therefore -on the facts made use of in the industrial arts, just as it bears on -any other feature of human life that is of the nature of habit. And -the immediate question is as to the bias or drift of the pecuniary -culture as it affects the apprehension of facts serviceable for -technological ends. This pecuniary bias or bent may be described as -invidious, personal, emulative, looking to differential values in -respect of personal force or competitive success, looking to gradations -in respect of comparative potency, validity, authenticity, propriety, -reputability, decency. The canons of pecuniary repute preclude the -well-to-do, who have leisure for such things, from inquiring narrowly -into the facts of technology, since these things are beneath their -dignity, conventionally distasteful; familiarity with such matters -can not with propriety be avowed, nor can they without offence and -humiliation be canvassed at all intimately among the better class. At -the same time pecuniary competition, when carried to its ideal pitch, -works the lower industrial classes to exhaustion and allows them no -appreciable leisure or energy for indulging any possible curiosity of -this kind on their part. The habitual (ideal) frame of mind is that -of invidious self-interest on the one hand, due to the imperative and -ubiquitous need of gain in wealth or in rank, and on the other hand -class discrimination due to the ubiquitous prevalence of distinctions -in prerogatives and authentic standing. The discipline of the pecuniary -religions, or of the religious tenets and observances proper to the -pecuniary culture, runs to a similar effect; more decisively so in the -earlier, or distinctively predatory, phases of this culture than in the -peaceable or commercial phase. The vulgar facts of industry are beneath -the dignity of a feudalistic deity or of his priesthood; at the same -time that the overmastering need of standing well in the graces of an -all-powerful, exacting and irresponsible God throws a deeper shadow of -ignobility over the material side of life, and makes any workmanlike -preoccupation with industrial efficiency presumptively sinful as well -as indecorous. - -The pecuniary culture is not singular in this matter. Always and -everywhere the acquirement of knowledge is a matter of observation -guided and filled out by the imputation of qualities, relations and -aptitudes to the observed phenomena. Without this putative content -of active presence and potency the phenomena would lack reality; they -could not be assimilated in the scheme of things human. It is only a -commonplace of the logic of apperception that the substantial traits -of objective facts are a figment of the brain. Under the discipline of -this pecuniary phase of culture the requisite imputation of character -to facts runs, as ever, in anthropomorphic terms; but it is an -anthropomorphism which by habit conforms to the predatory-pecuniary -scheme of preconceptions, such as the routine of life has made ready -and convincing to men living under the discipline of emulation, -invidious distinctions and authentic pecuniary decorum. Under these -circumstances it is not in the anthropomorphism of naïve workmanship -that the putative reality of facts is to be sought, but in their -conformity to the conventionally definitive preconceptions of invidious -merit, authentic excellence, force of character, mastery, complaisance, -congruity with the run of the established institutional values and the -ordinances of the Most High. The canons of reality, under which sense -impressions are reduced to objective fact and so become available for -use, and under which, again, facts are put in practice and turned to -technological account, are the same canons of invidious distinction -that rule in the world of property and among men occupied with -predatory and pecuniary precedence. In effect men and things come -to be rated in terms of what they (putatively) are--their intrinsic -character--rather than in terms of what they (empirically) will do. - -Without pursuing the question farther at this point, it should be -evident that the bias of the pecuniary culture must on the whole act -with pervasive force so to bend men’s knowledge of the things with -which they have to do as to lessen its serviceability for technological -ends. The result is a deflection from matter-of-fact to matter of -imputation, and the imputation is of the personal character here -spoken of. The dominant note appears to be a differential rating in -respect of aggressive self-assertion, whether in human or non-human -agents. Theological preconceptions are commonly strong in the pecuniary -culture, and under their rule this differential rating developes into -a scheme of graded powers and efficacies vested in the phenomena of -external nature by delegation from an overruling personal authority. -Such a bent is necessarily prejudicial to workmanship, and it may -seem that the ubiquitous repressive force of this metaphysics of -authority and authenticity should serve the same disserviceable end -for workmanship as the more genial and diffuse anthropomorphism of the -lower cultures, but with more decisive effect since it runs in a more -competently organised, compact and prescriptive fashion. - -Where the pecuniary culture has been carried through consistently on -the predatory plan, without being diverted to that commercial phase -current in the latterday Western civilisation, the conclusion of the -matter has been decay of the industrial arts and effectual dissipation -of that system of matter-of-fact knowledge on which technological -efficiency rests. In the West, where the predatory phase proper has -eventually given place to a commercial phase of the same pecuniary -culture, the general run of events in this bearing has been a decline -of knowledge, technology and workmanship, running on so long as the -predatory (coercive) rule prevailed unbroken, but followed presently -by a slow recovery and advance in technological efficiency and -scientific insight; somewhat in proportion as the commercialisation -of this culture has gained ground, and therefore correlated also in a -general way with the decline of religious fear. - -This run of events may tempt to the inference that while the -predatory phase proper of this pecuniary civilisation is inimical to -matter-of-fact knowledge and to technological insight, the rule of -commercial ideas and ideals characteristic of its subsequent peaceable -phase acts to propagate these material elements of culture. But what -has already appeared in the course of the inquiry into that still -earlier cultural phase that went before the coercive and invidious -régime of predation suggests that the case is not so simple nor so -flattering to our latterday self-complacency. The self-regarding -sentiments of arrogance and abasement, out of whose free habitual -exercise the pecuniary culture, with its institutions of prerogative -and differential advantage, has been built up, are not the spiritual -source from which such an outcome is to be looked for. These sentiments -and the instinctive proclivities of which these sentiments are the -emotional expression are presumed to have remained unchanged in force -and character through that long course of cumulative habituation that -has given them their ascendency in the institutions of the pecuniary -culture, and of their own motion they will yield now results of the -same kind as ever. But the like is true also for those other instincts -out of whose working came the earlier gains made in knowledge and -workmanship under the savage culture, before the self-regarding -sentiments underlying the pecuniary culture took the upper hand. -The parental bent and the instincts of workmanship and of curiosity -will have been overborne by cumulative habituation to the rule of the -self-regarding proclivities that triumphed in the culture of predation, -and whose dominion has subsequently suffered some impairment in the -later substitution of property rights for tenure by prowess, but these -instincts that make for workmanship remain as intrinsic to human nature -as the others. What is to be said for the current commercial scheme of -life, therefore, appears to be that it is only less inimical to the -functioning of those instinctive propensities that serve the common -interest. Hence, gradually, these instincts and the non-invidious -interests which they engender have been coming effectually into -bearing again as fast as the stern repression of them exercised by the -full-charged predatory scheme of life has weakened into a less and less -effectual inhibition, under the discipline of compromise and mitigated -self-aggrandisement embodied in the rights of property. - -That authentication of ownership out of which the sacred rights of -property have apparently grown may well have arisen as a sort of mutual -insurance among owners as against the disaffection of the dispossessed; -which would presently give rise to a sentiment of solidarity within -the class of owners, would acquire prescriptive force through habitual -enforcement, become a matter of customary right to be consistently -respected under the institutional forms of property, and eventuate in -that highly moralised expression of self-aggrandisement which it is -today. But with the putting-away of fancy-free predation, as being a -conventionally disallowed means of self-aggrandisement, sentiments -of equity and solidarity would presently come in--perhaps at the -outset by way of disingenuous make-believe--and so the way would be -made easier under the shelter of this range of conceptions for a -rehabilitation of the primordial parental instinct and its penchant for -the common good. And when ownership has once been institutionalised -in this impersonal and quasi-dispassionate form it will lend but a -decreasingly urgent bias to the cultural scheme in the direction of -differential respect of persons and a differential rating of natural -phenomena in respect of the occult potencies and efficacies imputed to -them. - -As the institutional ground has shifted from free-swung predation -to a progressively more covert régime of self-aggrandisement and -differential gain, the instinct of workmanship has progressively found -freer range and readier access to its raw material. The differential -good repute of wealth and rank has of course continued to be of much -the same nature in the later (commercial) stages of the pecuniary -culture as in the earlier (predatory) stages. An aristocratic (or -servile) scheme of life must necessarily run in invidious terms, since -that is the whole meaning of the phenomenon; and resting as any such -scheme does on pecuniary distinctions, whether direct or through the -intermediary term of predatory exploit, it will necessarily involve the -corollary that wealth and exemption from work (_otium cum dignitate_) -is honourable and that poverty and work is dishonourable. But with the -progressive commercialisation of gain and ownership it also comes to -pass that peaceable application to the business in hand may have much -to do with the acquirement of a reputable standing; and so long as -work is of a visibly pecuniary kind and is sagaciously and visibly -directed to the acquisition of wealth, the disrepute intrinsically -attaching to it is greatly offset by its meritorious purpose. So much -so, indeed, that there has even grown up something of a class feeling, -among the class who have come by their wealth through industry and -shrewd dealing, to the effect that peaceable diligence and thrift are -meritorious traits. - -This is “middle-class” sentiment of course. The aristocratic contempt -for the tradesman and all his works has not suffered serious mitigation -through all this growth of new methods of reputability. The three -conventionally recognised classes, upper, middle, and lower, are all -and several pecuniary categories; the upper being typically that -(aristocratic) class which is possessed of wealth without having worked -or bargained for it; while the middle class have come by their holdings -through some form of commercial (business) traffic; and the lower class -gets what it has by workmanship. It is a gradation of (_a_) predation, -(_b_) business, (_c_) industry; the former being disserviceable and -gainful, the second gainful, and the third serviceable. And no modern -civilised man is so innocent of the canons of reputability as not to -recognise off-hand that the first category is meritorious and the last -discreditable, whatever his individual prejudices may lead him to -think of the second. Aristocracy without unearned wealth, or without -predatory antecedents, is a misnomer. When an aristocratic class loses -its pecuniary advantage it becomes questionable. A poverty-stricken -aristocrat is a “decayed gentleman;” and “the nobility of labour” is a -disingenuous figure of speech. - -The transition from the original predatory phase of the pecuniary -culture to the succeeding commercial phase signifies the emergence -of a middle class in such force as presently to recast the working -arrangements of the cultural scheme and make peaceable business -(gainful traffic) the ruling interest of the community. With the same -movement emerges a situation which is progressively more favourable -to the intellectual animus required for workmanship and an advance in -technology. The state of the industrial arts advances, and with its -advance the accumulation of wealth is accelerated, the gainfulness -of business traffic increases, and the middle (business) class grows -along with it. It is in the conscious interest of this class to further -the gainfulness of industry, and as this end is correlated with the -productiveness of industry it is also, though less directly, correlated -with improvements in technology. - -With the transition from a naïvely predatory scheme to a commercial -one, the “competitive system” takes the place of the coercive methods -previously employed, and pecuniary gain becomes the incentive to -industry. At least superficially, or ephemerally, the workman’s income -under this pecuniary régime is in some proportion to his product. Hence -there results a voluntary application to steady work and an inclination -to find and to employ improvements in the methods and appliances of -industry. At the same time commercial conceptions come progressively -to supplant conceptions of status and personal consequence as the -primary and most familiar among the habits of thought entailed by the -routine of daily life. This will be true especially for the common -man, as contrasted with the aristocratic classes, although it is not -to be overlooked that the standards of propriety imposed on the -community by the better classes will have a considerably corrective -effect on the frame of mind of the common man in this respect as in -others, and so will act to maintain an effective currency of predatory -ideals and preconceptions after the economic situation at large has -taken on a good deal of a commercial complexion. The accountancy of -price and ownership throws personal prestige and consequence notably -less into the foreground than does the rating in terms of prowess and -gentle birth that characterises the predatory scheme of life. And -in proportion as such pecuniary accountancy comes to pervade men’s -relations, correspondingly impersonal terms of rating and appreciation -will make their way also throughout men’s habitual apprehension of -external facts, giving the whole an increasingly impersonal complexion. -So far as this effect is had, the facts of observation will lend -themselves with correspondingly increased facility and effect to the -purposes of technology. So that the commercial phase of culture should -be favourable to advance in the industrial arts, at least as regards -the immediate incidence of its discipline. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -OWNERSHIP AND THE COMPETITIVE SYSTEM - - -_I. Peaceable Ownership_ - -The pecuniary system of social organisation that so results has grave -and lasting consequences for the welfare of society. It brings class -divergence of material interests, class prerogative and differential -hardship, and an accentuated class disparity in the consumption of -goods, involving a very extensive resort to the conspicuous waste of -goods and services as an evidence of wealth. These consequences of -the pecuniary economy may be interesting enough in themselves, even -to the theoretician, but they need not be pursued here except in so -far as they have an appreciable bearing on the community’s workmanlike -efficiency and the further development of technology.[110] But the -more direct and immediate technological consequences of this move from -a predatory to a peaceable or quasi-peaceable economic system are -also sufficiently grave--partly favourable to workmanship and partly -otherwise--and these it is necessary for the purposes of this inquiry -to follow up in some detail. - -The interest and attention of the two typical pecuniary classes -between whom the affairs of industry now come to lie, presently -part company and enter on a course of progressive differentiation -along two divergent lines. The workmen, labourers, operatives, -technologists,--whatever term may best designate that general category -of human material through which the community’s technological -proficiency functions directly to an industrial effect,--these have -to do with the work, whereby they get their livelihood, and their -interest as well as the discipline of their workday life converges, -in effect on a technologically competent apprehension of material -facts. In this respect the free workmen under this peaceable régime of -property are very differently placed from the servile workman of the -predatory régime of mastery and servitude. The latter has little if -any interest in the efficiency of the industrial processes in which he -is engaged, less so the more widely his status differs from that of -the free workman. His case is analogous to that of the tenant at will, -who has nothing to gain from permanent improvement of the land which -he cultivates. Whereas the free workman is, at least immediately and -transiently, and particularly in his own current apprehension of the -matter, quite intimately dependent on his own technological proficiency -and vitally interested in any available technological expedient that -promises to heighten his efficiency. Such is particularly the case -during the earlier phases of the régime of peaceable ownership, so -long as the free workman is in the typical case working at his own -discretion and disposes of his own product in a limited market. And -such continues to be the case, on the whole, under the wage system so -long as the large-scale production and investment have not put an end -to the employer’s intimate supervision of his employés. Indeed, under -the driving exigencies of the competitive wage system the workmen are -somewhat strenuously held to such a workmanlike apprehension of things, -even though they may no longer have the same intimate concern in their -own current efficiency as in the earlier days of handicraft. The severe -pressure of competitive wages and large organisation, it might well be -thought, should logically offset the slighter attraction which work -as such has for the hired workman as contrasted with the man occupied -with his own work. The effect of this régime of free labour should -logically be, as it apparently has in great part been, a close and -progressively searching recourse to the logic of matter-of-fact in all -the workmen’s habitual thinking, and in all their outlook on matters of -interest, whether in industry or in the other concerns of life that may -conceivably be of more capital interest. - -On the other hand the owners under this régime of peaceable ownership -have to do with the pecuniary management, the gainful manipulation of -property. In the transitional beginnings of this system of peaceable -ownership and free workmen the owners are in the typical case owners -of land or similar natural resources; but in due course of time there -arises a class of owners holding property in the material equipment of -industry and deriving their gains and livelihood from a businesslike -management of this property, at the same time that the landlords also -fall into more businesslike relations with their tenants on the one -hand and with the industrial community that supplies their wants on the -other hand. These owners, investors, masters, employers, undertakers, -businessmen, have to do with the negotiation of advantageous bargains; -it is by bargaining that their discretionary control of property takes -effect, and in one way or another their attention centres on the quest -of profits. The training afforded by these occupations and requisite -to their effectual pursuit runs in terms of pecuniary management -and insight, pecuniary gain, price, price-cost, price-profit and -price-loss; and these men are held to an ever more exacting recourse to -the logic of the price system, and so are trained to the apprehension -of men and things in terms which count toward a gainful margin on -investments and business undertakings; that is to say in terms of the -self-regarding propensities and sentiments comprised in human nature, -and perhaps especially in terms of human infirmity. - -This last point in the characterisation may seem unwarranted, and may -even strike unreflecting persons as derogatory. It is, of course, -not so intended; and any degree of reflection will bring out its -simple bearing on the facts of business. As is well and obviously -known, the sole end of business as such is pecuniary gain, gain in -terms of price. It need not be held, as has sometimes been argued, -that one businessman’s gain is necessarily another’s loss; although -that principle was once taken for granted, as the foundation of the -Mercantilist policies of Europe, and is still acted on uncritically by -the generality of statesmen. But it is at any rate true, because it is -contained in the terms employed, that a successful business negotiation -is more successful in proportion as the party of the second part is -less competent to take care of his own pecuniary interest, whether -through native or acquired incapacity for pecuniary discretion or from -pecuniary inability to stand out for such terms as he otherwise might -conceivably exact. A shrewd businessman can, notoriously, negotiate -advantageous terms with an inexperienced minor or a necessitous -customer or employé. Pecuniary gain is a differential gain and business -is a negotiation of such differential gains; not necessarily a -differential of one businessman as against or at the cost of another; -but more commonly, and more typical of the competitive system, it is a -differential as between the businessman’s outlay and his returns,--that -is to say, as between the businessman and the unbusinesslike generality -of persons with whom directly or indirectly he deals as customers, -employés, and the like. For the purposes of such a negotiation of -differentials the weakness of one party (in the pecuniary respect) -is as much to the point as the strength of the other,--the two being -substantially the same fact. The discipline of the business occupations -should accordingly run to the habitual rating of men, things and -affairs in terms of emulative human nature and of precautionary -wisdom in respect of pecuniary expediency. Instead of workmanlike or -technological insight, this discipline conduces to worldly wisdom.[111] - -But the disparity between the discipline of the business occupations -and that of industry is by no means so sheer as this contrast in their -main characteristics would imply, nor do the men engaged in these two -divergent lines of work differ so widely in their habitual outlook on -affairs or their insight into facts. Such is particularly the case in -the earlier and simpler phases of the régime, before the specialisation -of occupations had gone so far as to divide the working community in -any consistent fashion into the two contrasted classes of businessmen -on the one side and workmen on the other. As this modern régime of -peaceable ownership and pecuniary organisation has advanced and its -peculiar features of organisation and workmanship have reached a -sharper definition, the division between the two contrasted kinds of -endeavour--business and workmanship--has grown wider and the disparity -in the distinctive range of habits engendered by each has grown more -marked. So that something of a marked and pervading contrast should -logically be found between the habitual attitude taken by members -of the business community on the one hand and that of the body of -workmen on the other hand; and this contrast should, logically, go -on increasing with each successive move in advance along this line -of specialisation of occupations and “division of labour.” Some such -result has apparently followed; but neither has the specialisation -been complete and consistent, nor has the resulting differentiation -in respect of their intellectual and spiritual attitude set the two -contrasted classes of persons apart in so definitive a fashion as a -first and elementary consideration of the causes at work might lead one -to infer. - -Businessmen have to do with industry; more or less remotely perhaps, -but often at near hand, for it is out of industry that their business -gains come; and they are also subject to the routine of living imposed -by the use of the particular range of industrial appliances and -processes available for that use. The workmen on the other hand have -also to do with pecuniary matters, for they are forever in contact -with the market in one way and another, and it is in pecuniary terms -that the livelihood comes to them for which they are set to work. And -both businessmen and workmen enter on their two divergent lines of -training with much the same endowment of propensities and aptitudes. -Yet it appears that the training in pecuniary wisdom that makes up -the career of the typical businessman is after all of little avail -in the way of technological insight or efficiency, as witness the -ubiquitous mismanagement of industry at the hands of businessmen who -are, presumably, doing their best to enhance the efficiency of the -industries under their control with a view to the largest net gain from -the output.[112] If the “efficiency engineers” are to be credited, it -is probably within the mark to say that the net aggregate gains from -industry fall short of what they might be by some fifty per cent, owing -to the trained inability of the businessmen in control to appreciate -and give effect to the visible technological requirements of the -industries from which they draw their gains. To appreciate the kind -and degree of this commonplace mismanagement of industry it is only -necessary to contrast the facility, circumspection, shrewd strategy -and close economy shown by these same businessmen in the organisation -and management of their pecuniary, fiscal and monetary operations, as -against the waste of time, labour and materials that abounds in the -industries under their control. But for the workmen likewise, their -daily work and their insight into its requirements and possibilities -are, by more than half, a “business proposition,” a proposition in the -pecuniary calculus of how to get the most in price for the least return -in weight and tale. - -These various considerations, taken crudely in their first incidence, -would seem to preclude any technological advance under this -quasi-peaceable régime of business. Business principles and pecuniary -distinctions rule the familiar routine of life, and even the common -welfare is conceived in terms of price, and so of differential -advantage; and under such a system there should apparently be little -chance of the dispassionate pursuit of such a non-invidious interest as -that of workmanship. The prime mover in this cultural scheme appears -to be invidious self-aggrandisement, without fear or favour; and -its goal appears to be the conspicuous waste of goods and services. -Yet in point of fact the technological advance under these modern -conditions has been larger and more rapid than in any other cultural -situation. Therefore the circumstances under which these modern -gains in technology have been made will merit somewhat more detailed -attention; as also the cultural consequences that have followed from -this technological advance or been conditioned by it. And at the risk -of some tedious repetition it seems pertinent summarily to recall these -peculiar circumstances that have conditioned the modern culture and -have presumably shaped its technological output. - -By and large this modern technological era runs its course within the -frontiers of Occidental civilisation, and in the period subsequent -to the feudal age. Roughly, its centre of diffusion is the region of -the North Sea, and its placement in point of time is in that period -of comparative peace spoken of as “modern times.” Such of the peoples -comprised within this Western culture as have continued to be actively -occupied with fighting during this modern period have had no creative -share in this technological era, and indeed they have had little share -of any kind. The broad centre of diffusion of this technology coincides -in a curious way with that of the singularly competent and singularly -matter-of-fact neolithic culture of northern Europe; and the racial -elements that have been engaged in this modern technological advance -are still substantially the same, and mixed in substantially the same -proportions, as during that prehistoric technological era of the lower -barbarism or the higher savagery. This implies, of course, that the -spiritual (instinctive) endowment of the peoples that have made the -modern technological era is still substantially the same as was that of -their forebears of the Danish stone age. - -The peoples that have taken the lead in this cultural growth, and more -particularly in the technological advance, have never lived under a -full grown and consistently worked out patriarchal system, nor have -they, therefore, ever fully assimilated that peculiarly personal and -arbitrarily authoritative scheme of anthropomorphic beliefs that -commonly goes with the patriarchal system. In the earlier phases of -their cultural experience, and until recently, they have lived in -small communities, under more or less of local self-government, and -have in great part shown some degree of religious scepticism and -insubordination. They have had some experience of the sea and of that -impersonal run of phenomena which the sea offers; which call on -those who have to do with the sea for patient observation of how such -impersonal forces work, and which constrain them to learn by trial -and error how these forces may be turned to account. Latterly, in the -days of their most pronounced technological advance, these peoples -have had experience of an economic and industrial system organised on -an unexampled scale, such as to constitute a very wide and inclusive -industrial community within which intercourse has been increasingly -easy and effective. - -These circumstances have determined the range of their habituation -in its larger features; and these peoples have come under the -discipline of this situation with a spiritual endowment apparently -differing in some degree from what any other group of peoples has -ever brought to a similar task. How much of the outcome, cultural and -technological, is to be set down naïvely and directly to a peculiar -temperamental bent in this human raw material would be hazardous to -conjecture. Something seems fairly to be credited to that score. The -particular mixture of hybrids that goes to make up these peoples, -and in which the dolicho-blond enters more or less ubiquitously, -appears to lack a certain degree of subtlety, such as seems native -to many other peoples that have created civilisations of a different -complexion,--a subtlety that shows itself in a readiness for intrigue -and farsighted appreciation of the springs of human nature, and which -often shows itself also in high-wrought and stupendous constructions -of anthropomorphic myth and theology, religion and magic, as well as -in such large and fertile systems of creative art as will commonly -accompany these anthropomorphic creations. Those peoples that are -infused with an appreciable blond admixture have on the other hand, -not commonly excelled in the farther reaches of the spiritual life, -particularly not in the refinements of a sustained and finished -anthropomorphism. Their best efficiency has rather run to those -bull-headed deeds of force and those mechanic arts that touch closely -on the domain of the inorganic forces. - -Of such a character is also this modern technological era. It is in -the mechanic arts dealing with brute matter that the modern technology -holds over all else, in matter-of-fact insight, in the naïveté of the -questions with which its adepts search the facts of observation, and in -the crudity (anthropomorphically speaking) of the answers with which -they are content to go back to their work. Outside of the mechanic arts -this technology must be rated lower than second best. In subtlety of -craftsmanlike insight and contrivance or in delicacy of manipulation -and adroit use of man’s physical aptitudes the peoples of this Western -culture are not now and never have been equal to the best. - -Such a characterisation of the modern technology may seem too broad -and too schematic,--that it overlooks features of the case that are -sufficiently large and distinctive to call for their recognition -even in the most general characterisation. So, e. g., in the light -of what has been noted above in speaking of the domestication of the -crop plants and animals, the question may well suggest itself: Is not -the patent success of these modern industrial peoples in the use and -improvement of crops and cattle to be accepted as evidence of a genial -anthropomorphic bent, of the same kind and degree as took effect in -the original domestication of plants and animals? For some two hundred -years past, it is true, very substantial advances have been made in -tillage and breeding, and this is at the same time the peculiar domain -in which the anthropomorphic savages of the stone age once achieved -those things which have made civilisation physically possible; but the -modern gains made in these lines have, in the main if not altogether, -been technologically of the same mechanistic character as the rest -of the modern advance in the industrial arts, with little help or -hindrance due to any such anthropomorphic bias as guided the savage -ancients. It is rather by virtue of their having come competently to -apprehend these facts of animate nature in substantially inanimate -terms, mechanistic and chemical terms, that the modern technological -adepts in tillage and cattle-breeding have successfully carried this -line of workmanship forward at a rate and with an effect not approached -before. The livestock expert is soberly learning by trial and error -what to attempt and how to go about it in his breeding experiments, and -he deals as callously as any mechanical engineer with the chemistry -of stock foods and the use and abuse of ferments, germs and enzymes. -The soil specialist talks, thinks and acts in terms of salts, acids, -alkalies, stratifications, 200-mesh siftings, and nitrogen-fixing -organisms. The crop-plant expert looks to handmade cross-fertilisation -and to the Mendelian calculus of hybridisation, with no more imputation -of anthropomorphic traits than the metallurgist who analyses fuels and -fluxes, mixes ores, and with goggled eye scrutinises the shifting tints -of the incandescent gases in the open hearth. It is from such facts so -construed that modern technology is made up, and it is by such channels -that the sense of workmanship has gone to the making of it. - -So the question recurs, How has it come about that this pecuniary -culture--with its institutions drawn in terms of differential advantage -and moved by sentiments that converge on emulative gain and the -invidiously conspicuous waste of goods--has yet furthered the growth -of such a technology, even permissively? In its direct incidence, the -discipline of this pecuniary culture is doubtless inimical to any -advance in workmanlike insight or any matter-of-fact apprehension and -use of objective phenomena. It is a civilisation whose substantial -core is of a subjective kind, in the narrowly subjective, personal, -individualistic sense given by the self-regarding sentiments of -emulous rivalry.[113] But when all is said it is after all a peaceable -culture, on the whole; and indeed the rules of the business game of -profit and loss, forfeit and sequestration, require it to be so. It has -at least that much, and perhaps much else, in common with the great -technological era of the north-European neolithic age. The discipline -to which its peoples are subject may be exacting enough, and its -exactions may run to worldly wisdom rather than to matter-of-fact; -but its invidious distinctions run in terms of price, that is to say -in terms of an objective, impersonal money unit, in the last resort a -metallic weight; and the traffic of daily life under this price system -affords an unremitting exercise in the exact science of making change, -large and small. Even the daydreams of the pecuniary day-dreamer take -shape as a calculus of profit and loss computed in standard units of -an impersonal magnitude, even though the magnitude of these standard -units may on analysis prove to be of a largely putative character. The -imputation under the price system is of an impersonal kind. In the -current apprehension of the pecuniary devotee these magnitudes are -wholly objective, so that in effect the training that comes of busying -himself with them is after all a training in the accurate appreciation -of brute fact. - -At the same time, the instinct of workmanship, being not an acquired -trait, has not been got rid of by disuse; and when the occasion -offers, under the relatively tranquil conditions of this peaceable or -quasi-peaceable pecuniary régime, the ancient proclivity asserts itself -in its ancient force, uneager and asthenic perhaps, but pervasive and -resilient. And when this instinct works out through the Bœotic genius -of the north-European hybrid there is a good chance that the outcome of -such observation and reflection will fall into terms of matter-of-fact, -of such close-shorn naïveté, indeed, as to afford very passable -material for the material sciences and the machine technology. - -So also, the ancient and time-worn civil institutions of the -north-European peoples have apparently not been of the high-wrought -invidious character that comes of long and strenuous training in -the practices and ideals of the patriarchal system; nor are their -prevailing religious conceits extremely drastic, theatrical or -ceremonious, as compared with what is to be found in the cults of the -great dynastic civilisations of the East. On the whole, it is only -through the Middle Ages that these peoples have been subject to the -rigorous servile discipline that characterises a dynastic despotism, -secular or religious; and much of the ancient, pagan and prehistoric -preconceptions on civil and religious matters appear to have stood -over in the habits of thought of the common people even through that -interval of submergence under aristocratic and patriarchal rule. In the -same connection it may be remarked that the blond-hybrid peoples of -Christendom were the last to accept the patriarchal mythology of the -Semites and have also been the first and readiest to shuffle out of it -in the sequel; which suggests the inference that they have never fully -assimilated its spirit; perhaps for lack of a sufficiently strict and -protracted discipline in its ways and ideals, perhaps for lack of a -suitable temperamental ground. - -There is, indeed, a curiously pervasive concomitance, in point of time, -place, and race, between the modern machine technology, the material -sciences, religious scepticism, and that spirit of insubordination that -makes the substance of what are called free or popular institutions. On -none of these heads is the concomitance so close or consistent as to -warrant the conclusion that race and topography alone have made this -modern cultural outcome. The exceptions and side issues are too broad -and too numerous for that; but it is after all a concomitance of such -breadth and scope that it can also not be overlooked. - - * * * * * - -The course of mutations that has brought on this modern technological -episode may be conceived to have run somewhat in the following manner. -For lack of sufficient training in predatory habits of thought (as -shown, e. g., in the incomplete patriarchalism of the north-Europeans) -the predatory culture failed to reach what may be called a normal -maturity in the feudal system of Europe, particularly in the North -and West, where the blond admixture is stronger; by “normal” being -here intended that sequence of growth, institutionalisation, and decay -shown typically by the great dynastic civilisations erected by Semitic -invaders in the East. In the full-charged predatory culture, in its -earlier phases, there appear typically to be present two somewhat -divergent economic principles (habits of thought) both of which have -something of an institutional force: (_a_) The warrant of seizure by -prowess,[114] which commonly comes to vest in the dynastic head in case -a despotic state is established; and (_b_) the prescriptive tenure -of whatever one has acquired. These two institutional factors are at -variance, and according as one or the other of the two finally takes -precedence and rules out or masters its rival postulate, the predatory -culture continues on lines of coercive exploitation, as in these -Asiatic monarchies; or it passes into the quasi-peaceable phase marked -by secure prescriptive tenure of property and a settled nobility, and -presently into a commercialised industrial situation. Either line of -development may, of course, be broken off without having reached a -consummation. - -Within the region of the Western Civilisation, both in north Europe -and repeatedly in the Ægean, the course of events has fallen out in -the line of the latter alternative; the growth of institutions has -shifted from the footing of prowess to that of prescriptive ownership. -So soon as this shift has securely been made, the development of trade, -industry and a technological system has come into the foreground, and -these habitual interests have then reacted on the character of the -institutions in force, thereby accelerating the growth of conditions -favourable to their own further advance. There is, of course, no marked -point of conjuncture in the cultural sequence at which this transition -may definitely be said to have been effected, but in a general way -it may be held that the point of transition has been passed so soon -as the current political and economic speculations uncritically give -precedence to the “commonweal” as against the fiscal interests of -the crown or the “state,” whereby the crown and its officers come, -in theory and public pronouncement, to be rated as guardians of the -community’s material welfare rather than autocratic exploiters of the -community’s productive capacity. Roughly from the same period there -will duly set in something of an acceleration in rate of improvement -in the state of the mechanic arts. This movement seems plainly to come -on the initiative of the lower or industrial classes and to be carried -by their genius, rather than by that of the ruling classes, whether -secular or spiritual. It shows itself, typically, in a growth of -handicraft and petty trade. - -So the sense of workmanship and its associated sentiments again come, -by insensible degrees, to take the first place among the factors -that determine the run of habituation and therefore the character of -the resulting culture,--so making the transition from barbarism to -civilisation, in the narrower sense of the term; which is accordingly -to be characterised, in contrast with the predatory barbarian culture, -as a qualified or mitigated (sophisticated) return to the spirit -of savagery, or at least as a spiritual reversion looking in that -direction, though by no means abruptly reaching the savage plane. The -new phase has this in common with the typical savage culture that -workmanship rather than prowess again becomes the chief or primary norm -of habituation, and therefore of the growth of institutions; and that -there results, therefore, a peaceable bent in the ideals and endeavours -of the community. But it is workmanship combined and compounded with -ownership; that is to say workmanship coupled with an invidious -emulation and consequently with a system of institutions embodying a -range of prescriptive differential benefits. - - -_II. The Competitive System_ - -Dominated by the tradition handed down from the beginning of the -nineteenth century, current economic theory has habitually made -much of accumulated goods as the prime requisite of industry. In -industrial enterprise as it was then carried on the prevailing unit of -organisation was the private firm, with partnership concerns making up -a secondary and less commonplace element in the business community. -Ordinarily and typically these private firms and partnerships -owned a certain material equipment employed in industry, and they -took the initiative in industrial enterprise on the ground of this -ownership; hiring the workmen, buying materials and supplies, and -selling the products of the establishment. Credit relations, such as -go to the creation and conduct of a modern corporation, were still -of secondary consequence, being resorted to rather as an expedient -in emergencies than as the initial move and the substantial ground -of business organisation; the measure of the concern’s magnitude and -consequence was still (typically) its unencumbered ownership of the -material equipment, the size of the plant and the numbers of its hired -workmen. It follows by easy consequence that in the practical business -conceptions of that time the equipment of material means, which -embodies the concern’s assets and affords the ground of its initiative -and its rating in the business community, should commonly be rated as -the prime mover in industry and the chief productive factor. So, also, -the theoretical speculation that drew on that business traffic for its -working concepts came unavoidably to accept these tangible assets, the -community’s material equipment,--implements, livestock, raw materials, -means of subsistence,--as the prime agency in the community’s economic -life. As is true for the working conceptions and principles of -industrial business, so also in the theoretical formulations of the -economists, the community’s immaterial equipment of technological -proficiency is taken for granted as a circumstance of the environment -conditioning the community’s economic life,--the state of the -industrial arts and the current workmanlike aptitudes and efficiency. -As the phrase runs, “given the state of the industrial arts.” - -This is good, homely, traditional common sense; it reflects the -habitual practical run of affairs in the industrial community of that -recent past. Such was the attitude of practical men toward industrial -matters at the time when the current economic situation took its rise. -But such a conception is no longer so true to the practical exigencies -of the immediate present, nor do the men of affairs today habitually -see these matters in just this light; although the principles of the -law that govern industrial enterprise still continue to embody these -time-worn conceptions, to which the economists also continue to yield -allegiance. Like other elements of habitual knowledge this conception -of things is drawn from past experience--chiefly from a past not too -remote for ready comprehension--and it carries over the frame of mind -out of which it arose. - -In the earlier days of the machine industry, then,--say, in the closing -quarter of the eighteenth century,--the conduct of industrial affairs -was in the hands of business men who owned the material equipment -and who directed the use of this equipment and turned it to account -for their own gain, on the prescriptive ground of such ownership. -Discretion and initiative vested in the capitalist-employer, who at -that time, (typically) combined ownership of the plant with a somewhat -immediate supervision and control of the industrial processes. The -directive control of industry, covering both the volume and the -character of the processes and output, was in the typical case directly -bound up with the ownership of the material equipment as such,--as -tangible assets, not as corporation stock-holdings. Since then changes -have come over the business situation, particularly through an -extensive recourse to credit, such that this time-worn conception will -no longer answer the run of current business practice, particularly -not as touches that large-scale enterprise that now rules industrial -affairs and that is currently accepted as the type of modern business -enterprise. - -Among the assumptions of a hundred years ago was the premise, -self-evident to that generation of thoughtful men, that the phase of -commercialised economic life then prevailing was the immutably normal -order of things. And the assumptions surrounding that preconception -were good and competent for a formulation of economic theory that -takes such an institutional situation for granted and assumes it to -be unchanging, or to be a _terminus ad quem_. But for anything like -a genetic account of economic life, early or late, capitalistic or -otherwise, such assumptions and the theoretical propositions and -analyses that follow from them are defective in that they take for -granted what requires to be accounted for. Theoretical speculation -that presupposes the (somewhat old-fashioned) institutions formerly -governing ownership and business traffic, and assumes them to have the -immutable character and indefeasible force _de facto_ which is assigned -them _de jure_, and that likewise assumes as immutable a passing -phase in the “state of the industrial arts,” may serve passably for -a theory of how business affairs should properly arrange themselves -to fit the conditions so assumed; and such, indeed, has commonly -been the character of theoretical formulations touching industry and -business. And as should fairly be expected, in the speculations of -the economists, these theoretical formulations have also commonly been -accompanied by a parallel line of remedial advice designed to show what -preventive measures should be applied to prevent the run of business -practice from doing violence to these assumed conditions that are held -to be immutably normal and indefeasibly right. - -Now, since in the received theories the accumulated “productive goods” -are conceived to be the most consequential factor in industry, and -therefore in the community’s material welfare and in the fortunes of -individuals, it logically follows that the discretionary ownership of -them has come to be accounted the most important relation in which -men may stand to the production of wealth and to the community’s -livelihood; and the pecuniary transactions whereby this ownership is -arranged, manipulated and redistributed are held to be industrially -the most productive of all human activities. It is only during the -nineteenth century that this doctrine of pecuniary productivity has -been worked out into finished shape and has found secure lodgment in -the systematic structure of economic theory--in the current theory of -“the Function of the Entrepreneur;”[115] but it is also only during -this period that business enterprise (pecuniary management) has come -to dominate the economic situation in a substantially unmitigated -degree, so that the material fortunes of the community have come to -depend on these pecuniary negotiations into which its “captains of -industry” enter for their own gain.[116] In the sense that no other -line of activity stands in anything like an equally decisive relation -of initiative or discretion to the industrial process, or bears with a -like weight on the material welfare of the community, these business -negotiations in ownership are unquestionably the prime factor in modern -industry. But that such is the case is due to the peculiar institutions -of modern times and to the peculiar current state of the industrial -arts; and the former of these peculiar circumstances is conditioned by -the latter. - - * * * * * - -It is not practicable to assign a hard and fast date from which this -modern era began, with its peculiar scheme of economic life and the -economic conceptions that characterise it. The date will vary from -one country to another, and even from one industrial class to another -within the same country. But it can be said that historically the -modern era begins with the rise of handicraft; it is along the line -of growth marked out by the development of handicraft that the modern -technology has emerged, together with that industrial organisation and -those pecuniary conceptions of economic efficiency and serviceability -that have gradually come to their current state of maturity on the -ground afforded by this technology. What historically lies back of the -era of handicraft is not of a piece with the economic situation of -modern times; nor is it characteristic of the Western civilisation, -as contrasted with the agricultural and predatory civilisations of -antiquity. - -As indicated in an earlier chapter, in speaking of the decay of -the predatory (feudalistic) régime and its servile agricultural -organisation of industry, when peace and order supervene the instinct -of workmanship by insensible degrees and in an uncertain measure -supplants the invidious self-regarding sentiments that actuate the -life of prowess and servility characteristic of that culture; so that -workmanship comes again into the foreground among the instinctive -propensities that shape the community’s habitual interest and so bend -the course of its institutional growth and determine the bias of its -common sense. - -The habitual outlook and the bias given by the handicraft system are of -a twofold character--technological and pecuniary. The craftsman was an -artificer engaged in mechanical operations, working with tools of which -he had the mastery, and employing mechanical processes the mysteries -of which were familiar to his everyday habits of thought; but from the -beginning of the era of handicraft and throughout his industrial life -he was also more or less of a trader. He stood in close relation with -some form of market, and his proficiency as a craftsman was brought -to a daily practical test in the sale of his wares or services, no -less than in the workmanlike fashioning of them. Also, the price as -well as the workmanlike quality of the goods presently became subject -of regulation under the rules of the crafts; and the petty trade -which grew up as an occupation accessory to the handicraft industry -was itself organised on lines analogous to the crafts proper and was -regulated by similar principles; the trader’s work being accounted -serviceable, or productive, in the same general sense as that of any -other craftsman and being recognised as equitably entitling those who -pursued it to a fair livelihood. - -The handicraft system was an organised and regulated system of -workmanship and self-help; and under the conditions imposed by its -technology proficiency in the latter respect was no less indispensable -and no less to the purpose than in the former. Both counted equally -and in combination toward the successful working of the system, which -is a practicable plan of economic life only so long as the craftsmen -combine both of these capacities in good force and only so long as the -technological exigencies admit the exercise of both in conjunction. The -system broke down so soon as the state of the industrial arts no longer -enabled the workmen to acquire the necessary technological proficiency -and do the required work at the same time that they each and several -were able to oversee and pursue their individual pecuniary interests. -With the coming on of a wider and more extensively differentiated -technological scheme, and with wider and remoter market relations, due -in the main to increased facilities of transportation, these necessary -conditions of a practicable handicraft economy gradually failed, and -the practice of industrial investments and the larger commerce then -gradually supplanted it. - -The discipline of everyday life under the handicraft economy was a -discipline in pecuniary self-help as well as in workmanship. In the -popular ideal as well as in point of practical fact the complete -craftsman stood shrewdly on his individual proficiency in maintaining -his own pecuniary advantage, as well as on his trained workmanship; -and the gilds were organised to maintain the craft’s advantages in the -market, as well as to regulate the quality of the output. The craft -rules governing the quality of the output of goods were in the main -enforced with a view to the maintenance of price, and so with a view -to securing an adequate livelihood for the craftsmen. Efficiency in -the crafts came in this way presently to be counted very much as the -modern “efficiency engineers” would count it,--proximately in terms -of mechanical performance, ultimately in terms of price, and more -particularly in terms of net gain. So that the habits of life ingrained -in the gildsman, and in the community at large where the gild system -prevailed, comprised as a main fact a meticulous regard for details of -ownership and for pecuniary claims and obligations. It is out of this -insistent, pervasive, and minutely concrete discipline in the practice -and logic of pecuniary detail that there have arisen those “natural -rights” of property and those “business principles” that have been -taken over by the later era of the machine industry and capitalistic -investment. - -The rules of the gild, as well as the larger legislative provisions -that had to do with gild regulations, were avowedly drawn with a view -to securing the gildsman in a fair customary livelihood, and the -measures logically adopted to this end were designed to secure him in -the enjoyment and disposal of the returns of his work as well as in his -right to pursue his trade within the rules laid down for the collective -welfare by the gild. With due training in this logic of the handicraft -system it became a plain matter of common sense that the craftsman -should equitably be entitled to whatever he can get for his work under -the conventionally settled rules of the trade, and should be free to -make the most of his capacities in all that pertains to his pursuit of -a livelihood; and the like principles (habits of thought) apply to the -traffic of the petty trade; which, being presently interpreted in terms -of contract and investment, has come to mean the right to do business -and to enjoy and dispose of the returns from all bargains made in due -form. - -Presently, as the technological situation gradually changed its -character through extensions and specialisation in appliances and -processes--perhaps especially through changes in the means of -communication and in the density of population--the handicraft system -with its petty trade outgrew itself and broke down in a new phase of -the pecuniary culture. The increasingly wide differentiation between -workmanship and salesmanship grew into a “division of labour” between -industry and business, between industrial and pecuniary occupations,--a -disjunction of ownership and its peculiar cares, privileges and -proficiency from workmanship. By this division of labour, or divergence -of function, a fraction of the community came to specialise in -ownership and pecuniary traffic, and so came to constitute a business -community occupied with pecuniary affairs, running along beside the -industrial community proper, with a development of practices and usages -peculiar to its own needs and bearing only indirectly on the further -development of the industrial system or on the state of the industrial -arts. - -Master-workmen with means would employ other workmen without means, -and might or might not themselves continue to work at the trade. Petty -traders or hucksters, nominally members of some craft gild, would -grow wealthy with the increasing volume of traffic and would organise -a more and more extensive household (sweatshop) industry to meet the -increasing demands of their market; or they might become jobbers, carry -on more far-reaching trade operations over a longer term, withdraw -more distantly from the actual work of the craft, and in the course of -a generation or two (as, e. g., the Fuggers) would grow into merchant -princes and financiers who maintained but a remote and impersonal -relation to the crafts. Or, again, the associated merchants (as, e. g., -those of the Hansa) would establish depots and agents, “factories,” -that would gradually assemble something of a working force of craftsmen -to sort, warehouse and finish the products which they handled, at the -same time that they would exercise an increasingly close and extensive -oversight of the industries from which these products were derived; -until these depots, under the management of the factors, in some cases -grew into factories in somewhat the modern acceptance of the term. In -one way and another this trading or huckstering traffic, which had -been intimately associated with the handicraft industry and gild life, -branched off in the course of time as the industries advanced to a -larger scale and a more extensive specialisation; and this increasing -“division of labour” between workmanship and salesmanship led presently -to such a segregation of the traders out of the body of craftsmen as to -give rise to a business community devoted to pecuniary management alone. - -But the principles on which the new and larger business was conducted -were the same as those on which the earlier petty trade had been -carried on, and therefore the same in point of derivation and tenor -as had been worked out by long experience within the handicraft system -proper. Business traffic was an outgrowth of the handicraft system, and -it was in as secure a position in respect of legitimacy and legal and -customary guaranty as the industrial system from which its principles -were derived and from which its gains were drawn. - -The source from which the new line of businessmen drew the -accumulations of wealth by force of which they were enabled to do -business is somewhat in dispute; but however interesting a question -that may be in its own right, it does not particularly concern the -present inquiry, and the like is true for the still more interesting -and spectacular phenomena that marked the growth and decline of that -early business era that ran its course within the life-history of -the handicraft system.[117] Throughout that great period of business -activity on the continent of Europe that gathered head in the sixteenth -century and that closed in decay and collapse in the seventeenth, -the principles (habits of thought) which underlay, authenticated and -animated the business community and its pecuniary traffic continued to -be much the same as animated the body of craftsmen in their pecuniary -relations from the beginning of the era of handicraft to its close. -Such, in its turn, was also the case with the later business era that -set in with the great industrial advance of England in the Eighteenth -Century, and such continued to be the case through the greater part -of its life-history in the Nineteenth Century. Of the latterday and -latest developments in business practice and principles the like -cannot unhesitatingly be said, but this too is a matter that does not -immediately concern the inquiry at this point. But the principles of -the new and larger business were the same as had been slowly worked -out under the system of petty trade. These business principles have -proved to be very tenacious and stable, even in the face of apparently -adverse technological circumstances, coming as they do out of a long -and rigorous habituation of very wide sweep and having acquired the -authenticity due to formal recognition in legal decisions and to the -painstaking definition given them in the course of a protracted and -exacting struggle against the institutional remnants of the feudal -system. These circumstances attending the genesis and growth of -modern business principles have led to their being formulated in a -well-defined conceptual scheme of customary right and also to their -embodiment in statutory form. To this, perhaps, they owe much of -their tenacious resistance to latterday exigencies that have tended -to modify or abrogate them. In their elements, of course, these -business principles are even older than the era of handicraft, being -substantially of the same nature as that sentimental impulse to -self-aggrandisement that lies at the root of the predatory culture and -so makes the substantial core of all pecuniary civilisations. - -The distinguishing mark of any business era, as contrasted with the -handicraft economy, is the supreme dominance of pecuniary principles, -both as standards of efficiency and as canons of conduct. In such -a businesslike community efficiency is rated in terms of pecuniary -gain; and in so far as business principles rule, efficiency in any -other direction than business traffic can claim recognition only in -the measure in which it may be reduced to terms of pecuniary gain. -Workmanship, therefore, comes to be rated in terms of salesmanship. And -the canons of workmanship, and even of technological efficiency, fall -more and more into pecuniary lines and allow pecuniary tests to decide -on points of serviceability. - -The instinct of workmanship is accordingly contaminated with ideals -of self-aggrandisement and the canons of invidious emulation, so that -even the serviceability of any given action or policy for the common -good comes to be rated in terms of the pecuniary gain which such -conduct will bring to its author. Any pecuniary strategist--“captain -of industry”--who manages to engross appreciably more than an even -share of the community’s wealth is therefore likely to be rated as a -benefactor of the community at large and an exemplar of the social -virtues; whereas the man who works and does not manage to divert -something more from the aggregate product to his own use than what one -man’s work may contribute to it is visited not only with dispraise -for having fallen short of a decent measure of efficiency but also -with moral reprobation for shiftlessness and wasted opportunities. So -also, to the current common sense in a community trained to pecuniary -rather than to workmanlike discrimination between articles of use, -those articles which serve their material use in a conspicuously -wasteful manner commend themselves as more serviceable, nobler and more -beautiful than such goods as do not embody such a margin of waste.[118] - -Under this system of business principles, in one way and another, -the sense of workmanship is contaminated in all its ramifications by -preconceptions of pecuniary merit and invidious distinction. But what -is here immediately in question is its deflection into the channels -of gainful business, together with the more obvious consequences that -follow directly from the substitution of differential gain in the -place of material serviceability as the end to which the instinctive -propensity of workmanship so comes to drive men’s ideals and efforts -under the discipline of the pecuniary culture. - - * * * * * - -For the purposes of a genetic inquiry into this modern business -situation and its bearing on the sense of workmanship and on the -technological phenomena in which that instinct comes to an expression, -it is necessary summarily to recall certain current facts pertinent -to the case: (_a_) It is a competitive system; that is to say it is a -system of pecuniary rivalry and contention which proceeds on stable -institutions of property and contract, under conditions of peace and -order. (_b_) It is a price system, i. e., the competition runs in terms -of money, and the money unit is the standard measure of efficiency and -achievement; hence competition and efficiency are subject to a rigorous -accountancy in terms of a (putatively) stable money unit, which is in -all business traffic assumed to be invariable. (_c_) Technologically -this situation is dominated by the mechanical industries; so much -so that even the arts of husbandry have latterly taken on much of -the character of the mechanic arts. Hence a somewhat thoroughgoing -standardisation of processes and products in mechanical terms; which -for business purposes has with a fair degree of success been made -convertible into terms of price, and so made subject to accountancy -in terms of price. (_d_) Hence consumption is also standardised, -proximately in mechanical terms of consumable products but finally, -through the mechanism of the market, in terms of price, and like other -price phenomena consumption also is competitively subject to and -enforced by the like accountancy in terms of the money unit. (_e_) -The typical industries, which set the pace for productive work, for -competitive gains, and through the standard rates of gain ultimately -also for competitive consumption, are industries carried on on a large -scale; that is to say they are such as to require a large material -equipment, a wide recourse to technological insight and proficiency, -and a large draught on the material resources of the community. (_f_) -This material equipment--industrial plant and natural resources--is -held in private ownership, with negligible exceptions; the noteworthy -exceptions to this rule, as e. g., harbours, highways, and the like, -serving chiefly as accessory means of industry and so come in chiefly -as a gratuitous supplement to the industrial equipment held in private -ownership and used for competitive gain. (_g_) Technological knowledge -and proficiency is in the main held and transmitted pervasively by -the community at large, but it is also held in part--more obviously -because exceptionally--by specially trained classes and individual -workmen. Relatively little, in effect a negligible proportion, of -this technological knowledge and skill is in any special sense held -by the owners of the industrial equipment, more particularly not by -the owners of the typical large-scale industries. That is to say, -the technologically proficient workmen do not in the typical case -own or control any appreciable proportion of the material equipment -or of the natural resources to which this technological knowledge -and skill applies and in the use of which it takes effect. (_h_) It -results that the owners of this large material equipment, including the -natural resources, have a discretionary control of the technological -proficiency of the community at large, as well as of those special -lines of insight and skill that are vested in these specially trained -expert men in whom a specialised proficiency is added to the general -proficiency that is diffused through the community at large. (_i_) In -effect, therefore, the owners of the necessary material equipment own -also the working capacity of the community and the usufruct of the -state of the industrial arts. Except for their effective ownership -of these elements of productive efficiency their ownership of the -material equipment of industry would be of no effect. But the usufruct -of this productive capacity of the community and its trained workmen -vests in the owners of the material equipment only with the contingent -qualification that if the community does this work it must be allowed -a livelihood, whereby the gross returns that go in the first instance -to these owners suffer abatement by that much. This required livelihood -is adjusted to a conventional standard of living which, under the -current circumstances of pecuniary emulation, is in great part--perhaps -chiefly--a standardised schedule of conspicuous waste. - -In what has just been said above, the view is implied that the -owners of the material means, who are in great part also the -employers of workmen and are sentimentally spoken of as “captains -of industry,” have, in effect and commonly, but a relatively loose -grasp of the technological facts, possibilities, and requirements -of modern industry, and that by virtue of their business training -they are able to make but a scant and uncertain use of such loose -ideas as they have on these heads. To anyone imbued with the -commonplaces of current economic theory it may seem that exception -should dutifully be taken to this view, as being an understatement -of the businessmen’s technological merits. In current theoretical -formulations the businessman is discussed under the caption of -“entrepreneur,” “undertaker,” etc., and his gains are spoken of as -“wages of superintendence,” “wages of management,” and the like. He -is conceived as an expert workman in charge of the works, a superior -foreman of the shop, and his gains are accounted a remuneration for his -creative contribution to the process of production, due to his superior -insight and initiative in technological matters. This conception of -the businessman and his relation to industry has stood over from an -earlier period, the period of the small-scale industry of handicraft -and petty trade, when it still was true that the owner-employer, in the -typical case, kept a personal oversight of his workmen and their work, -and so filled the place of master-workman as well as that of buyer and -seller of materials and finished goods. And such a characterisation -of the businessman and his work will still hold true in the modern -situation in so far as he still is occupied with industry conducted -on the same small scale and continues to fill the place of a foreman -of the shop. But under current conditions--the conditions of the past -half century--and more particularly under the conditions of that -large-scale industry that is currently accounted the type of modern -industry, the businessman has ceased to be foreman of the shop, and -his surveillance of industry has ceased effectually to comprise a -technological management of its details; and in corresponding measure -this traditional theoretical conception of the businessman has ceased -to apply. - -The view here spoken for, that the modern businessman is necessarily -out of effectual touch with the affairs of technology as such and -incompetent to exercise an effectual surveillance of the processes -of industry, is not a matter of bias or of vague opinion; it has in -fact become a matter of statistical demonstration. Even a cursory -survey of the current achievements of these great modern industries -as managed by businessmen, taken in contrast with the opportunities -offered them, should convince anyone of the technological unfitness of -this business management of industry. Indeed, the captains of industry -have themselves latterly begun to recognise their own inefficiency in -this respect, and even to appreciate that a businessman’s management -of industrial processes is not good even for the business purpose--the -net pecuniary gain. And it is all the more ineffectual for the -purposes of workmanship as distinct from the businessmen’s gains. -So, a professional class of “efficiency engineers” is coming into -action, whose duty it is to take invoice of the preventable wastes -and inefficiencies due to the business management of industry and -to present the case in such concrete and obvious terms of price and -percentage as the businessmen in charge will be able to comprehend. -These men, in a way, take over the functions assigned in economic -theory to the “entrepreneur;” in that they are men of general -technological training and insight, who go into their inquiry on the -ground of workmanship, take their data in terms of workmanship and -convert them into terms of business expediency, somewhat to the same -purpose as the like work of conversion was done by the owner-employers -under that small-scale system of industrial enterprise from which the -current theoretical concept of the “entrepreneur” was derived. It is -then the duty of these efficiency engineers to present the results so -obtained, for the conviction and guidance of the businessmen in charge, -who thereupon, if their business training has left them enough of a -sense of workmanship, will give permissive instructions to the expert -workmen in direct charge of the industrial processes to put these -statistically indicated changes into effect. It is the testimony of -these efficiency engineers that relatively few pecuniary captains in -command of industrial enterprises have a sufficient comprehension of -the technological facts to understand and accept the findings of the -technological experts who so argue for the elimination of preventable -wastes, even when the issue is presented statistically in terms of -price. These men go about their work of ascertaining the efficiency, -actual and potential, of any given plant, process, working force, -or parcel of material resources, by the methods of precise physical -measurement familiar to mechanical engineers, and as an outcome they -have no hesitation in speaking of preventable wastes amounting to ten, -twenty, fifty, or even ninety per-cent, in the common run of American -industries.[119] - -The work of the efficiency engineers being always done in the service -of business and with a view to business expediency, their findings -bear directly on the business exigencies of the case alone, and give -definitive results only in terms of price and profits. How much -greater the ascertained discrepancies in the case would appear if -these findings could be reduced to terms of serviceability to the -community at large, there is no means of forming a secure conjecture. -That the discrepancy would in such case prove to be appreciably greater -than that shown by the price rating is not doubtful. Under such an -appraisal, where the given industrial enterprises would be brought to -the test of net serviceability to the community instead of the net -gain of the interested businessmen, many industrial enterprises would -doubtless show a waste of appreciably more than one hundred per cent of -their current output, being rather disserviceable to the community’s -material welfare than otherwise. - -That the business community is so permeated with incapacity and lack -of insight in technological matters is doubtless due proximately to -the fact that their attention is habitually directed to the pecuniary -issue of industrial enterprise; but more fundamentally and unavoidably -it is due to the large volume and intricate complications of the -current technological scheme, which will not permit any man to become a -competent specialist in an alien and exacting field of endeavour, such -as business enterprise, and still acquire and maintain an effectual -working acquaintance with the state of the industrial arts. The current -technological scheme cannot be mastered as a matter of commonplace -information or a by-occupation incidental to another pursuit. The -same advance to a large and exhaustive technological system, in the -machine industry, that has thrown the direction of industrial affairs -into the hands of men primarily occupied with pecuniary management has -also made it impossible for men so circumstanced at all adequately to -exercise the oversight and direction of industry thereby required at -their hands. And the ancient principles of self-help and pecuniary -gain by virtue of which these men are held to their work of business -enterprise make it also impossible for them adequately to surrender the -discretionary care of the industrial processes to other hands or to -permit the management of industry to proceed on other than these same -business principles. - -This technological infirmity of the businessmen assuredly does not -arise from a lack of interest in industry, since it is only out of -the net product of industry that the business community’s gains are -drawn--except so far as they are substantially gains of accountancy -merely, due to an inflation of values. Perhaps no class of men have -ever been more keenly alert in their interest in industrial matters -than the modern businessmen; and this interest extends not only to -the industrial ventures in which they may for the time be pecuniarily -“interested,” but also and necessarily to other lines of industry -that are more or less closely correlated with the one in which the -given businessman’s fortunes are embarked; for under modern market -conditions any given line of industrial enterprise is bound in endless -relations of give and take with all the rest. But this unremitting -attention of businessmen to the affairs of industry is a business -attention, and, so far as may be, it touches nothing but the pecuniary -phenomena connected with the ownership of industry; so that it comes -rather to a training in the art of keeping in touch with the pecuniary -run of business affairs while avoiding all undue intimacy with the -technological facts of industry,--undue in the sense of being in excess -of what may serve the needs of a comprehensive short-term outlook over -market relations, and which would therefore divert attention from this -main interest and befog the pecuniary logic by which businessmen are -governed. - -Probably, also, no class of men have ever bent more unremittingly to -their work than the modern business community. Within the business -community there is properly speaking no leisure class, or at least -no idle class. In this respect there is a notable contrast between -the business community and the landed interest. What there is to be -found in this modern culture in the way of an idle class, considered -as an institution, runs back for its origins and its specific -traits to a more archaic cultural scheme; it is a survival from an -earlier (predatory) phase of the pecuniary culture. In the nature -of things an idle life of fashion is an affair of the nobility -(gentry), of predatory antecedents and, under current conditions, of -predatory-parasitic habits; and as regards those modern rich men who -withdraw from the business community and fall into a state of _otium -cum dignitate_, it is commonly their fortune to be assimilated by a -more or less ceremonial induction into the body of this quasi-predatory -gentry or nobility and so assume an imitative colouring of archaism. - -The business community is hard at work, and there is no place in it -for anyone who is unable or unwilling to work at the high tension of -the average; and since this close application to pecuniary work is of -a competitive nature it leaves no chance for any of the competitors -to apply himself at all effectually to other than pecuniary work. -This high tension of work is felt to be very meritorious in all -modern communities, somewhat in proportion as they are modern; as is -necessarily the case in any work that is substantially of an emulative -character. It spends itself on salesmanship, not on workmanship in the -naïve sense; although the all-pervading preoccupation with pecuniary -matters in modern times has led to its being accounted the type of -workmanlike endeavour. It concerns itself ultimately with the pecuniary -manipulation of the material equipment of industry, though there is -much of it that does not bear immediately on that point. The exceptions -under this broad proposition are more apparent than real, although -there doubtless are exceptions actual as well as apparent. In such a -case the business transactions in question are likely to bear on the -ownership of certain specific elements of the immaterial technological -equipment, as e. g., habits of thought covered by parent-right or -mechanical expedients covered by franchise. Beyond these there are -elements of “good-will” that are subject of traffic and that consist -in preferential advantages in respect of purely pecuniary transactions -having to do not with the material equipment but with the right to -deal with it and its management, as e. g., in banking, underwriting, -insurance, and the phenomena of the money market at large. - - * * * * * - -But the mature business situation as it runs today is a complex -affair, large and intricate, wherein the effective relations in -which business traffic stands to workmanship and to the community’s -immaterial equipment of technological knowledge at large are -greatly obscured by their own convolutions and by the institutional -arrangements and convictions to which this traffic has given rise. So -that the matter is best approached by way of a genetic exposition that -shall take as its point of departure that simpler business enterprise -of early modern times out of which the larger development of the -present has grown by insensible accretions and displacements. - -Business enterprise came in the course of time to take over the affairs -of industry and so to withdraw these affairs from the tutelage of the -gilds. This shifting of the effectual discretion in the management -of industrial affairs came on gradually and in varying fashion and -degree over a considerable interval of time. But the decisive general -circumstance that enforced this move into the modern way of doing was -an advance in the scope and method of workmanship.[120] What threw the -fortunes of the industrial community into the hands of the owners of -accumulated wealth was essentially a technological change, or rather a -complex of technological changes, which so enlarged the requirements -in respect of material equipment that the impecunious workmen could -no longer carry on their trade except by a working arrangement with -the owners of this equipment; whereby the discretionary control of -industry was shifted from the craftsmen’s technological mastery of -the ways of industry to the owner’s pecuniary mastery of the material -means. In the change that so took place to a larger technological scale -much was doubtless due to the extension of trade, itself in great part -an outcome of technological changes, directly and indirectly. For the -craftsmen and their work the outcome was that recourse must be had to -the material equipment owned by those who owned it, and on such terms -as would content the owners; whereby the usufruct of the workmen’s -proficiency and of the state of the industrial arts fell to the owners -of the material equipment, on such terms as might be had.[121] So it -fell to these owners of the material means and of the products of -industry to turn this technological situation to account for their -own gain, with as little abatement as might be, and at the same time -it became incumbent on them each and several competitively to divert -as large a share of the community’s productive efficiency to his own -profit as the circumstances would permit. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ERA OF HANDICRAFT[122] - - -Owing, probably, to the peculiar topography of Europe, small-scale and -broken, the pastoral-predatory culture has never been fully developed -or naturalised in this region; nor has a monarchy of the great type -characteristic of western Asia ever run its course in Europe. The -nearest approach to such a despotic state would be the Roman Empire; -which was after all essentially Mediterranean, largely Levantine, -rather than peculiarly European. And owing probably to the same -conditioning limitations of topography the subsequent sequence of -institutional phenomena have also been characteristically different in -this European region from that in the large and fertile lands of the -near East. It is necessarily this run of events in the Western culture -that is of chief interest to the present inquiry; which will therefore -most conveniently follow the historical outlines of this culture in its -later phases, in so far as these outlines are to be drawn in economic -terms of a large generality. - - * * * * * - -In a passably successful fashion the peoples of Christendom made the -transition from a frankly predatory and servile establishment, in the -Dark Ages, to a settled, quasi-peaceable situation resting on fairly -secure property rights, chiefly in land, by the close of the Middle -Ages. This transition was accompanied by a growth of handicraft, -itinerant merchandising and industrial towns, so massive as to outlive -and displace the feudal system under whose tutelage it took its rise, -and of so marked a technological character as to have passed into -history as the “era of handicraft.” Technologically, this era is -marked by an ever advancing growth of craftsmanship; until it passes -over into the régime of the machine industry when its technology had -finally outgrown those limitations of handicraft and petty trade that -gave it its character as a distinct phase of economic history. In its -beginning the handicraft system was made up of impecunious craftsmen, -working in severalty and working for a livelihood, and the rules of the -craft-gilds that presently took shape and exercised control were drawn -on that principle.[123] The petty trade which characteristically runs -along with the development of handicraft was carried on after the same -detail fashion and was presently organised on lines afforded by the -same principle of work for a livelihood. - -Presently, however, in early modern times, larger holdings of property -came to be employed in the itinerant trade, and investment for a profit -found its way into this trade as also into the handicraft system -proper. The processes of industry grew more extensive and roundabout, -the specialisation of occupations (“division of labour”) increased, -the scale of organisation grew larger, and the practice of employing -impecunious workmen in organised bodies under the direction of -wealthier masters came to be the prevailing form taken by the industry -of the time. - -From near the beginnings of the handicraft system, and throughout the -period of its flourishing, the output of the industry was habitually -sold at a price, in terms of money. In the earlier days the price -was regulated on the basis of labour cost, on the principle that a -competent craftsman must be allowed a fair livelihood, and much thought -and management was spent on the determination and maintenance of -such a “just price.” But in the course of generations, with further -development of trade and markets, this conception of price by degrees -gave way to or passed over into the modern presumption that any article -of value is worth what it will bring; until, when the era of handicraft -and petty trade merges in the late-modern régime of investment and -machine industry, it has become the central principle of pecuniary -relations that price is a matter to be arranged freely between buyer -and seller on the basis of bargain and sale. - -The characteristic traits of this era are the handicraft industry and -the petty trade which handled the output of that industry, with the -trade gradually coming into a position of discretionary management, -and even dominating the industry of the craftsmen to such an extent -that by the date when the technology of handicraft begins to give way -to the factory organisation and the machine industry the workmen are -already somewhat fully under the control of the businessmen. Visibly, -the ruling cause of this change in the relations between the craftsmen -on the one hand and the traders and master-employers on the other hand -was the increasing magnitude of the material means necessary to the -pursuit of industry, due to such a growth of technology as required an -ever larger, more finished and more costly complement of appliances. -So that in the course of the era of handicraft the ancient relation -between owners and workmen gradually re-established itself within the -framework of the new technology; with the difference that the owners in -whose hands the discretion now lay, and to whose gain the net output of -industry now inured, were the businessmen, investors, the owners of the -industrial plant and of the apparatus of trade, instead of as formerly -the owners of the soil. - - * * * * * - -Under the handicraft system, and to the extent to which that system -shaped the situation, the instinct of workmanship again came into a -dominant position among the factors that made up the discipline of -daily life and so gave their characteristic bent to men’s habits of -thought. In the technology of handicraft the central fact is always the -individual workman, whether in the crafts proper or in the petty trade. -In that era industry is conceived in terms of the skill, initiative -and application of the trained individual, and human relations outside -of the workshop tend also by force of habit to be conceived in similar -terms of self-sufficient individuals, each working out his own ends in -severalty. - -The position of the craftsman in the economy of that time is peculiarly -suited to induce a conception of the individual workman as a creative -agent standing on his own bottom, and as an ultimate, irreducible -factor in the community’s make-up. He draws on the resources of his -own person alone; neither his ancestry nor the favour of his neighbours -have visibly yielded him anything beyond an equivalent for work done; -he owes nothing to inherited wealth or prerogative, and he is bound -in no relation of landlord or tenant to the soil. With his slight -outfit of tools he is ready and competent of his own motion to do the -work that lies before him, and he asks nothing but an even chance to -do what he is fit to do. Even the training which has given him his -finished skill he has come by through no special favour or advantage, -having given an equivalent for it all in the work done during his -apprenticeship and so having to all appearance acquired it by his -own force and diligence. The common stock of technological knowledge -underlying all special training was at that time still a sufficiently -simple and obvious matter, so that it was readily acquired in the -routine of work, without formal application to the learning of it; and -any indebtedness to the community at large or to past generations for -such common stock of information would therefore not be sufficiently -apparent to admit of its disturbing the craftsman’s naïve appraisal of -his productive capacity in the simple and complacent terms of his own -person. - -The man who does things, who is creatively occupied with fashioning -things for use, is the central fact in the scheme of things under -the handicraft system, and the range of concepts by use of which -the technological problems of that era are worked out is limited by -the habit of mind so induced in those who have the work in hand and -in those who see it done. The discipline of the crafts inculcates -the apprehension of mechanical facts and processes in terms of -workmanlike endeavour and achievement; so that questions as to what -forces are available for use, and of how to turn them to account, -present themselves in terms of muscular force and manual dexterity. -Mechanical appliances for use in industry are designed and worked out -as contrivances to facilitate or to abridge manual labour, and it is in -terms of labour that the whole industrial system is conceived and its -incidence, value and output rated. - -Such a fashion of conceiving the operations and appliances of industry -seems at the same time to fall in closely with men’s natural bent -as given by the native instinct of workmanship; and fostered by the -consistent drift of daily routine under the handicraft system this -attitude grew into matter of course, and has continued to direct -men’s thinking on industrial matters even long after the era of -handicraft has passed and given place to the factory system and the -large machine industry. So much so that throughout the nineteenth -century, in economic speculations as well as in popular speech, the -mechanical plant employed in industry has habitually been spoken of as -“labour saving devices;” even such palpable departures from the manual -workmanship of handicraft as the power loom, the smelting furnace, -artificial waterways and highways, the steam engine and telegraphic -apparatus, have been so classed. - -There need be no question but that these phenomena of the machine era -will bear such an interpretation; the point of interest here is that -such an interpretation should have been resorted to and should have -commended itself as adequate and satisfactory when applied to these -mechanical facts whose effective place in technology and in its -bearing on the economy of human life has turned out to be so widely -different from that range of manual operations with which it is so -sought to assimilate them.[124] - -The discipline of the handicraft industry enforces an habitual -apprehension of mechanical forces and processes in terms of manual -workmanship,--muscular force and craftsmanlike manipulation. This -discipline touches first, and most intimately and coercively, the -classes engaged in the manual work of industry, but it also necessarily -pervades the community at large and gathers in its net all individuals -and classes who have to do with the facts of industry, near or remote. -It gives its specific character to the habits of life of the community -that lives under its dispensation and by its means, and so it acts as -an overruling formative guide in shaping the current habits of thought. - -The consequences of this habitual attitude, for the technology of the -machine era that presently follows, are worth noting. The mechanical -inventions and expedients that lead over from the era of handicraft, -through what has been called the industrial revolution, to the -later system of large industry, bear the marks of their handicraft -origin. The early devices of the machine industry are uniformly -contrivances for performing by mechanical means the same motions which -the craftsmen in the given industries performed by hand and by man -power; in great part, indeed, they set out with being contrivances to -enable the workmen to perform the same manual operation in duplicate -or multiple--(as in the early spinning and weaving machinery) or to -perform a given operation with larger effect than was possible to the -unaided muscular work (as in the beginnings of steam power). In their -beginnings the new mechanical appliances are conceived as improved -tools, which extend the reach and power of the workman or which -facilitate or lighten the manual operations in which he spends himself. -They are, as they aim to be, labour saving devices, designed to further -the workmanlike efficiency of the men in whose hands they are placed. - -The early history of steam power shows how closely this workmanlike -conception limited the range of invention. It was first employed to -pump water out of mines. In this use the pressure of the air on a -piston, in a low-pressure cylinder, was brought to bear on a lever -so suspended as to yield formally the same motion as a like lever -previously moved by human muscle. After a long interval, sufficiently -long to make the use of this intermittent pressure and the resulting -reciprocating motion familiar and impersonal in men’s habitual -apprehension, the reciprocating motion was turned to use to produce a -rotary motion,--after the fashion suggested by the treadle of a lathe -or spinning wheel, which was already familiar enough to have been -divested of something of that fog of personality that had doubtless -surrounded it at its first invention.[125] The next serious move in -the development of the steam engine is the invention of the automatic -valves, for admission and escape of steam from the cylinder. According -to the ancient myth, a boy whose work it was to shift the valves by -hand, contrived to connect them by cords with the moving parts of -the machine in such a way as to lift them at the proper moment by -the motion of the machine itself; so making the machine perform what -had in the original concept of the valve mechanism been a manual -operation. Later still, after the due interval for externalisation -and assimilation of this mechanical valve movement as an impersonal -fact of the machine process, further improvement and elaboration of -the elements so gained has worked out in the highly finished mechanism -familiar to later times. - -Detail scrutiny of any one of the greater mechanical inventions, or -series of inventions, will bring out something of the same character as -is seen in the sequence of successive gains that make up the history -of the steam engine. It is to be noted in this connection that time -appears to be of the essence of the process of mechanical invention -in any field; so much so, indeed, that it will commonly be found that -any single inventor contributes but one radical innovation in any one -particular connection; which may then presently be taken up again as a -securely objective element by a later inventor and pushed forward by -a new move as radical as that to which this original invention owed -its origin. This time interval which plays such a part in mechanical -inventions appears necessary only as an interval of habituation, for -the due externalisation of the element, to relieve it, by neglect, of -the personal equation with which it is contaminated as it first comes -into use, and so to leave it such an objective concept as may be turned -to account as mere technological raw material. - -It appears, then, that the accumulation of technological experience is -not of itself sufficient to bring out a consecutive improvement of the -industrial arts, particularly not such an advance in the industrial -arts as is embodied in the machine technology of late-modern times. -In this modern machine technology the ruling norm is the highly -impersonal, not to say brutal, concept of mechanical process, blind -and irresponsible. The logic of this technology, accordingly, is the -logic of the machine process,--a logic of masses, velocities, strains -and thrusts, not of personal dexterity, tact, training, and routine. -In the degree in which the information that comes to hand comes -encumbered with a teleological bias, a connotation of personal bent, it -is unavailable or refractory under this logic. But all new information -is infused with such an anthropomorphic colouring of personality; -which may presently decay and give place to a more objective habitual -apprehension of the facts in case use and wont play up the mechanical -character and bearing of these facts in subsequent experience of them; -or which may on the other hand end by giving its definitive character -and value to the acquired information in case it should happen that -the facts of experience are by use and wont bent to an habitual -anthropomorphic rating and employment. To serve the needs of this -machine technology, therefore, the information which accumulates must -in some measure be divested of its naïve personal colouring by use -and wont; and the degree in which this effect is had is a measure of -the degree of availability of the resulting facts for the uses of the -machine technology. The larger the available body of information of -this character, and the more comprehensive and unremitting the share -taken by the discipline of the machine process in the routine of daily -life, therefore, the greater, other things equal, will be the rate of -advance in the technological mastery of mechanical facts. - -But much else goes to the make-up of use and wont besides the routine -of industry and the utilisation of those mechanical processes and -that output of goods which the modern machine industry places at -men’s disposal. To put the same thing in terms already employed in -another connection, the sense of workmanship is still subject to -contamination with other impulsive elements of human nature working -under the constraining limitations imposed by divers conventional -canons and principles of conduct; besides being constantly subject to -self-contamination in the way of an anthropomorphic interpretation that -construes the facts of experience in terms of a craftsmanlike bent. - -As bearing on the effectual reach of this self-contamination of the -sense of workmanship it is pertinent to recall that craftsmanship ran -within a class, and so had the benefit of that accentuated sentiment of -self-complacency that comes of class consciousness. From its beginnings -down to the period of its dissolution the handicraft industry is an -affair of the lower classes; and, as is well known, class feeling -runs strong throughout the era, particularly through the centuries -of its best development. Whether their conceit is wholly a naïve -self-complacency or partly a product of affectation, the sentiment is -well in evidence and marks the attitude of the handicraft community -with a characteristic bias. The craftsmen habitually rate themselves as -serviceable members of the community and contrast themselves in this -respect with the other orders of society who are not occupied with -the production of things serviceable for human use. To the creative -workman who makes things with his hands belongs an efficiency and a -merit of a peculiarly substantial and definitive kind, he is the type -and embodiment of efficiency and serviceability. The other orders of -society and other employments of time and effort may of course be well -enough in their way, but they lack that substantial ground of finality -which the craftsman in his genial conceit arrogates to himself and his -work. And so good a case does the craftsman make out on this head, -and so convincingly evident is the efficiency of the skilled workman, -and so patent is his primacy in the industrial community, that by the -close of the era much the same view has been accepted by all orders of -society. - -Such a bias pervading the industrial community must greatly fortify -the native bent to construe all facts of observation in anthropomorphic -terms. But the training given by the petty trade of the handicraft -era, on the other hand, is not altogether of this character. The -itinerant merchant’s huckstering, as well as the buying and selling -in which all members of the community were concerned, would doubtless -throw the personal strain into the foreground and would act to keep -the self-regarding sentiments alert and active and accentuate an -individualistic appreciation of men and things. But the habit of rating -things in terms of price has no such tendency, and the price concept -gains ground throughout the period. Wherever the handicraft system -reaches a fair degree of development the daily life of the community -comes to centre about the market and to take on the character given -by market relations. The volume of trade grows greater, and purchase -and sale enter more thoroughly into the details of the work to be done -and of the livelihood to be got by this work. The price system comes -into the foreground. With the increase of traffic, book-keeping comes -into use among the merchants; and as fast as the practice of habitual -recourse to the market grows general, the uncommercial classes also -become familiar with the rudimentary conceptions of book-keeping, even -if they do not make much use of formal accounts in their own daily -affairs.[126] - -The logic and concepts of accountancy are wholly impersonal and -dispassionate; and whether men’s use of its logic and concepts takes -the elaborate form of a set of books or the looser fashion of an -habitual rating of gains, losses, income, and outgo in terms of price, -its effect is unavoidably in some degree to induce a statistical habit -of mind. It makes immediately for an exact quantitative apprehension -of all things and relations that have a pecuniary bearing; and -more remotely, by force of the pervasive effect of habituation, it -makes for a greater readiness to apprehend all facts in a similarly -objective and statistical fashion, in so far as the facts admit of a -quantitative rating. Accountancy is the beginning of statistics, and -the price concept is a type of the objective impersonal, quantitative -apprehension of things. Coincidently, because they do not lend -themselves to this facile rating, facts that will not admit of a -quantitative statement and statistical handling decline in men’s -esteem, considered as facts, and tend in some degree to lose the -cogency which belongs to empirical reality. They may even come to be -discounted as being of a lower order of reality, or may even be denied -factual value. - -Doubtless, the price system had much to do with the rise of the machine -technology in modern times; not only in that the accountancy of price -offered a practical form and method of statistical computation, such as -is indispensable to anything that may fairly be classed as engineering, -but also and immediately and substantially in that its discipline has -greatly conduced to the apprehension of mechanical facts in terms not -coloured by an imputed anthropomorphic bent. It has probably been the -most powerful factor acting positively in early modern times to divest -mechanical facts of that imputed workmanlike bent given them by habits -of thought induced by the handicrafts. - -This reduction of the facts of observation to quantitative and -objective terms is perhaps most visible not in the changes that come -over the technology of industry directly, in early modern times, -but rather in that growth of material science that runs along as -a concomitant of the expansion of the mechanical industry during -the later era of handicraft. The material sciences, particularly -those occupied with mechanical phenomena, are closely related to -the technology of the mechanical industries, both in their subject -matter and in the scope and method of the systematisation of knowledge -at which they aim; and it is in these material sciences that the -concomitance is best seen, at the same time that it is the advance -achieved in these sciences that most unequivocally marks the transition -from mediæval to modern habits of thought. This modern interest in -matter-of-fact knowledge and the consequent achievements in material -science, comes to an effectual head wherever and so soon, as the -handicraft industry has made a considerable advance, in volume and in -technological mastery, sufficient to support a fair volume of trade and -make thoughtful men passably familiar with the statistical conceptions -of the price system. - -It is accordingly in the commercial republics of Italy that the modern -growth of material science takes its first start, about the point of -time when industry and commerce had reached their most flourishing -state on the Mediterranean seaboard and when the attention of these -communities was already swinging off from these material interests -to high-handed politics and religious reaction. The higher interests -of church and state came to the front, and science, industry, and -presently commerce dwindled and decayed in the land that had promised -so handsomely to lead Western civilisation out of the underbrush of -piety and princely intrigue. - -Next followed the Low Countries, with the south German industrial -centres, where again industry of the handicraft order grew great, -gave rise to trade on a rapidly increasing scale, and presently to -an era of business enterprise of unprecedented spirit and scope. But -the age of the Fuggers closed in bankruptcy and industrial collapse -when the princely wrangles of the era of statemaking had used up the -resources of the industrial community and exhausted the credit of that -generation of captains of industry. Here too religious contention -came in for its share in the set-back of industry and commerce. In -their economic outlines the two cases are very much of the same kind. -Central Europe ran through much the same cycle of industrial growth, -commercial enterprise, princely ambitions, dynastic wars, religious -fanaticism, exhaustion and insecurity, and industrial collapse and -decay,--substantially repeating, on an enlarged scale and with -much added detail, the sequence that had brought South Europe into -arrears. Meantime the material sciences had come forward again in -the West, and flourished at the hands of the Netherlanders, South -Germans and French scholars, who under the favouring discipline of -this new advance in industry and commerce had slowly come abreast -of the same matter-of-fact conceptions that had once made Italy the -home of modern science. And here again, as before, princely politics, -with the attendant war, exactions and insecurity, followed presently -by religious controversies and persecutions, not only put an end to -the advance of industry and business but also checked the attendant -development of science nearly to a standstill. - -So that when a further move of the kind is presently made it is -the British community that takes the lead. Great Britain had been -in arrears in all those respects that make up civilisation of the -Occidental kind, and not least in the material respect; until the -time when the peoples of the Continent by their own act fell into -the rear in respect of those material interests--technology and -business enterprise--which afford the material ground out of which -the Occidental type of civilisation has grown. In Great Britain the -sequence of these cultural phenomena has not been substantially -different, taken by and large, from that which had previously been run -through by the Continental communities; except that the same outcome -was not reached, apparently because the sequence was not interrupted by -collapse at the same critical point in the development. - -The run of events under the handicraft system in England differs -in certain consequential features from that among the Continental -peoples,--consequential for the purposes of this inquiry, whether -of similarly grave consequence from the point of view given by any -other and larger interest. These peculiar traits of the British era -of handicraft yield a side light on the methods and reach of the -handicraft discipline as a factor in civilisation at large, at the -same time that a consideration of them should go to show how slender -an initial difference may come to be decisive of the outcome in case -circumstances give this initial difference a cumulative effect. - -As regards the ultimately substantial grounds of the British situation, -in the way of racial make-up, natural resources, and cultural -antecedents, the British community has no singular advantage or -disadvantage as against its Continental competitors. What is true of -England in respect of peculiarly favourable natural resources later -on, about and after the close of the era of handicraft, does not hold -for the beginnings or the best days of that era. Racially there is no -appreciable difference between the English population of that time and -the population of the Low Countries, of the Scandinavian peninsulas, -or even of the nearer lying German territories; and no markedly -characteristic national type of temperament had at that time been -developed in Great Britain, as against the temperamental make-up of its -Continental neighbours,--whatever may be conceived to have become the -case in the nearer past. - -The characteristic, and apparently decisive, peculiarities of the -British situation may all confidently be traced to the insular position -of the country. Owing to the isolation so given to the Island the -British community was notably in arrears in early modern times, as -contrasted with the more cultured, populous and wealthier peoples of -the Continent; and this backward state of England in the earlier period -of the era of handicraft is no less marked in respect of technology -than in any other. As is well known, England borrowed extensively and -persistently from its Continental neighbours throughout the era, and -it was only by help of these borrowed elements that the English were -able to overtake and finally to take the lead of their competitors. -Similarly, the British commercial development also comes on late -as compared with the Continent; so much so that the British had -substantially no share in the great expansion of business enterprise -that has been called the Age of the Fuggers. This late start of the -English, coupled with their peculiar advantage in being able to borrow -what their neighbours had worked out, conduced to a more rapid rate and -shorter run of industrial advance and expansion in the Island, and so, -among other consequences, hindered the rounded system of handicraft, -industrial towns, and gild organisation from attaining the same degree -of finality, and ultimately of obstructive inertia, that resulted in -many of the Continental countries. - -Again, owing to the same geographic isolation that long held England -culturally in arrears, the English community lay, in great measure, -outside of that political “concert of nations” that worked out the -exhaustion and collapse of industry and business on the Continent. -Not that the English took no interest in the grand whirl of politics -and princely war that occupied the main body of Christendom in that -time. The English crown, or to use a foreign expression, the English -State, was deeply enough implicated in the political intrigues of late -mediæval and early modern Europe; but as modern time has advanced -the English community has visibly hung back with an ever growing -reluctance. And whatever may be conceived to be the share of the -English crown in the political complications of the Continent, it -remains true that the English community at large, during the mature -and concluding phases of the era of handicraft, stood mainly and -habitually outside of these princely concerns.[127] In effect, after -the handicraft era was well under way, England is never for long or -primarily engaged in international war, nor, except for the civil war -of the Commonwealth period, in destructive war of any kind. Hence the -era runs to a different outcome in England from what it does elsewhere. -It ends not in the exhaustion of politics, but in the industrial -revolution. The close of the handicraft system in England comes by way -of a technological revolution, not by collapse. - -To this attempted explanation of the English case, as due to its -geographic isolation, the objection may well suggest itself that -other cases which parallel the British in this respect do not show -like results. So, for instance, the Scandinavian countries enjoyed an -isolation nearly if not quite as effective as that of Great Britain -during this period of history; whereas the outcome in these countries -is notoriously not the same. The Scandinavian case, however, differs -in at least one essential respect, which seems decisive even apart -from secondary circumstances. These countries were too small to make -up a self-supporting community under the conditions required by the -system of handicraft. They had neither the population nor the natural -resources on such a scale as a passably full development of the -handicraft system required. At any advanced stage of its growth the -system can work out into a self-balanced technological organisation, -with full specialisation of labour and local differentiation of -industry, only in a community of a certain (considerable) size. -This condition was not met by the Scandinavian countries. Hence -they remained in a relatively backward state, on the whole, through -the handicraft era, and never reached anything like an independent -position in the industrial world of that time, either technologically -or in point of commercial development; hence also they failed to -achieve or maintain that degree of independence, or isolation, in their -political relations that left England free to pursue a self-directed -course of material development. - -At an earlier period, as, for instance, from neolithic times down to -the close of paganism, under the slighter, less differentiated, less -complex technological conditions of a more primitive state of the -industrial arts, the Scandinavian countries had, each and several, -proved large enough for a very efficient industrial organisation; -and, again, during the early historical period they had also proved -to be of a sufficient and suitable size to make up national units -of a thoroughly competent sort, autonomous politically as well as -industrially and working out their own fortunes in severalty,--very -much as the British community does later on, in the days of the later -handicraft era and the early growth of the machine industry. But -during the era of handicraft, and indeed somewhat in a progressive -fashion as the technology of that era grew to a fuller development and -required larger territorial dimensions, the Scandinavian countries -lost ground, relatively to the larger communities of Great Britain -and the Continent; in a degree they progressively lost autonomy both -in the political and the industrial respect, and much the same is to -be said for their position in point of general culture. This falling -into arrears and dependence is least marked in the case of Sweden, the -largest and still passably isolated community among them; and it is -most marked in the case of Norway and Iceland, the most isolated but -at the same time the least sizable units of the Scandinavian group. -In material sciences, that most characteristic trait of the Western -culture, the case of these peoples is much the same as in the matter of -technology and cultural autonomy at large; the largest of them has the -most to show. - -Great Britain, on the other hand, fulfilled the conditions of size and -isolation demanded in order to a free development of the industrial -arts during this era, when the traffic in dynastic politics stood ready -to absorb all accessible resources of industry and sentiment. And -England accordingly takes the lead when the era of handicraft goes out -and that of the new technology comes in. - - * * * * * - -Material science of the modern sort has been drawn into the discussion -as a cultural phenomenon closely bound up with the state of the -industrial arts under the handicraft system. This modern science may, -indeed, be taken as the freest manifestation of that habit of mind that -comes to its more concrete expression in the technology of the time. To -show the pertinency of such a recourse to the state of science as an -outcome of the discipline exercised by the routine of life in the era -of handicraft some further detail touching the state and progress of -scientific inquiry during that period will be in place. - -In its beginnings, the theoretical postulates and preconceptions of -modern science are drawn from the scholastic speculations of the -late Middle Ages; the problems which the new science undertook to -handle, on the other hand, were, by and large, such concrete and -material questions as the current difficulties of technology brought -to the notice of the investigators. These traditional postulates, -preconceptions, canons, and logical methods that stood over from the -past were essentially of a theological complexion, and were the outcome -of much time, attention and insight spent on the systematisation of -knowledge in a cultural situation whose substantial core was the -relation of master and servant, and under the guidance of a theological -bias worked out on the same ground. The postulates of this speculative -body of knowledge and the preconceptions with which the scholastic -speculators went to their work of systematisation, accordingly, are of -a highly anthropomorphic character; but it is not the anthropomorphism -of workmanship, at least not in the naïve form which the sense of -workmanship gives to anthropomorphic interpretation among more -primitive peoples.[128] It may be taken as a matter of course that -the sense of workmanship is present in its native, direct presentment -throughout the intellectual life of the middle ages, as it necessarily -is under all the permutations of human culture; but it is equally a -matter of course that the promptings of an unsophisticated sense of -workmanship do not afford the final test of what is right and good in a -cultural situation drawn on rigid lines of mastery and submission. - -During the middle ages the faith had taken on an extremely -authoritative and coercive character, to answer to the similar -principles of organisation and control that ruled in secular affairs; -so that at the transition to modern times the religious cult of -Christendom was substantially a cult of fearsome subjection and -arbitrary authority. Much else, of a more genial character, was of -course comprised in the principles of the faith of that time, but -when all is said the fact remains that even in its genial traits it -was a cult of irresponsible authority and abject submission,--a cult -of the pastoral-predatory type, adapted and perfected to answer the -circumstances of feudal Europe, and so embodying the principles (habits -of thought) that characterised the feudal system. - -Notoriously, the fashions of religious faith change tardily. Such -change is always of the nature of concession. And since the conceptions -of the cult are of no material consequence, taken by themselves and -in their direct incidence, they are subject, as such, to no direct -or deliberate control or correction in behalf of the community’s -material interests or its technological requirements. It is almost if -not altogether by force of their consonance or dissonance with the -prevailing habits of thought inculcated by the routine of life that -any given run of religious verities find acceptance, command general -adherence to their teaching, or become outworn and are discarded; and -such lack of consonance must become very pronounced before a radical -change of the kind in question will take effect. Barring conversion -to a new faith, it is commonly by insensible shifts of adaptation and -reconstruction that any wide-reaching change is worked out in these -fundamental conceptions. Such was the character of the move by which -the Mediæval cult merged in the modernised theological concepts of a -later age. - -Gradually, by force of unremitting habituation to a new scheme of -life, and marked by long-drawn theological polemics, a change passed -over the spirit of theological speculation, whereby the fundamentals -of the faith were infused with the spirit of the handicraft system, -and the preconceptions of workmanship insensibly supplanted those of -mastery and subservience in the working concepts of devout Christendom. -Meantime, while the routine of the era of handicraft was slowly -reconstructing the current conceptions of divinity on lines consonant -with the habit of mind of workmanship, the ancient conceptions -continued with gradually abating force to assert their prescriptive -dominion over men’s habitual thinking. This gradually loosening hold -of the ancient conceptions is best seen in the speculations of the -philosophers and in the higher generalisations of scientific inquiry in -early modern times. - -In the mediæval speculations whether theological, philosophical or -scientific, the search for truth runs back to the authentic ground of -the religious verities,--largely to revealed truth; and these religious -verities run back to the question, “What hath God ordained?” In the -course of the era of handicraft this ultimate question of knowledge -came to take the form, “What hath God wrought?” Not that the creative -office of God in the divine economy was overlooked or in any degree -intentionally made light of by the earlier speculators; nor that the -sovereignty of God was denied or in any degree questioned by those -devout inquirers who carried forward the work in later time. But in -that earlier phase of faith and inquiry it is distinctly the suzerainty -of God, and His ordinances, that afford the ground of finality on which -all inquiry touching the economy of this world ultimately come to rest; -and in the later phase, as seen at the close of the era of handicraft, -it is as distinctly His creative office and the logic of His creative -design that fill the place of an ultimate term in human inquiry--as -that inquiry conventionally runs within the spiritual frontiers of -Christendom. God had not ceased to be the Heavenly King, and had not -ceased to be glorified with the traditional phrases of homage as the -Most High, the Lord of Hosts etc., but somewhat incongruously He had -also come to be exalted as the Great Artificer--the preternatural -craftsman. The vulgar habits of thought bred in the workday populace by -the routine of the workshop and the market place had stolen their way -into the sanctuary and the counsels of divinity. - -Similarly, in the best days of scholastic learning scientific inquiry -ran back for a secure foundation to the authentic ordinances of the -Heavenly King; under the discipline of the era of handicraft it learned -instead to push its inquiries to the ground of efficient cause, -ultimately of course, in the philosophical liquidation of accounts in -that devout age, to the creative efficiency of the First Cause. In -the scientific inquiries of the earlier age the test of truth was the -test of authenticity, and the logic of systematisation by use of which -knowledge in that time was digested and stored away was essentially a -logic of subsumption under securely authentic categories that could -be run back at need to the ascertained requirements of the glory of -God. The canon of truth is that of the revealed word, reënforced and -filled out with the quasi-divine Aristotelian scheme of things. It is a -logic of hierarchical congruity in respect of potencies and qualities, -suggestively resembling the devolution of powers and dignities under -the finished scheme of feudalism. In the later age the good of man -gradually, insensibly supplants the glory of God as the ultimate ground -of systematisation. The sentimental ground of conviction comes to -be the recognised serviceability of the ascertained facts for human -use, rather than their conformity with the putative exigencies of a -self-centred divine will. The Providential Order that means so much in -the scheme of knowledge in the mature years of the era of handicraft is -an order imposed by a providentially beneficent Creator who looks to -the good of man; as it has been expressed, it is a scheme of “humanism.” - -By the close of the era this beneficent providential order had worked -out in an Order of Nature, indued with the same meliorative trend; and -in the sentimental conviction of the inquiring spirits of that age it -lay in the nature of this beneficent order of the universe that in the -end, in the finished product of its working, it would bring about the -highest practicable state of well-being for man,--very much as any -skilled workman of sound sense and a good heart would turn out good -and serviceable goods. And in this Order of Nature, as it runs in the -matter-of-course convictions of thoughtful men at the close of the era, -the person of the deity, even as a workmanlike creative Providence, -had fallen into the background. The Order of Nature, with its scheme -of Natural Law, is felt as the work of a consummately skilful and -ingenious workmanlike agency that looks to a serviceable end to be -accomplished; and the profoundly thoughtful scientific inquiry of that -time harbours no doubt that this workmanlike agency of Nature at large -rules the world of visible fact and will achieve its good work in good -time. But this quasi-personal Nature is not reverenced for anything but -its workmanlike qualities; the awe which it inspires is not the fear of -God, such as that fear has played its part under the feudalistic rule -of the church and sent men hunting cover from the imminent wrath to -come. As he stands in the presence of this eighteenth-century Nature, -man is not primarily a sinner seeking a remission of penalties at all -costs, but rather a focus of workmanlike attention upon whose welfare -all the forces of the visible universe beneficently converge. - -How this workmanlike Nature goes about her[129] work is no more -plain to the casual spectator than are the recondite processes of -high-wrought handicraft to the uninstructed. But Nature after all -accomplishes her ends in a workmanlike fashion, and by staying by and -patiently watching the operations of Nature and construing the facts of -observation by the sympathetic use of a rational common sense men may -learn much of the methods of her manipulation as well as of the rules -of procedure under whose guidance the works of Nature are accomplished. -For it is a matter of course to that generation that Nature is -essentially rational in her aims and logic as well as in the technology -of her work; very much after the fashion of the master craftsman, who -goes to his work with an intelligent oversight of the available means -and the purpose to be wrought out, as well as with a firm and facile -touch on all that passes under his trained hand. Like the perfect -craftsman, “Nature never makes mistakes,” “never makes a jump,” “never -does anything in vain,” “never turns out anything but perfect work.” - -The means whereby this work of Nature is brought to its consummate -issue are forces of Nature working under her Laws by the method -of cause and effect. The principle, or “law,” of causation is a -metaphysical postulate; in the sense that such a fact as causation is -unproved and unprovable. No man has ever observed a case of causation, -as is a commonplace with the latterday psychologists. But such a doubt -does not present itself seriously in the days of handicraft; it would -be out of touch with the spirit of the time and the discipline of -that craftsmanship out of which the spirit of the time arises. To the -inquiring minds of that era it is a matter of course and of common -sense that the forces of Nature are seen to work out the effects which -emerge before their eyes. What they see in fact may be, as the modern -psychologists would perhaps say, a certain concomitance and sequence -in the observed phenomena; but what those observers see in effect is -always a certain cause working out a certain effect. The imputation of -causal efficiency to the observed phenomena is so thoroughly a matter -of course that there is no sense of imputation in the observer’s mind. - -Observation simply, without imputation of anthropomorphic qualities -and efficacies, should yield nothing more to the purpose than idle -concomitance and sequence of phenomena, but there is, in effect, none -of this early scientific work done in terms of simple concomitance -or sequence alone; nor for that matter, has any of the effective -(theoretical) work of modern science been carried to an issue by the -use of such objective terms of concomitance and sequence alone, whether -in that or in a later age, without the help of a putative causal nexus. -Through the early modern scientific period there runs an increasingly -free and frequent recourse to statistical argument,--in the material -sciences a recourse to punctilious measurement, enumeration and -instruments of precision; but it is of the essence of the case that the -phenomenal facts which so are subjected to measurement and statistical -computation are facts selected for the purpose on the strength of their -(putatively) known causal implication in the problem whose solution -is sought, and that the facts which emerge from these measurements, -computations, and instruments of precision, are turned to account in -an argument of cause and effect; they have served their purpose only -when and in so far as they enable the inquirer to determine the course -of efficient transition from a putative cause to a putative effect, or -conversely. - -The relation of cause and effect, as commonly conceived by the vulgar -and as commonly employed by the scientist, is a putative relation -between phenomena which can not be said to stand in any observed -relation of efficiency to one another. Efficiency, as understood in -this connection, is not a fact of observation, but of imputation; -and efficiency, performance of work, is the substance of the causal -relation as that concept is universally employed in modern science. -It may well be said that this recourse to the concept of efficient -cause--a metaphysical postulate touching a putative fact--is the -distinguishing characteristic of modern science as contrasted with any -other scheme of systematised knowledge.[130] - -Not only does the development of modern science rest on this postulate -of causality, but the concept of causation which so characterises the -modern sciences is of a particular and restricted kind. At least on -the face of things it seems unquestionable that the peculiar temper -and limitations of this modern European concept of causation are to -be credited to the habits wrought out by a life under the handicraft -system. It has been noted already that the ubiquitous prevalence -of trade and of the price system in modern times has given to the -modern apprehension of facts a certain objectivity, a degree of -impersonality, which is at least a characteristic of modern knowledge, -whether scientific or commonplace, even if it cannot be said to be -a unique distinction of modern science as contrasted with other -deliberate systems of knowledge. But it is the unique distinction -of modern science, particularly as it comes into view in its early -phases, that its concept of causality is drawn not simply in terms -of workmanship but specifically in terms of craftsmanship. There -need probably be no argument spent on the thesis that the sense of -causality is, by and large, a particular manifestation of the sense -of workmanship. But the sense of workmanship in its native scope -apparently covers something more than the manual efficiency of the -skilled workman simply. And in other times and under other cultural -(technological) circumstances the sense of workmanship has apparently -given rise to concepts of causation of a wider, or at least of a -looser, scope. In the naïve rating of savage peoples workmanship -appears to cover, perhaps uncertainly, notions of generation, nurture, -tendance, and the like, without any sharp line being drawn between -these various lines of effective endeavour on the one side and manual -efficiency on the other. And so, on the other hand, in the cosmological -knowledge (or quasi-knowledge) current among these peoples explanation -in terms of generation and growth are accepted as final along with -explanations in terms of what the modern man would conceive to be the -stricter sense of cause and effect. Even in the speculations of the -sages of classical antiquity, and again in the cosmologies and natural -history of the far-Oriental peoples, many questions of cause and effect -are found to be sufficiently disposed of when worked out in the like -terms of generation, growth and quasi-physiological mutation. - -To modern inquiry explanations in these terms, other than those of -physically effective work, are provisional at the best, and are held -to only as awaiting a final solution in a materially, mechanistically -competent way. And what is alone materially competent in the modern -scientific apprehension is such an explanation as will make things -plain in terms of matter and motion, working a change in the -constitution of things by displacement through contact and pressure. -Causation is conceived as manual work,--to use a French term, it is -a _remaniement_ of raw materials at hand. Physiological or chemical -explanations must finally be recast in terms of physics, to satisfy -the modern scientist’s sense of finality, and physics must be made to -run in terms of impact, pressure, displacement in space, regrouping of -material particles, coördinated movements and a shifting of equilibrium. - -Through all this runs the concomitant requirement of quantivalence, -statable in statistical form. The scientist’s results are not finally -merchantable, on the scientific exchange, until they have been reduced -to such terms of accountancy as would be comprehensible to the man -trained in the merchandising traffic of the petty trade, for whose -conviction things must be punctiliously rated in exchange value. But, -as has been noted above, it is only as an expedient of scientific -accountancy that the facts under inquiry are kept account of in an -itemised bill of values. This meticulous statistical accountancy is -necessary to safeguard the accuracy of the work done and its conformity -with the facts in hand; but the work so done handles these facts as -active factors which go efficiently to the production of the results -observed. The cause is conceived to produce the effect, somewhat after -the fashion in which a skilled workman produces a finished article -of trade. But when the scientist has set forth the operations and -working conditions that have brought forth the effects which he is -engaged in explaining, he must also, in order to the conviction of his -fellow craftsmen, show a statistically itemised statement of receipts -and expenditures covering the facts engaged,--in quantitative values -he must show that the costs are balanced by the values that emerge -in the finished product of that workmanlike process of causation -whose recondite nature and course he has so laid bare to the light of -understanding. - -This attempted characterisation of modern scientific inquiry and its -working concepts applies immediately to the earlier phases and down -to a date well past the advent of the machine industry,--so far past -that date as to allow time and experience to work the new habits of -thought peculiar to the machine technology into the texture of men’s -preconceptions. In time, but tardily, as is the case with the pervasive -effects of any new line of habituation, the discipline of the machine -has wrought a further, though, hitherto less profound and decisive, -change in the aims and methods of science; a discussion of which -is deferred until it comes up again in its connection with the new -technology. Less cogently and with qualifications, however, the above -characterisation will apply to the later phases of modern science, as -well as to that initial stage that marks the era of handicraft. - - * * * * * - -Something further is due to be said of the cultural consequences of -this discipline in workmanship during the era of handicraft, besides -its guidance in the growth of technology and the related field of -material science. As has been intimated above, habituation to the -working conceptions of handicraft had much to do with that revision -of the religious cult and its theological tenets that has shaped the -spiritual life of modern times in contrast with the medieval life of -faith. But it is an ungrateful, perhaps ungraceful, office to turn the -dry light of matter-of-fact on the sacred verities, and a degree of -parsimony will best be observed in any layman’s discussion of these -intimate movements of the spirit. Yet it seems necessary to call to -mind at least one point of singular concomitance between the state of -the industrial arts and fortunes of the Christian faith. - -Characteristic of modern times has been the Protestant rehabilitation -of the cult and its tenets. In this rehabilitation, which has not been -without effect even within the Catholic church, much of the ancient -spirit of subjection has been lost, replaced in part with a certain -attitude of self-help and autonomy on the part of the laity. There -is a degree of democratic initiative and a gild-like spirit of lay -discretion in spiritual affairs. As already noted above, the tenets -of the faith have also in some degree been revised and reconstructed -in terms consonant with the workmanlike conceptions of the handicraft -system. Such a protestant or quasi-protestant reconstruction of the -cult and its tenets set in, as is well known, successively in the -several leading countries of Europe, somewhat in the same order as -these several countries successively advanced to a high level of -technological and commercial enterprise. As noted above, in the -south in the so-called Latin countries, this era of industrial and -commercial enterprise was presently checked; the like being true in a -less pronounced fashion for the peoples of Central Europe. Wherever the -advance was seriously checked, so that the era of handicraft closed in -collapse or reaction on its secular side, there the reconstruction of -the religious cult also came to an incomplete issue at the most. So -that by the definitive close of the era of handicraft those peoples of -Christendom that had maintained the advance achieved in this secular -respect were also the ones that had accepted and continued to hold the -revised form of the faith. Where this era of industrial and business -enterprise closed in exhaustion and collapse, there the ancient form -of the faith also triumphed over the heretics. It is, indeed, to be -remarked as a sufficiently striking coincidence that even now the -centre of diffusion of the modern industry is at the same time the -centre of diffusion of religious protestantism and heresy. And the -antique forms and fervour of the faith are found in better preservation -progressively outward from this centre of diffusion; and even in -somewhat minute detail it appears to hold true not only that the more -advanced industrial peoples are the less amenable to religious control -and less given to superstitious observances of the archaic sort, but -also that within these industrial countries the industrial centres in -the narrower sense of the word are less devout, or devout in a less -archaic fashion, than the non-industrial population at large. Something -of the kind, indeed, has been visibly true ever since a relatively -early phase of the handicraft system; though nothing like undevoutness -can be alleged of the industrial town population during the handicraft -era proper. The handicraft population was devout, but not consistently -orthodox; and the industrial towns of that time were devout enough in -their way, but it was in a way obnoxious to the received dogmas of the -church. They were centres of devout heresy. It is only in late modern -times that the malady has progressed so far that it may fairly be -called a degree of apostacy. This concomitance between technological -mastery and religious dissent is doubtless susceptible of a good and -serviceable explanation at the hands of the religious experts; it is -here cited without prejudice as having at least a negative bearing on -the question of how the discipline of the handicraft industry may be -conceived to affect men’s spiritual attitude in a field so remote as -that of the life of faith.[131] - - * * * * * - -What is known to economic history as the era of handicraft is for -the purposes of the political historian spoken of as the era of -statemaking. The two designations may not cover precisely the same -interval, but they coincide in a general way in point of dates, and the -phenomena which have given rise to the two designations have much more -than an accidental connection. It is not simply that the development -of handicraft happens to fall in the same general period of history -that is characterised by the dynastic wars that went to the making -of the larger states. The growth of handicraft had much to do with -making the large states practicable and with supplying the material -means of large-scale warfare; while the traffic of dynastic politics -in that time had in its turn very much to do with bringing that era of -industrial and commercial enterprise to an inglorious close. The new -industry supplied the sinews of war, and the wars ate up the substance -of the industrial community. - -The new industry gave rise to a growth of industrial towns and -commercial centres, primarily occupied by the traffic of the itinerant -traders. One of the immediate consequences of this extension of -merchandising enterprise was the improvement of means of communication, -both in the way of an extension and improvement of shipping--itself a -technological fact--and in the way of improved routes of communication. -A secondary consequence was a growth of population, coupled with its -concentration in urban centres, together with a growth of wealth, in -good part drawn together in the same centres. These changes enabled the -powers in control to extend an effectual coercion over larger distances -and over larger aggregations of population and wealth; it became -practicable, mechanically, to swing a larger political aggregation and -to hold it together in closer coördination than before. The physical -conditions requisite to the formation and enduring maintenance of large -political organisations were in this way supplied by the new industrial -era as an incidental result of its technological efficiency. - -More direct and obvious, though of no graver importance, is the -contribution made by the new technology to the means of coercion placed -at the disposal of the warlords, in the way of improved weapons and -armour, defences and warlike appliances. The improvements worked out -in the means of warfare during the early half of the era of handicraft -exceed in material effect and in boldness of conception all the -traceable improvements wrought in that line by all the warlike peoples -of classical antiquity and all the fighting aggregations of Asia and -Africa, from the beginning of the bronze age down to modern times. -The craftsmen spent their best endeavours and their most brilliant -ingenuity on this production of arms and munitions, with the result -that these articles still lie over in the modern collections as the -most finished productions of workmanship which that era has to show. -The (unintended) result at large was that these improved appliances -enabled the warlords and their fighting men to control the industrial -classes for their own ends and to levy exactions on trade and industry -up to the limit of what the traffic would bear, or perhaps more -commonly somewhat over that limit. It was, in this way, their own -technological mastery that furnished the means of their own undoing, -directly (mechanically speaking) and indirectly (in the resulting -growth of warlike sentiment). - -That the craftsmen went so diligently into this production of ways -and means for their own discomfort and abiding defeat is due not to -any innately perverse bent of the sense of workmanship as it comes -to expression in the spirit of the handicraft community, but rather -to the exigencies created by the price system, with its principles -of self-help,--a secondary, conventional product of the handicraft -industry. As has been noted already, with perhaps tedious iteration, -there runs through the handicraft community a high-wrought spirit of -individual self-sufficiency. So soon as the petty trade has grown to -effective dimensions the individual workman comes into somewhat direct -relations with the market, and except for the collective interest -and action embodied in the gild organisations the craftsmen stand in -little else than a pecuniary relation to one another and bear little -else than a pecuniary responsibility to their fellow craftsmen or to -the community. It is the place of each to gain a livelihood by honest -work through his own individual skill and enterprise. Notoriously, -the craftsmen were in effect lacking in that sense of solidarity that -makes an efficient organisation for defence or offence; concerted -action, outside the regulative activity of the gild, was to be had only -with extreme difficulty on any other basis than individual pecuniary -advantage. Each worked for himself, with an eye steadily to the main -chance. And the main chance, from an early date in this era, meant gain -in terms of price. So the craftsman worked for such customers as would -pay his price, and he spent his skill and ingenuity on such goods as -were in demand. The trade in arms and weapons was good at that time. -These appliances were a means of livelihood to the men at arms and -a means of income and prestige to their princely employers. So the -traffic went busily on, and the individual craftsmen put forth their -best efforts toward enhancing the efficiency of the ruling and fighting -classes, whose endeavours, without much collusion but by the inevitable -drift of circumstance, converged on the subjection of the community of -craftsmen at large and on the exhaustion of the community’s resources. - -Through its side issue in the commercial enterprise which it fostered -the handicraft industry brought to the hands of the politicians a -further means of trouble. The trade brought on the price system, and -so made it possible for ambitious princes to buy what they needed in -their warlike negotiations; with funds in hand stores and munitions -could be bought where they were needed, so enabling warlike operations -to be carried on with greater facility at a greater distance than -was feasible under the earlier rule of contributions in kind. The -price system also enabled the warlords to hire mercenaries, and so -to organise and maintain a standing force of skilled fighting men, -mobile and irresponsible. But to hold one’s own in the competitive use -of this new arm the prince must have funds; which led incontinently -to all available manner of exactions on trade and commerce, since it -was from these sources almost solely that funds could be had. But it -led also and equally to an increasing traffic between the princes and -the captains of industry, for the use of funds. Funds had become the -sinews of war, since the handicraft industry had come to turn out -goods for sale and the merchandising trade had made funds accessible -in sufficient volume to be worth while. So the princes dealt with the -captains of industry, selling what they could and hypothecating what -they could not sell, in a competitive struggle to outdo one another -at war and diplomacy. The game was then as always an emulative one, -in which any advantage was a differential advantage only. Hence the -princes engaged, each and several, needed all the funds they could -get the use of, and their need was ever present, not to be deferred. -Hence they borrowed what they could and where they could, their -borrowings being floated by the help of all manner of expedients. -Some of these fiscal expedients brought monopolistic advantage to the -captains of industry, and so contributed to their further gain and to -the concentration of wealth in fewer hands. Meantime, the princely -chancelries, being in debt as far as possible, extorted further loans -from the captains by seizure and by threats of bankruptcy; and whatever -was borrowed was expeditiously used up in the destruction of property, -population, industrial plant and international commerce. So, when all -available resources of revenue and credit, present and prospective, -had been exhausted, and all the accessible material had been consumed, -the princely fisc went into bankruptcy, followed by its creditors, the -captains of industry, followed by the business community at large with -whose funds they had operated and by the industrial community, whose -stock of goods and appliances was exhausted, whose trade connections -were broken and whose working population had been debauched, scattered -and reduced to poverty and subjection by the wars, revenue collectors -and forced contributions. Meantime, too, habituation to the sentiments, -ideals, standards and manner of life suitable to a state of predation -had swamped the handicraft spirit and put abnegation and dependence -on arbitrary power in the place of that initiative and pertinacious -self-reliance that had made the era of handicraft. It was from this -eventuality that England in great measure escaped by favour of her -insular position and the inability of her princes to draw a reluctant -industrial community into the traffic of dynastic intrigue that filled -the Continent. - -It will have been remarked that one of the essential moves in this -sequence of events, from the beginnings of handicraft in impecunious -and self-reliant workmanship to its eventual collapse in exhaustion, -is the gradual accumulation of commercial and industrial wealth in -relatively few hands. This accumulation of wealth, or rather its -segregation in few hands, appears, as already indicated, to have -entered as a potent factor in the course of things that lead the system -of handicraft through maturity to collapse, as on the Continent, or to -decay, as in England. It will accordingly be in place to go somewhat -more narrowly into the circumstances of its beginnings and growth -and the manner in which it plays its part in the organisation of the -handicraft industry. - -It appears that this uneven distribution of wealth arises out of the -technological exigencies of handicraft and of the petty trade which -characteristically runs along with the handicraft industry in its early -stages.[132] In its earliest, impecunious beginnings, handicraft as -known in mediæval Europe was like its congener, the manual arts of -the savage and lower barbarian peoples, in that the whole material -equipment requisite to its pursuit consisted of a skilled workman -and an extremely slender kit of tools. The tradition countenanced by -historical students says that the beginnings of the handicraft system, -with its specialised industry and trained workmanship, is due to such -workmen, possessed of substantially nothing but their own persons, who -escaped in one way and another from the bonds of the manorial system, -or its equivalent, and found shelter on sufferance near some feudal -protector or religious corporation that found some advantage in this -novel arrangement.[133] - -On looking into this inchoate working arrangement between these -masterless workmen and their patrons, and generalising the run of facts -as may be permitted an inquiry that aims at theoretical presentation -rather than historical description, the probable causal relation -running through these obscure events will appear somewhat as follows. -It happened in Europe, as it has happened now and again elsewhere, -that the ownership of the soil in advanced feudal times took shape as -a Landed Interest living at peace and under settled relations with the -community from which they drew their livelihood and their means of -controlling the community. Under these circumstances there grew up an -ever-widening industrial system, under manorial auspices, in which the -foremost place is taken by the mechanic arts, in the way of specialised -crafts and mechanical processes and appliances. The tranquil conditions -that prevail under such a settled, pacific or sub-predatory scheme -of control bring out an increased volume of consumable products, -particularly since these same settled conditions admit a larger and -more economical use of all industrial appliances. The immediate -consequence is that an increased net product accrues to the propertied -class; which calls them to an intensified consumption of goods; which -requires increased elaboration and diversity of products; which calls -for an increasing diversity and volume of appliances and more prolonged -and elaborate technological processes. The needs of the propertied -class, particularly in the way of superfluities, reach such a degree -of diversity that it is no longer practicable to supply these needs by -specialised work within the industrial framework of the manor or its -equivalent. The itinerant trade comes in to help out in this difficult -passage by bringing exotic luxuries, curious articles of great price; -but that is not sufficient to cover the requirements of the case, since -there is much needed work of elaboration that cannot be taken care of -by way of an importation of finished goods. - -Here comes the opportunity of the skilled masterless workman. The -growth of wealth has provided a place for him in the economy of the -time, and having once got a foothold he and his followers congregate in -industrial towns and find a living by the work of their hands. - -The point should be kept in mind in any consideration of the era of -handicraft that its beginnings are made by these “masterless men,” who -broke away (or were broken out) from the bonds of that organisation -in which the arbitrary power of the landed interest held dominion. By -tenacious assertion of the personal rights which they so arrogated to -themselves, and at great cost and risk, they made good in time their -claim to stand as a class apart, a class of ungraded free men among -whom self-help and individual workmanlike efficiency were the accepted -grounds of repute and of livelihood. This tradition never dies out -among the organised craftsmen until the industrial system which had -so been inaugurated went under in the turmoil of politics and finance -or was supplanted by the machine era that grew out of it. With this -class-tradition of initiative and democratic autonomy is associated, as -an integral fact in the system, the concomitant tradition that work is -a means of livelihood. - -In these early phases of the system the individual workman is -(typically) competent to work out his livelihood with the use of such -a slight equipment of tools as could readily be acquired in the course -of his employment. In great part, indeed, the craftsman of the early -days made his tools and appliances as he went along. But it follows -necessarily that further training in the skilled manipulations of the -crafts led to the use of improved and specialised tools as well as to -the use of larger appliances useful in the technological processes -employed, such as could scarcely be called tools in the simpler sense -of the word but would rather be classed as industrial plant. With -the advance of technology the material equipment so requisite to -the pursuit of industry in the crafts increases in volume, cost and -elaboration, and the processes of industry grow extensive and complex; -until it presently becomes a matter of serious difficulty for any -workman single-handed to supply the complement of tools, appliances and -materials with which his work is to be done. It then also becomes a -matter of some moment to own such wealth. - -As under any earlier and simpler industrial régime, so in this -early-advanced phase of the handicraft system the workman must also -have command of that immaterial equipment of technological information -at large that is current in the community, in so far as it affects his -particular occupation; and he must in addition acquire the special -trained skill necessary in his own branch of craft. The former he will, -at that stage of technological growth, still come by without particular -deliberate application, in the ordinary routine of life; it is made -up of general information and familiarity with current ways of doing, -simply, and on the level of general information which then prevailed -no special training or schooling seems to have been needed to place -the young man abreast of his time. In other words, the common stock of -technological knowledge had not by that time grown so unwieldy as to -require special pains to assimilate it. As for the latter, the special -skill which would make him a craftsman, that was also accessible at the -cost of some application; but under the rules of handicraft the early -apprentice gained this trained skill at no cost beyond application to -the work in hand. But the like does not continue to hold true of the -material equipment; which presently was no longer to be compassed as -a matter of course and of routine application to the work in hand. It -was becoming increasingly important and increasingly difficult to be -provided with these means with which to go to work, and the ownership -of such means gave an increasingly decisive advantage to their owner. - -What adds further force to this position of affair is the fact that -in many of the crafts the work could no longer be carried on to full -advantage in strict severalty; the best approved processes required a -gang or corps of workmen in coöperation, and required also something -in the way of a “plant” suitable for the employment of such a corps -rather than of a single individual. Such a condition, of course, came -on earlier and more urgently in some crafts, as, e. g., in tanning, -or brewing, or some of the metal-working trades, than in others, as, -e. g., the building trades, locksmithing, cobbling, etc. But an -advance of this kind, and the exigencies which such an advance brings, -came on gradually and with such a measure of general prevalence through -the crafts that the general statement made above may fairly stand as a -free characterisation of the state of the industrial arts in the crafts -at large at the period in question. The growing resort to working -methods requiring organised groups of workmen together with something -in the way of collective industrial plant would greatly hasten the -concentration of the ownership of the material equipment. Ownership in -all ages is individual ownership; and then as ever any single item of -property, such as a workshop and its appliances, would presently fall -into the possession of an individual owner. The owners of the plant -became employers of their impecunious fellow craftsmen and so came into -a position to dispose of their working capacity and their product. - -When and in so far as the advanced state of the industrial arts, -therefore, made it impracticable for the individual craftsman readily -to acquire the material means for work in his craft, any proficiency -in the craft would be of no effect except by arrangement with some one -who could supply these material means. The possession of the material -equipment, therefore, placed in the discretion of its owners the -utilisation of such technological knowledge and skill as the members -of the given crafts might possess. The usufruct of the handicraft -community’s technological proficiency in this way came to vest in the -owners of the plant, in the same measure as this plant was necessary to -the pursuit of industry under the technological scheme then in force. -This effect would be had so soon and in such measure as it became a -matter of appreciable difficulty to acquire and maintain the material -equipment requisite to the workmanlike pursuit of industry; and it -would become generally decisive of the relation between master and -workman so soon as the outfit of material means required for effective -work had grown larger than the common run of workmen could acquire in -the course of such training as would fit them to do the work in the -particular branch of industry in which they engaged. - -The change brought on in this way by the growth of technology was -neither abrupt nor sharply defined. Like other changes in the -technological scheme it was an outgrowth of the knowledge and methods -already previously current, and it took effect in detail and in a very -concrete way, leading on through fluctuating usage to a gradually -settled general practice which came at length to differ substantially -from the situation out of which it had grown. By insensible gradations -it came into such general prevalence and everyday recognition, and -established such stable methods of procedure, as presently left it -standing as an established institutional fact. It grew into the -prevalent habits of thought without a visible break, and made its way -more or less thoroughly in the several branches of industry which -it touched, until it came to be accepted as the type of handicraft -organisation to which other, outlying branches of industry would -then also tend to conform, even when there was no direct provocation -for these outlying members of the industrial system to take on the -typical form so given. But given the tranquil conditions necessary to -the accumulation of such industrial appliances and to the invention -and employment of long and roundabout processes in industry, and -the resulting change that sets in will be of a cumulative character, -affecting an ever increasing proportion of the industrial arts, and -permeating the industrial system at large in a progressive fashion. - -Under these circumstances, and in proportion as these technological -exigencies take effect in one branch of industry and another, the -usufruct of the industrial community’s current productive efficiency -comes to vest effectually in those who own the material means of -industry. Their effectual exploitation of the community’s industrial -efficiency will extend to such industries, and with such a degree of -thoroughness and security, as the state of the industrial arts may -decide. This effectual engrossing of the technological heritage by the -owners will extend to any branch of the industrial arts in which so -considerable a material equipment is required, in appliances and raw -materials, that the workmen who go into this given line of employment -cannot practically create or acquire it as they go along. In an -uncertain measure, therefore, and varying in degree somewhat from one -industry to another, the owner of the plant becomes in effect the owner -of the community’s technological knowledge and workmanlike skill, and -thereby the owner of the workman’s productive capacity. - -In the small beginnings of the handicraft industry the craftsman -typically passed by a simple routine from the status of apprentice -to that of master, picking up the slight necessary outfit as he went -along; in the closing phases of the era handicraft methods had reached -a high degree of specialisation and made use of extensive processes -and appliances, and it was then only by exception that any craftsman -could pass from apprenticeship through the intervening stages to the -position of a working master, without the help of inherited means -or special favour. Toward the close of the era the masters were, -typically, employers of skilled labour and foremen in their own shop, -except in the frequent case where they altogether ceased to work at -the trade and gave their whole attention to the business side of the -industry. Many of these nominal master craftsmen were in fact mere -traders, captains of industry, businessmen, who never came in manual -contact with the work.[134] - -So capitalism emerged from the working of the handicraft system, -through the increasing scale and efficiency of technology. And on the -ground afforded by this capitalistic phase of the system arose that era -of business enterprise that ruled the economic fortunes of Europe in -the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with its captains of industry -and great financial houses. Whether the large means with which these -captains of industry operated were primarily drawn from the gains of -the petty trade that had gone before, or were drawn into this field -of business from outside, is a debated question which need not detain -the present inquiry. The fact remains that, by whatever means, this -development of the situation comes out of that growth of handicraft -whereby the ownership and control of the industrial plant passed out of -the hands of the body of working craftsmen. - -When this business situation collapsed, therefore, as already spoken -of above, the handicraft industry at its best was organised on -capitalistic lines and managed for capitalistic ends,--with a view to -profits on investment, not primarily with a view to the livelihood -of the working craftsmen. The new situation which then presented -itself, as a consequence of the collapse of the business community, -was industrially and commercially better suited to the simpler and -ruder methods of handicraft that had succeeded in the early days of -the system; but the current preconceptions and trade relations that -actually ruled at the time were of a capitalistic kind, and the current -state of the industrial arts, even where industry had fallen into a -fragmentary state, was such as technologically required the large-scale -organisation in order to its due working. Between the impossibility -of going forward on the accustomed lines and the impracticability of -an effectual rehabilitation of more primitive methods, there resulted -a period of poverty and confusion, helped out by the continued -mismanagement of the dynastic politicians; so that the industrial -situation of the Continent never recovered until it was overtaken by -the new era of the machine industry inaugurated by the English. - - * * * * * - -The circumstances of life for the common man underwent more than one -substantial change during the era of handicraft, and these changes were -not all in the same sense. The dominant note changes from workmanship -in the earlier phases of the era to pecuniary competition and political -anxiety toward the close, particularly as regards the industrial -communities of the Continent. The era is a long period of history, -all told, running over some five or six centuries, from an advanced -stage of the feudal age to the eighteenth century, or to various -earlier dates in those countries where the handicraft system came to -a provisional close in the era of statemaking; and the discipline of -life does not run to the same effect in the earlier of these phases -of the development as in the later. Not that handicraft ceased to be -the prevailing method in the mechanical industries of these countries -when the reaction overtook them, but the technological advance had -been seriously checked, and such handicraft industry as still went on -had ceased to dominate the economic situation and no longer held the -primacy among the factors that shaped the life of the communities in -question. Its place as a dominant force was taken by the new political -interests and by such commercial enterprise as still went on. - -But through the centuries of its earlier growth the handicraft -industry, simply as a routine of workmanship, shaped the conditions of -life for the common people more pervasively and consistently than any -other one factor. Its discipline, therefore, was of protracted duration -and touched the current habits of thought in an intimate and enduring -fashion; so as to leave a large and enduring effect on the institutions -of the peoples among whom it prevailed. The English-speaking community -shows these effects in a larger measure and a more evident manner than -any other,--visible only in a less degree in the Low Countries, and -more equivocally in the Scandinavian countries. These peoples had not -been subjected to the handicraft discipline for a longer time or in a -more exacting fashion than their Continental neighbours, but they had -on the other hand escaped the full measure of the political activity of -the era of statemaking that did so much to neutralise the effects of -the handicraft system in the larger Continental countries. - - * * * * * - -Something has been said above of the way in which the discipline of -life under the rule of handicraft shaped and coloured men’s thinking -in those materialistic sciences whose early growth runs parallel with -the technological advance in modern times. It has also been evident -that this training in the manner of conceiving things for the purposes -of technology wrought certain broad changes in the theological and -philosophical conceptions that guided the inquiring spirits of the -same and subsequent generations. This effect wrought by the routine -of life under the handicraft system on scientific and philosophical -conceptions is of a very pervasive character, being of the nature of -an habitual bent, an attitude or frame of mind, whose characteristic -mark is the acceptance of creative workmanship as a finality. It became -an element of common sense in the apprehension of thoughtful men whose -frame of mind was formed under the traditions of that era that creative -workmanship is an ultimate, irreducible factor in the constitution of -things, accepted as a matter of course and used unsparingly and with -ever-growing conviction as a _terminus a quo_ and _ad quem_.[135] - -Creative workmanship, fortified in ever-growing measure by the -conception of serviceability to human use, works its way gradually into -the central place in the theoretical speculations of the time, so that -by the close of the era it dominates all intellectual enterprise in -the thoughtful portions of Christendom. Hence it becomes not only the -instrument of inquiry in the sciences, but a major premise in all work -of innovation and reconstruction of the scheme of institutions. In that -extensive revision of the institutional framework that characterises -modern times it is the life of the common people, their rights and -obligations, that is forever in view, and their life is conceived in -terms of craftsmanlike industry and the petty trade. By and large, the -outcome of this revision of civil and legal matters under handicraft -auspices is the system of Natural Rights, including the concept of -Natural Liberty. The whole scheme so worked out is manifestly of the -same piece with that Order of Nature and Natural Law that dominated the -inquiries of the scientists and the speculations of the philosophers. - -It lies in the nature of the case that the English-speaking community -should take the lead in the final advance in all these matters and -should work out the most finished, secure and enduring results within -these premises, both in the field of scientific inquiry and in that of -the theory of institutions. It lies in the nature of the case because -the English-speaking community had the benefit of the technological -gains made before their time, because they had a long and passably -uneventful experience of the handicraft routine in industry and in the -workday life to whose wants the handicraft industry ministered, and -because the discipline of the handicraft era was not in their case -neutralised in its closing phase by the turmoil, insecurity and civic -debaucheries of an epoch of war and political intrigue. And here again -the neighbouring peoples come into the case as copartners in this work -with England in much the same measure in which their experience through -this period was of the same general nature. - -The scheme of Natural Rights, and of Natural Liberty, which so emerges -is of a pronounced individualistic tenor, as it should be to answer -to the scheme of experience embodied in the system of handicraft. In -the crafts, particularly during the protracted early phases of the -system, it is the individual workman, working for a livelihood by use -of his own personal force, dexterity and diligence, that stands out as -the main fact; so much so, indeed, that he appears to have stood, in -the apprehension of his time, as the sole substantial factor in the -industrial organisation. Similarly under the canon of Natural Liberty -the individual is thrown on his own devices for his life, liberty and -pursuit of happiness. The craftsman by immemorial custom traditionally -disposed of his work and its product as he chose, under the rules of -his gild. He was by prescription in full possession of what he made, -subject only to the gild regulations imposed for the good of his -neighbours who were similarly placed. The most sacred right included -in the scheme of Natural Rights is that of property in whatever wealth -has been honestly acquired, subject only to the qualification that -it must not be turned to the detriment of one’s fellows. In the days -of the typical handicraft system the petty trade runs along with the -handicraft industry, in such a way that every master craftsman is more -or less of a trader, disposing of his goods or services in plenary -discretion, and even the apprentices and journeymen similarly bargain -for their terms of work and at times for the disposal of their product; -while the professional itinerant trader is a member of this industrial -community on much the same footing as the craftsmen proper. So it is -a secure item in the scheme of Natural Rights that all persons not -under tutelage have an indefeasible right to dispose by purchase and -sale not only of products of their own hands but of whatever items they -have come by through alienation by its producer or lawful owner. And -ownership is in natural-rights theory always to be traced back to the -creative workmanship of its first possessor.[136] - -In the sequel this natural right freely to dispose of one’s person and -work, when it had found lodgment among the principles of civil rights -in the eighteenth century, contributed substantially to the dissolution -of that organ of surveillance and control that the craftsmen of an -earlier generation had instituted in the gild system. The case is -but an instance of what is continually happening and bound to happen -in the field of institutional growth. Institutional principles, such -as this item of civil rights, emerge from use and wont, resulting -as a settled line of convention from usage and custom that grow out -of the exigencies of life at the time. But use and wont is a matter -of time. It takes time for habituation to attain that secure degree -of conventional recognition and authenticity that will enable it to -stand as an indefeasible principle of conduct, and by the time this -consummation is achieved it commonly happens that the exigencies which -enforced the given line of use and wont have ceased to be operative, -or at least to be so imperative as in their earlier incidence. The -control which the gilds were initially designed to exercise was a -control that should leave the gildsmen free in the pursuit of their -work, subject only to a salutary surveillance and standardisation of -the output, such as would maintain the prestige of their workmanship -and facilitate the disposal of the goods produced. The initial purpose -seems, in modern phrase, to have been a creation of intangible assets -for the benefits of the body of gildmen. Under the new conditions that -came to prevail when capitalistic management took over the direction -of industry these gild regulations no longer served their purpose, -but they seem on the contrary to have become an obstacle to the free -employment of skilled workmen. - -A similar fortune was about the same time beginning to overtake this -principle of Natural Liberty itself, and that even in the particular -bearing which seems at the outset to have been its primary and most -substantial aim. Initially, it seems, the point of interest, and -indeed of contention, was the freedom of the masterless workman to -dispose of his person and workmanship as he saw fit and as he best -could and would,--to take care of his life, liberty and pursuit of -happiness without let or hindrance from persons vested with authority -or prerogative. With the passage of time, use and wont erected this -conventional rule into an inalienable right. But included with it, -as an integral extension of the powers which this inalienable right -safeguarded, was the right of purchase and sale, touching both work -and its product, the right freely to hold and dispose of property. -Presently, toward the close of the handicraft era, or more specifically -in the late eighteenth century in England, industry fell under -capitalistic management. When this change had taken passably full -effect the workman was already secure in his civil (natural) right to -dispose of his workmanship as he thought best, but the circumstances -of employment under capitalistic management made it impossible for -him in fact to dispose of his work except to these employers, and -very much on their terms, or to dispose of his person except where -the exigencies of their business might require him. And the similarly -inalienable right of ownership, which had similarly emerged from use -and wont under the handicraft system, but which now in effect secured -the capitalist-employer in his control of the material means of -industry,--this sacred right of property now barred out any move that -might be designed to reinstate the workman in his effective freedom to -work as he chose or to dispose of his person and product as he saw fit. - -The connection so shown between the growth of handicraft and the -system of Natural Rights does not purport to be a complete account -of the rise of that system, even in outline. The more usual account -traces this system to the concept of _jus naturale_, of the late Roman -jurists. There is assuredly no call here to question or disparage -the work of those jurists and scholars who have busied themselves -with authenticating the system of Natural Rights by showing it to -be founded in the _jus gentium_ and the _jus naturale_ of the Latin -Codes. Their work is doubtless historically exact and competent. But -as is commonly the case with such work at the hands of jurists and -scholars, especially in that past age, it contents itself with tracing -an authentic pedigree, rather than go into questions of the causes that -led to the vogue of these concepts at the time of their acceptance -or the circumstances which gave these Natural Rights that particular -scope and content which they have assumed in modern theory of law and -civil relations. The thesis which is here offered is to the effect that -the habituation of use and wont under the handicraft system installed -these rights, in an inchoate fashion, in the current preconceptions -of the community, and that this habituation is traceable, causally -rather than by process of ratiocination, to the sense of workmanship -as it took form and went into action under the particular conventional -circumstances of the early era of handicraft; that the preconceptions -that so went into effect determined the current attitude of thoughtful -men toward questions of civil rights and legal principle; and that the -jurists who had occasion to take notice of these current preconceptions -touching human rights found themselves constrained to deal with them as -elementary facts in the situation as it lay before them, and therefore -to find a ground for them in the accepted canons, such as would satisfy -the legal mind of their authenticity by ancient prescription, or such -as should determine the scope of their application in conformity with -legal principles having a prior claim and authoritative sanction. -The thesis, therefore, is not that the jurists founded these modern -principles of legal theory on the popular prejudices current in their -time and due in point of habituation to the routine of handicraft, -nor that they stretched the ancient principles of _jus naturale_ to -meet the demands of popular prejudice, but that on prompting of legal -exigencies to which the practical acceptance of these principles had -given rise, the jurists found in the capitularies of the code what -was necessary to authenticate these principles of legal theory and -give them the sanction of authority,--a work of reasoning all the more -congenial and convincing to the jurists since they in common with the -rest of their generation were by habit and tradition imbued with the -penchant to find these principles right and good, and consequently to -find none other in the codes that might fatally traverse those whose -authentication was due. But these are matters of pedigree, and this -work of the great jurists and philosophers is in great part of the -nature of accessory after the fact, so far as bears on that sweeping -acceptance of these principles and that incontestable efficiency that -marks the course of their life-history in modern times. The jurists and -philosophers have sought and shown the sufficient reason for accepting -this scheme of principles, as well as for the particular fashion in -which they have been formulated; but the insensible growth of habits -of thought induced by the conditions of life in (early) modern times -must be allowed to stand as the efficient cause of their dominant -control over modern practice, speculation, and sentiment touching all -those relations that have been standardised in their terms. By use and -wont the range of conventional elements included in the scheme had -become eternal and indubitable principles of right reason, ingrained -in the intellectual texture of the jurists as well as in their lay -contemporaries; and the task of the jurists therefore was to work out -their authentication in terms of sufficient reason; it was not for them -to trouble with any question of the causes to which these principles -owed their eternal fitness in the scheme of Nature at that particular -time. - -The Natural Rights which so found authentication at the hands of the -jurists were of the individualistic kind which the discipline of the -handicraft system had inculcated, and the authentication found in the -_jus naturale_ does not range much beyond the individualistic bounds so -prescribed, nor are other lines of ancient prescription, at variance -with these rights, brought at all prominently into the light by the -legal inquiries of the jurists. Whereas it is no matter of serious -question that the chief bearing of the ancient findings embodied in the -code is not of this individualistic character. The causes which brought -on the modern acceptance of this scheme of Natural Rights are a matter -of use and wont, quite distinct from that line of argument by which the -jurists established them on grounds of sufficient reason resting on -ancient prescription. - -The extreme tenacity of life shown by the system of Natural Rights -may raise a reasonable doubt as to the adequacy of any account that -assigns their derivation to the discipline of use and wont peculiar -to any particular cultural era, even when the era in question is of -so consistent a character and such protracted duration as the era -of handicraft. What adds force to such a question is the fact that -something like these preconceptions of natural right is not uncommon in -the lower cultures. So that on the face of the returns there appears -to be good ground in the nature of things for designating these -conventional rights “natural.” Something of the kind is current in an -obvious fashion among the peaceable communities on the lower levels -of culture, among whom the scheme of accepted rights and obligations -bears more than a distant resemblance to the Natural Rights of the -eighteenth century. But something of the kind will also be found -among peoples on a higher level, both peaceable and predatory; though -departing more notably in point of contents from the eighteenth-century -system. The point of similarity, or of identity, among all these -systems of conventionally fundamental and eternal human rights is to be -found in their intrinsic sanction--they are all and several right and -good as a matter of course and of common sense; the point of divergence -or dissimilarity is to be found in the contents of the code, which are -not nearly the same in all cases. In the mediæval natural common-sense -scheme of rights, prerogative, personal and class exemption, is of the -essence of the canon; but the scheme is none the less intrinsically -mandatory on those who had been bred into a matter-of-course acceptance -of it by the routine of life in that age. Differential rights, duties -and privilege give the point of departure in this mediæval system of -civil relations; whereas in the system worked out under the auspices of -the handicraft industry the denial of differential advantage, whether -class or individual, is the beginning of wisdom and the substance of -common sense as applied to civil relations. The one of these schemes -comes out of an economic situation drawn on lines of predation, -ancient, prescriptive and settled, and its first principle is that -of master and servant; the other comes of a situation grounded in -workmanlike efficiency, and its first principle is that of an equitable -livelihood for work done. - -That some of the working systems of civil rights in customary force -among the peaceable communities of the lower culture have more in -common with modern Natural Rights than this mediæval scheme, should -logically be due to a similarity in the conditions of life out of -which they have arisen. In these savage or lower barbarian communities, -too, the principle of organization is work for a livelihood, and the -conventional ground of economic relations is that of workmanship, as -it is under the early handicraft system; but with the difference that -whereas the technology of handicraft throws the skilled workman into -perspective as a self-sufficient individual, and so throws self-help -into the foreground as the principle of economic equity, among these -savages and lower barbarians living by means of a technology of a less -highly specialised character, with a material situation not admitting -of the same degree of severalty in work or livelihood, the prime -requisite in the relations governing the rights and duties of the -members of the group is not the individual livelihood of the skilled -workman but that of the group at large. The individual’s personal -claims come in only as secondary and subservient to the needs of the -group at large; rights of ownership are loose and vague, and they -lack that tenacity of life that characterises the like rights under -the handicraft system. It is true, the product of industry belongs -primarily to the producer of it, it is his in some sense that might -pass into ownership if the technological situation admitted of work for -a livelihood in strict and consistent severalty; but in the actual case -as found on these lower levels the product commonly escapes somewhat -easily from his individual possession and comes to inure to the use of -the group. Except for such articles as continue to pertain to him by -virtue of intimate and daily use, the producer’s possessive control of -his product is likely at the best to be transient and dubious, readily -giving way before any urgent call for its use by other members of the -group.[137] - -A fact of some incisive effect in this connection is doubtless the -characteristic trait of handicraft that, in its early phases wholly and -obviously and in its later development also somewhat evidently, it was -the affair of a class; whereas in the savage communities with which it -is here compared, the technology and the livelihood in question are -those of the community at large, not of a class that stands in contrast -and in some degree of competition with the community at large. The -craftsmen were a fraction of the community by work for whose needs -they got their livelihood, even though, in the course of time, they -became the dominant element within the local community (municipality) -whose fortunes they shared. And as between this fraction of the -population and outside classes with whom they carried on their traffic, -particularly the well-to-do and land-holding classes, there could be -no constraining sense of a solidarity of interest. The ancient bond -of master and servant had been broken by something like an overt act -of class secession on the part of the craftsmen, and nothing like a -bond of fellowship had taken its place. The fellowship ran within the -lines of craftsmanship, while the traffic of each craftsman typically -ran across the line that divided the craftsman from the old order and -population outside of this industrial system. - -That the eighteenth-century system of Natural Rights shows such a -degree of approximation to the scheme of rights and obligations -observed among many primitive peoples need flutter no one’s sense -of cultural consistency. Return to Nature was more or less of a -password in the closing period of the era of handicraft and after, -and in respect of this system of civil relations it appears that the -popular attitude of that time was in effect something of a reversion -to primitive habits of thought; though it was at best a partial return -to a “state of nature” in the sense of a state of peace and industry -rather than a return to the unsophisticated beginnings of society. -That such a partial reversion takes effect in the habits of thought of -the time appears to be due to a similarly partial return to somewhat -analogous habits of life. The correspondence in the habits of thought -is no greater than that in the habits of life out of which these habits -of thought emerged. The primitive peoples that show this suggestive -resemblance to the system of Natural Rights typically are living under -a routine of workmanship and in a state of habitual peace,--in these -respects being placed somewhat similarly to the handicraft community. -The handicraft system comes true to the same characterisation in so -far that it was dominated by a routine of workmanship and so far as, -in effect, its life-history falls in an era of prevailingly peaceable -conditions; and such a characterisation holds true of the industrial -community proper through the period during which handicraft is the -ruling factor in the community’s habitual range of interest. It is -not that the era of handicraft was an era of reversion to savagery, -but only that the tone-giving factor in the community of that time -reverted, by force of the state of the industrial arts, to habits of -peace and industry, in which direct and detailed manual work takes a -leading place. There is also the further point of economic contact -with the savage state that in the handicraft community distinctions -of wealth are neither large nor of decisive consequence during the -long period of habituation that brought the preconceptions of that era -into the settled shape that gave them the character of a finished and -balanced system of principles. - -It may be added, at the risk of tedious repetition, that the habits of -life characteristic of the era, as well as the frame of mind suited -to this characteristic routine of life, seem peculiarly suited to the -native endowment of the European peoples,--perhaps in an especial -degree suited to the native bent of those sections of the population -in which there is an appreciable admixture of the dolicho-blond -stock. That such may be the case is at least strongly suggested by -the tenacious hold which this system of Rights apparently still has -on the sentimental allegiance of these Western peoples, after the -conditions to which these Rights owe their rise, and to which they are -suited, have in the main ceased to exist; as well as by the somewhat -blind fervour with which these peoples, and more especially the -English-speaking section of them, go about the idyllic enterprise of -rehabilitating that obsolescent “competitive system” that embodied the -system of Natural Rights, and that came up with the era of handicraft -and went under in its dissolution. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE MACHINE INDUSTRY - - -The era of the machine industry has been designated variously, to -answer to the varying point of view from which it has been considered -by divers writers. As an historical era it shows divers traits, more or -less characteristic, and it has been designated by one or another of -these traits according to the particular line of interest that may have -directed the attention of those who have had occasion to name it. It is -spoken of as the era of the factory system, of large-scale industry, -as the age of Capitalism or of free competition, or again as an era of -the credit economy. But as seen from the point of view of technology, -and more specifically from that of workmanship as it underlies the -technological system, it is best characterised as the era of the -machine industry, or of the machine process. As a technological period -it is commonly conceived to take its rise in the British industrial -community about the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the -conventional date of the Industrial Revolution,--those who have a taste -for precise dates assigning it more specifically to the sixties of that -century, to coincide with the earliest practical use of certain large -mechanical inventions of that age.[138] - -Such a precise date is scarcely serviceable for any other than a -mnemonic purpose. If the matter is taken in historical perspective -the era of the machine process will be seen to have been coming on in -England through the earlier years of the century, and even from before -that time; whereas notable mechanical inventions, and engineering -exploits of the like general bearing in technology, had begun to affect -the industrial situation in some of the Continental countries at an -appreciably earlier period. So, _e. g._, practical improvements had -gone into effect in water-wheels, pumps and wind mills, in the use of -sails and the designs of shipping, in wheeled vehicles (though the -early modern improvements in this particular may easily be over-rated) -and in such appliances as chimneys; and, again, there is the peculiar -but highly instructive field of applied mechanics represented by the -invention and improvement of firearms. Such engineering enterprises as -the drainage systems of Holland also belong here and are to be counted -among the notable achievements in applied mechanics. - -Even the most casual review of the technological situation in Europe, -say in the seventeenth century, will bring out characteristic features -that cannot be denied honourable mention as applications of mechanical -science, although the reserve caution is immediately to be entered -that these early mechanical expedients and their employment stand out -as sporadic facts of mechanical contrivance in an age of manual work, -rather than as characteristic traits of the industrial system in which -they are found. The beginnings of the machine industry are of this -sporadic character. They come up as an outgrowth of the handicraft -technology, particularly at conjunctures where that technology is -called on to deal with such large mechanical problems as exceed the -force of manual labour or that elude the reach of the craftsman’s tools. - -So, _e. g._, in England, say from the sixteenth century onward, there -are improvements in highways and waterways and in the drainage of -agricultural lands; and, as an instance more obviously related to the -machine industry as commonly apprehended, there comes early in the -eighteenth century the “horse-hoing cultivation” on which Jethro Tull -spent his enthusiasm. Along with this obviously mechanical line of -endeavour and innovation is also to be noted the deliberate efforts to -improve the races of sheep and cattle that were in progress about the -same time. These are perhaps not to be rated as mechanical inventions -in the simple and obvious sense of the phrase, but they have this -trait in common with the inventions of the machine era that they turn -ascertained facts of brute nature to account for human use by a logic -that has much of that character of impersonal incidence that marks -the machine technology. The machine industry comes on gradually; -its initial stages are visible in the early eighteenth century, but -it is only toward the close of that century that its effects on the -industrial system become so pronounced that the era of the machine -technology may fairly be said to have set in; and it is only in Great -Britain that it can be said to prevail at that period. - -Of the other features above alluded to as characteristic of this period -of history none are of so substantial a character or so distinctive -of this particular period as its technological peculiarities. Free -competition, _e. g._, belongs as much to the era of handicraft as to -that of the machine, having prevailed--more extensively in theory -than in practice--under the former régime as under the latter; and -in point of fact it gradually falls under increasing restrictions as -the machine age advances, until in the more highly developed phases -of the current situation it has largely ceased to be a practicable -line of policy in industrial business. So, also, Capitalism did not -take its rise coincident with the industrial revolution, although its -best development and largest expansion may lie within the machine age. -It had its beginnings in the prosperous days of handicraft, and one -capitalistic era had already run its course, on the Continent, before -the machine industry came in. The “credit economy,” associated with -the capitalistic management of industry, is also of older growth, so -far as regards the days of its early vigour, although the larger and -more far-reaching developments of credit come effectually into play -only in the later decades of the machine age. Much the same is true -of the so-called large-scale organisation of industry and the factory -system. Its highest development comes with the advanced stages of the -machine technology and is manifestly conditioned by the latter, but it -was already a force to be counted with at the time of the industrial -revolution. The large-scale industry contemplated, with a degree of -apprehension, by Adam Smith, e. g., was not based on the machine -technology but on handicraft with an extensive division of labour, and -on the “household industry” as that was gaining ground in his time. The -latter was, in form, what has since come to be known as the “sweatshop” -industry. - - * * * * * - -In this new era technology comes into close touch with science; both -the science and the technology of the new age being of a matter-of-fact -character, beyond all precedent. So much so that by contrast, the -technology of handicraft would appear to have stood in no close or -consistent relation with the avowed science of its time. Not that -anthropomorphic imputation is altogether wanting or inoperative in this -latterday scientific inquiry, or in the technological utilisation of -the facts in hand; but in the later conceptions anthropomorphism has at -the best been repressed and sterilised in an unprecedented degree. And -it holds true for the machine technology beyond any other state of the -industrial arts that the facts of observation can effectually be turned -to account only in so far as they are apprehended in a matter-of-fact -way. The logic of this technology, by which its problems are to be -worked out, is the logic of a mechanical process in which no personal -or teleological factors enter. The engineer or inventor who designs -processes, appliances and expedients within these premises is required -to apprehend and appreciate the working facts after that dispassionate, -opaque, unteleological fashion in which the phenomena of brute matter -occur; and he must learn to work out their uses by the logic of brute -matter instead of construing them by imputation and by analogy with the -manifestations of human workmanship. Less imperatively, but still in a -marked degree, the same spirit must be found in the workmen under whose -tendance these processes and appliances are to work out the designed -results. - -Under the simpler technology of more primitive industrial systems -recourse to anthropomorphic imputation has also always been a hindrance -to workmanlike mastery, more particularly in the mechanic arts proper, -and only less pronounced in those industrial arts, like husbandry, -that have to do immediately with plants and animals. Knowledge of -brute facts as interpreted in terms of human nature appears never to -have been serviceable in full proportion to their content. But in -these more primitive industrial systems--as also in the better days -of handicraft--the workman is forever in instant control of his tools -and materials; the movements made use of in the work are essentially -of the nature of manipulation, in which the workman adroitly coerces -the materials into shapes and relations that will answer his purpose, -and in which also nothing (typically) takes place beyond the manual -reach of the workman as extended by the tools which his hands make use -of. Under these conditions it is a matter of relatively slight effect -whether the workman does or does not rate the objects which he uses as -tools and materials in quasi-personal terms or imputes to them a degree -of self-direction, since they are at no point allowed to escape his -manual reach and are by direct communication of his force, dexterity -and judgment coerced into the forms, motions and spatial dispositions -aimed at by him. His imputing some bias, bent, initiative or spiritual -force or infirmity to brute matter will doubtless incapacitate him by -so much for efficiently designing processes and uses for the available -material facts; his creative imagination proceeds on mistaken premises -and goes wrong in so far; and so this anthropomorphic interpretation -must always count as a material drawback to technological mastery -of the available resources and in some degree retard the possible -advance in the industrial arts. But within the premises given by the -industrial arts as they stand, he may still do effective work as a -mechanic skilled in the manual operations prescribed by the given state -of the arts. For in the mechanic industries of all these other and -more archaic industrial systems the workman does the work; it may be -by use of tools, and even by help of more or less extended processes -in which natural forces of growth, fermentation, decay, and the like, -play a material part; but the decisive fact remains that the motions -and operations of such manual industry take effect at his hands and by -way of his muscular force and manual reach. Where natural processes, as -those of growth, fermentation or combustion, are drawn into the routine -of industry, they lie, as natural processes, beyond his discretionary -control; at the most he puts them in train and lets them run, with some -hedging and shifting as they go on, to bring them to bear in such a way -as shall suit his ends; he takes his precautions with them and then he -takes the chance of their coming to the desired issue. They are not, -and as he sees the work and its conditions they need not be, within -his control in anything like the fashion in which he controls his -tools and the materials employed in his manual operations; they work -well or ill, and what comes of it is in some degree a matter of his -fortune of success or failure, such as comes to the man who has done -his best under Providence. In case of a striking outcome for good or -ill from the operation of such natural processes the devout craftsman -is inclined to rate it as the act of God; very much as does the devout -husbandman who depends on rain rather than on irrigation. It is the -part of the wise workman in such a case to take what comes, without -elation or repining, in so far as these factors of success and failure -are not comprised in his presumed workmanlike proficiency. - -The matter lies differently in the machine industry. The mechanical -processes here engaged are calculable, measurable, and contain no -mysterious element of providential ambiguity. In proportion as they -work to the best effect, they are capable of theoretical statement, not -merely approachable by rule of thumb. The designing engineer takes his -measures on the basis of ascertained quantitative fact. He knows the -forces employed, and, indeed, he can employ only such as he knows and -only so far as he knows them; and he arranges for the processes that -are to do the work, with only such calculable margin of error as is due -to the ascertained average infirmity of the available materials. He -deals with forces and effects standardised in the same opaque terms. He -will be proficient in his craft in much the same degree in which he is -master of the matter-of-fact logic involved in mechanical processes of -pressure, velocity, displacement and the like; not in proportion as he -can adroitly impart to the available materials the workmanlike turn of -his own manual force and dexterity, nor in the degree in which he may -be able shrewdly to guess the run of the season or the variations of -temperature and moisture that condition the effectual serviceability of -natural processes in handicraft. - -The share of the operative workman in the machine industry is -(typically) that of an attendant, an assistant, whose duty it is to -keep pace with the machine process and to help out with workmanlike -manipulation at points where the machine process engaged is -incomplete.[139] His work supplements the machine process, rather -than makes use of it. On the contrary the machine process makes use of -the workman. The ideal mechanical contrivance in this technological -system is the automatic machine. Perfection in the machine technology -is attained in the degree in which the given process can dispense -with manual labour; whereas perfection in the handicraft system means -perfection of manual workmanship. It is the part of the workman to know -the working of the mechanism with which he is associated and to adapt -his movements with mechanical accuracy to its requirement. This demands -a degree of intelligence, and much of this work calls for a good deal -of special training besides; so that it is still true that the workman -is useful somewhat in proportion as he is skilled in the occupation -to which the machine industry calls him. In the new era the stress -falls rather more decidedly on general intelligence and information, -as contrasted with detail mastery of the minutiæ of a trade; so that -familiarity with the commonplace technological knowledge of the time -is rather more imperative a requirement under the machine technology -than under that of handicraft. At the same time this common stock of -technological information is greatly larger in the current state of the -industrial arts; so much larger in volume, and at the same time so much -more exacting in point of accuracy and detail, that this commonplace -information that is requisite to any of the skilled occupations can no -longer be acquired in the mere workday routine of industry, but is to -be had only at the cost of deliberate application and with the help of -schools. - -On this head, as regards the requirements of industry in the way of -general information on the part of the skilled workmen, the contrast -is sufficiently marked, _e. g._, between Elizabethan times and the -Victorian age. At the earlier period illiteracy was no obstacle to -adequate training in the skilled trades. In the seventeenth century -Thomas Mun includes among the peculiar and extraordinary acquirements -necessary to eminent success in commerce, matters that are now easily -comprised in the ordinary common-school instruction; and in so doing -he plainly shows that these acquirements were over and above what was -usual or would be thought useful for the common man. Even Adam Smith, -in the latter half of the eighteenth century, shrewd observer as he -was, does not include any degree of schooling or any similar pursuit of -general information among the requisites essential to the efficiency of -skilled labour. Even at that date it appears still to have been true -that the commonplace information and the general training necessary to -a mastery of any one of the crafts lay within so narrow a range that -what was needful could all be acquired by hearsay and as an incident -to the discipline of apprenticeship. Within a century after the first -inception of the machine industry illiteracy had come to be a serious -handicap to any skilled mechanic; the range of commonplace information -that must habitually be drawn on in the skilled trades had widened to -such an extent, and comprised so large a volume of recondite facts, -that the ability to read came to have an industrial value; the -higher proficiency in any branch of the mechanic arts presumed such -an acquaintance with fact and theory as could neither be gained nor -maintained without habitual recourse to printed matter. And this line -of requirements has been constantly increasing in volume and urgency, -as well as in the range of employments to which the demand applies, -until it has become a commonplace that no one can now hope to compete -for proficiency in the skilled occupations without such schooling as -will carry him very appreciably beyond the three R’s that made up the -complement of necessary learning for the common man half a century ago. - -It follows as a consequence of these large and increasing requirements -enforced by the machine technology that the period of preliminary -training is necessarily longer, and the schooling demanded for general -preparation grows unremittingly more exacting. So that, apart from all -question of humanitarian sentiment or of popular fitness for democratic -citizenship, it has become a matter of economic expediency, simply as -a proposition in technological efficiency at large, to enforce the -exemption of children from industrial employment until a later date -and to extend their effective school age appreciably beyond what would -once have been sufficient to meet all the commonplace requirements of -skilled workmanship.[140] - -The knowledge so required as a general and commonplace equipment -requisite for the pursuit of these modern skilled occupations is of -the general nature of applied mechanics, in which the essence of the -undertaking is a ready apprehension of opaque facts, in passably -exact quantitative terms. This class of knowledge presumes a certain -intellectual or spiritual attitude on the part of the workman, such an -attitude and animus as will readily apprehend and appreciate matter -of fact and will guard against the suffusion of this knowledge with -putative animistic or anthropomorphic subtleties, quasi-personal -interpretations of the observed phenomena and of their relations to one -another. The norm of systematisation is that given by the logic of the -machine process, and the scope of it is that inculcated by statistical -computation and the principle of material cause and effect. - -In some degree the routine of the machine industry necessarily induces -such an animus in its employees, since such is the scope and method of -its own working; and the closer and more exacting the application to -work of this kind, the more thorough-going should be the effects of -its discipline. But this routine and its discipline extend beyond the -mechanical occupations as such, so as in great part to determine the -habits of all members of the modern community. This proposition holds -true more broadly for the current state of the industrial arts than any -similar statement would hold, _e. g._, for the handicraft system. The -ordinary routine of life is more widely and pervasively determined by -the machine industry and by machine-like industrial processes today, -and this determination is at the same time more rigorous, than any -analogous effect that was had under the handicraft system. Within the -effective bounds of modern Christendom no one can wholly escape or in -any sensible degree deflect the sweep of the machine’s routine. - -Modern life goes by clockwork. So much so that no modern household -can dispense with a mechanical timepiece; which may be more or less -accurate, it is true, but which commonly marks the passage of time with -a degree of exactness that would have seemed divertingly supererogatory -to the common man of the high tide of handicraft.[141] Latterly the -time so indicated, it should be called to mind, is “standard time,” -standardised to coincide over wide areas and to vary only by large and -standard units. It brings the routine of life to a nicely uniform -schedule of hours throughout a population which exceeds by many fold -the size of those communities that once got along contentedly enough -without such an expedient under the régime of handicraft. In this -matter the demands of the machine have even brought on a revision of -the time schedule imposed by the mechanism of the heavenly bodies, so -that not only “solar time,” but even the “mean solar time” that once -was considered to be a sufficient improvement on the ways of Nature, -has been superseded by the schedule imposed by the railway system. - -The discipline of the timepiece is sufficiently characteristic of -the discipline exercised by the machine process at large in modern -life, and as a cultural factor, as a factor in shaping the habits of -thought of the modern peoples, it is itself moreover a fact of the -first importance. Of the standardisation of the time schedule just -spoken of, the earlier, the adoption of “mean solar time,” was due -immediately to the exigencies of the machine process as such, which -would not tolerate the seasonal fluctuations of “apparent” solar time. -This epithet “apparent,” by the way, carries a suggestion that the -time schedule so designated is less true to the actualities of the -case than the one which superseded it. And so it is if the actualities -to which regard is had are those of the machine process; whereas the -contrary is true if the actualities that are to decide are those of -the seasons, as they were under the earlier dispensation. “Standard -time” has gone into effect primarily through the necessities of -railway communication,--itself a dominant item in the mechanical -routine of life; but it is only in a less degree a requirement of -the other activities that go to make up the traffic of modern life. -The railway is one of the larger mechanical contrivances of the -machine age, and its exigencies in this respect are typical of what -holds true at large. Communication of whatever kind, as well as the -supply of other necessaries, is standardised in terms of time, space, -quantity, frequency, and indeed in all measurable dimensions; and the -“consumer,” as the denizens of these machine-made communities are -called, is required to conform to this network of standardisations in -his demand and uses of them, on pain of “getting left.” To “get left” -is a colloquialism of the machine era and describes the commonest form -of privation under the régime of the machine process. It is already a -time-worn colloquialism, inasmuch as it is now already some time since -the ubiquitous routine of the machine process first impressed on the -common man the sinister eventuality covered by the phrase. - -The relation in which the consumer, the common man, stands to the -mechanical routine of life at large is of much the same nature as that -in which the modern skilled workman stands to that detail machine -process into which he is dovetailed in the industrial system. To take -effectual advantage of what is offered as the wheels of routine go -round, in the way of work and play, livelihood and recreation, he -must know by facile habituation what is going on and how and in what -quantities and at what price and where and when, and for the best -effect he must adapt his movements with skilled exactitude and a -cool mechanical insight to the nicely balanced moving equilibrium of -the mechanical processes engaged. To live--not to say at ease--under -the exigencies of this machine-made routine requires a measure of -consistent training in the mechanical apprehension of things. The mere -mechanics of conformity to the schedule of living implies a degree of -trained insight and a facile strategy in all manner of quantitative -adjustments and adaptations, particularly at the larger centres of -population, where the routine is more comprehensive and elaborate. - -And here and now, as always and everywhere, invention is the mother -of necessity. The complex of technological ways and means grows -by increments that come into the scheme by way of improvements, -innovations, expedients designed to facilitate, abridge or enhance -the work to be done. Any such innovation that fits workably into the -technological scheme, and that in any appreciable degree accelerates -the pace of that scheme at any point, will presently make its way into -general and imperative use, regardless of whether its net ulterior -effect is an increase or a diminution of material comfort or industrial -efficiency. Such is particularly the case under the current pecuniary -scheme of life if the new expedient lends itself to the service of -competitive gain or competitive spending; its general adoption then -peremptorily takes effect on pain of damage and discomfort to all -those who fail to strike the new pace. Each new expedient added to and -incorporated in the system offers not only a new means of keeping up -with the run of things at an accelerated pace, but also a new chance of -getting left out of the running. The point is well seen, e. g., in the -current competitive armaments, where equipment is subject to constant -depreciation and obsolescence, not through decline or decay, but by -virtue of new improvements. So also in the increase and acceleration -of advertising that has been going on during the past quarter of a -century, due to increased facilities and improved methods in printing, -paper-making, and the other industrial arts that contribute to the -appliances of publicity. - -It is of course not hereby intended to imply that these modern -inventions meet no wants but such as they themselves create. It is -beyond dispute that such mechanical contrivances, for instance, as -the telephone, the typewriter, and the automobile are not only great -and creditable technological achievements, but they are also of -substantial service. At the same time it is at least doubtful if these -inventions have not wasted more effort and substance than they have -saved,--that they are to be credited with an appreciable net loss. -They are designed to facilitate travel and communication, and such -is doubtless their first and obvious effect. But the net result of -their introduction need by no means be the same. Their chief use is -in the service of business, not of industry, and their great further -use is in the furtherance, or rather the acceleration, of obligatory -social amenities. As contrivances for the expedition of traffic both -in business and in social intercourse their use is chiefly, almost -wholly, of a competitive nature; and in the competitive equipment and -manœuvres of business and of gentility the same broad principle will -be found to apply as applies to competitive armaments and improvements -in the technology of warfare. Any technological advantage gained by -one competitor forthwith becomes a necessity to all the rest, on -pain of defeat. The typewriter is, no doubt, a good and serviceable -contrivance for the expedition of a voluminous correspondence, but -there is also no reasonable doubt but its introduction has appreciably -more than doubled the volume of correspondence necessary to carry on -a given volume of business, or that it has quadrupled the necessary -cost of such correspondence. And the expedition of correspondence by -stenographer and typewriter has at the same time become obligatory -on all business firms, on pain of losing caste and so of losing the -confidence of their correspondents. Of the telephone much the same is -to be said, with the addition that its use involves a very appreciable -nervous strain and its ubiquitous presence conduces to an unremitting -nervous tension and unrest wherever it goes. The largest secure result -of these various modern contrivances designed to facilitate and abridge -travel and communication appears to be an increase of the volume of -traffic per unit of outcome, acceleration of the pace and heightening -of the tension at which the traffic is carried on, and a consequent -increase of nervous disorders and shortening of the effective working -life of those engaged in this traffic. But in these matters invention -is the mother of necessity, and within the scope of these contrivances -for facilitating and abridging labour there is no alternative, and life -is not offered on any other terms.[142] - -Other kinds of routine, standardised and elaborate, have been or -still are in force, besides this machine-like process of living as -carried on under modern technological conditions; and one and another -of these will at times rise to a degree of exigence quite comparable -with that of the machine process. But these others are of a different -character in that their demands are not enforced by sanctions of an -unmediated mechanical kind; they do not fall on the delinquent with -a direct mechanical impact, and the penalties of non-conformity are -of a conventional nature. So, _e. g._, the punctilios of religious -observance may come to a very rigid routine, to be observed on pain -of sufficiently grave consequences; but in so far as these eventual -(eschatological) consequences are statable in terms of material -incidence (of fire, sulphur, or the like) the mechanically trained -modern consumer will incline to hold that they are of a putative -character only. So, again, in the matter of fashion and decorum the -schedule of observances may be sufficiently rigorous, but here too -failure to articulate with the sweep of a punctilious routine with all -the sure and firm touch of the expert is not checked with an immediate -disastrous impact of mechanical shock. Conformity in the technological -respect with the routine of living under other technological systems -than that of the machine process had also something of this character -of conventional prescription; and the discipline exercised by the -routine of living in these more archaic technological eras was also -something more in the nature of a training in conventional expedients. -The resulting growth of habits of thought in such a community should -then also differ in a similar way from what comes in sight in the -present. - - * * * * * - -Both in its incidence on the workman and on the members of the -community at large, therefore, the training given by this current state -of the industrial arts is a training in the impersonal, quantitative -apprehension and appreciation of things, and it tends strongly to -inhibit and discredit all imputation of spiritual traits to the facts -of observation. It is a training in matter-of-fact; more specifically -it is a training in the logic of the machine process. Its outcome -should obviously be an unqualified materialistic and mechanical animus -in all orders of society, most pronounced in the working classes, since -they are most immediately and consistently exposed to the discipline -of the machine process. But such an animus as best comports with -the logic of the machine process does not, it appears, for good or -ill, best comport with the native strain of human nature in those -peoples that are subject to its discipline. In all the various peoples -of Christendom there is a visible straining against the drift of -the machine’s teaching, rising at time and in given classes of the -population to the pitch of revulsion. - -It is apparently among the moderately well-to-do, the half-idle -classes, that such a revulsion chiefly has its way; leading now and -again to fantastic, archaising cults and beliefs and to make-believe -credence in occult insights and powers. At the same time, and with -the like tincture of affectation and make-believe, there runs through -much of the community a feeling of maladjustment and discomfort, that -seeks a remedy in a “return to Nature” in one way or another; some sort -of a return to “the simple life,” which shall in some fashion afford -an escape from the unending “grind” of living from day to day by the -machine method and shall so put behind us for a season the burdensome -futilities by help of which alone life can be carried on under the -routine of the machine process. - -All this uneasy revulsion may not be taken at its face value; there -is doubtless a variable but fairly large element of affectation that -comes to expression in all this talk about the simple life; but when -all due abatement has been allowed there remains a substantial residue -of unaffected protest. The pitch and volume of this protest against -“artificial” and “futile” ways of life is greatest in the advanced -industrial countries, and it has been growing greater concomitantly -with the advance of the machine era. What is perhaps more significant -of actualities than these well-bred professions of discomfort and -discontent is the “vacation,” being a more tangible phenomenon and -statable in quantitative terms. The custom of “taking a vacation” has -been on the increase for some time, and the avowed need of a yearly -or seasonal holiday greatly exceeds the practice of it in nearly -all callings. This growing recourse to vacations should be passably -conclusive evidence to the effect that neither the manner of life -enforced by the machine system, nor the occupations of those who are in -close contact with this technology and its due habits of thought, can -be “natural” to the common run of civilised mankind. - -According to accepted theories of heredity,[143] civilised mankind -should by native endowment be best fit to live under conditions of -a moderately advanced savagery, such as the machine technology will -not permit.[144] Neither in the physical conditions which it imposes, -therefore, nor in the habitual ways of observation and reasoning which -it requires in the work to be done, is the machine age adapted to the -current native endowment of the race. And these various movements of -unrest and revulsion are evidence, for as much as they are worth, that -such is the case. - -Not least convincing is the fact that a considerable proportion of -those who are held unremittingly to the service of the machine process -“break down,” fall into premature decay. Physically and spiritually -these modern peoples are better adapted to life under conditions -radically different from those imposed by this modern technology.[145] -All of which goes to show, what is the point here in question, that -however exacting and however pervasive the discipline of the machine -process may be, it can not, after all, achieve its perfect work in the -way of habituation in the population of Christendom as it stands. The -limit of tolerance native to the race, physically and spiritually, -is short of that unmitigated materialism and unremitting mechanical -routine to which the machine technology incontinently drives. - - * * * * * - -For anything like a comprehensive view of the effects which the machine -technology has had on the scope and method of knowledge in modern -times it is necessary to turn back to its beginnings. Historically the -machine age succeeds the era of handicraft, but the two overlap very -extensively. So much so that while the era of the machine technology -is commonly held to have set in something like a century and a half -ago it is still too early to assert that the industrial system has -cleared itself of the remnants of handicraft or that the habits of -thought suitable to the days of handicraft are no longer decisive in -the current legal and popular apprehension of industrial relations. -The discipline of the machine process has not yet had time, nor has -it had a clear field. The best that can be looked for, therefore, in -the way of habits of thought conforming to the ways and means of the -machine process should be something of a progressive approximation; -and the considerations recited in the last few paragraphs should leave -it doubtful whether anything more than an imperfect approximation to -the logic of the machine process can be achieved, through any length -of training, by the peoples among whom the greatest advance in that -direction has already been made. - -The material sciences early show the bias of the machine technology, as -is fairly to be expected, since these sciences stand in a peculiarly -close relation to the technological side of industry,--almost a -relation of affiliation. At no earlier period has the correlation -between science and technology been so close. And the response in -respect of the scope and method of these sciences to any notable -advance in technology has been sufficiently striking. As has already -been indicated above, modern science at large takes to the use of -statistical methods and precise mechanical measurements, and in this -matter scientific inquiry has grown continually more confident and -more meticulous at the same time that this mechanistic procedure -is continually being applied more extensively as the technological -advance goes forward. How far this statistical-mechanistic bias of -modern inquiry is to be set down to the account of the drift of -technology toward mechanical engineering, and how far it may be due -to an ever increasing familiarity with conceptions of accountancy -enforced by the price system and the time schedule in daily life, may -be left an open question. The main fact remains, that in much the -same degree as niceties of calculation have come to dominate current -technological methods and devices the like insistence on extreme -niceties of mechanical measurement and statistical accuracy has also -become imperative in scientific inquiry; until it may fairly be said -that such meticulous scrutiny of quantitative relations as would have -seemed foolish in the early days of the machine era has become the -chief characteristic of scientific inquiry today.[146] It is of course -not overlooked that in this matter of quantitative scruple the relation -between current technology and the sciences is a relation of mutual -give and take; but this fact can scarcely be urged as an objection to -the view that these two lines of expression of the modern habit of -mind are closely bound together, since it is precisely such a bond of -continuity between the two that is here spoken for. - -As shown in the foregoing chapter, in the course of the transition to -modern times and modern ways of thinking the principle of efficient -cause gradually replaced that of sufficient reason as the final -ground of certitude in conclusions of a theoretical nature. This -shifting of the metaphysical footing of knowledge from a subjective -ground to an objective one first and most unreservedly affects the -material sciences, as it should if it is at all to be construed as an -outcome of the discipline exercised by the then current technology of -handicraft. But the like effect is presently, though tardily, had in -other lines of systematic knowledge that lie farther from the immediate -incidence of technology and secular traffic. So that by the time of the -industrial revolution the like mechanistic animus had come to pervade -even the philosophical and theological speculations current in those -communities that were most intimately and unreservedly touched by the -discipline of craftsmanship and the petty trade.[147] - -By this time,--the latter part of the eighteenth century,--the material -sciences (overtly) admit no principle of systematisation within their -own jurisdiction other than that of efficient cause. But at that date -the concept of causation still has much of the content given it by -the technology of handicraft. The efficient cause is still conceived -after an individualistic fashion; without grave exaggeration it might -even be said that the concept of cause as currently employed in the -scientific speculations of that time had something of a quasi-personal -complexion. The inquiry habitually looked to some one efficient cause, -engaged as creatively dominant in the case and working to its end under -conditioning circumstances that might greatly affect the outcome -but that were not felt (or avowed) to enter into the case with the -same aggressive thrust of causality that belonged to the efficient -cause proper. The “contributory circumstances” were conceived rather -extrinsically as accessory to the event; “accessory before the fact,” -perhaps, but none the less accessory. And scientific research took the -form of an inquiry into the causal nexus between an antecedent (a cause -or complex of causes) and its outcome in an event. The inquiry looked -to the beginning and end of an episode of activity, the outcome of -which would be a finished product, somewhat after the fashion in which -a finished piece of work leaves the craftsman’s hands. The craftsman -is the agency productively engaged in the case, while his tools and -materials are accessories to his force and skill, and the finished -goods leave his hands as an end achieved; and so an episode of creative -efficiency is rounded off. - -From an early period in the machine era a new attitude toward questions -of causation comes in evidence in scientific inquiry. The obvious -change is perhaps the larger scale on which the sequence of cause -and effect is conceived. It is no longer predominantly a question of -episodes of causal efficiency, detached and rounded off. Such detail -episodes still continue to occupy the routine of investigation; -necessarily so, since these empirical sciences proceed step by step in -the determination of the phenomena with which they are occupied. But in -an increasing degree these detached phenomena are sought to be worked -into a theoretical structure of larger scope, and this larger structure -of theory falls into shape as a self-determining sequence of cumulative -change. The same concept of process that rules in the machine -technology invades the speculations of the scientists and results in -theories of cumulative sequence, in which the point of departure as -well as the objective end of the sequence of causation gradually come -to have less and less of a determinative significance for the course -of the inquiry and for its results. In theoretical speculations based -on the data of the empirical sciences, interest and attention come -progressively to centre on this process of cumulative causation, so -that the interest in the productive efficiency of consummation ceases -gradually to be of decisive moment in the formulations of theory; which -comes in this way to be an account of an unfolding process rather than -a checking up of individual effects against individual causes. What -once were ultimate questions have in modern science become ulterior -questions and have lost their preferential place in the inquiry. -Neither the seat of efficient initiative, that would be presumed to -give this unfolding process of cumulative change its content and -direction, nor its eventual goal, wherein it would be presumed to come -to rest when the initial impulse has spent itself and its end has been -compassed,--neither of these ultimates holds the attention or guides -the inquiry of modern science. - -It is only gradually, concomitant with the gradual maturing of the -machine technology, that the systematisation of knowledge in scientific -theory has come by common consent to converge on formulations of a -genetic process of cumulative change. This science of the machine age -is “evolutionary” in a peculiarly impersonal, indeed in a mechanistic -sense of the term. In the consummate form, as it stands at the -transition to the twentieth century, this evolutionary conception of -genetic process is, at least ideally, void of all teleological elements -and of all personality--except as personality may be concessively -admitted as a by-product of the mechanistic sweep of the blind -motions of brute matter. Neither the name nor the notion of a genetic -evolution is peculiar to the machine age; but this current, impersonal, -unteleological, mechanistic conception of an evolutionary process is -peculiar to the late modern fashion of apprehending things. - -It goes without saying that this mechanistic conception of process has -worked clear of personation and teleological bias only gradually, by -insensible decay and progressive elimination of those preconceptions -of personal force and teleological fitness that ruled all theoretical -knowledge in the days when the principle of sufficient reason held over -that of efficient cause; and it should likewise be a matter of course -that this shift to the mechanistic footing is by no means yet complete, -that scientific inquiry is not yet clear of all contamination with -animistic, anthropomorphic, or teleological elements; since the change -is of the nature of habit, which takes time, and since the discipline -of modern life to which the mechanistic habit of mind is traceable is -by no means wholly consistent or unqualified in its mechanistic drift. -Yet so far has the habituation to mechanistic ways of thinking taken -effect, and so comprehensive and thorough has the discipline of the -machine process been, that a mechanistic, unteleological notion of -evolution is today a commonplace preconception both with scientists -and laymen; whereas a hundred years ago such a conceit had intimately -touched the imagination of but very few, if any, among the scientific -adepts of the new era. - -To what effect Lucretius and his like in classical antiquity, _e. g._, -may have speculated and tried to speak in these premises is by no -means easy to make out; nor does it concern the present inquiry, -since no vital connection or continuity of habit is traceable between -their achievements in this respect and the theoretical preconceptions -of modern science or of the machine technology. In the course of -modern times conceptions of an evolutionary sequence of creation -or of genesis come up with increasing frequency, and from an early -period in the machine age these conceptions take on more and more -of a mechanistic character, but it is not until Darwin that such a -genetic process of evolution is conceived in terms of blind mechanical -forces alone, without the help of imputed teleological bias or -personalised initiative. It may perhaps be an open question whether -the Darwinian conception of evolution is in no degree contaminated -with teleological fancies, but however that may be it remains true -that a purely mechanistic conception of a genetic process in nature -had found no lodgment in scientific theory up to the middle of the -nineteenth century. With varying success this conception has since -been assimilated by the adepts of all the material sciences, and -it may even be said to stand as a tacitly postulated commonplace -underlying all modern scientific theory, whether in the material or -the social sciences. It is accepted by common consent as a matter of -course, although doubtless much antique detail at variance with it -stands over both in the theoretical formulations of the adepts and in -popular thought, and must continue to stand over until the course of -habituation may conceivably in time enforce the sole competency of this -mechanistic conception as the definitive norm of systematic knowledge. -Whether such an eventuality is to overtake the scope and method of -knowledge in Western civilisation should apparently be a question of -how protracted, consistent, unmitigated, and how far congruous with -their native bent the discipline of the machine process may prove in -the further history of these peoples. - - * * * * * - -As has been shown above, in its beginnings the machine technology -took over the working concepts of handicraft, and it has gradually -shifted from the ground of manual operation so afforded to the -ground of impersonal mechanical process; but this shifting of base -in respect of the elementary technological preconceptions has not -hitherto been complete, much of the personal attitude of craftsmanship -toward mechanical forces and structures being still visible in the -work of modern technologists. In like manner, and concomitant with -the transition to the machine industry, there has gone forward a -like shifting in respect of the point of view and the elementary -preconceptions of science. This has taken effect most largely and gone -farthest in the material sciences, as should be expected from the close -connection that subsists between these sciences and the technology of -the machine industry; but here again the elimination of craftsmanlike -conceptions has hitherto not been complete. And, what is more -instructive as to the part played by technological discipline in the -growth of science, the character of this change in scientific scope, -method and preconceptions is somewhat obviously such as would be given -by habituation to the working of the machine process. Where later -scientific inquiry has departed from or overpassed the limitations -imposed by the habits of thought peculiar to craftsmanship the movement -has taken the direction enforced by the machine technology. - -So, _e. g._, while the elements made use of by the machine technology, -and characteristic of its work, are conceptions of mass, velocity, -pressure, stress, vibration, displacement, and the like, these -elements are made use of only under the rule that action in any of -these bearings takes effect only by impact, by contact directly or -through a continuum. The mathematical computations and elucidations -that are one main instrumentality employed by the technologist do not -and can not include this underlying postulate of contact, since it -is an assumption extraneous to those magnitudes of quantity in terms -of which this technology does its work. How far this preconception -that action can take place only by contact is to be rated as an -elementary concept carried over from handicraft, where it is obviously -at home and fundamental in all work of manipulation, may perhaps be -an idle question. In any case the machine technology is at one with -craftsmanship on this head, even though there are many features in -modern industrial processes that do not involve action by contact in -any such obvious fashion as to suggest its necessary assumption, as, -_e. g._, in processes involving the use of light, heat or electricity. -Yet it remains true that, by and large, the technology of the machine -process is a technology of action by contact; and, apparently under -stress of this wide though not necessarily universal application of the -principle, the trained technologist does not rest content until he has -in some tenable fashion construed any apparent exception as a special -instance under the rule. - -So also in modern scientific inquiry. The conceptual elements with -which the scientist is content to work are precisely those that have -commended themselves as competent in their technological use. Since -action by contact is, on the whole, the working principle in the -machine process, it is also accepted as the prime postulate in the -formulation of all exact knowledge of impersonal facts. There is, -of course, no inclination here to criticise or take exception to -this characteristic habit of thought that pervades modern scientific -inquiry. It has done good service, and to this generation, trained -in the enexorably efficient ways of the machine process, the fact -that it works is conclusive of its truth.[148] Yet the further fact -is not to be overlooked that adherence to this principle is not due -to unsophisticated observation simply. It is a principle, a habit of -thought, not a fact of simple observation. Doubtless it is a fact of -observation, direct and unambiguous, in respect of our own manual -operations; and doubtless also it is a matter of such ready inference -in respect of many external phenomena as to do duty as a fact of -observation in good faith; but doubtless also there are many of these -external phenomena that have to be somewhat painstakingly construed -to bring them under the rule. Conceivably, even if such a habit of -thought had not been handed down from the experience of handicraft -it might have been induced by the discipline of the machine process, -and might even have been ingrained in men exposed to this discipline -in sufficiently rigorous fashion to serve as a prime postulate of -scientific inquiry; the machine process doubtless bears out such a -principle in the main, and very rigorously. But in point of historical -fact it is quite unnecessary to suppose this principle of action by -contact to be a product _de novo_ of the discipline of the machine, -since it is older than the advent of the machine industry and is also -quite consonant with the habits of work enforced by the technology of -handicraft, more so indeed than with the technology of the machine -industry. It appears fairly indubitable that this principle is a legacy -taken over from the experience of life in the days of craftsmanship. -And it may even be an open question whether the machine technology -would not today be of an appreciably different complexion if it had, -as it conceivably might have, developed without the hard and fast -limitations imposed by this postulate. Doubtless, scientific inquiry, -and the theoretical formulations reached by such inquiry, would differ -somewhat notably from what they currently are if the scientists had -gone to their work without such a postulate, or holding it in a -qualified sense, as a principle of limited scope, as applying only -within a limited range of phenomena, only so far as empirical evidence -might enforce it in detail. - -If, as seems at least presumably true, this principle of action by -contact owes its origin to habits induced by manipulation, it will -be seen to be of an anthropomorphic derivation. And if it further -owes its acceptance as a principle universally applicable to material -phenomena to the protracted discipline of life under the technology of -handicraft, its universality must also take rank as an anthropomorphic -imputation enforced by long habit. It is of the nature of habit, and -moreover of workmanlike habit. Casting back into the past history -of civilisation and into the contemporary lower cultures, it will -appear that the principle (habit of thought) in question is prevalent -everywhere and presumably through all human time; as it should be if -it is traceable to so ubiquitous an experience as manipulation. But it -will also appear that, except within the bounds, in time and space, -of the high tide of craftsmanship and the machine technology, this -principle does not arrogate to itself universal mandatory authority in -the domain of external phenomena. Not only are the tenets of magic and -theology at variance with the proposition that action can take place -only by mechanical contact; but in the naïve thinking of commonplace -humanity outside this machine-made Western civilisation, action at -a distance is patently neither imbecile nor incomprehensible as a -familiar trait of external objects in their everyday behaviour. - -Nor is it by any means a grateful work of spontaneous predilection, -all this mechanistic mutilation of objective reality into mere inert -dimensions and resistance to pressure; as witness the widely prevalent -revulsion, chronic or intermittent, against its acceptance as a final -term of knowledge. Laymen seek respite in the fog of occult and -esoteric faiths and cults, and so fall back on the will to believe -things of which the senses transmit no evidence; while the learned -and studious are, by stress of the same “aching void,” drawn into -speculative tenets of ostensible knowledge that purport to go nearer -to the heart of reality, and that elude all mechanistic proof or -disproof. This revulsion against thinking in uncoloured mechanistic -terms alone runs suggestively parallel with that other revulsion, -already spoken of, against the geometrically adjusted routine of -conduct imposed on modern life by the machine process; the two are -in great part coincident, or concomitant, both in point of the class -of persons affected by each and in point of the uncertain measure -of finality attending the move so made in either case. Neither the -manner of life imposed by the machine process, nor the manner of -thought inculcated by habituation to its logic, will fall in with -the free movement of the human spirit, born, as it is, to fit the -conditions of savage life. So there comes an irrepressible--in a -sense, congenital--recrudescence of magic, occult science, telepathy, -spiritualism, vitalism, pragmatism.[149] - -It was noted above that action by contact is not included, except by -subsumption, in the mathematical formulations of technology or science. -It should now be added that in all the concomitance and sequence -with which the mathematical formulations of mechanical phenomena are -occupied, the assumption of concomitance or sequence at a distance will -fill the requirements of the formulæ quite as convincingly and commonly -more simply than the assumption of concomitance by contact only. To -realise the difficulties which beset this postulate of action by -mechanical continuity solely, as well as the _prima facie_ imbecility -of the principle itself, it is only necessary to call to mind the -tortuous theories of gravitation designed to keep it intact, and the -prodigy of incongruous intangibilities known as the ether,--a rigid and -imponderable fluid. - -Associated with the principle of action by mechanical continuity alone -is a second metaphysical postulate of science,--the conservation -of energy, or persistence of quantity. Like its fellow it does not -admit of empirical proof; yet it is likewise held to be of universal -application. This principle, that the quantity of matter or of energy -does not increase or diminish, or, perhaps better, that the quantity -of mechanical fact at large is invariable, has a better presumptive -claim to rank as a by-product of the machine technology; although such -a claim could doubtless be allowed only with broad qualifications. -Not that the principle was not known or not formally accepted prior -to the machine age; long ago the Roman scholar and the scholastic -philosophers after him declared _ex nihilo nihil, in nihilum nil posse -reverti_. But throughout the era of handicraft there continued also -to be devoutly held the postulate that the material universe had a -beginning in an act of creation, as also that it would some day come -to an end, a quantitative collapse. As the era of handicraft advanced -and, apparently, as the discipline of life under that technology -enforced the habitual acceptance of the proposition that the quantity -of material fact is constant, much ingenuity and much ambiguous speech -was spent in an endeavour to reconcile the mechanical efficiency of -the creative fiat with the dictum, _ex nihilo nihil fit_. But down to -the close of that era it remains true that, by and large, the peoples -of Christendom continued to believe in the mechanically creative -efficiency of the Great Artificer; although, it must be admitted, with -an ever growing apprehension that in this tenet of the faith they were -face to face with a divine mystery. The eighteenth-century scientists, -and many even in the nineteenth century, continued to profess belief in -a creative origin of material things, as well as also in a providential -guidance of material events,--which latter must have been conceived to -be exerted by some other means than action through mechanical contact, -since one term of the relation was conceived not to be of a mechanical -nature. - -It is not until the machine age is well under way and the machine -technology has come to occupy the land, that faith in the theorem -of the conservation of energy has grown robust enough to let the -scientists lose interest in all questions of creation. The tenet -has died by neglect, not by confutation. That it has done so among -the adepts of the material sciences, and that it is doing so among -the lay population at large in the modern industrial communities, is -probably to be credited to the discipline of the machine process and -the technological conceptions to which that discipline conduces. It -conduces to this outcome in more than one way. This modern technology -is a technology of mechanical process; it looks to and takes care of -a sequence of mechanical action, rather than to the conditions of its -inception or the sequel of its conclusion. A mind imbued with the -logic of this machine process does not by habitual proclivity or with -incisive effect attend to these alien matters that have no meaning -within the horizon of that logic. The creative augmentation of material -objects is a matter lying without the scope of the machine’s logic. - -As has already been remarked, the principle (habit of thought) that -the quantity of material fact is constant is necessarily of ancient -derivation and long growth. Taken in a presumptive sense, and held -loosely as a commonplace of experience, it must have come up and -attained some force very early in the workmanlike experience of the -race. And the closer the application to the work in hand, the more -consistently would this principle of common sense approve itself; so -that it should, as indeed is sufficiently evident, be well at home -among the habitual generalisations current in the days of handicraft; -although it does not seem to have been generally accepted at that time -as a principle necessarily having a universal application,--as witness -the ready credence then given to theological dogmas of creation and -the like. The habits of accountancy that came on under the price -system, as the scope of the market grew larger with the growth and -diversification of handicraft, seem to have had a great effect in -extending and confirming the habitual acceptance of such a theorem. -A strict balance, a running equilibrium of the quantitative items -involved, is the central fact of the accountant’s occupation. And -this habit of scrutiny and balancing of quantities, and a meticulous -tracing out and accounting for any apparent excess or deficiency in -the sums handled, pervades the community at large, though in a less -pronounced fashion, as well as that fraction of the population employed -in trade. The discipline of the handicraft system in this respect gains -incontinently in scope and vigour as the growth of that technological -system, with its characteristic business management, goes forward. - -When presently the machine technology comes forward this habitual -preconception touching the invariability of material quantity finds -new applications and new refinements of application, with the outcome -that its guidance of men’s thinking grows ever more inclusive and more -peremptory. But it is not until half a century after the Industrial -Revolution that the principle may be said finally to have gained -unquestioning acceptance as a theorem universally binding on material -phenomena. By that time--about the second quarter of the nineteenth -century--the unqualified validity of this theorem had become so -unmitigated a matter of course as to have fairly shifted from the -ground of empirical generalisation to that of metaphysical thesis. Men -of science then quite ingenuously set about proving the law of the -Conservation of Energy by appeal to experiments and reasoning that -proceeded with absolute naïveté on the tacit assumption of the theorem -to be proven. - - * * * * * - -In its bearing on the growth of institutions the machine technology -has yet scarcely had time to make its mark. Such institutional factors -as, e. g., the common law are necessarily of slow growth. A system -of civil rights is not only a balanced scheme of habitual responses -to those stimuli at whose impact they take effect; it is at the same -time a scheme which has the sanction of avowed common consent, such as -will express itself in rating these institutional elements as facts -of immemorial usage or as integrally inherent in the nature of things -from the beginning. Such civil institutions take shape as prescriptive -custom, and matters of habit which so are supported by broad grounds -of authenticity and correlation with other elements of a prescriptive -scheme of things will adapt themselves only tardily to any change in -the situation or to any new bias in the drift of discipline. What -happened in the matter of civil rights under the system of handicraft -is an illustration in point. There need be little question but the -eighteenth century scheme of Natural Rights was an outcome of the -protracted discipline characteristic of the era of handicraft, and an -adaptation to the exigencies of daily life under that system. - -The scheme of Natural Rights, with its principles of Natural Liberty -and its insistence on individual self-help, was well adapted to the -requirements of handicraft and the petty trade, whose spirit it -reflects with admirable faithfulness. But it was of slow growth, as -any scheme of institutions must be, in the nature of things. So much -so that handicraft and the petty trade had been in effectual operation -some half-a-dozen centuries, in ever increasing force, before the -corresponding system of civil rights and moral obligations made good -its pretensions to rule the economic affairs of the community. Indeed, -it is only by the latter half of the eighteenth century that the system -of Natural Rights came to passable maturity and finally took rank as -a secure principle of enlightened common sense; and by that time the -handicraft system was giving way to the machine industry. And even then -this result was reached only in the most advanced industrial community -of Europe, where the discipline of handicraft and trade had had the -freest scope to work out its natural bent, with the least hindrance -from other dominant interests at variance with its schooling.[150] - -So it has come about that while the system of Natural Rights is an -institutional by-product of workmanship under the handicraft system -and is adapted to the exigencies of craftsmanship and the petty trade, -it never fully took effect in the shaping of institutions until that -phase of economic life was substantially past, or until the new era, -of the machine industry and the large business brought on by the new -technology, had come to rule the economic situation. So that hitherto -the work of the machine industry has been organised and conducted -under a code of legal rights and business principles adapted to the -state of the industrial arts which the machine industry has displaced. -Latterly, it is true, the requirements of the machine technology, in -the way of large-scale organisation, continuity of operation, and -interstitial balance of the industrial system, have begun to show -themselves so patently at variance with these business principles -engendered by the era of handicraft as to throw a shadow of doubt -on the adequacy of these “Natural” metaphysics of natural liberty, -self-help, free competition, individual initiative, and the like. -But, harsh as has been the discrepancy between the received system of -economic institutions on the one side and the working of the machine -technology on the other, its effect in reshaping current habits of -thought in these premises has hitherto come to nothing more definitive -than an uneasy conviction that “Something will have to be done about -it.” Indeed, so far is the machine process from having yet recast the -principles of industrial management, as distinct from technological -procedure, that the efforts inspired in responsible public officials -and public-spirited citizens by this patent discrepancy have hitherto -been directed wholly to regulating industry into consonance with the -antiquated scheme of business principles, rather than to take thought -of how best to conduct industrial affairs and the distribution of -livelihood in consonance with the technological requirements of the -machine industry. - -It is true, among the workmen, and particularly among those skilled -workmen who have been trained in the machine technology and are exposed -to the full impact of the machine’s discipline, uncritical habitual -faith in this institutional scheme is beginning to crumble, so far -as regards that principle of Natural Rights that vests unlimited -discretion in the owner of property, and so far as regards property -in the material equipment of industry. But this is about as broad a -proposition of such a kind as current facts of opinion and agitation -will bear out, and this inchoate break with the received habitual views -touching the dues and obligations of discretion in industrial matters -is extremely vague and almost wholly negative. Even in those members -of the community who are most directly and rigorously exposed to its -discipline the machine process has hitherto wrought no such definite -bias, no such positive habitual attitude of workmanlike initiative -towards the conventions of industrial management as to result in a -constructive deviation from the received principles.[151] - -On the other hand the business principles engendered by the habit of -mind that gave rise to the system of Natural Rights has had grave -consequences for workmanship under the conditions imposed by the -machine industry. As has been shown in some detail in the foregoing -chapter, the individualistic organisation of the work, coupled with -the personal incidence of the handicraft technology, and the stress -thrown on price rating and self-help by the ever increasing recourse to -bargain and sale (“free contract”) under that system, led in the end -to the habitual rating of workmanship in terms of the price it would -bring. Then as always workmanlike efficiency commanded the approval -of thoughtful men, as being serviceable to the common good and as a -substantial manifestation of human excellence; and at the same time, -then as ever, efficient work was a source of comfort and complacency to -the workman. But under the teaching of the price system efficiency came -to be rated in terms of the pecuniary gain. - -With the advent of the machine industry this pecuniary rating of -efficiency gained a new impetus and brought new consequences for -technology as well as for business enterprise. Typically, the machine -industry runs on a large scale, as contrasted with handicraft, and it -involves a relatively wide and exacting division of labour between -workmanship and salesmanship. Under the conditions of large ownership -implied in this modern industrial system the workmen no longer -have, or can have, the responsibility of the pecuniary management -of the industrial concern; on the other hand the same conditions -of large ownership and extensive business connections require the -businessmen in charge to delegate the immediate oversight of the -plant and its technological processes to other hands, and to devote -their own energies to the pecuniary management of the concern and its -transactions. Hence it follows that as the machine system and the -highly specialised business enterprise that goes with it reach a larger -scale and a higher degree of elaboration the businessmen in charge are, -by training and by progressive limitation of interest, less and less -competent to take care of the technological exigencies of the machine -system. But at the same time the discretion in technological matters -still rests in their hands by force of their ownership. So that, while -the responsibility of technological discretion still rests on them, and -cannot be fully delegated to other hands, the exigencies of business -enterprise and of the training which it involves will no longer permit -them to meet this responsibility in a competent fashion. - -The businessmen in control of large industrial enterprises are -beginning to appreciate something of their own unfitness to direct or -oversee, or even to control, technological matters, and so they have, -in a tentative way, taken to employing experts to do the work for them. -Such experts are known colloquially as “efficiency engineers” and are -presumed to combine the qualifications of technologist and accountant. -In point of fact it is as accountants, capable of applying the tests of -accountancy in a new field, that these experts commend themselves to -the businessmen in control, and the “efficiency” which they look to is -an efficiency counted in terms of net pecuniary gain. “Efficiency” in -these premises means pecuniary efficiency, and only incidentally or in -a subsidiary sense does it mean industrial efficiency,--only in so far -as industrial efficiency conduces to the largest net pecuniary gain. -All the while the businessmen retain the decisive superior discretion -in their own incompetent hands, since all the while the whole matter -remains a business proposition. The “staff organisation,” in which -vests the superior control of these technological affairs, consistently -remains an organisation of worldly wisdom, business enterprise--not of -technological proficiency,--a state of things not to be remedied so -long as industry is carried on for business profits. - -Meantime the workmen of all kinds and grades--labourers, mechanics, -operatives, engineers, experts--all imbued with the same pecuniary -principles of efficiency, go about their work with more than half an -eye to the pecuniary advantage of what they have in hand. The attitude -of the trades-unions towards their work and towards the industrial -concerns in whose employ their work is done illustrates something of -the habitual frame of mind of these men, who are avowed experts in the -matter of workmanship. - -Latterly many inconveniences have beset the community at large as well -as particular sections and classes of the industrial community, due -in the main to a consistent adherence to these business principles -in the management of industrial affairs. The capitalist-employers, -on the one hand, have gone on the full powers with which the modern -institution of ownership and its broad implications has vested them; -with the result that the public at large, investors, consumers of -industrial products, users of “public utility” agencies serving such -needs as light, fuel, transportation, communication, amusement, etc., -feel very much aggrieved; as do also and more particularly the workmen -with whom the capitalist-employers do business on the lines laid down -by the authentic business principles involved in the discretionary -ownership of the industrial plant and resources. On the other hand the -workmen, resting their case on the same common-sense view that the -individual is a self-sufficient economic unit who owes nothing to the -community at large beyond what he may freely undertake “for a good -and valuable consideration in hand paid,”--the workmen stand likewise -on the full powers given them by the current institutions of ownership -and contractual discretion, and so work what mischief they can to -their employers and to the public at large, always blamelessly within -the rules of the game as laid down of old on the pecuniary principles -of business discretion, and in the light of such sense as their -training has given them with regard to efficiency in the industries -that have fallen into their hands. And then the “money power” comes -in as a third pecuniarily trained factor, with ever increasing force -and incisiveness, to muddle the whole situation mysteriously and -irretrievably by looking after their own pecuniary interests in a -fashion even more soberly legitimate and authentic, if possible, than -the workmen’s management of their own affairs. - -Of course, all this working at cross purposes is not altogether due to -trained incapacity on the part of the several contestants to appreciate -the large and general requirements of the industrial situation; -perhaps it is not even chiefly due to such inability, but rather to -an habitual, and conventionally rightful, disregard of other than -pecuniary considerations. It would doubtless appear that a trained -inability to apprehend any other than the immediate pecuniary bearing -of their manœuvres accounts for a larger share in the conduct of the -businessmen who control industrial affairs than it does in that of -their workmen, since the habitual employment of the former holds them -more rigorously and consistently to the pecuniary valuation of whatever -passes under their hands; and the like should be true only in a higher -degree of those who have to do exclusively with the financial side -of business. The state of the industrial arts requires that these -several factors should coöperate intelligently and without reservation, -with an eye single to the exigencies of this modern wide-sweeping -technological system; but their habitual addiction to pecuniary rather -than technological standards and considerations leaves them working -at cross purposes. So also their (pecuniary) interests are at cross -purposes; and since these interests necessarily rule in any pecuniary -culture, they must decide the line of conduct for each of the several -factors engaged. - -These discrepancies, obstructive tactics and disserviceable practices -are commonly deplored and are presumably deplorable, and they doubtless -merit extensive discussion on these grounds, but their merits in this -bearing do not properly come into consideration here. The matter has -been brought in here not with any view of defence, denunciation or -remedy, but because it is a matter of grave consequence as regards -the training given by business experience to these men in whose hands -the current scheme of institutions has placed the technological -fortunes of the community. And whether these pecuniary tactics and -practices that fill so large a place in the attention and sentiments -of this generation come chiefly of a lack of insight into current -technological exigencies, or of a deliberate choice of evils enforced -by the pecuniary necessities of the case, still their disciplinary -value as bearing on the sense of workmanship taken in its larger scope -will be much the same in either case. Habituation to bargaining and -to the competitive principles of business necessarily brings it about -that pecuniary standards of efficiency invade (contaminate) the sense -of workmanship; so that work, workmen, equipment and products come to -be rated on a scale of money values, which has only a circuitous and -often only a putative relation to their workmanlike efficiency or their -serviceability. Those occupations and those aptitudes that yield good -returns in terms of price are reputed valuable and commendable,--the -accepted test of success, and even of serviceability, being the gains -acquired. Workmanship comes to be confused with salesmanship, until -tact, effrontery and prevarication have come to serve as a standard -of efficiency, and unearned gain is accepted as the measure of -productiveness. - -Efficiency conduces to the common good, and is also a meritorious and -commendable trait in the person who exercises it. But under the canons -of self-help and pecuniary valuation the test of efficiency in economic -matters has come to be, not technological mastery and productive -effect, but proficiency in pecuniary management and the acquisition -of wealth. Both in his own estimation and in the eyes of his fellows, -the man who gains much does well; he is conceived to do well both as -a matter of personal efficiency and in point of serviceability to the -common good. To “do well” in modern phrase means to engross something -appreciably more of the community’s wealth than falls to the common -run. But since gains, and hence efficiency, are conceived in terms of -price, it follows that the man, workman or businessman, who can induce -his fellows to pay him well for his services or his goods is accounted -efficient and serviceable; from which it follows that under this canon -of pecuniary efficiency men are conceived to serve the common good -somewhat in proportion as they are able to induce the community to pay -more for their services than they are worth. - -The businessman who gains much at little cost, who gets something for -nothing, is rated, in his own as well as in his neighbours’ esteem, -as a public benefactor indispensable to the community’s welfare, and -as contributing to the common good in direct proportion to the amount -which he has been able to draw out of the aggregate product. It is -perhaps needless to call to mind that of this character are the main -facts in the history of all the great fortunes;[152] although the -current accounts of their accumulation, being governed by pecuniary -standards of efficiency and serviceability, dwell mainly on the -services that have inured to the community from the traffic with -which the great captains have interfered in their quest of gain. The -prevalence of salesmanship, that is to say of business enterprise, and -the consequent high repute of the salesmanlike activities and aptitudes -in any community that is organised on a price system, is perhaps the -most serious obstacle which the pecuniary culture opposes to the -advance in workmanship. It intrudes into the most intimate and secret -workings of the human spirit and contaminates the sense of workmanship -in its initial move, and sets both the proclivity to efficient work and -the penchant for serviceability at cross purposes with the common good. - -But under the conditions engendered by the machine technology the -scope of this pecuniary standard of workmanship has been greatly -enlarged. On the whole the machine industry calls for a large-scale -organisation, increasingly so as time has passed and the machine -process has come more fully to dominate the industrial situation. By -the same move initiative and discretion have come to vest in those -who can claim ownership of the large material equipment so required, -and the exercise of such initiative and discretion by these owners -is loosely proportioned to the magnitude of their holdings. Smaller -owners have the same freedom of initiative and discretion, in point -of legal and conventional competency,--such freedom and equality -between persons being of the essence of Natural Rights; but in point -of practical fact, as determined by technological and business -exigencies, there is but small discretion left such smaller holders. -Initiative and discretion in modern industrial matters vest in the -owners of the industrial plant, or in such moneyed concerns as may -stand in an underwriting relation to the owners of the plant; such -discretion is exercised through pecuniary transactions; and these -pecuniary transactions whereby the conduct of industry is guided and -controlled are entered into with a view to gain in terms of price. -It is but a slight exaggeration to say that such transactions, which -govern the course of industry, are carried out with an eye single to -pecuniary gain,--the industrial consequences, and their bearing on -the community’s welfare, being matters incidental to the transaction -of business. In every-day phrase, under the rule of the current -technology and business principles, industry is managed by businessmen -for business ends, not by technological experts or for the material -advantage of the community. And in this control of industrial affairs -the smaller businessmen are in great part subject to the discretion of -the larger.[153] - -By ancient habit, handed down from the days of handicraft and petty -trade, this pecuniary management is conventionally conceived to be -directed to the production of goods and services, and the businessman -is still conventionally rated as a producer and his gains accepted as a -measure of his productive efficiency. In conventional speech “producer” -means the owner of industrial plant, not the workmen employed nor -the mechanical apparatus about which they are employed.[154] The -“producers,” “manufacturers,” “captains of industry,” whose interests -are safeguarded by current legislation and by the guardians of law and -order are the businessmen who have a pecuniary interest in industrial -affairs; and it is their pecuniary interests that are so safeguarded, -in the naïve faith that the material interests of the community at -large coincide with the opportunities for gain so secured to the -businessmen. - -It has already been spoken of above that the processes of industry -are bound in a comprehensive system of give and take, in such a -manner that no considerable fraction of this industrial system -functions independently of the rest. The industrial system at large -may be conceived as a comprehensive machine process, the several -sub-processes of which technologically inosculate and ramify -in what may be conceived as a network of elements working in a -moving equilibrium, none of which can go on at its full productive -efficiency except in duly balanced correlation with all the rest. -This characterisation will strictly apply only so far as the machine -technology has taken over the various branches of industry, but it -applies in a loose though by no means idle fashion also as regards -those elements of the industrial system in which the machine technology -has not yet become dominant. In so far as the industrial system is of -this character it will also hold that the business management of any -one branch or line or parcel of industries will have its effect on -the rest, primarily and proximately on those other branches or lines -with which the given parcel stands in immediate relations of give -and take, through the market or more directly through technological -correlation,--as, e. g., in the transportation system. Business -management which affects a large section of this balanced system will -necessarily have a wide-reaching effect on the working of the system -at large. Such business control of industry, as has just been remarked -above, is exercised with a view to pecuniary gain; but pecuniary gain -in these premises comes from changes, and apprehended changes, in the -efficiency of the various industrial processes that are touched by such -control, rather than from the workday functioning of the several items -of equipment involved. The changes which so bring gain to these larger -businessmen may be favourable to the effective working of industry, -but they may also be unfavourable; and the opportunities for gain -which they afford the larger businessmen may be equally profitable -whether the disturbance in question is favourable or unfavourable to -industrial efficiency. The gains to be derived from such disturbance -are proportioned to the magnitude of the disturbance rather than to its -industrial productiveness. It should follow, of course, that if the -machine technology should come so to dominate the industrial situation -as to bind all industry in a rigorously comprehensive balanced process, -the material fortunes of the community would come to rest unreservedly -and in all details in the hands of those larger businessmen who hold -the final pecuniary discretion. - -In qualification of this broad proposition it is to be noted that, -while the gains of the superior rank of businessmen accrue in the -manner indicated,--by means of disturbances which may indifferently -be favourable or unfavourable to industry,--yet in the long run it -is necessarily true that the gains which so inure to the pecuniary -magnates must be derived from the net product of industry and will -in the long run be larger in the aggregate the more productive the -community’s industry is. What makes business profitable to the -businessmen is, after all, their usufruct of the community’s industrial -efficiency. In the long run nothing can accrue as income to the -pecuniary magnates more than the surplus product of industry above -the subsistence of the industrial community at large. But so long as -the magnates have not come to a working arrangement on this basis and -“pooled their interests” the proposition as formulated above appears to -be adequate to the facts,--that the gains of these larger businessmen -are a function of the magnitude of the disturbances which they create -rather than of their productive effect. - -It should also follow, and so far as the above characterisation holds -it does follow, that the current pecuniary organisation of industry -vests the usufruct of the community’s industrial proficiency in the -owners of the industrial equipment. Proximately this usufruct of the -industrial community’s technological knowledge and working capacity -vests in the detail owners of the equipment, but only proximately. -At the further remove it vests only in the businessmen whose command -of large means enables them to create and control those pecuniary -conjunctures of industry that bring about changes in the market value -and ownership of the equipment. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] Cf. Jacques Loeb, _Comparative Physiology of the Brain and -Comparative Psychology_, ch. i. - -[2] Cf. W. James, _Principles of Psychology_, ch. xxiv and xxv, where, -however, the difference between tropism and instinct is not kept well -in hand,--the tropisms having at that date not been subjected to -inquiry and definition as has been true since then; William McDougall, -_Introduction to Social Psychology_, ch. i. - -[3] Loeb, _Comparative Physiology of the Brain_, pp. 177–178. - -[4] Cf. Graham Wallas, _Human Nature in Politics_, especially ch. i. - -[5] Cf., e. g., James, _Principles of Psychology_, ch. xxiv; William -McDougall, _Introduction to Social Psychology_, ch. iii. - -[6] Loeb, _Comparative Physiology of the Brain_, especially ch. xiii. - -[7] It is of course only as physiological traits that the tropisms -are conceived not to overlap, blend or interfere, and it is likewise -only in respect of their physiological discontinuity that the like -argument would bear on the instincts. In respect of their expression, -in the way of orientation, movement, growth, secretion, and the like, -the tropismatic response to dissimilar stimuli is often so apparently -identical that expert investigators have at times been at a loss -to decide to which one of two or several recognised tropismatic -sensibilities a given motor response should be ascribed. But in respect -of their ultimate physiological character, the intimate physiological -process by which the given sensibility takes effect, the response due -to different tropismatic sensibilities appears in each case to be -distinctive and not to blend with any other response to a different -stimulus, with which it may happen to synchronise. - -[8] Cf., e. g., McDougall, _Introduction to Social Psychology_, ch. -i-iii. - -[9] Cf., e. g., Otto Ammon, _Die Gesellschaftsordnung_; G. Vacher -de Lapouge, _Les sélections sociales_, and _Race et milieu social_, -especially “Lois fondamentales de l’Anthroposociologie.” - -[10] The all-pervading modern institution of private property appears -to have been of such an origin, having cumulatively grown out of the -self-regarding bias of men in their oversight of the community’s -material interests. - -[11] Cf. McDougall, _Social Psychology_, ch. x. - -[12] Latterly the question of instincts has been a subject of -somewhat extensive discussion among students of animal behaviour, and -throughout this discussion the argument has commonly been conducted -on neurological, or at the most on physiological ground. This line of -argument is well and lucidly presented in a volume recently published -(_The Science of Human Behavior_, New York, 1913) by Mr. Maurice -Parmalee. The book offers an incisive critical discussion of the Nature -of Instinct (ch. xi) with a specific reference to the instinct of -workmanship (p. 252). The discussion runs, faithfully and competently, -on neurological ground and reaches the outcome to be expected in -an endeavour to reduce instinct to neurological (or physiological) -terms. As has commonly been true of similar endeavours, the outcome is -essentially negative, in that “instinct” is not so much explained as -explained away. The reason of this outcome is sufficiently evident; -“instinct,” being not a neurological or physiological concept, is -not statable in neurological or physiological terms. The instinct -of workmanship no more than any other instinctive proclivity is an -isolable, discrete neural function; which, however, does not touch the -question of its status as a psychological element. The effect of such -an analysis as is offered by Mr. Parmalee is not to give terminological -precision to the concept of “instinct” in the sense assigned it in -current usage, but to dispense with it; which is an untoward move -in that it deprives the student of the free use of this familiar -term in its familiar sense and therefore constrains him to bring the -indispensable concept of instinct in again surreptitiously under cover -of some unfamiliar term or some terminological circumlocution. The -current mechanistic analyses of animal behaviour are of great and -undoubted value to any inquiry into human conduct, but their value -does not lie in an attempt to make them supersede those psychological -phenomena which it is their purpose to explain. That such supersession -of psychological phenomena by the mechanistic formulations need nowise -follow and need not be entertained appears, e. g., in such work as that -of Mr. Loeb, referred to above, _Comparative Physiology of the Brain -and Comparative Psychology_. - -[13] Endless in the sense that the effects of such concatenation do not -run to a final term in any direction. - -[14] Many students of animal behaviour are still, as psychologists -generally once were, inclined to contrast instinct with intelligence, -and to confine the term typically to such automatically determinate -action as takes effect without deliberation or intelligent oversight. -This view would appear to be a remnant of an earlier theoretical -position, according to which all the functions of intelligence were -referred to a distinct immaterial entity, entelechy, associated in -symbiosis with the physical organism. If all such preconceptions of a -substantial dichotomy between physiological and psychological activity -be abandoned it becomes a matter of course that intellectual functions -themselves take effect only on the initiative of the instinctive -dispositions and under their surveillance, and the antithesis between -instinct and intelligence will consequently fall away. What expedients -of terminology and discrimination may then be resorted to in the study -of those animal instincts that involve a minimum of intellect is of -course a question for the comparative psychologists. Cf., for instance, -C. Lloyd Morgan, _Introduction to Comparative Psychology_ (2nd edition, -1906) ch. xii, especially pp. 206–209, and _Habit and Instinct_, ch. i -and vi. - -[15] Cf. H. S. Jennings, _Behavior of the Lower Animals_, ch. xii, xx, -xxi. - -[16] See McDougall, _Introduction to Social Psychology_, ch. iii and x. - -[17] Cf. M. F. Washburn, _The Animal Mind_, ch. x, xi, where the -simpler facts of habituation are suggestively presented in conformity -with current views of empirical psychology. - -[18] Cf., e. g., Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central -Australia_; Seligmann, _The Veddas_. - -[19] Hutton Webster, _Primitive Secret Societies_, especially ch. iii -and iv. - -[20] J. G. Frazer, _Early History of the Kingship_, ch. iv, p. 107. - -[21] E. g., some native tribes of Australia; cf. Spencer and Gillen, -_The Native Tribes of Central Australia_, especially ch. i. - -[22] Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_. - -[23] J. Murdoch, “The Point Barrow Eskimo,” _Report of the Bureau of -American Ethnology_, 1887–1888; F. Boas, “The Central Eskimo,” _Ibid_, -1884–1885. - -[24] E. H. Man, “On the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,” -_J. A. I._, vol. xii. - -[25] _Reports, Bureau of American Ethnology_, numerous papers by -different writers, perhaps especially Mrs. Stevenson, “The Sia,” 11th -Report (1889–1890). - -[26] Current economic theory commonly proceeds on the “hedonistic -calculus”, so called, (cf. Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the -_Principles of Morals and Legislation_) or the “hedonic principle”, -as it has also been called, (cf. Pantaleoni, _Pure Economics_, ch. -i). This “principle” affords the major premise of current theory. It -postulates that individual self-seeking is the prime mover of all -economic conduct. There is some uncertainty and disagreement among -latterday economists as to the precise terms proper to be employed -to designate this principle of conduct and its working-out; in the -apprehension of later speculators Bentham’s “pleasure and pain” has -seemed too bald and materialistic, and they have had recourse to such -less precise and definable terms as “gratification,” “satisfactions,” -“sacrifice,” “utility” and “disutility,” “psychic income,” etc., but -hitherto without any conclusive revision of the terminology. These -differences and suggested innovations do not touch the substance of the -ancient postulate. Proceeding on this postulate the theoreticians have -laid down the broad proposition that “present goods are preferred to -future goods”; from which arise many meticulous difficulties of theory, -particularly in any attempt to make the deliverances of theory square -with workday facts. The modicum of truth contained in this proposition -would appear to be better expressed in the formula: “Prospective -security is preferred to prospective risk;” which seems to be nearly -all that is required either as a generalisation of the human motives -in the case or as a premise for the theoretical refinements aimed -at, whereas the dictum that “present goods are preferred to future -goods” must, on reflection, commend itself as substantially false. -By and large, of course, goods are not wanted except for prospective -use--beyond the measure of that urgent current consumption that -plays no part in the theoretical refinements for which the dictum is -invoked. It will immediately be apparent on reflection that even for -the individual’s own advantage “present goods are preferred to future -goods” only where and in so far as property rights are secure, and -then only for future use. It is for productive use in the future, or -more particularly for the sake of prospective revenue to be drawn from -wealth so held, by lending or investing it, that such a preference -becomes effective. Apart from this pecuniary advantage that attaches -to property held over from the present to the future there appears to -be no such preference even as a matter of individual self-seeking, -and where such pecuniary considerations are not dominant there is -no such preference for “present goods.” It is present “wealth,” not -present “goods,” that is the object of desire; and present wealth -is desired mainly for its prospective advantage. It is well known -that in communities where there are habitually no businesslike -credit extensions or investments for profit, savings take the form -of hoarding, that is, accumulation for future use in preference to -present consumption. There might be some division of opinion as to the -character of the prospective use for which goods are sought, but there -can be little question that much, if not most, of this prospective use -is not of a self-regarding character and is not sought from motives of -sensuous gain. - -[27] Traditionally a theoretical presumption has been held to the -contrary. It has been taken for granted that the institutional outcome -of men’s native dispositions will be sound and salutary; but this -presumption overlooks the effects of complication and deflection -among instincts, due to cumulative habit. The tradition has come -down as an article of uncritical faith from the historic belief in a -beneficent Order of Nature; which in turn runs back to the early-modern -religious conception of a Providential Order instituted by a shrewd -and benevolent Creator; which rests on an anthropomorphic imputation -of parental solicitude and workmanship to an assumed metaphysical -substratum of things. This traditional view therefore is substantially -theological and has that degree of validity that may be derived from -the putative characteristics of any anthropomorphic divinity. - -[28] Cf. e. g., F. H. Cushing, “A Study of Pueblo Pottery as -illustrative of Zuñi Culture Growth,” _Report, Bureau of Ethnology_, -1882–1883 (vol. iv); J. W. Fewkes, “Archeological Expedition to Arizona -in 1895,” sections on “Pottery” and “Paleography of the Pottery,” -_ibid_, 1896–1897 (vol. xviii); W. H. Holmes, “The Ancient Art of -Chiriqui,” _ibid_, 1884–1885 (vol. vi). - -[29] The restrictions in this respect are mainly those which devote the -“sacred” vessels, distinguished by peculiar shapes and decorations, to -particular ceremonial uses. - -[30] Cf. E. B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, especially ch. xvii. - -[31] Cf. “The Evolution of the Scientific Point of View,” _University -of California Chronicle_, Oct., 1908. - -[32] So, e. g., the proficiency of Bushmen, Veddas, Australians, -American Indians, and other peoples of a low technological plane, -in tracking game has been remarked on with great admiration by all -observers; and the efficiency of these and others of their like is -no less admirable as regards swimming, boating, riding, climbing, -stalking, etc. - -[33] Cf. G. and A. de Mortillet, _Le Préhistorique_, especially the -chapter “Données chronologiques,” pp. 662–664; W. G. Sollas, _Ancient -Hunters_, ch. i and xiv. - -[34] Cf. Sophus Müller, _L’Europe Préhistorique_. - -[35] Cf., e. g., _Report of Bureau of American Ethnology_, 1884–1885, -Franz Boas, “The Central Eskimo;” _ibid_, 1887–1888, John Murdoch, “The -Point Barrow Eskimo.” - -[36] What is assumed here is what is commonly held, viz. that the -racial stocks that made up the late palæolithic population of Europe -are still represented in a moderate way in the racial mixture that -fills Europe today, and that these older racial types not only recur -sporadically in the European population at large but are also present -locally in sufficient force to give a particular character to the -population of given localities. (See G. de Mortillet, _Formation de la -nation française_, 4me partie, and Conclusions, pp. 275–329.) Great -changes took place in the racial complexion of Europe in the beginning -and early phases of the neolithic period, but since then no intrusion -of new stocks has seriously disturbed the mixture of races, except in -isolated areas, of secondary consequence to the cultural situation at -large. - -See also W. G. Sollas, Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives. - -[37] These improved races are commonly, if not always, a product of -hybridisation, though it is conceivable that such a race might arise as -a “sport,” a Mendelian mutant. To establish such a race or “composite -pure line” of hybrids and to propagate and improve it in the course of -further breeding demands a degree of patient attention and consistent -aim. - -[38] The late neolithic, or “æneolithic,” culture brought to light -by Pumpelly at Anau in Transcaspia shows the synchronism of advance -between the technology of the mechanic arts on the one hand and of -tillage and cattle-breeding on the other hand in a remarkably lucid -way. The site is held to date back to some 8000 B. C. or earlier and -shows continuous occupation through a period of several thousand years. -The settlers at Anau brought cereals (barley and wheat) when the -settlement was made; so that the cultivation of these grains must date -back some considerable distance farther into the stone age of Asia. In -succeeding ages the people of Anau made some further advance in the -use of crop plants; whether by improvement and innovation at home or -by borrowing has not been determined. Presently, in the course of the -next few thousand years, they brought into domestication and adapted -to domestic use by selective breeding the greater number of those -species of animals that have since made up the complement of live stock -in the Western culture. In the mechanic arts the visible advance is -slight as compared with the work in cattle-breeding, though it cannot -be called insignificant taken by itself. The more notable improvements -in this direction are believed to be due to borrowing. Perhaps the -most characteristic trait of the mechanic technology at Anau is the -total absence of weapons in the lower half of the deposits.--Raphael -Pumpelly, _Explorations in Turkestan: Prehistoric Civilizations of -Anau_. (Carnegie Publication No. 73.) Washington, 1908. - -[39] Cf. O. F. Cook, “Food Plants of Ancient America.” _Report of -Smithsonian Institution_, 1903. E. J. Payne, _History of the New World -Called America_, vol. i, (1892), pp. 336–427. - -[40] Cf. E. J. Payne, as above. - -[41] Cf., e. g., Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_, vol. i, ch. vi. - -[42] Cf., e. g., J. W. Powell, “Mythology of the North American -Indians,” Report, _Bureau of Eth._, 1879–1880 (vol. i); F. H. Cushing, -“Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths,” _ibid_, 1891–1892; J. O. Dorsey, “A -Study of Siouan Cults,” _ibid_, 1889–1890. - -[43] Witness, again, the tales collected under the caption of _The -Day’s Work_, where the anthropomorphic romance of mechanics is made the -most of by the same master who told the tales of the _Jungle Book_ and -of “The Cat that Walked.” - -[44] Cf. Presidential Address by Francis Darwin at the Dublin meeting -of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; cf. also H. -Bergson, _Évolution créatrice_, and particularly passages that deal -with the élan de la vie. - -[45] Cf. G. J. Romanes, _Animal Intelligence_, especially the -Introduction. - -[46] Cf. Jane E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek -Religion_, especially ch. iv; The same, _Themis_, especially ch. i, ii, -iii and ix; with which compare the Pueblo cults referred to above. - -[47] Cf., e. g., Skeat, _Malay Magic_, perhaps especially ch. v, -section on the cultivation of rice. - -[48] Hence animism, which applies its conceptions to inanimate rather -than animate objects. - -[49] The like applies in the case of the seasonal and meteorological -myths; where it happens rarely if at all that the phenomena of the -seasons or the forces that come in evidence in meteorological changes -are personified directly or unambiguously. It is always some god or -dæmon that controls or uses the wind and the weather, some indwelling -sprite or manlike giant that inhabits and watches over the hill or -spring or river, and it is always the interests of the indwelling -personality rather than that of the tangible objects in the case that -are to be safeguarded by the superstitious practices with which the -myth surrounds men’s intercourse with these features of the landscape. - -[50] As in the legends of Prometheus; compare legends and ritual of -fire from various cultures in L. Frobenius, _The Childhood of Man_, ch. -xxv-xxvii. - -[51] For an interesting illustration of this point see a paper by -Duncan Mackenzie on “Cretan Palaces” in the _Annual of the British -School at Athens_ for 1907–1908, where the whole discussion hangs -on the fact, unquestioned by any one of the disputants in a wide -and warm controversy, that during some centuries of unwholesome -nuisance from smoky fires in draughty rooms the great civilisation -of the Mediterranean seaboard never hit on the ready solution of the -difficulty by putting in a chimney. - -[52] Cf., e. g., W. James, _Principles of Psychology_, ch. xxiv; -McDougall, _Social Psychology_, ch. iii. - -[53] Cf., e. g., M. F. Washburn, _The Animal Mind_, ch. xii, xiii. - -[54] For illustrations see Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_, -especially ch. ii, on “Native Beliefs.” - -[55] Cf. “The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation,” _Journal of -Sociology_, March, 1906, pp. 585–609; “The Evolution of the Scientific -Point of View,” _University of California Chronicle_, vol. x, pp. -396–415. - -[56] Cf. _Theory of the Leisure Class_, ch. iv, v. - -[57] This technological blend of manual labour with magical practice is -well seen, for instance, in the Malay ritual of rice culture.--W. W. -Skeat, _Malay Magic_, various passages dealing with the ceremonial of -the planting, growth and harvesting of the rice-crop. - -[58] Cf. J. E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, -especially ch. iv; J. G. Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, bk. i, ch. -iii. - -[59] Such seems to be the evidence, for instance, for Cybele, Astarte -(Aphrodite, Ishtar), Mylitta, Isis, Demeter (Ceres), Artemis, and -for such doubtfully late characters as Hera (Juno),--see Harrison, -_Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_; Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, -Osiris_, and _The Golden Bough_. Quanon may be a doubtful case, as -possibly also Amaterazu. The evidence from such American instances as -the great mother goddesses of the Pueblos and other Indian tribes runs -perhaps the other way, or at the best it may leave the point in doubt. -See, for instance, Matilda C. Stevenson, “The Zuñi Indians,” _Report -Bureau of American Ethnology_, 1901–1902, section on “Mythology;” -The same, _ibid_, 1889–1890, “The Sia;” Frank H. Cushing, _ibid_, -1891–1892, “Zuñi Creation Myths.” - -[60] Cf., e. g., Frazer, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, bk. ii, ch. iii, bk. -iii, ch. vi and xi. - -[61] Cf., e. g., Hutton Webster, _Primitive Secret Societies_, -especially ch. iii, iv, v; Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of -Central Australia_, ch. vii, viii, ix, xvi. - -[62] Cf. for instance, Codrington, _The Melanesians_; Seligmann, _The -Melanesians of British New Guinea_. - -[63] These considerations may of course imply nothing, directly, as to -the size of the political organisation or of the national territory or -population; though national boundaries are likely both to affect and to -be affected by such changes in the industrial system. A community may -be small, relatively to the industrial system in and by which it lives, -and may yet, if conditions of peace permit it, stand in such a relation -of complement or supplement to a larger complex of industrial groups -as to make it in effect an integral part of a larger community, so far -as regards its technology. So, for instance, Switzerland and Denmark -are an integral part of the cultural and industrial community of the -Western civilisation as effectually as they might be with an area and -population equal to those of the United Kingdom or the German Empire, -and they are doubtless each a more essential part in this community -than Russia. At the same time, as things go within this Western -culture, national boundaries have a very considerable obstructive -effect in industrial affairs and in the growth of technology. It will -probably be conceded on the one hand that any appreciable decline -in the aggregate population of Christendom would result in some -curtailment or retardation of the technological advance in which -these peoples are jointly and severally engaged; and it is likewise -to be conceded on the other hand that the like effect would follow on -any marked degree of success from the efforts of those patriotic and -dynastic statesmen who are endeavouring to set these peoples asunder in -an armed estrangement and neutrality. - -[64] Cf., as an extreme case, Matilda C. Stevenson, “The Sia,” _Report -Bur. Eth._, xi (1889–1890). - -The like decline is known to have occurred in many parts of Europe -consequent on the decline of population due to the Black Death and the -Plague. - -[65] On such native differences between the leading races of Europe, -cf., e. g., G. V. de Lapouge, _Les Sélections Sociales_; and _l’Aryen_; -O. Ammon, _Die Gesellschaftsordnung_; G. Sergi, _Arii e Italici_. - -[66] For instance, the Japanese and the Ainu, the Polynesians and the -Melanesians, the Cinghalese and the Veddas. On the last named, cf. -Seligmann, _The Veddas_. - -[67] Cf. W. Z. Ripley, _The Races of Europe_; G. Sergi, _The -Mediterranean Race_; V. de Lapouge, _L’Aryen_; cf. also, J. Deniker, -_Les races européennes_, and “Les six races composant la population de -l’Europe,” _Journal Anthropological Institute_, vol. 34. - -[68] The available evidence indicates that the dolicho-blond race -of northern Europe probably originated in a mutation (from the -Mediterranean as its parent stock?) during the early neolithic period, -that is to say about at the beginning of the neolithic in western -Europe. There is less secure ground for conjecture as to the date -and circumstances under which any one of the other European races -originated, but the date and place of their origin seems to lie outside -of Europe and earlier than the European neolithic period. Unfortunately -there has been little direct or succinct discussion of this matter -among anthropologists hitherto.--Cf. “The Mutation Theory and the Blond -Race,” _Journal of Race Development_, April, 1913. - -[69] The Melanesians may be contrasted with the Baltic peoples in -this respect, though the comparison is perhaps rather suggestive -than convincing. The Melanesians are apparently endowed with a very -respectable capacity for workmanship, as regards both insight and -application, and with a relatively high sense of economic expediency. -They are also possessed of an alert and enduring group solidarity. -But they apparently lack that reasonable degree of “humanity” and -congenital tolerance that has on the whole kept the peoples of the -Baltic region from fatal extravagances of cruelty and sustained hatred -between groups. Not that any excess of humanity has marked the course -of culture in North Europe. But it seems at least admissible to say -that mutual hatred, distrust and disparagement falls more readily into -abeyance among these peoples than among the Melanesians; particularly -when and in so far as the material interest of the several groups -visibly suffers from a continued free run of extravagant animosity. -The difference in point of native propensity may not be very marked, -but such degree of it as there is has apparently thrown the balance -in such a way that the Baltic peoples have, technologically, had the -advantage of a wide and relatively easy contact and communication; -whereas the Melanesians have during an equally protracted experience -spent themselves largely on interstitial animosities--Cf. Codrington, -_The Melanesians_; Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_. - -[70] These considerations apparently apply with peculiar force to the -blond race, in that the evidence of early times goes to argue that -this stock never lived in isolation from other, rival stocks. It began -presumably as a small minority in a community made up chiefly of a -different racial type, its parent stock, and in an environment at large -in which at least one rival stock was present in force from near the -outset; so that race competition, that is to say competition in terms -of births and deaths, was instant and unremitting. And this competition -the given conditions enforced in terms of group subsistence. - -[71] Cf., e. g., Sophus Müller, _Vor Oldtid_, “Stenalderen.” - -[72] It has not commonly been noted, though it will scarcely be -questioned, that fighting capacity and the propensity to fight have -rarely, if ever, been successful in the struggle between races and -peoples when brought into competition with a diligent growing of crops -and children, if success be counted in terms of race survival. - -[73] It is apparently an open question whether these spiritual traits -are properly to be ascribed to the dolicho-blond as traits of that -type taken by itself, rather than traits characteristic of the hybrid -offspring of the blond stock crossed on one or other of the racial -stocks associated with it in the populations of Europe. The evidence at -large seems rather to bear out the view that any hybrid population is -likely to be endowed with an exceptional degree of that restlessness -and discontent that go to make up what is spoken of as a “spirit of -enterprise” in the race. - -[74] As, e. g., the inhabitants of many Polynesian islands at the time -of their discovery. See, also, Codrington, _The Melanesians_. - -[75] Not an unusual state of things among the Melanesians and -Micronesians, and in a degree among the Australians. - -[76] See note, p. 120. - -[77] E. g., some Australian natives and some of the lower Malay -cultures. - -[78] E. g., the Pueblo and the Eskimo. - -[79] Indeed, such as very suggestively to recall the ritual objects and -observances of the Pueblo Indians. - -[80] For an extreme case of this among living communities, see Skeat -and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, vol. i, pp. 242–250, -where the generalisation is set down (p. 248) that “the rudimentary -stage of culture through which these tribes have passed, and in some -cases are still passing, may perhaps be more accurately described as a -wood and bone age than as an age of stone,” in as much as the evidence -goes to show that before they began to get metals from the Malays their -only implements of a more durable material were “the anvil and hammer -(unwrought) ..., the whetstone, chips or flakes used as knives, and -cooking stones.” From the different character of their environment this -recourse to wood and bone could scarcely have been carried to such an -extreme by the savages of the Baltic region. - -[81] Cf. Pumpelly, _Explorations in Turkestan_. - -[82] A casual visit to the Scandinavian museums will scarcely convey -this impression. To meet the prepossessions of the public, and perhaps -of the experts, the weapons are made much of in the showcases, as is to -be expected; but they are relatively scarce in the store-rooms, where -the tools on the other hand are rather to be estimated by the cubic -yard than counted by the piece. - -[83] Seen, e. g., in the observance and sanction of tabu in many of the -lower cultures. - -[84] The Eskimo are placed in circumstances that are in some respects -similar to those presumed to have conditioned the life of the blond -race and its hybrids during the early phases of its life-history, and -among the traits that have made for the survival of the Eskimo is -undoubtedly to be counted the somewhat genial good-fellowship of that -race, coupled as it is with a notable disinclination to hostilities. -So also the Indians of the North-West Coast, whose situation perhaps -parallels that of the neolithic Baltic culture more closely even than -the Eskimo, are not among the notably warlike peoples of the earth, -although they undoubtedly show more of a predatory animus than their -northern neighbours. In this case it is probably safe to say that -their technological achievements have in no degree been furthered by -such warlike enterprise as they have shown, and that their comfort and -success as a race would have been even more marked if they had been -gifted with less of the warlike spirit and had kept the peace more -consistently throughout their habitat than they have done.--Cf. Franz -Boas, “The Central Eskimo,” _Bureau of American Ethnology_, Report, -1884–1885; The same, “The Secret Societies and Social Organisation of -the Kwakiutl Indians,” _Report, National Museum_, 1895; A. P. Niblack, -“Coast Indians of Southern Alaska and Northern British Columbia,” -_ibid_, 1888. - -[85] Such loss by neglect of technological elements that have -been superseded may have serious consequences in case a people of -somewhat advanced attainments suffers a material set-back either in -its industrial circumstances or in its cultural situation more at -large,--as happened, e. g., in the Dark Ages of Europe. In such case -it is likely to result that the community will be unable to fall back -on a state of the industrial arts suited to the reduced circumstances -into which it finds itself thrown, having lost the use of many of the -technological elements familiar to earlier generations that lived under -similar circumstances, and so the industrial community finds itself in -many respects driven to make a virtually new beginning, from a more -rudimentary starting point than the situation might otherwise call for. -This in turn acts to throw the people back to a more archaic phase of -technology and of institutions than the initial cultural loss sustained -by the community would of itself appear to warrant. - -[86] Sophus Müller, _Vor Oldtid_, “Stenalderen,” sec. iii, “Tidsforhold -i den ældre Stenalder;” O. Montelius, _Les temps préhistoriques en -Suède_, ch. i, p. 20. - -[87] Compare the case of the Indians of the North-West Coast, who -have occupied a region comparable to the neolithic Baltic area in the -distribution of land and water as well as in the abundance of good -timber. - -[88] Sophus Müller, _Vor Oldtid_, “Bronzealderen,” secs. xiii, xiv; -Montelius, _Les temps préhistoriques en Suède_, ch. ii. - -[89] Cf., e. g., C. A. Haddon, _Evolution in Art_, section on “Magic -and Religion.” - -[90] Except for species that habitually breed by parthenogenesis. - -[91] The caution is perhaps unnecessary that it is not hereby intended -to suggest a doubt of Mr. Galton’s researches or to question the -proposals of the Eugenicals, whose labours are no doubt to be taken for -all they are worth. - -[92] See, e. g., Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay -Peninsula_, vol. ii, part ii; _Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, -1884–1885_, F. Boas, “The Central Eskimo.” - -[93] Cf. Basil Thomson, _The Diversions of a Prime Minister_, and _The -Figians_. - -[94] The extent of this “quasi-personal fringe” of objects of intimate -use varies considerably from one culture to another. It may often be -inferred from the range of articles buried or destroyed with the dead -among peoples on this level of culture. - -[95] A doubt may suggest itself in this connection touching such -cultures and peoples as the pagan races of the Malay peninsula, the -Mincopies of the Andaman Islands, or (possibly) the Negritos of Luzon, -but these conceivable exceptions to the rule evidently do not lessen -its force. - -[96] It may be pertinent to take note of the bearing of these -considerations on certain dogmatic concepts that have played a part in -the theoretical and controversial speculations of the last century. -Much importance has been given by economists of one school and another -to the “productivity of labour,” particularly as affording a basis -for a just and equitable distribution of the product; one school of -controversialists having gone so far against the current of received -economic doctrine as to allege that labour is the sole productive -factor in industry and that the Labourer is on this ground entitled, -in equity, to “the full product of his labor.” It is of course not -conceived that the considerations here set forth will dispose of these -doctrinal contentions; but they make it at least appear that the -productivity of labor, or of any other conceivable factor in industry, -is an imputed productivity--imputed on grounds of convention afforded -by institutions that have grown up in the course of technological -development and that have consequently only such validity as attaches -to habits of thought induced by any given phase of collective life. -These habits of thought (institutions and principles) are themselves -the indirect product of the technological scheme. The controversy as -to the productivity of labor should accordingly shift its ground from -“the nature of things” to the exigencies of ingrained preconceptions, -principles and expediencies as seen in the light of current -technological requirements and the current drift of habituation. - -[97] See Sophus Müller, _Vor Oldtid_, “Stenalderen,” and _Aarböger for -nordisk Oldkyndighed_, 1906. - -[98] Cf. W. G. Sollas, _Ancient Hunters_. - -[99] See, e. g., Basil Thomson, _The Figians_, especially ch. iv, xiv, -xxviii, xxxi. - -[100] The Pueblos offer a curious exception to this common rule -of a parasitic priesthood. While they are much given to religious -observances and have an extensive priestly organisation, comprising -divers orders and sub-orders, this priesthood appears commonly to -derive no income, or even appreciable perquisites, from their office. - -[101] The difference in importance and powers between the war chief -of the peaceable Pueblos on the one hand and of the predatory Aztecs -on the other hand shows how such an official’s status may change _de -facto_ without a notable change _de jure_.--Cf. also Basil Thomson, -_The Figians_, ch. iv, xxxi, on “Constitution of Society,” and “The -Tenure of Land,” where the growth of custom is shown to throw pecuniary -prerogative and control into the hands of the successful war chief. - -[102] For instance, somewhat generally in the island states of -Polynesia. Something suggestively reminiscent of such a condition -of things is visible in early feudal Europe, where feudal holdings -changed hands with a change in the status of their holders in a way -that suggests that ownership was in great measure a corollary following -from the tenure of certain civil powers. So, also, in ecclesiastical -holdings of the same period and later. And, again, in the doubtful and -changing status of the servile classes of feudal Europe, where the -distinction between mastery and ownership often seems something of -a legal fiction or a distinction without a difference. Feudal Japan -affords evidence to much the same effect. - -[103] Cf. J. G. Frazer, _Lectures on the Early History of the -Kingship_. The drift of evidence for the North-European cultures of -pagan antiquity appears to set strongly in this direction, though the -term “priestly,” as applied to these pagan kings, is likely to convey -too broad an implication of solemnity and vicariously divine power. - -[104] Witness the alleged dealings of Jahve with his chosen people and -the laudation bestowed on Him by His priests for “conduct unbecoming a -gentleman.” - -[105] As witness Pharaonic Egypt, Ancient Peru, Babylon, Assyria, -Israel under Solomon and his nearer successors. - -[106] See F. B. Jevons, _Introduction to the History of Religion_, ch. -x. - -[107] Cf., e. g., Basil Thomson, _The Figians_, ch. iv. - -[108] As shown, for instance, by the pottery and baskets made for trade -by the American Indians where they come in trade contact with civilised -men. - -[109] For a more detailed discussion of these secondary consequences -of the institution of ownership, the irksomeness of labour and the -conspicuous waste of goods, which cannot be pursued here, see _The -Theory of the Leisure Class_, ch. ii-vi. - -[110] For some further analysis of the relation between ownership, -earnings and the material equipment see _Quarterly Journal of -Economics_, August, 1908, “On the Nature of Capital;” as also a paper -by H. J. Davenport in the same Journal for November, 1910, on “Social -Productivity versus Private Acquisition.” - -[111] For a more detailed discussion of this disciplinary disparity -between business and industrial occupations, cf. _The Theory of -Business Enterprise_, ch. iv, viii and ix. - -[112] Cf., e. g., Harrington Emerson, _Efficiency as a Basis for -Operation and Wages_, ch. i, iv. - -[113] Such is tacitly assumed to be the nature of modern economic life -in the current theoretical formulations of the economists, who make the -theory of exchange value the central and controlling doctrine in their -theoretical systems, and who with easy conviction trace this value -back to an individualistic ground in the doctrines of differential -utility--“marginal utility.” - -[114] Apart from scattered and progressively inconsequential -manifestations of this canon of pecuniary equity in the European -community at large, there occurs a quaint and well-defined application -of it in the practice of “_hólmgangr_” in late pagan and early -Christian times among the Scandinavian peoples. The “wager of battle” -is probably of the same derivation, at least in part. - -[115] Cf. Frederic Barnard Hawley, _Enterprise and the Productive -Process_, for an extreme, mature and consistent development of this -tenet. - -[116] See _The Theory of Business Enterprise_, ch. iv, vi, vii, for -a more detailed discussion of this business traffic and the working -principles which govern it. See also H. J. Davenport, _The Economics of -Enterprise_ (New York, 1913). - -[117] Cf., e. g., Ehrenberg, _Das Zeitalter der Fugger_; Sombart, _Der -Moderne Kapitalismus_, bk. i. - -[118] Cf. _The Theory of the Leisure Class_, ch. iv, v, vi. - -[119] Cf. Harrington Emerson, _Efficiency as a Basis for Operation and -Wages_. - -[120] Cf., e. g., Karl Bücher, _Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft_, -(3d ed.), ch. iv, “Die gewerblichen Betriebssysteme,” ch. v. “Der -Niedergang des Handwerks;” W. J. Ashley, _English Economic History -and Theory_, part ii, ch. i, sec. 25, ch. iii, especially sec. 44; -W. Cunningham, _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, vol. -ii, Introduction; Werner Sombart, _Der Moderne Kapitalismus_, bk. i, -especially ch. iv-xii. - -[121] To complete the sketch at this point, even in outline, it would -be necessary to go extensively into the relations of ownership and -control (largely indirect) in which the owners of land and natural -resources, the Landed Interest, had stood to the industrial community -of craftsmen before this transition to the business era got under -way, as also into the further mutual relations subsisting between -the landed interest, the craftsmen and the business community during -this transition to a business régime. In the most summary terms the -pertinent circumstances appear to have been that from the beginning of -its technological era the handicraft community, with its workmanship -and its technological attainments, was in an uncertain measure at the -discretionary call of the landed interest, largely in an impersonal way -through channels of trade and on the whole with decreasingly exacting -effect as time went on; and the industrial community at large had by no -means emancipated themselves from this control when the era of business -enterprise set in; for the landed interest continued to draw its -livelihood from the mixed agricultural and handicraft community, and -the products of handicraft still continued to go chiefly as supplies to -the landed interest in return for the means of subsistence controlled -by the latter; and long after the businessmen had taken over the -direction of industry the claims of the landed interest still continued -paramount in the economic situation, and industry still continued to -be carried on largely with a view to meeting the requirements of the -landed interest. - -[122] “Handwerk (im engeren Sinne) ist diejenige Wirtschaftsform, -die hervorwächst aus dem streben eines gewerblichen Arbeiters -seine zwischen Kunst und gewöhnlicher Handarbeit die Mitte -haltende Fertigkeit zur Herrichtung oder Bearbeitung gewerblicher -Gebrauchsgegenstände in der Weise zu vertreten, dass er sich durch -Austausch seiner Leistungen oder Erzeugnisse gegen entsprechende -Äquivalente seinen Lebensunterhalt verschafft.”--Sombart, _Moderne -Kapitalismus_, bk. i, ch. iv. - -[123] Cf. Sombart, _Der Moderne Kapitalismus_, bk. i; W. J. Ashley, -_English Economic History and Theory_, bk. i, especially ch. iii; Karl -Bücher, _die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft_, ch. iv, v. - -[124] A classic passage of Adam Smith shows this handicraft conception -of the mechanics of industry: “The annual labour of every nation -is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries -and conveniencies of life which it annually consumes....” “But this -proportion [of the produce to the consumers] must in every nation -be regulated by two different circumstances; first, by the skill, -dexterity, and judgment with which its labour is generally applied; -and, secondly, by the proportion between the number of those who -are employed in useful labour, and that of those who are not so -employed.”--_Wealth of Nations_, Introduction, p. 1. - -Adam Smith consistently speaks of industry in terms of manual -workmanship, as the traditions and the continued habitual outlook of -that generation unavoidably led him to do; and the sweeping way in -which his interpretation of economic life finds acceptance with his -contemporaries shows that in so doing he is speaking in full consonance -with the prevailing conceptions of his time. He writes during the -opening passages of the machine era, but he speaks in terms of the past -industrial era, from which his outlook on the economic situation and -his conception of normal economic relations had been derived. It may -be added that his conception of natural liberty in economic matters -is similarly derived from the traditional situation, whose discipline -during the later phases of the handicraft era inculcated freedom of -ownership as applied to the workman’s product and freedom of bargain -and sale as touches the traffic of the typical petty trader. And so -thoroughly had this manner of conceiving industry and the economic -situation been worked into the texture of men’s thinking, that the -same line of interpretation continues to satisfy economic theory for a -hundred years after Adam Smith had formulated this canon of economic -doctrine, and after the situation to which it would apply had been put -out by the machine industry and large business management. - -[125] The case of the treadle applied to the production of rotary -motion is typical of what happens to a technological element of the -general class here under discussion. Such a new technological expedient -appears at the outset to be apprehended in terms of manual workmanship; -but presently it comes, through habitual use, to take its place as a -mechanical functioning of the tools in whose use it takes effect,--to -be associated in current apprehension with the mechanical appliances -employed in its production and, by so much, dissociated from the person -of the workman. In a measure, therefore, it falls into the category of -impersonal facts that are available as technological raw material with -which to go about the work in hand. With further use, and particularly -with the interjection of further mechanical expedients between the -workman and this given technological element, it will be conceived in -progressively more objective fashion, as a fact of the mechanics of -brute matter rather than an extension of the workman’s manual reach; -until it passes finally into the category of mechanical fact simply, -obvious and commonplace through routine use; in which there remains but -a vanishing residue of imputed personality, such as attaches to all -conceptions of action. The given technological element in this way may -be said to pass by degrees out of the workman’s “quasi-personal fringe” -of manual effects, into the domain of raw material available for use -in workmanship; where it will, in apprehension, be possessed of only -such imputed quasi-personal or anthropomorphic characteristics as are -necessarily imputed to external facts at large. - -Concretely, the concept of the treadle seems in its beginnings to be a -variant of the same conception that leads to the use of the bow-drill. -Both inventions comprise at least two distinct forms. In each the -simpler and presumably more primitive form converts a reciprocating -longitudinal motion into a reciprocating rotary motion; and it is -apparently only after an interval of familiarity and externalisation -of this mechanical achievement that the next move takes place in the -direction of the perfected treadle, which converts a reciprocating -longitudinal into a continuous rotary motion. - -[126] Cf. Sombart, _Moderne Kapitalismus_, bk. i, Exkurs zu Kapitel 7, -bk. ii, ch. xv. - -[127] The adventures of Charles I and James II sufficiently illustrate -this insular temper of the industrial and commercial community as -contrasted with the crown and the court party. - -[128] See ch. ii and iii, above. - -[129] The imputation of the feminine in this personification of Nature -is probably nothing more than a carrying over of the Latin gender -of the word, but there is commonly involved in this quasi-personal -conception of Nature a notable imputation of kindliness and gentle -solicitude that well comports with her putative womanhood. By -extraordinarily easy gradation _Natura naturans_ passes over into -Mother Nature. The contrast in this respect, simply on its sentimental -side, between the conception of Nature, say in the eighteenth century, -on the one hand, and the patriarchal Heavenly King, remote and austere, -of the Mediæval cult on the other hand is striking enough. In point of -sentimental content this conception of Nature is more nearly in touch -with the mediæval Mother of God than with the Heavenly King. - -[130] This, of course, does not overlook the fact that in the course -of scientific inquiry there has been an increasing use of statistical -methods and results, and that this recourse to statistics has been of -an increasingly objective character, both in its methods and in the -items handled. It is also to be noted that from time to time serious -and consequential attempts have been made to reduce scientific argument -at large to similarly objective terms of quantity, quantivalence and -concomitance. Karl Pearson’s _Grammar of Science_, for instance is a -shrewd and somewhat popularly known endeavour of this kind. So, again, -the philosophical views associated with the names of Leibnitz and of -Berkely are of this nature, and there is not a little of the same line -of scepticism in the speculations of Hume. But it is equally to be -noted that except on the remote plane of generality that belongs to -philosophical speculation, and except in the works of pure mathematics, -this method of handling facts has not proved available for scientific -ends. The “idle curiosity” which finds employment in scientific inquiry -is not content with the vacant relation of concomitance alone among the -facts which it seeks and systematises. In scientific theory no headway -has been made hitherto without the use of this indispensable imputation -of causality.--In this connection cf. a paper on “The Evolution of -the Scientific Point of View,” _University of California Chronicle_, -November, 1908, especially footnote, p. 396. - -[131] In this connection it is worth noting, for what it may be worth, -that there is a similarly rough concomitance between the diffusion of -the blond racial stock in Europe and the modern forms of protestantism -and religious heresy. Whether this fact strengthens or weakens any -argument that may be drawn from the concomitance of heresy and industry -cited above may perhaps best be left an open question. - -[132] See chapter v, above. - -[133] Cf. Ashley, _English Economic History and Theory_, bk. i, ch. i; -Karl Bücher, _Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft_, ch. iii. - -[134] Cf. R. Ehrenberg, _Das Zeitalter der Fugger_. - -[135] Seen, as indicated above, in the matter-of-course resort of -the scientists to the conception of efficient cause as a solvent of -problems touching material phenomena, as well as in the theologians’ -and philosophers’ resistless drift toward creative efficiency as the -ultimate term of their speculations. - -[136] Cf. Locke, _Of Civil Government_, ch. v, “Though the earth and -all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a -property in his own person; this nobody has a right to but himself. The -labour of his body and the work of his hands we may say are properly -his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state that Nature hath -provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to -it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property.” - -[137] Illustrative instances of such a customary code of “natural” -rights and obligations are numerous in the late literature of -ethnology. Good illustrations are afforded by various papers in the -_Reports of the Am. Bureau of Ethnology_, on the culture of the -Pueblos, Eskimo, and the Indians of the North-West Coast; so also -in Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, or in -Seligmann, _The Veddas_. - -[138] Cf., e. g., C. Beard, _The Industrial Revolution_, ch. ii; -Spencer Walpole, _History of England from 1815_, vol. i; C. W. Taylor, -_The Modern Factory System_, ch. i, ii. - -[139] In a general way, the relation in which the skilled workman in -the large industries stands to the machine process is analogous to that -in which the primitive herdsman, shepherd or dairymaid stand to the -domestic animals under their care, rather than to the relation of the -craftsman to his tools. It is a work of attendance, furtherance and -skilled interference rather than a forceful and dexterous use of an -implement. - -[140] It follows also, among other secondary consequences, that the -effective industrial life of the skilled workman will, in order to the -best average effect, begin at an appreciably more advanced age, and -will therefore be shortened by that much. The period of preparation -becomes more protracted, more exacting and more costly, and the -effective life cycle of the workman grows shorter. Although it does -not, perhaps, belong in precisely this connection, it may not be out -of place to recall that the increasingly exacting requirements of -the machine industry, particularly in the way of accurate, alert and -facile conformity to the requirements of the machine process, interrupt -the industrial life of the skilled workman at an earlier point in -the course of senile decay. So that the industrial life-cycle of the -workman is shortened both at its beginning and at its close, at the -same time that the commonplace preparation for work grows more costly -and exacting. - -Child labour, which once may, industrially speaking, have been an -economical method of consuming the available human material, is no -longer compatible with the highest industrial efficiency, even apart -from any question of hardship or deterioration incident to an excessive -or abusive recourse to child labour; it is incompatible with the -community’s material interests. Therefore the business community--the -body of businessmen at large--for whose behoof the industries of the -country are carried on, have a direct interest not only in extending -the age of exemption from industrial employment but also in procuring -an adequate schooling of the incoming generation of workmen. The -business community is evidently coming to appreciate this state of the -case, at least in some degree, as is evidenced by their inclination to -favour instruction in the “practical” branches in the public schools, -at the public expense, as well as by the wide-reaching movement that -aims to equip private and state schools that shall prepare the youth -for work in the various lines of industrial employment. - -[141] _Cf._, _e. g._, Adam Smith’s reflections on the uses of an -accurate watch, _Theory of the Moral Sentiments_, part iv, ch. 2. - -[142] On the other hand the aphorism often cited, that “Necessity -is the Mother of Invention,” appears to be nothing better than a -fragment of uncritical rationalism. It offers a rationalised, _ex -post facto_ account of changes that take place, and reflects that -ancient preconception by help of which the spokesmen of edification -were enabled to interpret all change as an improvement due to the -achievement of some definitely foreknown end. It appears also to be -consistently untrue, except so far as “invention” is to be taken as a -euphemistic synonym for “prevarication.” Doubtless, the felt need of -ways and means has brought on many changes in technology, but doubtless -also the ulterior consequences of any one of the greater mechanical -inventions have in the main been neither foreseen nor intended in the -designing of them. The more serious consequences, especially such as -have an institutional bearing, have been enforced by the inventions -rather than designed by the inventors. - -[143] See pp. 18–21, above. - -[144] Cf., however, what has been said above (pp. 21–23) of the -variability and adaptability of a hybrid population and the possible -selective establishment of a hybrid type more suitable to current -conditions of life than any one of the racial stocks out of which the -hybrid population is made up. - -[145] So, _e. g._, the modern technology has, directly and indirectly, -brought on the growth of large cities and industrial towns, as well as -an increasing density of population at large. This modern state of the -industrial arts is a creation of the European community of nations, -with the blond-hybrid populations leading. The population of these -countries is drifting into these machine-made cities and towns, and -this drift affects the blond-hybrids in a more pronounced degree than -any other similarly distinguishable element in the population. At the -same time the birth-rate is lower and the death-rate higher in these -modern urban communities than in the open country, in spite of the fact -that more attention is given to preventive sanitation in the urban -than in the rural communities, and it is in the urban communities that -medical attendance is most available at the same time that its most -efficient practitioners congregate there. This accelerated death-rate -strikes the blond-hybrids of the towns in an eminent degree; and -infant mortality in the towns, particularly, runs at such a figure as -to be viewed with the liveliest apprehension. In its summary effects -on the viability of the modern peoples this modern technology appears -to be as untoward as would their removal to an unsuitable climate. -Indeed the hygienic measures that are taken or advocated as a remedy -for these machine-made conditions of urban life are of much the same -character and require much the same degree of meticulous attention -to details that are required to preserve the life of Europeans under -the precarious climatic conditions of the low latitudes. So that, for -these Europeans at least, the hygienic situation created by their own -technology has much of that character of a comprehensive clinic that -attaches to the British occupation of India or the later European -occupation of West Africa or the Philippines. - -[146] The statisticians of a hundred years ago, _e. g._, were content -to work in round percentages where their latterday successors are -doubtfully content with three-place decimals. - -[147] An eminently illustrative instance of the mechanistic bias in the -moral sciences is afforded by the hedonistic conceptions of the early -nineteenth century; and the deistic theology of that period and earlier -is no less characteristic a symptom of the same animus. - -_Cf._ also, for a view running to a conclusion opposed to that spoken -for above, H. Bergson, _Creative Evolution_ (translation by Arthur -Mitchell, New York, 1911), ch. i, especially pp. 16–23; where the -mechanistic conception is construed as an instinctive metaphysical norm -and contrasted with the deliverances of reason and experience, which -are then held to inculcate an anthropomorphic interpretation of the -same facts. - -[148] “Pragmatism” is the term that has been elected to cover this -metaphysical postulate of efficiency conceived as the bench mark of -actuality. - -[149] Of all these latterday revulsionary schemes of surcease from the -void and irritation of the mechanistic conception, that spoken for -by M. H. Bergson is doubtless the most felicitous, at the same time -that it is, in its elements, the most engagingly naïve. Apart from, -and without prejudice to, the (doubtless very substantial) merits of -this system of speculative tenets, the vogue which it has achieved -appears to be due in good part to its consonance with this archaic -bent of civilised human nature, already spoken of. The immanent, or -rather intrinsically dominant, creative bent inherent in matter and not -objectively distinguishable from it, is sufficiently suggestive of that -praeter-mechanical efficacy that seems so easy of comprehension to many -of the peoples on the lower levels of culture, and that affords the -substantial ground of magical practices and finds untroubled expression -in the more naïve of their theoretical speculations. It would be a -work of extreme difficulty, e. g., to set up a consistently tenable -distinction between M. Bergson’s _élan de la vie_, on the one hand, and -the _mana_ of the Melanesians (_Cf._ Codrington, _The Melanesians_, -esp. ch. vii and xii), the _wakonda_ of the Sioux (_Cf._ A. C. Fletcher -and F. la Flesche, “The Omaha Tribe,” _Bureau of Ethnology, Report -xxvii_ (1905–1906), esp. pp. 597–599), or even the _hamingia_ of -Scandinavian paganism, on the other hand. - -In fact, the point of departure and support for M. Bergson’s -speculations appears to be nothing else than a projection, into -objective reality, of the same human trait that has here been spoken of -as the instinct of workmanship; this norm of initiative and efficiency -which so is imposed on objective facts being then worked out with great -subtlety and sympathetic insight, to make a comprehensive, cosmological -scheme. The like projection of workmanlike initiative and efficiency, -and its imputation to objective reality, both at large--as with M. -Bergson--and in concrete detail, with more or less of personalisation, -is one of the main, though frequently misunderstood, factors in the -cosmologies that do duty as a body of science and philosophy among -savages and the lower barbarians. - -That the roots of this speculative scheme of “creative evolution” -should reach so far into the background of human culture and draw on -sources so close to the undisciplined prime-movers of human nature is, -of course, in no degree derogatory to this system of theory; nor does -it raise any presumption of unsoundness in the tenets that so are, in -the course of elaboration, built up out of this metaphysical postulate. -In point of fact, the characterisation here offered places M. Bergson’s -thesis, and therefore his system, precisely where he has been at pains -to explain that he wishes to take his initial position in advocating -his view,--at an even break with the mechanistic conception; the merits -of which, as contrasted with his own thesis, will then be made to -appear in the course of the further argument that is to decide between -their rival claims to primacy. In point of formal and provisional -legitimation, such an imputation of workmanlike efficacy at large rests -on ground precisely even with that on which the mechanistic conception -also rests,--viz. imputation by force of metaphysical necessity, that -is to say by force of an instinctive impulse. The main theorem of -causation, as well as its several mechanistic corollaries, are, in the -last resort, putative traits of matter only, not facts of observation; -and the like is true--in M. Bergson’s argument admittedly so--of the -_élan de la vie_ as well. So far, therefore, as regards the formally -determinable antecedent probability of the two rival conceptions, the -one is as good as the other; but M. Bergson’s argument, running on -ground of circumstantial evidence in the main, makes out at least a -cogently attractive likelihood that the conception for which he speaks -is to be accepted as the more fundamental, underlying the mechanistic -conception, conditioning it and on occasion overruling its findings in -matters that lie beyond its ascertained competence. Which would come, -in a different phrasing, to saying that the imputation of creatively -workmanlike efficiency rests on instinctive ground more indefeasibly -intrinsic to human nature; presumably in virtue of its embodying -the functioning of an instinctive proclivity less sophisticated and -narrowed by special habituation, such special habituation, e. g., as -that exercised by the technology of handicraft and the machine process -in recent times. - -[150] All this, of course, neither ignores nor denies the substantial -part which the _jus gentium_ and the _jus naturale_ of the Roman -jurists and their commentators have played in the formulation of the -system of Natural Rights. In point of pedigree the line of derivation -of these legal principles is doubtless substantially as set forth -authentically by the jurists who have spent their competent endeavors -on that matter. So far as regards the English-speaking communities this -pedigree runs back to Locke, and through Locke to the line of jurists -and philosophers on whom that great scholar has drawn; while for the -promulgation of the like system of principles more at large the names -of Grotius, Pufendorf, Althusius doubtless have all the significance -commonly assigned them. See pp. 290–293 above. - -[151] Unless the “Syndicalist” movement is to be taken as something -sufficiently definite in its principles to make it an exception to the -rule. - -[152] Cf., e. g., Anna Youngman, _The Economic Causes of Great -Fortunes_, especially ch. vi; R. Ehrenburg, _Grosse Vermögen_; Ida -Tarbell, _History of the Standard Oil Company_. - -[153] Cf. a paper “On the Nature of Capital” in the _Quarterly Journal -of Economics_, November, 1908. - -[154] As late as Adam Smith’s time “manufacturer” still retained its -etymological value and designated the workman who made the goods. But -from about that time, that is to say since the machine process and the -business control of industry have thoroughly taken effect, the term no -longer has a technological connotation but has taken on a pecuniary -(business) signification wholly; so that the term now designates -a businessman who stands in none but a pecuniary relation to the -processes of industry. - - - - -The following pages contain advertisements of books by the same author -or on kindred subjects - - - - -By the Same Author - - -_The Theory of the Leisure Class_ - -An Economic Study of Institutions - - _Cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net_ - _Macmillan Standard Library Edition, $0.50 net_ - - -EXTRACT FROM PREFACE - -It is the purpose of this inquiry to discuss the place and value of -the leisure class as an economic factor in modern life, but it has -been found impracticable to confine the discussion strictly within the -limits so marked out. 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The work - seeks, therefore, to express for the first time a consistently - educational theory of democracy. - - -_Progressivism and After_ - -BY WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING, - -Author of “The Larger Aspects of Socialism,” “Socialism As It Is,” etc. - - _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net_ - - This is a book which every thoughtful socialist, social - reformer and those to whom social reform makes any appeal, - ought to read. Mr. Walling views social and economic questions - as a thinker and student, never merely as a theorist or - partisan. In the political events of the last few years - Mr. Walling sees much that is significant not only for the - present but for the future. What the progress of affairs in - the next generation is to be he outlines in this work in - a fashion that is as convincing as it is unusual from the - socialistic standpoint. Of particular interest are his analyses - of President Wilson, Colonel Roosevelt and other prominent - leaders, while his description of that which has been and that - which is to come is trenchant and keen. Whether one agrees with - his predictions or not the force and clearness with which the - issues are indicated distinguish the volume for all kinds of - readers. - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Publishers 64–66 Fifth Avenue New York - - -_American Syndicalism--The I. W. 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Alike to our peril and to our loss shall we - ignore this fact.’”--_New York Tribune._ - - -_The Social Unrest_ - -Studies in Labor and Social Movements - -BY JOHN GRAHAM BROOKS - - _Cloth, 12mo, 394 pages, $1.50 net_ - - “The author, Mr. John Graham Brooks, takes up and discusses - through nearly four hundred pages the economic significance - of the social questions of the hour, the master passions at - work among us, men _versus_ machinery, and the solution of our - present ills in a better concurrence than at present exists--an - organization whereby every advantage of cheaper service and - cheaper product shall go direct to the whole body of the - people.... Nothing upon his subject so comprehensive and at the - same time popular in treatment as this book has been issued - in our country. It is a volume with live knowledge--not only - for workman but for capitalist, and the student of the body - politic--for every one who lives--and who does not?--upon the - product of labor.”--_The Outlook._ - - Mr. Bliss Perry, the editor of _The Atlantic Monthly_, says - of it: “A fascinating book--to me the clearest, sanest, most - helpful discussion of economic and human problems I have read - for years.” - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Publishers 64–66 Fifth Avenue New York - - - - -By WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING - - -_The Larger Aspects of Socialism_ - - _Cloth, $1.50 net; postpaid, $1.63_ - - “For the second time William English Walling has made a notable - contribution to the literature of Socialism.”--_Mary Brown - Sumner in The Survey._ - - “Your two books, together and separately, constituted the - supreme English contribution to Socialism.”--_Professor George - D. Herron._ - - “This book is exceptionally suggestive and interesting.... - It is to be hoped that Mr. Walling will continue to give - us such careful and suggestive analyses of socialistic - thought.”--_Alexander Fleisher in The Annals of the American - Academy._ - - “The author has earned a right to a front-rank place among - the American Socialist ‘intellectuals.’... A clear-sighted - observer, and a reporter honest with himself and the - public.”--_The Nation._ - - “You are certainly one of those exasperating men who must - be counted with. I have gone over your first book with - admiration and extreme disapprobation. There is no book with - which I have any acquaintance which is so truthful in telling - what a considerable body of our countrymen are thinking - about.”--_Professor Albert Bushnell Hart._ - - -_Socialism As It Is_ - -A Survey of the World-Wide Revolutionary Movement - - _Cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; postpaid, $2.12_ - -A NEW DEPARTURE IN SOCIALIST BOOKS - - “Can be most highly recommended as a sane and clear exposition - and is not a rehash of the various volumes that have been - already published on the subject, but is a contribution from a - distinct and new point of view.”--_The New York Times._ - - “The best and most scholarly presentation of the subject that - has yet fallen into my hands. It gave me an insight into the - situation, for which I longed but to which I could not find any - access.”--_Professor Jacques Loeb._ - - “You certainly give a wonderful insight into Socialism as it - is and getting to be--and it is an insight that every citizen - ought to have.”--_Professor John R. Commons._ - - “I have been reading your book with great interest. The great - contribution, it seems to me, is the clear contrast between - State Socialism and revolutionary socialism.”--_Professor Simon - N. Patten._ - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Publishers 64–66 Fifth Avenue New York - - -_The Theory of Social Revolutions_ - -BY BROOKS ADAMS - -Author of “The Law of Civilization and Decay,” “The New Empire,” etc. - - _Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net_ - - “A remarkable work.”--_The Argonaut._ - - “A cleverly written book by a clever man. The argument is that - the existing social system will soon be changed and that the - courts have become political and not judicial.”--_Pittsburgh - Post._ - - “No one interested in either history or politics can afford to - neglect Mr. Adams’ views.”--_Newark Evening News._ - - “... no more fascinating study of a topic so grave is often - printed.”--_New York World._ - - “... there has not appeared in recent years so calm and - determined an attack upon judicial legislation.”--_La - Follette’s Magazine._ - - “A very stimulating study.”--_Review of Reviews._ - - -_Labor and Administration_ - -BY JOHN R. COMMONS - -PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - - _Cloth, 12mo, $1.60 net_ - - The history of labor laws and strikes has this in common to - both--laws become dead letters; the victories of strikes are - nibbled away. Some philosophers fall back on the individual’s - moral character. Little, they think, can be done by law or - unions. There are others who inquire how to draft and enforce - the laws, how to keep the winnings of strikes--in short, how to - connect ideals with efficiency. - - These are the awakening questions of the past decade, and the - subject of this book. Here is a field for the student and - economist--not the “friend of labor” who paints an abstract - working-man, but the utilitarian idealist, who sees them all - as they are; not the curious collector of facts and statistics - but the one who measures the facts and builds them into a - foundation and structure. His constructive problem is not so - much the law and its abstract rights, as administration and its - concrete results. - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Publishers 64–66 Fifth Avenue New York - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. 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- margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - padding: .5em; -} - -.covernote {visibility: hidden; display: none;} -.x-ebookmaker .covernote {visibility: visible; display: block; text-align: center;} -.bb {border-bottom: thin solid black;} - -.gesperrt { - letter-spacing: 0.2em; - margin-right: -0.2em; -} -.wspace {word-spacing: .3em;} - -.pagenum br {display: none; visibility: hidden;} -.bbox {border: .2em solid black; padding: 0 .75em .5em .75em; margin: 4em auto 4em auto; max-width: 20em; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} -.dc {font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold;} -p.adtitle {margin-top: 2em; padding-left: 0; font-size: 2em; word-spacing: .2em; text-indent: 0;} - -.illowe13_375 {width: 13.375em;} -.illowe5_9375 {width: 5.9375em;} - - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> - -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The instinct of workmanship, by Thorstein Veblen</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The instinct of workmanship</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>and the state of industrial arts</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Thorstein Veblen</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 28, 2023 [eBook #69888]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Emmanuel Ackerman, Art Chimes, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INSTINCT OF WORKMANSHIP ***</div> - -<div class="transnote covernote"> -<p class="center larger">Transcriber’s Note</p> - -<p>Transcriber created the cover image from -images of the original cover and title page. -The result remains in the Public Domain.</p> -</div> - -<h1>THE INSTINCT OF WORKMANSHIP</h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<figure class="figcenter illowe13_375" id="colophon"> - <img class="w100" src="images/colophon.png" alt="publisher’s colophon"> -</figure> - -<div class="center small"> -<p><span class="larger">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS<br> -ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO</p> - -<p><span class="larger">MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span></span><br> -LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA<br> -MELBOURNE</p> - -<p><span class="larger">THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span></span><br> -TORONTO -</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="center"> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="p4 vspace xxlarge"> -<span class="wspace">THE INSTINCT OF<br> -WORKMANSHIP</span><br> - -<span class="subhead small">AND THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS</span></p> - -<p class="p2">BY<br> -<span class="larger wspace">THORSTEIN VEBLEN</span><br> -<span class="smaller">AUTHOR OF “THE THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS”</span></p> - -<p class="p2"><span class="bold">New York</span><br> -<span class="wspace larger">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -1914</p> - -<p class="p1 smaller"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="p4 smaller"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1914,</span><br> -<span class="smcap">By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br> -Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1914. -</p> -</div> - -<figure class="figcenter illowe5_9375" id="printer-logo"> - <img class="w100" src="images/printer-logo.png" alt="printer’s logo"> -</figure> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">vii</span></p><div class="chapter"> -<p class="p4 vspace"> -TO<br> -<span class="larger gesperrt">B K N</span> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> following essay attempts an analysis of such correlation -as is visible between industrial use and wont and -those other institutional facts that go to make up any -given phase of civilisation. It is assumed that in the -growth of culture, as in its current maintenance, the -facts of technological use and wont are fundamental and -definitive, in the sense that they underlie and condition -the scope and method of civilisation in other than the -technological respect, but not in such a sense as to preclude -or overlook the degree in which these other conventions -of any given civilisation in their turn react on -the state of the industrial arts.</p> - -<p>The analysis proceeds on the materialistic assumptions -of modern science, but without prejudice to the underlying -question as to the ulterior competency of this materialistic -conception considered as a metaphysical tenet. -The inquiry simply accepts these mechanistic assumptions -of material science for the purpose in hand, since -these afford the currently acceptable terms of solution -for any scientific problem of the kind in the present state -of preconceptions on this head.</p> - -<p>As should appear from its slight bulk, the essay is of -the nature of a cursory survey rather than an exhaustive -inquiry with full documentation. The few references -given and the authorities cited in the course of the argument -are accordingly not to be taken as an inclusive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">viii</span> -presentation of the materials on which the inquiry rests. -It will also be remarked that where authoritative documents -are cited the citation is general and extensive -rather than specific and detailed. Wherever detailed -references are given they will be found to bear on specific -facts brought into the argument by way of illustrative -detail.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">ix</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc"> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap nobpad" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td> -</tr> -<tr class="smaller"> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Introductory</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Contamination of Instincts in Primitive Technology</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_38">38</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Savage State of the Industrial Arts</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_103">103</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Technology of the Predatory Culture</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_138">138</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ownership and the Competitive System</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_187">187</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Era of Handicraft</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_231">231</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Machine Industry</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_299">299</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">x</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_INSTINCT_OF_WORKMANSHIP"><span class="smaller">THE INSTINCT OF WORKMANSHIP</span></h2> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_1">CHAPTER I<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Introductory</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">For</span> mankind as for the other higher animals, the life -of the species is conditioned by the complement of instinctive -proclivities and tropismatic aptitudes with -which the species is typically endowed. Not only is the -continued life of the race dependent on the adequacy of -its instinctive proclivities in this way, but the routine -and details of its life are also, in the last resort, determined -by these instincts. These are the prime movers in -human behaviour, as in the behaviour of all those animals -that show self-direction or discretion. Human activity, -in so far as it can be spoken of as conduct, can never -exceed the scope of these instinctive dispositions, by -initiative of which man takes action. Nothing falls -within the human scheme of things desirable to be done -except what answers to these native proclivities of man. -These native proclivities alone make anything worth -while, and out of their working emerge not only the -purpose and efficiency of life, but its substantial pleasures -and pains as well.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Latterly the words “instinct” and “instinctive” are -no longer well seen among students of those biological<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span> -sciences where they once had a great vogue. Students -who occupy themselves with the psychology of animal -behaviour are cautiously avoiding these expressions, and -in this caution they are doubtless well advised. For -such use the word appears no longer to be serviceable as -a technical term. It has lost the requisite sharp definition -and consistency of connotation, apparently through -disintegration under a more searching analysis than the -phenomena comprised under this concept had previously -been subjected to. In these biological sciences interest -is centering not on the question of what activities may -be set down to innate propensity or predisposition at -large, but rather on the determination of the irreducible -psychological—and, indeed, physiological—elements that -go to make up animal behaviour. For this purpose -“instinct” is a concept of too lax and shifty a definition -to meet the demands of exact biological science.</p> - -<p>For the sciences that deal with the psychology of -human conduct a similarly searching analysis of the -elementary facts of behaviour is doubtless similarly desirable; -and under such closer scrutiny of these facts it -will doubtless appear that here, too, the broad term -“instinct” is of too unprecise a character to serve the -needs of an exhaustive psychological analysis. But the -needs of an inquiry into the nature and causes of the -growth of institutions are not precisely the same as those -of such an exhaustive psychological analysis. A genetic -inquiry into institutions will address itself to the growth -of habits and conventions, as conditioned by the material -environment and by the innate and persistent -propensities of human nature; and for these propensities, -as they take effect in the give and take of cultural growth,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span> -no better designation than the time-worn “instinct” is -available.</p> - -<p>In the light of recent inquiries and speculations it is -scarcely to be questioned that each of these distinguishable -propensities may be analysed into simpler constituent -elements, of a quasi-tropismatic or physiological -nature;<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> but in the light of every-day experience and -common notoriety it is at the same time not to be questioned -that these simple and irreducible psychological -elements of human behaviour fall into composite functional -groups, and so make up specific and determinate -propensities, proclivities, aptitudes that are, within the -purview of the social sciences, to be handled as irreducible -traits of human nature. Indeed, it would appear that -it is in the particular grouping and concatenation of -these ultimate psychological elements into characteristic -lines of interest and propensity that the nature of man -is finally to be distinguished from that of the lower -animals.</p> - -<p>These various native proclivities that are so classed -together as “instincts” have the characteristic in common -that they all and several, more or less imperatively, -propose an objective end of endeavour. On the other -hand what distinguishes one instinct from another is -that each sets up a characteristic purpose, aim, or object -to be attained, different from the objective end of any -other instinct. Instinctive action is teleological, consciously -so, and the teleological scope and aim of each -instinctive propensity differs characteristically from all -the rest. The several instincts are teleological categories,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -and are, in colloquial usage, distinguished and classed -on the ground of their teleological content. As the term -is here used, therefore, and indeed as it is currently understood, -the instincts are to be defined or described neither -in mechanical terms of those anatomical or physiological -aptitudes that causally underlie them or that come into -action in the functioning of any given instinct, nor in -terms of the movements of orientation or taxis involved -in the functioning of each. The distinctive feature by -the mark of which any given instinct is identified is to -be found in the particular character of the purpose to -which it drives.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> “Instinct,” as contra-distinguished -from tropismatic action, involves consciousness and -adaptation to an end aimed at.</p> - -<p>It is, of course, not hereby intended to set up or to -prescribe a definition of “instinct” at large, but only to -indicate as closely as may be what sense is attached to -the term as here used. At the same time it is believed -that this definition of the concept does violence neither -to colloquial usage nor to the usage of such students as -have employed the term in scientific discussion, particularly -in discussion of the instinctive proclivities of mankind. -But it is not to be overlooked that this definition -of the term may be found inapplicable, or at least of -doubtful service, when applied to those simpler and more -immediate impulses that are sometimes by tradition -spoken of as “instinctive,” even in human behaviour,—impulses -that might with better effect be designated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -“tropismatic.” In animal behaviour, for instance, as -well as in such direct and immediate impulsive human -action as is fairly to be classed with animal behaviour, -it is often a matter of some perplexity to draw a line -between tropismatic activity and instinct. Notoriously, -the activities commonly recognised as instinctive differ -widely among themselves in respect of the degree of -directness or immediacy with which the given response -to stimulus takes place. They range in this respect all -the way from such reactions as are doubtfully to be distinguished -from simple reflex action on the one hand, to -such as are doubtfully recognised as instinctive because -of the extent to which reflection and deliberation enter -into their execution on the other hand. By insensible -gradation the lower (less complex and deliberate) instinctive -activities merge into the class of unmistakable tropismatic -sensibilities, without its being practicable to determine -by any secure test where the one category should -be declared to end and the other to begin.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> Such quasi-tropismatic -activities may be rated as purposeful by -an observer, in the sense that they are seen to further -the life of the individual agent or of the species, while -there is no consciousness of purpose on the part of the -agent under observation; whereas “instinct,” in the -narrower and special sense to which it seems desirable to -restrict the term for present use, denotes the conscious -pursuit of an objective end which the instinct in question -makes worth while.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The ends of life, then, the purposes to be achieved, are -assigned by man’s instinctive proclivities; but the ways<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -and means of accomplishing those things which the instinctive -proclivities so make worth while are a matter -of intelligence. It is a distinctive mark of mankind that -the working-out of the instinctive proclivities of the race -is guided by intelligence to a degree not approached by -the other animals. But the dependence of the race on -its endowment of instincts is no less absolute for this -intervention of intelligence; since it is only by the prompting -of instinct that reflection and deliberation come to -be so employed, and since instinct also governs the scope -and method of intelligence in all this employment of -it. Men take thought, but the human spirit, that is to -say the racial endowment of instinctive proclivities, -decides what they shall take thought of, and how and to -what effect.</p> - -<p>Yet the dependence of the scheme of life on the complement -of instinctive proclivities hereby becomes less -immediate, since a more or less extended logic of ways -and means comes to intervene between the instinctively -given end and its realisation; and the lines of relation -between any given instinctive proclivity and any particular -feature of human conduct are by so much the -more devious and roundabout and the more difficult -to trace. The higher the degree of intelligence and the -larger the available body of knowledge current in any -given community, the more extensive and elaborate will -be the logic of ways and means interposed between these -impulses and their realisation, and the more multifarious -and complicated will be the apparatus of expedients and -resources employed to compass those ends that are instinctively -worth while.</p> - -<p>This apparatus of ways and means available for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -pursuit of whatever may be worth seeking is, substantially -all, a matter of tradition out of the past, a legacy -of habits of thought accumulated through the experience -of past generations. So that the manner, and in a great -degree the measure, in which the instinctive ends of life -are worked out under any given cultural situation is -somewhat closely conditioned by these elements of habit, -which so fall into shape as an accepted scheme of life. -The instinctive proclivities are essentially simple and -look directly to the attainment of some concrete objective -end; but in detail the ends so sought are many and -diverse, and the ways and means by which they may be -sought are similarly diverse and various, involving endless -recourse to expedients, adaptations, and concessive -adjustment between several proclivities that are all sufficiently -urgent.</p> - -<p>Under the discipline of habituation this logic and apparatus -of ways and means falls into conventional lines, -acquires the consistency of custom and prescription, -and so takes on an institutional character and force. -The accustomed ways of doing and thinking not only -become an habitual matter of course, easy and obvious, -but they come likewise to be sanctioned by social convention, -and so become right and proper and give rise to -principles of conduct. By use and wont they are incorporated -into the current scheme of common sense. A -elements of the approved scheme of conduct and pursuit -these conventional ways and means take their place as -proximate ends of endeavour. Whence, in the further -course of unremitting habituation, as the attention is -habitually focussed on these proximate ends, they occupy -the interest to such an extent as commonly to throw their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> -own ulterior purpose into the background and often -let it be lost sight of; as may happen, for instance, in the -acquisition and use of money. It follows that in much -of human conduct these proximate ends alone are present -in consciousness as the object of interest and the goal of -endeavour, and certain conventionally accepted ways -and means come to be set up as definitive principles of -what is right and good; while the ulterior purpose of it -all is only called to mind occasionally, if at all, as an -afterthought, by an effort of reflection.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Among psychologists who have busied themselves with -these questions there has hitherto been no large measure -of agreement as to the number of specific instinctive -proclivities that so are native to man; nor is there any -agreement as to the precise functional range and content -ascribed to each. In a loose way it is apparently taken -for granted that these instincts are to be conceived as -discrete and specific elements in human nature, each -working out its own determinate functional content -without greatly blending with or being diverted by the -working of its neighbours in that spiritual complex into -which they all enter as constituent elements.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> For the -purposes of an exhaustive psychological analysis it is -doubtless expedient to make the most of such discreteness -as is observable among the instinctive proclivities. -But for an inquiry into the scope and method of their -working-out in the growth of institutions it is perhaps -even more to the purpose to take note of how and with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> -what effect the several instinctive proclivities cross, -blend, overlap, neutralise or reënforce one another.</p> - -<p>The most convincing genetic view of these phenomena -throws the instinctive proclivities into close relation -with the tropismatic sensibilities and brings them, in the -physiological respect, into the same general class with -the latter.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> If taken uncritically and in general terms -this view would seem to carry the implication that the -instincts should be discrete and discontinuous among -themselves somewhat after the same fashion as the tropismatic -sensibilities with which they are in great measure -bound up; but on closer scrutiny such a genetic theory of -the instincts does not appear to enforce the view that -they are to be conceived as effectually discontinuous -or mutually exclusive, though it may also not involve -the contrary,—that they make a continuous or ambiguously -segmented body of spiritual elements. The -recognised tropisms stand out, to all appearance, as -sharply defined physiological traits, transmissible by -inheritance intact and unmodified, separable and unblended, -in a manner suggestively like the “unit characters” -spoken of in latter day theories of heredity.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span></p> - -<p>While the instinctive sensibilities may not be explained -as derivatives of the tropisms, there is enough of similarity -in the working of the two to suggest that the two -classes of phenomena must both be accounted for on -somewhat similar physiological grounds. The simple -and more narrowly defined instinctive dispositions, which -have much of the appearance of immediate reflex nervous -action and automatically defined response, lend themselves -passably to such an interpretation,—as, for example, -the gregarious instinct, or the instinct of repulsion -with its accompanying emotion of disgust. Such as -these are shared by mankind with the other higher -animals on a fairly even footing; and these are relatively -simple, immediate, and not easily sophisticated or offset -by habit. These seem patently to be of much the same -nature as the tropismatic sensibilities; though even in -these simpler instinctive dispositions the characteristic -quasi-tropismatic sensibility distinctive of each appears -to be complicated with obscure stimulations of the nerve -centres arising out of the functioning of one or another -of the viscera. And what is true of the simpler instincts -in this respect should apply to the vaguer and more complex -instincts also, but with a larger allowance for a more -extensive complication of visceral and organic stimuli.</p> - -<p>Whether these subconscious stimulations of the nerve -centres through the functioning of the viscera are to be -conceived in terms of tropismatic reaction is a difficult -question which has had little attention hitherto. But in -any case, whatever the expert students of these phenomena -may have to say of this matter, the visceral or organic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -stimuli engaged in any one of the instinctive sensibilities -are apparently always more than one and are -usually somewhat complex. Indeed, while it seems superficially -an easy matter to refer any one of the simple -instincts directly to some certain one of the viscera as -the main or primary source from which its appropriate -stimulation comes to the nerve centres, it is by no means -easy to decide what one or more of the viscera, or of the -other organs that are not commonly classed as viscera, -will have no part in the matter.</p> - -<p>It results that, on physiological grounds, the common -run of human instincts are not to be conceived as severally -discrete and elementary proclivities. The same -physiological processes enter in some measure, though -in varying proportions, into the functioning of each. -In instinctive action the individual acts as a whole, and -in the conduct which emerges under the driving force -of these instinctive dispositions the part which each -several instinct plays is a matter of more or less, not of -exclusive direction. They must therefore incontinently -touch, blend, overlap and interfere, and can not be conceived -as acting each and several in sheer isolation and -independence of one another. The relations of give and -take among the several instinctive dispositions, therefore—of -inosculation, “contamination” and cross purposes—are -presumably slighter and of less consequence -for the simpler and more apparently tropismatic impulses -while on the other hand the less specific and vaguer instinctive -predispositions, such as the parental bent or -the proclivity to construction or acquisition, will be so -comprehensively and intricately bound in a web of correlation -and inter-dependence—will so unremittingly contaminate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -offset or fortify one another, and have each -so large and yet so shifting a margin of common ground -with all the rest—that hard and fast lines of demarcation -can scarcely be drawn between them. The best -that can practically be had in the way of a secure definition -will be a descriptive characterisation of each distinguishable -propensity, together with an indication of -the more salient and consequential ramifications by -which each contaminates or is contaminated by the working -of other propensities that go to make up that complex -of instinctive dispositions that constitutes the spiritual -nature of the race. So that the schemes of definition -that have hitherto been worked out are in great part -to be taken as arrangements of convenience, serviceable -apparatus for present use, rather than distinctions enforced -at all points by an equally sharp substantial discreteness -of the facts.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></p> - -<p>This fact, that in some measure the several instincts -spring from a common ground of sentient life, that they -each engage the individual as a whole, has serious consequences -in the domain of habit, and therefore it counts -for much in the growth of civilisation and in the everyday -conduct of affairs. The physiological apparatus engaged -in the functioning of any given instinct enters in -part, though in varying measure, into the working of -some or of any other instinct; whereby, even on physiological -grounds alone, the habituation that touches the -functioning of any given instinct must, in a less degree -but pervasively, affect the habitual conduct of the same -agent when driven by any other instinct. So that on -this view the scope of habit, in so far as it bears on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> -instinctive activities, is necessarily wider than the particular -concrete line of conduct to which the habituation -in question is due.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The instincts are hereditary traits. In the current -theories of heredity they would presumably be counted -as secondary characteristics of the species, as being in a -sense by-products of the physiological activities that -give the species its specific character; since these theories -in the last resort run in physiological terms. So the -instinctive dispositions would scarcely be accounted unit -characters, in the Mendelian sense, but would rather -count as spiritual traits emerging from a certain concurrence -of physiological unit characters and varying somewhat -according to variations in the complement of unit -characters to which the species or the individual may -owe his constitution. Hence would arise variations of -individuality among the members of the race, resting -in some such manner as has just been suggested on -the varying endowment of instincts, and running back -through these finally to recondite differences of physiological -function. Some such account of the instinctive -dispositions and their relation to the physical individual -seems necessary as a means of apprehending them and -their work without assuming a sheer break between the -physical and the immaterial phenomena of life.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Characteristic of the race is a degree of vagueness or -generality, an absence of automatically determinate -response, a lack of concrete eventuality as it might be -called, in the common run of human instincts. This -vague and shifty character of the instincts, or perhaps<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -rather of the habitual response to their incitement, is to -be taken in connection with the breadth and variability -of their physiological ground as spoken of above. For -the long-term success of the race it is manifestly of the -highest value, since it leaves a wide and facile margin of -experimentation, habituation, invention and accommodation -open to the sense of workmanship. At the same -time and by the same circumstance the scope and range -of conventionalisation and sophistication are similarly -flexible, wide and consequential. No doubt the several -racial stocks differ very appreciably in this respect.</p> - -<p>The complement of instinctive dispositions, comprising -under that term both the native propensity and its -appropriate sentiment, makes up what would be called -the “spiritual nature” of man—often spoken of more -simply as “human nature.” Without allowing it to -imply anything like a dualism or dichotomy between -material and immaterial phenomena, the term “spiritual” -may conveniently be so used in its colloquial -sense. So employed it commits the discussion to no -attitude on the question of man’s single or dual constitution, -but simply uses the conventional expression to -designate that complement of functions which it has by -current usage been employed to designate.</p> - -<p>The human complement of instincts fluctuates from -one individual to another in an apparently endless diversity, -varying both in the relative force of the several -instinctive proclivities and in the scheme of co-ordination, -coalescence or interference that prevails among them. -This diversity of native character is noticeable among -all peoples, though some of the peoples of the lower -cultures show a notable approach to uniformity of type,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -both physical and spiritual. The diversity is particularly -marked among the civilised peoples, and perhaps -in a peculiar degree among the peoples of Europe and -her colonies. The extreme diversity of native character, -both physical and spiritual, noticeable in these communities -is in all probability due to their being made up -of a mixture of racial stocks. In point of pedigree, all -individuals in the peoples of the Western culture are -hybrids, and the greater number of individuals are a -mixture of more than two racial stocks. The proportions -in which the several transmissible traits that go to make -up the racial type enter into the composition of these -hybrid individuals will accordingly vary endlessly. The -number of possible permutations will therefore be extremely -large; so that the resulting range of variation -in the hybrids that so result from the crossing of these -different racial stocks will be sufficiently large, even when -it plays within such limits as to leave the generic human -type intact. From time to time the variation may even -exceed these limits of human normality and give a -variant in which the relative emphasis on the several -constituent instinctive elements is distributed after a -scheme so far from the generically human type as to -throw the given variant out of touch with the common -run of humanity and mark him as of unsound mind or as -disserviceable for the purposes of the community in -which he occurs, or even as disserviceable for life in any -society.</p> - -<p>Yet, even through these hybrid populations there -runs a generically human type of spiritual endowment, -prevalent as a general average of human nature throughout, -and suitable to the continued life of mankind in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -society. Disserviceably wide departures from this -generically human and serviceable type of spiritual endowment -will tend constantly to be selectively eliminated -from the race, even where the variation arises from -hybridism. The like will hold true in a more radical -fashion as applied to variants that may arise through -a Mendelian mutation.</p> - -<p>So that the numerous racial types now existing represent -only such mutants as lie within the limits of tolerance -imposed by the situation under which any given -mutant type has emerged and survived. A surviving -mutant type is necessarily suited more or less closely to -the circumstances under which it emerged and first -made good its survival, and it is presumably less suited -to any other situation. With a change in the situation, -therefore, such as may come with the migration of a -given racial stock from one habitat to another, or with -an equivalent shifting growth of culture or change of -climate, the requirements of survival are likely to change. -Indeed, so grave are the alterations that may in this way -supervene in the current requirements for survival, that -any given racial stock may dwindle and decay for no -other reason than that the growth of its culture has come -to subject the stock to methods of life widely different -from those under which its type of man originated and -made good its fitness to survive. So, in the mixture of -races that make up the population of the Western nations -a competitive struggle for survival has apparently always -been going on among the several racial stocks that enter -into the hybrid mass, with varying fortunes according -as the shifting cultural demands and opportunities have -favoured now one, now another type of man. These cultural<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -conditions of survival in the racial struggle for -existence have varied in the course of centuries, and with -grave consequences for the life-history of the race and -of its culture; and they are perhaps changing more substantially -and rapidly in the immediate present than -at any previous time within the historical period. So -that, for instance, the continued biological success of -any given one of these stocks in the European racial -mixture has within a moderate period of time shifted -from the ground of fighting capacity, and even in a -measure from the ground of climatic fitness, to that -of spiritual fitness to survive under the conditions imposed -by a new cultural situation, by a scheme of institutions -that is insensibly but incessantly changing as it -runs.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></p> - -<p>These unremitting changes and adaptations that go -forward in the scheme of institutions, legal and customary, -unremittingly induce new habits of work and of -thought in the community, and so they continually instil -new principles of conduct; with the outcome that the -same range of instinctive dispositions innate in the -population will work out to a different effect as regards -the demands of race survival. To all appearance, what -counts first in this connection toward the selective survival -of the several European racial stocks is their relative -fitness to meet the material requirements of life,—their -economic fitness to live under the new cultural -limitations and with the new training which this altered -cultural situation gives. But the fortunes of the Western<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -civilisation as a cultural scheme, apart from the biological -survival or success of any given racial constituent in the -Western peoples, is likewise bound up with the viability -of European mankind under these institutional changes, -and dependent on the spiritual fitness of inherited human -nature successfully and enduringly to carry on the altered -scheme of life so imposed on these peoples by the growth -of their own culture. Such limitations imposed on cultural -growth by native proclivities ill suited to civilised -life are sufficiently visible in several directions and in all -the nations of Christendom.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>What is known of heredity goes to say that the various -racial types of man are stable; so that during the life-history -of any given racial stock, it is held, no heritable -modification of its typical make-up, whether spiritual or -physical, is to be looked for. The typical human endowment -of instincts, as well as the typical make-up of the -race in the physical respect, has according to this current -view been transmitted intact from the beginning of -humanity, that is to say from whatever point in the -mutational development of the race it is seen fit to date -humanity,—except so far as subsequent mutations have -given rise to new racial stocks, to and by which this -human endowment of native proclivities has been transmitted -in a typically modified form. On the other hand -the habitual elements of human life change unremittingly -and cumulatively, resulting in a continued proliferous -growth of institutions. Changes in the institutional -structure are continually taking place in response to -the altered discipline of life under changing cultural conditions, -but human nature remains specifically the same.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span></p> - -<p>The ways and means, material and immaterial, by -which the native proclivities work out their ends, therefore, -are forever in process of change, being conditioned -by the changes cumulatively going forward in the institutional -fabric of habitual elements that governs the -scheme of life. But there is no warrant for assuming -that each or any of these successive changes in the scheme -of institutions affords successively readier, surer or more -facile ways and means for the instinctive proclivities to -work out their ends, or that the phase of habituation in -force at any given point in this sequence of change is -more suitable to the untroubled functioning of these -instincts than any phase that has gone before. Indeed, -the presumption is the other way. On grounds of selective -survival it is reasonably to be presumed that any -given racial type that has endured the test of selective -elimination, including the complement of instinctive -dispositions by virtue of which it has endured the test, -will on its first emergence have been passably suited to -the circumstances, material and cultural, under which the -type emerged as a mutant and made good its survival; -and in so far as the subsequent growth of institutions -has altered the available scope and method of instinctive -action it is therefore to be presumed that any such subsequent -change in the scheme of institutions will in some -degree hinder or divert the free play of its instinctive -proclivities and will thereby hinder the direct and unsophisticated -working-out of the instinctive dispositions -native to this given racial type.</p> - -<p>What is known of the earlier phases of culture in the -life-history of the existing races and peoples goes to say -that the initial phase in the life of any given racial type,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> -the phase of culture which prevailed in its environment -when it emerged, and under which the stock first proved -its fitness to survive, was presumably some form of -savagery. Therefore the fitness of any given type of -human nature for life after the manner and under the -conditions imposed by any later phase in the growth of -culture is a matter of less and less secure presumption -the farther the sequence of institutional change has -departed from that form of savagery which marked the -initial stage in the life-history of the given racial stock. -Also, presumably, though by no means assuredly, the -younger stocks, those which have emerged from later -mutations of type, have therefore initially fallen into -and made good their survival under the conditions of a -relatively advanced phase of savagery,—these younger -races should therefore conform with greater facility and -better effect to the requirements imposed by a still -farther advance in that cumulative complication of -institutions and intricacy of ways and means that is -involved in cultural growth. The older or more primitive -stocks, those which arose out of earlier mutations -of type and made good their survival under a more -elementary scheme of savage culture, are presumably less -capable of adaptation to an advanced cultural scheme.</p> - -<p>But at the same time it is on the same grounds to be -expected that in all races and peoples there should always -persist an ineradicable sentimental disposition to take -back to something like that scheme of savagery for -which their particular type of human nature once proved -its fitness during the initial phase of its life-history. This -seems to be what is commonly intended in the cry, -“Back to Nature!” The older known racial stocks,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span> -the offspring of earlier mutational departures from the -initially generic human type, will have been selectively -adapted to more archaic forms of savagery, and these -show an appreciably more refractory penchant for elementary -savage modes of life, and conform to the demands -and opportunities of a “higher” civilisation only -with a relatively slight facility, amounting in extreme -cases to a practical unfitness for civilised life. Hence -the “White Man’s burden” and the many perplexities -of the missionaries.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Under the Mendelian theories of heredity some qualification -of these broad generalisations is called for. As -has already been noted above, the peoples of Europe, -each and several, are hybrid mixtures made up of several -racial stocks. The like is true in some degree of most of -the peoples outside of Europe; particularly of the more -important and better known nationalities. These various -peoples show more or less distinct and recognisable national -types of physique—or perhaps rather of physiognomy—and -temperament, and the lines of differentiation -between these national types incontinently traverse the -lines that divide the racial stocks. At the same time -these national types have some degree of permanence; so -much so that they are colloquially spoken of as types of -race. While no modern anthropologist would confuse -nationality with race, it is not to be overlooked that -these national hybrid types are frequently so marked -and characteristic as to simulate racial characters and -perplex the student of race who is intent on identifying -the racial stocks out of which any one of these hybrid -populations has been compounded. Presumably these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> -national and local types of physiognomy and temperament -are to be rated as hybrid types that have been -fixed by selective breeding, and for an explanation of -this phenomenon recourse is to be taken to the latterday -theories of heredity.</p> - -<p>To any student familiar with the simpler phenomena -of hybridism it will be evident that under the Mendelian -rules of hybridisation the number of biologically successful—viable—hybrid -forms arising from any cross -between two or more forms may diverge very widely -from one another and from either of the parent types. -The variation must be extreme both in the number of -hybrid types so constructed and in the range over which -the variation extends,—much greater in both respects -than the range of fluctuating (non-typical) variations -obtainable under any circumstances in a pure-bred race, -particularly in the remoter filial generations. It is also -well known, by experiment, that by selective breeding -from among such hybrid forms it is possible to construct -a composite type that will breed true in respect of the -characters upon which the selection is directed, and that -such a “pure line” may be maintained indefinitely, in -spite of its hybrid origin, so long as it is not crossed back -on one or other of the parent stocks, or on a hybrid stock -that is not pure-bred in respect of the selected characters.</p> - -<p>So, if the conditions of life in any community consistently -favour a given type of hybrid, whether the favouring -conditions are of a cultural or of a material nature, -something of a selective trend will take effect in such a -community and set toward a hybrid type which shall -meet these conditions. The result will be the establishment -of a composite pure line showing the advantageous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -traits of physique and temperament, combined with a -varying complement of other characters that have no -such selective value. Traits that have no selective value -in the given case will occur with fortuitous freedom, -combining in unconstrained diversity with the selectively -decisive traits, and so will mark the hybrid derivation -of this provisionally established composite pure line. -With continued intercrossing within itself any given -population of such hybrid origin as the European peoples, -would tend cumulatively to breed true to such a selectively -favourable hybrid type, rather than to any one of -the ultimate racial types represented by the parent -stocks out of which the hybrid population is ultimately -made up. So would emerge a national or local type, -which would show the selectively decisive traits with -a great degree of consistency but would vary indefinitely -in respect of the selectively idle traits comprised in the -composite heredity of the population. Such a composite -pure line would be provisionally stable only; it should -break down when crossed back on either of the parent -stocks. This “provisionally stable composite pure line” -should disappear when crossed on pure-bred individuals -of one or other of the parent stocks from which it is -drawn,—pure-bred in respect of the allelomorphic characters -which give the hybrid type its typical traits.</p> - -<p>But whatever the degree of stability possessed by -these hybrid national or local types, the outcome for -the present purpose is much the same; the hybrid populations -afford a greater scope and range of variation in -their human nature than could be had within the limits of -any pure-bred race. Yet, for all the multifarious diversity -of racial and national types, early and late, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -for all the wide divergence of hybrid variants, there is -no difficulty about recognising a generical human type of -spiritual endowment, just as the zoölogists have no -difficulty in referring the various races of mankind to a -single species on the ground of their physical characters. -The distribution of emphasis among the several instinctive -dispositions may vary appreciably from one race to -another, but the complement of instincts native to the -several races is after all of much the same kind, comprising -substantially the same ends. Taken simply in their -first incidence, the racial variations of human nature are -commonly not considerable; but a slight bias of this -kind, distinctive of any given race, may come to have -decisive weight when it works out cumulatively through -a system of institutions, for such a system embodies the -cumulative sophistications of untold generations during -which the life of the community has been dominated by -the same slight bias.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a></p> - -<p>Racial differences in respect of these hereditary spiritual -traits count for much in the outcome, because in the -last resort any race is at the mercy of its instincts. In -the course of cultural growth most of those civilisations -or peoples that have had a long history have from time -to time been brought up against an imperative call to -revise their scheme of institutions in the light of their -native instincts, on pain of collapse or decay; and they -have chosen variously, and for the most part blindly, -to live or not to live, according as their instinctive bias<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -has driven them. In the cases where it has happened -that those instincts which make directly for the material -welfare of the community, such as the parental -bent and the sense of workmanship, have been present -in such potent force, or where the institutional elements -at variance with the continued life-interests of the community -or the civilisation in question have been in a -sufficiently infirm state, there the bonds of custom, prescription, -principles, precedent, have been broken—or -loosened or shifted so as to let the current of life and -cultural growth go on, with or without substantial retardation. -But history records more frequent and more -spectacular instances of the triumph of imbecile institutions -over life and culture than of peoples who have by -force of instinctive insight saved themselves alive out -of a desperately precarious institutional situation, such, -for instance, as now faces the peoples of Christendom.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Chief among those instinctive dispositions that conduce -directly to the material well-being of the race, and -therefore to its biological success, is perhaps the instinctive -bias here spoken of as the sense of workmanship. -The only other instinctive factor of human nature that -could with any likelihood dispute this primacy would -be the parental bent. Indeed, the two have much in -common. They spend themselves on much the same -concrete objective ends, and the mutual furtherance of -each by the other is indeed so broad and intimate as -often to leave it a matter of extreme difficulty to draw -a line between them. Any discussion of either, therefore, -must unavoidably draw the other into the inquiry -to a greater or less extent, and a characterisation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -of the one will involve some dealing with the -other.</p> - -<p>As the expression is here understood, the “Parental -Bent” is an instinctive disposition of much larger scope -than a mere proclivity to the achievement of children.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> -This latter is doubtless to be taken as a large and perhaps -as a primary element in the practical working of -the parental solicitude; although, even so, it is in no -degree to be confused with the quasi-tropismatic impulse -to the procreation of offspring. The parental solicitude -in mankind has a much wider bearing than simply the -welfare of one’s own children. This wider bearing is -particularly evident in those lower cultures where the -scheme of consanguinity and inheritance is not drawn -on the same close family lines as among civilised peoples, -but it is also to be seen in good vigour in any civilised -community. So, for instance, what the phrase-makers -have called “race-suicide” meets the instinctive and unsolicited -reprobation of all men, even of those who would -not conceivably go the length of contributing in their -own person to the incoming generation. So also, virtually -all thoughtful persons,—that is to say all persons -who hold an opinion in these premises,—will agree that -it is a despicably inhuman thing for the current generation -wilfully to make the way of life harder for the next -generation, whether through neglect of due provision -for their subsistence and proper training or through -wasting their heritage of resources and opportunity by -improvident greed and indolence. Providence is a virtue -only so far as its aim is provision for posterity.</p> - -<p>It is difficult or impossible to say how far the current<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -solicitude for the welfare of the race at large is to be -credited to the parental bent, but it is beyond question -that this instinctive disposition has a large part in the -sentimental concern entertained by nearly all persons -for the life and comfort of the community at large, and -particularly for the community’s future welfare. Doubtless -this parental bent in its wider bearing greatly reënforces -that sentimental approval of economy and efficiency -for the common good and disapproval of wasteful -and useless living that prevails so generally throughout -both the highest and the lowest cultures, unless it should -rather be said that this animus for economy and efficiency -is a simple expression of the parental disposition itself. -It might on the other hand be maintained that such an -animus of economy is an essential function of the instinct -of workmanship, which would then be held to be strongly -sustained at, this point by a parental solicitude for the -common good.</p> - -<p>In making use of the expression, “instinct of workmanship” -or “sense of workmanship,” it is not here intended -to assume or to argue that the proclivity so designated -is in the psychological respect a simple or irreducible -element; still less, of course, is there any intention to -allege that it is to be traced back in the physiological -respect to some one isolable tropismatic sensibility or -some single enzymotic or visceral stimulus. All that is -matter for the attention of those whom it may concern. -The expression may as well be taken to signify a concurrence -of several instinctive aptitudes, each of which -might or might not prove simple or irreducible when -subjected to psychological or physiological analysis. For -the present inquiry it is enough to note that in human<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -behaviour this disposition is effective in such consistent, -ubiquitous and resilient fashion that students of human -culture will have to count with it as one of the integral -hereditary traits of mankind.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a></p> - -<p>As has already appeared, neither this nor any other -instinctive disposition works out its functional content -in isolation from the instinctive endowment at large.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> -The instincts, all and several, though perhaps in varying -degrees, are so intimately engaged in a play of give and -take that the work of any one has its consequences for -all the rest, though presumably not for all equally. It is -this endless<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> complication and contamination of instinctive -elements in human conduct, taken in conjunction -with the pervading and cumulative effects of habit in -this domain, that makes most of the difficulty and -much of the interest attaching to this line of inquiry.</p> - -<p>There are few lines of instinctive proclivity that are -not crossed and coloured by some ramification of the -instinct of workmanship. No doubt, response to the -direct call of such half-tropismatic, half-instinctive impulses -as hunger, anger, or the promptings of sex, is little -if at all troubled with any sentimental suffusion of workmanship; -but in the more complex and deliberate activities, -particularly where habit exerts an appreciable effect, -the impulse and sentiment of workmanship comes in -for a large share in the outcome. So much so, indeed, -that, for instance, in the arts, where the sense of beauty -is the prime mover, habitual attention to technique will -often put the original, and only ostensible, motive in the -background. So, again, in the life of religious faith and -observance it may happen now and again that theological -niceties and ritual elaboration will successfully, and in -great measure satisfactorily, substitute themselves for -spiritual communion; while in the courts of law a tenacious -following out of legal technicalities will not infrequently -defeat the ends of justice.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span></p> - -<p>As the expression is here understood, all instinctive -action is intelligent in some degree; though the degree in -which intelligence is engaged may vary widely from one -instinctive disposition to another, and it may even fall -into an extremely automatic shape in the case of some -of the simpler instincts, whose functional content is of a -patently physiological character. Such approach to -automatism is even more evident in some of the lower -animals, where, as for instance in the case of some insects, -the response to the appropriate stimuli is so far -uniform and mechanically determinate as to leave it -doubtful whether the behaviour of the animal might not -best be construed as tropismatic action simply.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> Such -tropismatic directness of instinctive response is less -characteristic of man even in the case of the simpler instinctive -proclivities; and the indirection which so characterises -instinctive action in general, and the higher instincts -of man in particular, and which marks off the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -instinctive dispositions from the tropisms, is the indirection -of intelligence. It enters more largely in the discharge -of some proclivities than of others; but all instinctive -action is intelligent in some degree. This is what -marks it off from the tropisms and takes it out of the -category of automatism.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a></p> - -<p>Hence all instinctive action is teleological. It involves -holding to a purpose. It aims to achieve some end and -involves some degree of intelligent faculty to compass -the instinctively given purpose, under surveillance of -the instinctive proclivity that prompts the action. And -it is in this surveillance and direction of the intellectual -processes to the appointed end that the instinctive dispositions -control and condition human conduct; and in -this work of direction the several instinctive proclivities -may come to conflict and offset, or to concur and reënforce, -one another’s action.</p> - -<p>The position of the instinct of workmanship in this -complex of teleological activities is somewhat peculiar, -in that its functional content is serviceability for the -ends of life, whatever these ends may be; whereas these -ends to be subserved are, at least in the main, appointed -and made worth while by the various other instinctive -dispositions. So that this instinct may in some sense be -said to be auxiliary to all the rest, to be concerned with -the ways and means of life rather than with any one given -ulterior end. It has essentially to do with proximate -rather than ulterior ends. Yet workmanship is none the -less an object of attention and sentiment in its own right. -Efficient use of the means at hand and adequate management -of the resources available for the purposes of life<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> -is itself an end of endeavour, and accomplishment of this -kind is a source of gratification.</p> - -<p>All instinctive action is intelligent and teleological. -The generality of instinctive dispositions prompt simply -to the direct and unambiguous attainment of their specific -ends, and in his dealings under their immediate guidance -the agent goes as directly as may be to the end sought,—he -is occupied with the objective end, not with the choice -of means to the end sought; whereas under the impulse -of workmanship the agent’s interest and endeavour are -taken up with the contriving of ways and means to the -end sought.</p> - -<p>The point of contrast may be unfamiliar, and an illustration -may be pertinent. So, in the instinct of pugnacity -and its attendant sentiment of anger<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> the primary impulse -is doubtless to a direct frontal attack, assault and -battery pure and simple; and the more highly charged -the agent is with the combative impulse, and the higher -the pitch of animation to which he has been wrought up, -the less is he inclined or able to take thought of how he -may shrewdly bring mechanical devices to bear on the -object of his sentiment and compass his end with the -largest result per unit of force expended. It is only the -well-trained fighter that will take without reflection to -workmanlike ways and means at such a juncture; and -in case of extreme exasperation and urgency even such -a one, it is said, may forget his workmanship in the -premises and throw himself into the middle of things -instead of resorting to the indirections and leverages to -which his workmanlike training in the art of fighting -has habituated him. So, again, the immediate promptings<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -of the parental bent urge to direct personal intervention -and service in behalf of the object of solicitude. In -persons highly gifted in this respect the impulse asserts -itself to succour the helpless with one’s own hands, to -do for them in one’s own person not what might on reflection -approve itself as the most expedient line of conduct -in the premises, but what will throw the agent most personally -into action in the case. Notoriously, it is easier -to move well-meaning people to unreflecting charity on -an immediate and concrete appeal than it is to secure a -sagacious, well sustained and well organised concert of -endeavour for the amelioration of the lot of the unfortunate. -Indeed, refinements of workmanlike calculation -of causes and effects in such a case are instinctively felt -to be out of touch with the spirit of the thing. They -are distasteful; not only are they not part and parcel of -the functional content of the generous impulse, but an -undue injection of these elements of workmanship into -the case may even induce a revulsion of feeling and defeat -its own intention.</p> - -<p>The instinct of workmanship, on the other hand, occupies -the interest with practical expedients, ways and -means, devices and contrivances of efficiency and economy, -proficiency, creative work and technological mastery -of facts. Much of the functional content of the -instinct of workmanship is a proclivity for taking pains. -The best or most finished outcome of this disposition is -not had under stress of great excitement or under extreme -urgency from any of the instinctive propensities -with which its work is associated or whose ends it serves. -It shows at its best, both in the individual workman’s -technological efficiency and in the growth of technological<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -proficiency and insight in the community at large, under -circumstances of moderate exigence, where there is work -in hand and more of it in sight, since it is initially a disposition -to do the next thing and do it as well as may be; -whereas when interest falls off unduly through failure -of provocation from the instinctive dispositions that -afford an end to which to work, the stimulus to workmanship -is likely to fail, and the outcome is as likely to be an -endless fabrication of meaningless details and much ado -about nothing. On the other hand, in seasons of great -stress, when the call to any one or more of the instinctive -lines of conduct is urgent beyond measure, there is likely -to result a crudity of technique and presently a loss of -proficiency and technological mastery.</p> - -<p>It is, further, pertinent to note in this connection that -the instinct of workmanship will commonly not run to -passionate excesses; that it does not, under pressure, -tenaciously hold its place as a main interest in competition -with the other, more elemental instinctive proclivities; -but that it rather yields ground somewhat readily, -suffers repression and falls into abeyance, only to reassert -itself when the pressure of other, urgent interests is -relieved. What was said above as to the paramount -significance of the instinct of workmanship for the life -of the race will of course suffer no abatement in so recognising -its characteristically temperate urgency. The -grave importance that attaches to it is a matter of its -ubiquitous subservience to the ends of life, and not a -matter of vehemence.</p> - -<p>The sense of workmanship is also peculiarly subject -to bias. It does not commonly, or normally, work to an -independent, creative end of its own, but is rather concerned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> -with the ways and means whereby instinctively -given purposes are to be accomplished. According, therefore, -as one or another of the instinctive dispositions is -predominant in the community’s scheme of life or in the -individual’s every-day interest, the habitual trend of the -sense of workmanship will be bent to one or another line -of proficiency and technological mastery. By cumulative -habituation a bias of this character may come to -have very substantial consequences for the range and -scope of technological knowledge, the state of the industrial -arts, and for the rate and direction of growth in -workmanlike ideals.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Changes are going forward constantly and incontinently -in the institutional apparatus, the habitual scheme -of rules and principles that regulate the community’s -life, and not least in the technological ways and means -by which the life of the race and its state of culture are -maintained; but changes come rarely—in effect not at -all—in the endowment of instincts whereby mankind is -enabled to employ these means and to live under the -institutions which its habits of life have cumulatively -created. In the case of hybrid populations, such as the -peoples of Christendom, some appreciable adaptation -of this spiritual endowment to meet the changing requirements -of civilisation may be counted on, through -the establishment of composite pure lines of a hybrid -type more nearly answering to the later phases of culture -than any one of the original racial types out of which the -hybrid population is made up. But in so slow-breeding -a species as man, and with changes in the conditions of -life going forward at a visibly rapid pace, the chance of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -an adequate adaptation of hybrid human nature to new -conditions seems doubtful at the best. It is also to be -noted that the vague character of many of the human -instincts, and their consequent pliability under habituation, -affords an appreciable margin of adaptation within -which human nature may adjust itself to new conditions -of life. But after all has been said it remains true that -the margin within which the instinctive nature of the -race can be effectively adapted to changing circumstances -is relatively narrow—narrow as contrasted with the range -of variation in institutions—and the limits of such -adaptation are somewhat rigid. As the matter stands, -the race is required to meet changing conditions of life -to which its relatively unchanging endowment of instincts -is presumably not wholly adapted, and to meet these -conditions by the use of technological ways and means -widely different from those that were at the disposal of -the race from the outset. In the initial phases of the -life-history of the race, or of any given racial stock, the -exigencies to which its spiritual (instinctive) nature was -selectively required to conform were those of the savage -culture, as has been indicated above,—presumably in -all cases a somewhat “low” or elementary form of -savagery. This savage mode of life, which was, and is, -in a sense, native to man, would be characterised by a -considerable group solidarity within a relatively small -group, living very near the soil, and unremittingly dependent -for their daily life on the workmanlike efficiency -of all the members of the group. The prime requisite for -survival under these conditions would be a propensity -unselfishly and impersonally to make the most of the -material means at hand and a penchant for turning all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> -resources of knowledge and material to account to sustain -the life of the group.</p> - -<p>At the outset, therefore, as it first comes into the life-history -of any one or all of the racial stocks with which -modern inquiry concerns itself, this instinctive disposition -will have borne directly on workmanlike efficiency -in the simple and obvious sense of the word. By virtue -of the stability of the racial type, such is still its character, -primarily and substantially, apart from its sophistication -by habit and tradition. The instinct of workmanship -brought the life of mankind from the brute to the human -plane, and in all the later growth of culture it has never -ceased to pervade the works of man. But the extensive -complication of circumstances and the altered outlook -of succeeding generations, brought on by the growth of -institutions and the accumulation of knowledge, have -led to an extension of its scope and of its canons and -logic to activities and conjunctures that have little -traceable bearing on the means of subsistence.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_38">CHAPTER II<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Contamination of Instincts in Primitive Technology</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">All</span> instinctive behaviour is subject to development -and hence to modification by habit.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Such impulsive -action as is in no degree intelligent, and so suffers no -adaptation through habitual use, is not properly to be -called instinctive; it is rather to be classed as tropismatic. -In human conduct the effects of habit in this respect are -particularly far-reaching. In man the instincts appoint -less of a determinate sequence of action, and so leave a -more open field for adaptation of behaviour to the circumstances -of the case. When instinct enjoins little -else than the end of endeavour, leaving the sequence of -acts by which this end is to be approached somewhat a -matter of open alternatives, the share of reflection, discretion -and deliberate adaptation will be correspondingly -large. The range and diversity of habituation is also -correspondingly enlarged.</p> - -<p>In man, too, by the same fact, habit takes on more of -a cumulative character, in that the habitual acquirements -of the race are handed on from one generation to -the next, by tradition, training, education, or whatever -general term may best designate that discipline of habituation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -by which the young acquire what the old have -learned. By similar means the like elements of habitual -conduct are carried over from one community or one -culture to another, leading to further complications. -Cumulatively, therefore, habit creates usages, customs, -conventions, preconceptions, composite principles of -conduct that run back only indirectly to the native predispositions -of the race, but that may affect the working-out -of any given line of endeavour in much the same way -as if these habitual elements were of the nature of a -native bias.</p> - -<p>Along with this body of derivative standards and -canons of conduct, and handed on by the same discipline -of habituation, goes a cumulative body of knowledge, -made up in part of matter-of-fact acquaintance with -phenomena and in greater part of conventional wisdom -embodying certain acquired predilections and preconceptions -current in the community. Workmanship proceeds -on the accumulated knowledge so received and -current, and turns it to account in dealing with the material -means of life. Whatever passes current in this -way as knowledge of facts is turned to account as far -as may be, and so it is worked into a customary scheme -of ways and means, a system of technology, into which -new elements of information or acquaintance with the -nature and use of things are incorporated, assimilated -as they come.</p> - -<p>The scheme of technology so worked out and carried -along in the routine of getting a living will be serviceable -for current use and have a substantial value for a further -advance in technological efficiency somewhat in proportion -as the knowledge so embodied in technological practice<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> -is effectually of the nature of matter-of-fact. Much -of the information derived from experience in industry -is likely to be of this matter-of-fact nature; but much of -the knowledge made use of for the technological purpose -is also of the nature of convention, inference and authentic -opinion, arrived at on quite other grounds than -workmanlike experience. This alien body of information, -or pseudo-information, goes into the grand total -of human knowledge quite as freely as any matter of -fact, and it is therefore also necessarily taken up and -assimilated in that technological equipment of knowledge -and proficiency by use of which the work in hand is to -be done.</p> - -<p>But the experience which yields this useful and pseudo-useful -knowledge is got under the impulsion and guidance -of one and another of the instincts with which man -is endowed, and takes the shape and color given it by -the instinctive bias in whose service it is acquired. At -the same time, whatever its derivation, the knowledge -acquired goes into the aggregate of information drawn -on for the ways and means of workmanship. Therefore -the habits formed in any line of experience, under the -guidance of any given instinctive disposition, will have -their effect on the conduct and aims of the workman in -all his work and play; so that progress in technological -matters is by no means an outcome of the sense of workmanship -alone.</p> - -<p>It follows that in all their working the human instincts -are in this way incessantly subject to mutual “contamination,” -whereby the working of any one is incidentally -affected by the bias and proclivities inherent in all the -rest; and in so far as these current habits and customs in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -this way come to reënforce the predispositions comprised -under any one instinct or any given group of instincts, -the bias so accentuated comes to pervade the habits of -thought of all the members of the community and gives -a corresponding obliquity to the technological groundwork -of the community. So, for instance, addiction to -magical, superstitious or religious conceptions will necessarily -have its effect on the conceptions and logic employed -in technological theory and practice, and will -impair its efficiency by that much. A people much given -to punctilios of rank and respect of persons will in some -degree carry these habitual predilections over into the -field of workmanship and will allow considerations of -authenticity, of personal weight and consequence, to -decide questions of technological expediency; so that -ideas which have none but a putative efficiency may in -this way come in for a large share in the state of the industrial -arts. A people whose culture has for any reason -taken on a pronounced coercive (predatory) character, -with rigorous class distinctions, an arbitrary governmental -control, formidable gods and an authoritative -priesthood, will have its industrial organisation and its -industrial arts fashioned to meet the demands and the -logic of these institutions. Such an institutional situation -exerts a great and pervasive constraint on the -technological scheme in which workmanship takes effect -under its rule, both directly by prescribing the things -to do and the time, place and circumstance of doing -them, and indirectly through the habits of thought induced -in the working population living under its rule. -Innovation, the utilisation of newly acquired technological -insight, is greatly hindered by such institutional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -requirements that are enforced by other impulses than -the sense of workmanship.</p> - -<p>In the known lower cultures such institutional complications -as might be expected greatly to hinder or deflect -the sense of workmanship are commonly neither -large, rigorous nor obvious. Something of the kind there -apparently always is, in the way, for instance, of the customary -prerogatives and perquisites of the older men, as -well as their tutelary oversight of the younger generation -and of the common interests of the group.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> When -this rule of seniority is elaborated into such set forms as -the men’s (secret) societies, with exacting initiatory -ceremonies and class tabus,<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> its effect on workday life -is often very considerable, even though the community -may show little that can fairly be classed as autocracy, -chieftainship, or even aristocratic government. In many -or all of these naïve and early developments of authority, -and perhaps especially in those cultures where the control -takes this inchoate form of a customary “gerontocracy,”<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> -its immediate effect is that an abiding sense of authenticity -comes to pervade the routine of daily life, such as -effectually to obstruct all innovation, whether in the ways -and means of work or in the conduct of life more at -large. Control by a gerontocracy appears to reach its -best development and to run with the fullest consistency -and effect in communities where an appreciable degree -of predatory exploit is habitual, and the inference is -ready, and at least plausible, that this institution is substantially<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -of a predatory origin, that the principles -(habits of thought) on which it rests are an outgrowth -of pugnacity, self-aggrandisement and fear. Under -favouring conditions of friction and jealousy between -groups these propensities will settle into institutional -habits of authority and deference, and so long as the -resultant exercise of control is vested by custom in the -class of elders the direct consequence is a marked abatement -of initiative throughout the community and a consequent -appearance of conservatism and stagnation in -its technological scheme as well as in the customary -usages under whose guidance the community lives.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> So -these instinctive propensities which have no primary -significance in the way of workmanship may come to -count very materially in shaping the group’s technological -equipment of ideas and in deflecting the sense -of workmanship from the naïve pursuit of material -efficiency.</p> - -<p>The rule of the elders appears to have been extremely -prevalent in the earlier phases of culture. So much so -that it may even be set down as the most characteristic -trait of the upper savagery and of the lower barbarism; -whether it takes the elaborately institutionalised form -of a settled gerontocracy, as among the Australian blacks, -with sharply defined class divisions and perquisites and -a consistent subjection of women and children; or the -looser customary rule of the Elders, with a degree of -deference and circumspection on the part of the younger -generation and an uncertain conventional inferiority of -women and children, as seen among the pagans of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -Malay peninsula,<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> the Eskimo of the Arctic seaboard,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> -the Mincopies of the Andamans,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> or, on a somewhat -higher level, the Pueblo Indians of the American South-west.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> -Illustrative instances of such an inchoate organisation -of authority are very widely distributed, but the -communities that follow such a naïve scheme of life are -commonly neither large, powerful, wealthy, nor much -in the public eye. The presumption is that the sense of -authenticity which pervades these and similar cultures, -amounting to a degree of tabu on innovation, has had -much to do with the notably slow advance of technology -among savage peoples. Such appears presumably to -have been the prevalent run of the facts throughout the -stone age in all quarters of the Earth.</p> - -<p>It is not altogether plain just what are the innate predispositions -chiefly involved in this primitive social -control which at its untroubled best develops into a -“gerontocracy.” There can apparently be little question -but that its prime motive force is the parental bent, -expressing itself in a naïve impulsive surveillance of the -common interests of the group and a tutelage of the -incoming generation. But here as in other social relations -the self-regarding sentiments unavoidably come -into play; so that (<i>a</i>) the tutelage of the elders takes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -something of an authoritative tone and blends self-aggrandisement -with their quasi-parental solicitude, giving -an institutional outcome which makes the young -generation subservient to the elders, ostensibly for the -mutual and collective good of both parties to the relation; -(<i>b</i>) if predatory or warlike exploit in any degree -becomes habitual to the community the sentiment of -self-aggrandisement gets the upper hand, and subservience -to the able-bodied elders becomes the dominant -note in this relation of tutelage, and their parental interest -in the welfare of the incoming generation in a corresponding -degree goes into abeyance under the pressure -of the appropriate sentiments of pugnacity and self-seeking, -giving rise to a coercive régime of a more or less -ruthless character; (<i>c</i>) correlatively, along with unwearying -insistence on their own prerogatives and collective -discretion, on the part of the elders, there goes, on the -part of the community at large, a correspondingly habitual -acceptance of their findings and the precedents -they have established, resulting in a universal addiction -to the broad principles of unmitigated authenticity, -with no power anywhere capable of breaking across the -accumulated precedents and tabus. Even the ruling -class of elders, being an unwieldy deliberative body or -executive committee, is held by parliamentary inertia, -as well as by a circumspect regard for their prescriptive -rights, to a due observance of the customary law. The -force of precedent is notoriously strong on the lower levels -of culture. Under the rule of the elders deference to -precedent grows into an inveterate habit in the young, -and when presently these come to take their turn as -discretionary elders the habit of deference to the precedents<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> -established by those who have gone before still -binds them, and the life and thought of the community -never escape the dead hand of the parent.</p> - -<p>When worked out into an institution of control in -this way, and crossed with the other instinctive propensities -that go to make governmental authority, it is apparently -unavoidable that the parental bent should -suffer this curious inversion. In the simplest and unsophisticated -terms, its functional content appears to be -an unselfish solicitude for the well-being of the incoming -generation—a bias for the highest efficiency and fullest -volume of life in the group, with a particular drift to the -future; so that, under its rule, contrary to the dictum of -the economic theorists, future goods are preferred to -present goods<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> and the filial generation is given the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -preference over the parental generation in all that touches -their material welfare. But where the self-regarding -sentiments, self-complacency and self-abasement, come -largely into play, as they are bound to do in any culture -that partakes appreciably of a predatory or coercive -character, the prerogatives of the ruling class and the -principles of authentic usage become canons of truth -and right living and presently take precedence of workmanlike -efficiency and the fulness of life of the group. -It results that conventional tests of validity presently -accumulate and increasingly deflect and obstruct the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -naïve pursuit of workmanlike efficiency, in large part by -obscuring those matters of fact that lend themselves to -technological insight.</p> - -<p>But like other innate predispositions the parental bent -continually reasserts itself in its native and untaught -character, as an ever resilient solicitude for the welfare -of the young and the prospective fortunes of the group. -As such it constantly comes in to reënforce the instinct -of workmanship and sustain interest in the direct pursuit -of efficiency in the ways and means of life. So closely in -touch and so concurrent are the parental bent and the -sense of workmanship in this quest of efficiency that it -is commonly difficult to guess which of the two proclivities -is to be credited with the larger or the leading part -in any given line of conduct; although taken by and -large the two are after all fairly distinct in respect of -their functional content. This thorough and far-going -concurrence of the two may perhaps be taken to mean -that the instinct of workmanship is in the main a propensity -to work out the ends which the parental bent -makes worth while.</p> - -<p>It seems to be these two predispositions in conjunction -that have exercised the largest and most consistent control -over that growth of custom and conventional principles -that has standardised the life of mankind in society -and so given rise to a system of institutions. This control -bears selectively on the whole range of institutions -created by habitual response to the call of the other -instincts and has the effect of a “common-sense” surveillance -which prevents the scheme of life from running -into an insufferable tangle of grotesque extravagances. -That their surveillance has not always been decisive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> -need scarcely be specifically called to mind; human culture -in all ages presents too many imbecile usages and -principles of conduct to let anyone overlook the fact that -disserviceable institutions easily arise and continue to -hold their place in spite of the disapproval of native -common sense. The selective control exercised over -custom and usage by these instincts of serviceability is -neither too close nor too insistent. Wide, even extravagant, -departures from the simple dictates of this native -common sense occur even within the narrow range of the -domestic and minor civil institutions, where these two -common-sense predispositions should concur to create a -prescriptive usage looking directly to the continuation -and welfare of the race. Considerations, or perhaps -rather conventional preconceptions, running on other -grounds, as, for instance, on grounds of superstition or -religion, of propriety and gentility, of pecuniary or -political expediency, have come in for a large share in -ordering the institutions of family and neighbourhood -life. Yet doubtless it is the parental bent and the sense -of workmanship in concurrence that have been the primary -and persistent factors in (selectively) shaping the -household organisation among all peoples, however great -may have been the force of other factors, instinctive and -habitual, that have gone to diversify the variegated -outcome.</p> - -<p>It appears, then, that so long as the parental solicitude -and the sense of workmanship do not lead men to take -thought and correct the otherwise unguarded drift of -things, the growth of institutions—usage, customs, canons -of conduct, principles of right and propriety, the course -of cumulative habituation as it goes forward under the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -driving force of the several instincts native to man,—will -commonly run at cross purposes with serviceability -and the sense of workmanship.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a></p> - -<p>That such should be the case lies in the nature of -things, as will readily appear on reflection. Under given -circumstances and under the impulsion of a given instinctive -propensity a given line of behaviour becomes -habitual and so is installed by use and wont as a principle -of conduct. The principle or canon of conduct so gained -takes its place among the habitual verities of life in the -community and is handed on by tradition. Under further -impulsion of the same and other instinctive propensities, -and under altered circumstances, conduct in other, unrelated -lines will be referred to this received principle as a -bench-mark by which its goodness is appraised and to -which all conduct is accommodated, giving a result which -is related to the exigencies of the case only at the second -remove and by channels of habit which have only a -conventional relevancy to the case. The farther this -manner of crossing and grafting of habitual elements -proceeds in the elaboration of principles and usage, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -larger will be the mass and the graver will be the complication -of materially irrelevant considerations present -in any given line of conduct, the more extensive and -fantastic will be the fabric of conventionalities which -come to condition the response to any one of the innate -human propensities, and the more “irrelevant, incompetent -and impertinent” will be the line of conduct prescribed -by use and wont. Except by recourse to the -sense of workmanship there is no evading this complication -of ineptitudes and irrelevancies, and such recourse -is not easily had. For the bias of settled habit goes to -sustain the institutional fabric of received sophistications, -and these sophistications are bound in such a network -of give and take that a disturbance of the fabric -at any point will involve more or less of a derangement -throughout.</p> - -<p>This body of habitual principles and preconceptions -is at the same time the medium through which experience -receives those elements of information and insight on -which workmanship is able to draw in contriving ways -and means and turning them to account for the uses of -life. And the conventional verities count in this connexion -almost wholly as obstructions to workmanlike -efficiency. Worldly wisdom, insight into the proprieties -and expediencies of human intercourse, the scheme of -tabus, consanguinities, and magical efficacies, yields -very little that can effectually be turned to account for -technological ends. The experience gained by habituation -under the stress of these other proclivities and their -derivative principles is necessarily made use of in workmanship, -and so enters into the texture of the technological -system, but a large part of it is of very doubtful value<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -for the purpose. Much of this experience runs at cross -purposes with workmanship, not only in that the putative -information which this experience brings home to -men has none but a putative serviceability, but also in -that the habit of mind induced by its discipline obscures -that insight into matter of fact that is indispensable to -workmanlike efficiency.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>But the most obstructive derangement that besets -workmanship is what may be called the self-contamination -of the sense of workmanship itself. This applies in -a peculiar degree to the earlier or more elementary phases -of culture, but it holds true only with lessening force -throughout the later growth of civilisation. The hindrance -to technological efficiency from this source will -often rise to large proportions even in advanced communities, -particularly where magical, religious or other -anthropomorphic habits of thought are prevalent. The -difficulty has been spoken of as anthropomorphism, or -animism,—which is only a more archaic anthropomorphism. -The essential trait of anthropomorphic conceptions, -so far as bears on the present argument, is that -conduct, more or less fully after the human fashion of -conduct, is imputed to external objects; whether these -external objects are facts of observation or creatures -of mythological fancy. Such anthropomorphism commonly -means an interpretation of phenomena in terms -of workmanship, though it may also involve much more -than this, particularly in the higher reaches of myth-making. -But the simpler anthropomorphic or animistic -beliefs that pervade men’s every-day thinking commonly -amount to little if anything more than the naïve imputation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> -of a workmanlike propensity in the observed facts. -External objects are believed to do things; or rather it -is believed that they are seen to do things.</p> - -<p>The reason of this imputation of conduct to external -things is simple, obvious, and intimate in all men’s apprehension; -so much so, indeed, as not readily to permit -its being seen in perspective and appreciated at anything -like its effectual force. All facts of observation are necessarily -seen in the light of the observer’s habits of thought, -and the most intimate and inveterate of his habits of -thought is the experience of his own initiative and endeavours. -It is to this “apperception mass” that objects -of apperception are finally referred, and it is in terms of -this experience that their measure is finally taken. No -psychological phenomenon is more familiar than this -ubiquitous “personal equation” in men’s apprehension -of whatever facts come within their observation.</p> - -<p>The sense of workmanship is like all human instincts -in the respect that when the occasion offers, the agent -moved by its impulse not only runs through a sequence -of actions suitable to the instinctive end, but he is also -given to dwelling, more or less sentimentally, on the -objects and activities about which his attention is engaged -by the promptings of this instinctive propensity. -In so far as he is moved by the instinct of workmanship -man contemplates the objects with which he comes in -contact from the point of view of their relevancy to ulterior -results, their aptitude for taking effect in a consequential -outcome. Habitual occupation with workmanlike -conceptions,—and in the lower cultures all men and -women are habitually so occupied, since there is no considerable -class or season not engaged in the quest of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> -livelihood,—this occupation with workmanlike interests, -leaving the attention alert in the direction towards -workmanlike phenomena, carries with it habitual thinking -in the terms in which the logic of workmanship runs. -The facts of observation are conceived as facts of workmanship, -and the logic of workmanship becomes the -logic of events. Their apprehension in these terms is -easy, since it draws into action the faculties of apperception -and reflection that are already alert and facile -through habitual use, and it assimilates the facts in an -apperceptive system of relationships that is likewise -ready and satisfactory, convincing through habitual -service and by native proclivity to this line of systematisation. -By instinct and habit observed phenomena are -apprehended from this (teleological) point of view, and -they are construed, by way of systematisation, in terms -of such an instinctive pursuit of some workmanlike end. -In latterday psychological jargon, human knowledge is -of a “pragmatic” character.</p> - -<p>As all men habitually act under the guidance of instincts, -and therefore by force of sentiment instinctively -look to some end in all activity, so the objects with which -the primitive workman has to do are also conceived as -acting under impulse of an instinctive kind; and a bent, -a teleological or pragmatic nature, is in some degree -imputed to them and comes as a matter of course to be -accepted as a constituent element in their apprehended -make-up. A putative pragmatic bent innate in external -things comes in this way to pass current as observed -matter of fact. By force of the sense of workmanship -external objects are in great part apperceived in respect -of what they will do; and their most substantial characteristic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -therefore, their intimate individual nature, in -so far as they are conceived as individual entities, is -that they will do things.</p> - -<p>In the workmanlike apprehension of them the nature -of things is twofold: (<i>a</i>) what can be done with them as -raw material for use under the creative hand of the workman -who makes things, and (<i>b</i>) what they will do as -entities acting in their own right and working out their -own ends. The former is matter of fact, the latter matter -of imputation; but both alike, and in the naïve apprehension -of uncritical men both equally, are facts of observation -and elements of objective knowledge. The -two are, of course, of very unequal value for the purposes -of workmanship. It should seem, at least on first contact -with the distinction, that the former category alone -can have effectually conduced or contributed to workmanlike -efficiency, and so it should be the only substantial -factor in the growth of technological insight and -proficiency: while the latter category of knowledge -should presumably have always been an unmitigated -hindrance to effective work and to technological advance. -But such does not appear on closer scrutiny to have -been the case in the past: whether such sheer discrimination -against the technological serviceability of all these -putative facts would hold good in latterday civilisation is -a question which may perhaps best be left to the parties -in interest in “pragmatic” and theological controversy.</p> - -<p>These two categories of knowledge, or of <i lang="la">cognoscenda</i>, -are incongruous, of course, and they seem incompatible -when applied to the same phenomena, the same external -objects. But such incongruity does not disturb anyone -who is at all content to take facts at their face value,—for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -both ways of apprehending the facts are equally given -in the face value of the facts apprehended. And on the -known lower levels of culture it appears that in the workman’s -apprehension of the facts with which he has to -do there is no evident strain due to this twofold nature -and twofold interpretation of the objects of knowledge. -So, for instance, the Pueblo potter (woman) may (putatively) -be aware of certain inherent, quasi-spiritual, -pragmatic qualities, claims and proclivities personal to -the clay beds from which her raw material is drawn: -different clay beds have, no doubt, a somewhat different -quasi-personality, which has, among other things, to do -with the goodness of the raw material they afford. Even -the clay in hand will have its pragmatic peculiarities and -idiosyncracies which are duly to be respected; and, -notably, the finished pot is an entity with a life-history -of its own and with temperament, fortunes and fatalities -that make up the substance of good and evil in its world.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> -But all that does not perceptibly affect the technology -of the Pueblo potter’s art, beyond carrying a sequence -of ceremonial observance that may run along by the -side of the technological process; nor does it manifestly -affect the workmanlike use of the pot during its lifetime, -except that the pragmatic nature of the given pot -will decide, on grounds of ceremonial competency, to -what use it may be put.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> Matter of fact and matter of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -imputation run along side by side in inextricable contact -but with slight apparent mutual interference across -the line. The potter digs her clay as best she has learned -how, and it is a matter of workmanlike efficiency, in -which empirical knowledge of the mechanical qualities -of the material is very efficiently combined with the potter’s -trained proficiency in the discretionary use of her -tools; the tools, of course, also have their (putative) -temperamental idiosyncracies, but they are employed -in her hands in uncritical conformity with such matter-of-fact -laws of physics as she has learned. The clay is -washed, kneaded and tempered with the same circumspect -regard to the opaque facts known about clay -through long handling of it. What and how much tempering -material may best be used, and how it is to be -worked in, may all have a recondite explanation in the -subtler imputed traits of the clay; a certain clay may -have a putative quasi-spiritual affinity for certain tempering -material; but the work of selection and mixing is -carried out with a watchful regard to the mechanical -character of the materials and without doubt that the -given materials will respond in definite, empirically -ascertained ways to the pressure brought on them by -the potter’s hands, and without questioning the matter -of fact that such and so much of manipulation will mix -such and so much of tempering material with the given -lot of clay. The clay is “as wax in her hands;” what -comes of it is the product of her insight and proficiency. -Still the pragmatic nature of all these materials viewed -as distinct entities is never to be denied, and in those<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -respects in which she does not creatively design, manipulate -and construct the work of her hands, its putative -self-sufficiency of existence, meaning and propensity -goes on its own recognisances unshorn and inalienable.</p> - -<p>Technological efficiency rests on matter-of-fact knowledge, -as contrasted with knowledge of the traits imputed -to external objects in making acquaintance with them. -Therefore every substantial advance in technological -mastery necessarily adds something to this body of -opaque fact, and with every such advance proportionably -less of the behaviour of inanimate things will come -to be construed in terms of an imputed workmanlike or -teleological bent. At the same time the imputation of -a teleological meaning or workmanlike bent to the external -facts that are made use of is likely to take a more -circumspect, ingenious and idealised form. Under the -circumstances that condition an increasing technological -mastery there is an ever-growing necessity to avoid conflict -between the imputed traits of external objects and -those facts of their behaviour that are constantly in evidence -in their technological use. In so far, therefore, -as a simple and immediate imputation of workmanlike -self-direction is seen manifestly to traverse the facts of -daily use its place will be supplied by more shadowy -anthropomorphic agencies that are assumed to carry on -their life and work in some degree of detachment from -the material objects in question, and to these anthropomorphic -agencies which so lie obscurely in the background -of the observed facts will be assigned a larger and -larger share of the required initiative and self-direction. -For so alien to mankind, with its instinctive sense of -workmanship, is the mutilation of brute creation into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> -mere opaque matter-of-fact, and so indefeasibly does the -“consciousness of kind” assert itself, that each successive -renunciation of such an imputed bias of workmanship in -concrete objects is sought to be redeemed by pushing the -imputation farther into the background of observed -phenomena and running their putative workmanlike -bias in more consummately anthropomorphic terms. So -an animistic conception<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> of things comes presently to -supplement, and in part supplant, the more naïve and -immediate imputation of workmanship, leading up to -farther and more elaborate myth-making; until in the -course of elaboration and refinement there may emerge a -monotheistic and providential Creator seated in an infinitely -remote but ubiquitous space of four dimensions.</p> - -<p>This imputation of bias and initiative has doubtless -lost ground among civilised communities, as contrasted -with the matter-of-fact apprehension of things, so that -where it once was the main body of knowledge it now is -believed to live and move only within that margin of -things not yet overtaken by matter-of-fact information,—at -least so it is held in the vainglorious scepticism of the -Western culture. Meantime it is to be noted that the -proclivity to impute a workmanlike bias to external -facts has not been lost, nor has it become inoperative -even among the adepts of Occidental scepticism. On -the one hand it still enables the modern scientist to -generalise his observations in terms of causation,<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> and -on the other hand it has preserved the life of God the -Father unto this day. It is as the creative workman, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> -Great Artificer, that he has taken his last stand against -the powers of spiritual twilight.</p> - -<p>Out of the simpler workday familiarity with the raw -materials and processes employed in industry, in the -lower cultures, there emerges no system of knowledge -avowed as such; although in all known instances of such -lower cultures the industrial arts have taken on a systematic -character, such as often to give rise to definite, -extensive and elaborate technological processes as well -as to manual and other technological training; both of -which will necessarily involve something like an elementary -theory of mechanics systematised on grounds of -matter-of-fact, as well as a practical routine of empirical -ways and means. In the lower cultures the growth of -this body of opaque facts and of its systematic coherence -is simply the habitual growth of technological procedure. -Considered as a knowledge of things it is prosy and unattractive; -it does not greatly appeal to men’s curiosity, -being scarcely interesting in itself, but only for the use -to be made of it. Its facts are not lighted up with that -spiritual fire of pragmatic initiative and propensity which -animates the same phenomena when seen in the light of -an imputed workmanlike behaviour and so construed in -terms of conduct. On the other hand, when the phenomena -are interpreted anthropomorphically they are -indued with a “human interest,” such as will draw the -attention of all men in all ages, as witness the worldwide -penchant for myth-making.</p> - -<p>Such animistic imputation of end and endeavour to the -facts of observation will in no case cover the whole of -men’s apprehension of the facts. It is a matter of imputation, -not of direct observation; and there is always a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> -fringe of opaque matter-of-fact bound up with even the -most animistically conceived object. Such is unavoidably -the case. The animistic conception imputes to its subject -a workmanlike propensity to do things, and such an -imputation necessarily implies that, as agent, the object -in question engages in something like a technological -process, a workmanlike manipulation wherein he has his -will with the raw materials upon which his workmanlike -force and proficiency spends itself. Workmanship involves -raw material, and in the respect in which this raw -material is passively shaped to his purposes by the -workman’s manipulation it is not conceived to be actively -seeking its own ends on its own initiative. So -that by force of the logic of workmanship the imputation -of a workmanlike (animistic) propensity to brute facts, -itself involves the assumption of crude inanimate matter -as a correlate of the putative workmanlike agent. The -anthropomorphic fancy of the primitive workman, -therefore, can never carry the teleological interpretation -of phenomena to such a finality but that there will always -in his apprehension be an inert residue of matter-of-fact -left over. The material facts never cease to be, within -reasonable limits, raw material; though the limits may -be somewhat vague and shifting. And this residue of -crude matter-of-fact grows and gathers consistency with -experience and always remains ready to the hand of the -workman for what it is worth, unmagnified and unbeautified -by anthropomorphic interpretation.</p> - -<p>The animistic, or better the anthropomorphic, elements -so comprised by imputation in the common-sense apprehension -of things will pass in the main for facts of observation. -With the current of time and experience this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -may under favourable conditions grow into a developed -animistic system and come to the dignity of myth, and -ultimately of theology. But as it plays its part in the -cruder uses of technology its common and most obstructive -form is the inchoate animism or anthropomorphic -bias spoken of above. In its bearing on technological -efficiency, it commonly vitiates the available facts in a -greater or less degree. Matter-of-fact knowledge alone -will serve the uses of workmanship, since workmanship -is effective only in so far as its outcome is matter-of-fact -work. Any higher and more subtle potencies found in -or imputed to the facts about which the artificer is engaged -can only serve to divert and defeat his efforts, in -that they lead him into methods and expedients that -have only a putative effect.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>This obstructive force of the anthropomorphic interpretation -of phenomena is by no means the same in all -lines of activity. The difficulty, at least in the earlier -days, seems to be greatest along those lines of craft where -the workman has to do with the mechanical, inanimate -forces—the simplest in point of brute concreteness and -the least amenable to a consistent interpretation in -animistic terms. While man is conventionally distinguished -from brute creation as a “tool-using animal,” -his early progress in the devising and use of efficient tools, -taking the word in its native sense, seems to have gone -forward very slowly, both absolutely and as contrasted -with those lines of workmanship in which he could carry -his point by manual dexterity unaided by cunningly -devised implements and mechanical contrivances;<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -still more striking is the contrast between the incredibly -slow and blindfold advance of the savage culture shown -in the sequence of those typical stone implements which -serve conventionally as land-marks of the early technology, -on the one hand, and the concomitant achievements -of the same stone-age peoples in the domestication -and use of plants and animals on the other hand.</p> - -<p>No man can offer a confident conjecture as to how long -a time and what a volume of experience was taken up in -the growth of technological insight and proficiency up -to the point when the neolithic period begins in European -prehistory. In point of duration it has been found convenient -to count it up roughly in units of geologic time, -where a thousand years are as a day. Attempts to reduce -it to such units as centuries or millennia have hitherto not -come to anything appreciable. In the present state of information -on this head it is doubtless a safe conjecture -that the interval between the beginning of the human era -and the close of palæolithic time, say in Europe or within -the cultural sequence in which Europe belongs, is to be -taken as some multiple of the interval that has elapsed -from the beginning of the neolithic culture in Europe -to the present;<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> and the neolithic period itself was in its -turn no doubt of longer duration than the history of -Europe since the bronze first came in.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span></p> - -<p>The series of stone implements recovered from palæolithic -deposits show the utmost reach of palæolithic -technology on its mechanical side, in the way of workmanlike -mastery of brute matter simply; for these -implements are the tools of the tool-makers of that -technological era. They indicate the ultimate terms of -the technological situation on the mechanical side, for -the craftsman working in more perishable materials -could go no farther than these primary elements of the -technological equipment would carry him.</p> - -<p>The strict limitation imposed on the technology of -any culture, on its mechanical side, by the “state of the -industrial arts” in respect of the primary tools and materials -available, whether availability is a question of -knowledge or of material environment, is illustrated, -for instance, by the case of the Eskimo, the North-west -Coast Indians, or some of the islands of the South Sea. -In each of these cultures, perhaps especially in that of -the Eskimo, technological mastery had been carried as -far as the circumstances of the case would permit, and -in each case the decisive circumstances that limit the -scope and range of workmanship are the character of -the primary tools of the tool-maker and the limits of his -knowledge of the mechanical properties of the materials -at his disposal for such use. The Eskimo culture, for -instance, is complete after its kind, worked out to the -last degree of workmanlike mastery possible with the -Eskimo’s knowledge of those materials on which he depended -for his primary tools and on which he was able -to draw for the raw materials of his industry. At the -same time the Eskimo shows how considerable a superstructure -of the secondary mechanic arts may be erected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -on a scant groundwork of the primary mechanical resources.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a></p> - -<p>In the light of such a familiar instance as the Eskimo -or the Polynesian culture it is evident that very much -must be allowed, in the case, <i>e. g.</i>, of the European stone -age, for work in perishable materials that have disappeared; -but after all allowance of this kind, the showing -for palæolithic man is not remarkable, considering the -ample time allowed him, and considering also that, in -Europe at least, he was by native gift nowise inferior to -some of the racial elements that still survive in the existing -population and that are not notoriously ill furnished -either in the physical or the intellectual respect. And -what is true of palæolithic times as regards the native -character of this population is true in a more pronounced -degree for later prehistoric times.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a></p> - -<p>The very moderate pace of the technological advance -in early times in the mechanic arts stands out more -strikingly when it is contrasted with what was accomplished<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -in those arts, or rather in those occupations, that -have to do immediately with living matter. Some of -the crop plants, for instance, and presently some of the -domestic animals, make their appearance in Denmark -late in the period of the kitchen middens; which falls in -the early stone age of the Danish chronology, that is to -say in the early part of the neolithic period as counted -in terms of the European chronology at large. These, -then, are improved breeds of plants and animals, very -appreciably different from their wild ancestors, arguing -not only a shrewd insight and consistent management -in the breeding of these domesticated races but also a -long continued and intelligent use of these items of -technological equipment, during which the nature and -uses of the plants and animals taken into domestication -must have been sufficiently understood and taken advantage -of, at the same time that a workmanlike selection -and propagation of favourable variations was carried -out. Some slight reflection on what is implied in the successful -maintenance, use and improvement of several -races of crop plants and domestic animals will throw -that side of the material achievements of the kitchen-midden -peoples into sufficiently high contrast with their -chipped flint implements and the degree of mechanical -insight and proficiency which these implements indicate.</p> - -<p>To this Danish illustrative case it may of course be -objected, and with some apparent reason, that these -plants and animals which begin to come in evidence in a -state of domestication in the kitchen middens, and which -presently afforded the chief means of life to the later -stone-age population, were introduced in a domestic -state from outside; and that this technological gain was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> -the product of another and higher culture than that into -which they were thus intruded. The objection will have -what force it may; the facts are no doubt substantially -as set forth. However, the domestication and use of -these races of plants and animals embodied no less considerable -a workmanlike mastery of its technological -problem wherever it was worked out, whether in Denmark—as -is at least highly improbable—or in Turkestan, -as may well have been the case. And the successful -introduction of tillage and cattle-breeding among the -kitchen-midden peoples from a higher culture, without -the concomitant introduction of a corresponding gain in -the mechanic arts from the same source, leaves the force -of the argument about as it would be in the absence of -this objection. The comparative difficulty of acquiring -the mechanic arts, as compared with the arts of husbandry, -would appear in much the same light whether -it were shown in the relatively slow acquirement of these -arts through a home growth of technological mastery or -in the relatively tardy and inept borrowing of them from -outside. So far as bears on the present question, much -the same habits of mind take effect in the acquirement -of such a technological gain whether it takes place by -home growth or by borrowing from without. In either -case the point is that the peoples of the kitchen-middens -appear to have been less able to learn the use of serviceable -mechanical expedients than to acquire the technology -of tillage and cattle-breeding. The appearance -of tillage and cattle-breeding (“mixed farming”) at this -period of Danish prehistory, without the concomitant -appearance of anything like a similar technological gain -in the mechanic arts, argues either (<i>a</i>) that in the culture<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -from which husbandry was ultimately borrowed and in -which the domestication was achieved there was no similarly -substantial gain made in the mechanic arts at the -same time, so that this culture from which the crop -plants and animals originally came into the North of -Europe had no corresponding mechanical gain to offer -along with husbandry; or (<i>b</i>) that the kitchen-midden -peoples, and the other peoples through whose hands the -arts of husbandry passed on their way to the North, were -unable to profit in a like degree by what was offered them -in the primary mechanic arts. The known evidence -seems to say that the visible retardation in the mechanic -arts, as compared with husbandry, in prehistoric Denmark -was due partly to the one, partly to the other of -these difficulties.</p> - -<p>To avoid confusion and misconception it may be pertinent -to recall that, taken absolutely, the rate and magnitude -of advance in the primary mechanic arts in Denmark -at this time was very considerable; so much so -indeed that the visible absolute gain in this respect has -so profoundly touched the imagination of the students of -that culture as to let them overlook the disparity, in -point of the rate of gain, between the mechanic arts and -husbandry. In the same connection it is also to be remarked -that the entire neolithic culture of the kitchen-middens, -as well as their husbandry, was introduced -from outside of Europe, having been worked out in its -early rudiments before the kitchen-midden peoples -reached the Baltic seaboard. At the same time the raw -materials for the mechanic arts of the neolithic culture -were available to the kitchen-midden technologist in -abundant quantity and unsurpassed quality; while the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -raw material of husbandry, the crop plants and domestic -animals, were exotics. Further, in point of race, and -therefore presumably in point of native endowment, the -peoples of the Baltic seaboard at that time were substantially -the same mixture of stocks that has in modern -times carried the technology of the mechanic arts in -western Europe and its colonies to a pitch of mastery -never approached before or elsewhere. And the retardation -in the mechanic arts as contrasted with husbandry -is no greater, probably less, in neolithic Denmark than -in any other culture on the same general level of efficiency.</p> - -<p>Wherever the move may have been made, in one or in -several places, and whatever may have been the particular -circumstances attending the domestication and -early use of crop plants and animals, the case sums up to -about the same result. Through long ages of work and -play men (perhaps primarily women) learned the difficult -and delicate crafts of husbandry and carried their -mastery of these pursuits to such a degree of proficiency, -and followed out the lead given by these callings with -such effect, that by the (geologic) date of early neolithic -times in Europe virtually all the species of domesticable -animals in three continents had been brought in and had -been bred into improved races.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> At the same time the -leading crop plants of the old world, those on whose -yield the life of the Western peoples depends today, had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -been brought under cultivation, improved and specialised -with such effect that all the advance that has been made -in these respects since the early neolithic period is greatly -less than what had been accomplished up to that time. -By early neolithic times as counted in West Europe, or -by the early bronze age as counted in western Asia, the -leading domestic animals had been distributed, in domesticated -and improved breeds, throughout central and -western Asia and the inhabited regions of Europe and -North Africa. The like is true for the main crop plants -that now feed the occidental peoples, except that these, -in domesticated and specialised breeds, were distributed -through this entire cultural region at an appreciably -earlier date,—earlier by some thousands of years.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> In<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> -late modern times there have been added to the civilised -world’s complement of crop plants a very large and important -contingent whose domestication and development -was worked out in America and the regions of the -Pacific; though most of these belong in the low latitudes -and are on that account less available to the Western -culture than what has come down from the prehistoric -cultures of the old world. These are also the work of the -stone age, in large part no doubt dating back to palæolithic -times.</p> - -<p>America, with the Polynesian and Indonesian cultural -regions, shows the correlation and the systematic discrepancy -in time between the rate, range and magnitude -of the advance in tillage on the one hand and of the -primary mechanic arts on the other hand. When this -culture was interrupted it had, in the mechanical respect, -reached an advanced neolithic phase at its best; -but its achievements in the crop plants are perhaps to -be rated as unsurpassed by all that has been done elsewhere -in all time.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> In the primary mechanic arts this -cultural region had in the same time reached a stage of -perfection comparable at its best with pre-dynastic -Egypt, or neolithic Denmark, or pre-Minoan Crete. -The really great advance achieved was in the selection, -improvement, use and cultivation of the crop plants; and -not in any appreciable degree even in the mechanical -appliances employed in the cultivation and consumption -of these crops; though something considerable is to be -noted in this latter respect in such inventions as the mandioca<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -squeezer and the metate; and great things were -done in the way of irrigation and road building.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> But -the contrast, for instance, between the metate and the -contrivances for making paper bread on the one side, and -the technologically consummate corn-plant (maize) on -the other, should be decisive for the point here in question. -The mechanic appliances of corn cultivation had -not advanced beyond the digging stick, a rude hoe and -a rudimentary spade, though here as well as in other -similar connections the local use of well-devised irrigation -works, terraced fields,<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> and graneries is not to be overlooked; -but the corn itself had been brought from its -grass-like ancestral form to the maize of the present corn -crop. Like most of the American crop plants the maize -under selective cultivation had been carried so far from -its wild form as no longer to stand a chance of survival -in the wild state, and indeed so far that it is still a matter -of controversy what its wild ancestor may have been.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the races of this American-Polynesian region -are gifted with some special degree of spiritual (instinctive) -fitness for plant-breeding. They seem to be endowed -with a particular proclivity for sympathetically -identifying themselves with and patiently waiting upon -the course of natural phenomena, perhaps especially the -phenomena of animate nature, which never seem alien -or incomprehensible to the Indian. Such at least is the -consistent suggestion carried by their myths, legends -and symbolism. The typical American cosmogony is a -tissue of legends of fecundity and growth, even more -than appears to hold true of primitive cosmogonies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span> -elsewhere.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> And yet some caution in accepting such a -generalisation is necessary in view, for instance, of the -mythological output along similar lines on the Mediterranean -seaboard in early times. By native gift the Indian -is a “nature-faker,” given to unlimited anthropomorphism. -Mechanical, matter-of-fact appreciation of external -and material phenomena seems to be in a peculiar -degree difficult, irrelevant and incongruous with the -genius of the race. But even if it should seem that this -race, or group of races, is peculiarly given to such sympathetic -interpretation of natural phenomena in terms of -human instinct, the difference between them and the -typical racial stocks of the old world in this respect is -after all a difference in degree, not in kind. The like -proclivity is in good evidence throughout, wherever any -race of men have endeavoured to put their acquaintance -with natural phenomena into systematic form. The -bond of combination in the making of systems, whether -cosmologic, mythic, philosophic or scientific, has been -some putative human trait or traits. It may be that in -their appreciation of facts and their making of systems -the American races have by some peculiar native gift -been inclined to an interpretation in terms of fertility, -growth, nurture and life-cycles.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Any predisposition freely to accept and use the deliverances -of sensible perception on their own recognisances -simply, in the terms in which they come, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -to connect them up in a system of knowledge in their -own terms, without imputation of a spiritual (anthropomorphic) -substratum,—for the purposes of workmanship -such a predisposition should be of the first importance -for effective work in the mechanic arts; and a strong instinctive -bias to the contrary should be correspondingly -pernicious. Any instinctive bias to colour, distort and -derange the facts by imputing elements of human nature -will unavoidably act to hinder and deflect the agent from -an effectual pursuit of mechanical design. But the like -is not true in the same degree as regards men’s dealings -with animate nature. Anthropomorphic interpretation -is more at home and less disserviceable here. With less -serious derangement in the objective results, plants and -animals may be construed to have a conscious purpose -in life and to pursue their ends somewhat after the human -fashion; witness the facility with which the story-tellers -recount plausible episodes (feigned or real) from the life -of animals and plants, and the readiness with which such -tales get a hearing. Readers and hearers find no great -difficulty, if any, in giving make-believe credence to the -tales so long as they recount only such adventures as -are physically possible to the animals of which (whom?) -they are told; the hearers are always ready to go with -the story-teller down this highway of make-believe into -the subhuman fairy land. Mechanical phenomena, happenings -in the mechanic arts, characteristics of the existence -of inanimate objects and the changes which they -undergo, lend themselves with much less happy effect to -the anthropomorphic story-teller’s make-believe. Episodes -from the feigned life-history of tools, machines and -raw materials are not drawn on with anything like the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -same frequency, nor do the tales that recount them meet -with the same untiring attention. There is always an -unreality about them which even the most robust make-believe -can overcome only for a short and doubtful -interval. Witness the relative barrenness of primitive -folk-tales on this inanimate side, as compared with the -exuberance of the myths and legends that interpret the -life of plants and animals; and where inanimate phenomena -are drawn into the net of personation it happens -almost unavoidably that a feigned person is thrown into -the foreground of the tale plausibly to take the part of -bearer, controller or intrigant in the episodes related.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a></p> - -<p>Even more to the same purpose, as showing the same -insidious facility of anthropomorphic interpretation, are -the bona-fide constructions of scientists and pseudo-scientists -running on the imputation of purpose and deliberation -to explain the behaviour of animals. Indeed, -at the worst, and still in good faith, it may go so far as -to impute some sort of quasi-conscious striving on the -part of plants.<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a> As good and temperate an instance as -may be had of such anthropomorphic imputation of -workmanlike gifts is afforded, for instance, by the work -of Romanes on the behaviour of animals.<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> It goes to -show how very plausibly some of the lower animals may -be credited with these spiritual aptitudes and how far -and well the imputation may be made to serve the scientist’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> -end. So plausible, indeed, is this anthropomorphism -as to disarm even the scepticism of the trained -sceptic. It will also appear in the later course of this -inquiry that anthropomorphism, and especially the -imputation of workmanship, has borne a much greater -part in the work of the scientists than the members of -that craft would like to avow; so that the scientific use of -the anthropomorphic fancy is by no means a unique -distinction of Romanes and the large group or school of -biologists of which his work is typical; nor does the -presence of this bias in their work by any means strip it -of scientific value. In point of fact, it seems to touch -the substance of their objective results much less seriously -than might be apprehended.</p> - -<p>The modern scientist’s watchward is scepticism and -caution; and what he may be led to do concessively, in -spite of himself, by too broad a consciousness of kind, -the savage does joyously and with conviction. His -measure of what he sees about him is himself, and his -apprehension of what takes place is a comprehension of -how such things would be done in the course of human -conduct if they were physically possible to man. The -man (more often perhaps the woman) who busies himself -with the beginnings of plant and animal-breeding will -sympathetically put himself in touch with their inclinations -and aptitudes with a degree of intimacy and assurance -never approached by the followers of Romanes. -It is for him to use common sense and fall in with the -drift and idiosyncracies of these others who are, mysteriously, -denied the gift of speech. By the unambiguous -leading of the anthropomorphic fancy he puts himself -in the place of his ward, his animal or vegetable friend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span> -and cousin, and can so learn something of what is going -on in the putative vegetable or animal mind, through -patient observation of what comes to light in response -to his attentions in the course of his joint life with them. -The plant or animal manifestly does things, and the question -follows, Why do these speechless others do those -things which they are seen to do?—things which often -do not lie within the range of things desirable to be accomplished, -humanly speaking. Manifestly these non-human -others seek other ends and seek them in other -ways than man. Some of the objective results which it -lies in their nature to accomplish in so working out their -scheme of life are useful to their human cousins; and it -stands to reason that when they are dealt kindly with, -when man takes pains to further their ends in life, they -will take thought and respond somewhat in kind. To -turn the proposition about, those things which men -find, by trial and error, to bring a good and kindly return -from the speechless others are manifestly well received -by them and must obviously be of a kind to fall -in with their bent and minister to their inclinations; and -prudence and fellow-feeling combine to lead men farther -along the way so indicated at each move in the propitious -direction.</p> - -<p>To the unsophisticated—and even to the sophisticated -sceptic—it is manifest that animate objects do things. -What they aim to do, as well as the logic of their conduct -in carrying out their designs, are not precisely the same -as in the case of man. But by staying by and learning -what they are bent on doing, and observing how they -go about it, any peculiarity in the nature of their needs, -spiritual and physical, and in their manner of approaching<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span> -their ends, may be learned and assimilated; and their -life-work can be furthered and amplified by judiciously -ministering to their ascertained needs and making the -way smooth for them in what they undertake, so long -as their undertakings are such as man is interested in -bringing to a successful issue. Of course they work -toward ends that are good in their sight, though not -always such as men would seek; but that is their affair -and is not to be pried into beyond the bounds of a decent -neighbourly interest. And they work by methods in some -degree other, often wiser, than those of men, and these -it is man’s place to learn if he would profit by their companionship.</p> - -<p>Much of the scheme of life of these speechless others -is a scheme of fecundity, growth and nurture, and all -these matters are natural to women rather than to men; -and so in the early stages of culture the consciousness of -kind and congruity has made it plain to all the parties in -interest that the care of crops and animals belongs in the -fitness of things to women. Indeed there is such a spiritual -(magical) community between women and the fecundity -of animate things that any intrusion of the men in the -affairs of growth and fertility may by force of contrast -come to be viewed with the liveliest apprehension. Since -the life of plants and animals is primarily of a spiritual -nature, since the initiative and trend of vegetable and -animal life is of this character, it follows that some sort -of propitious spiritual contact and communion should -be maintained between mankind and that world of fertility -and growth in which these animate things live and -move. So a line of communication, of a spiritual kind, -is kept open with the realm of the speechless ones by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> -means of a sign-language systematised into ritual, and -by a symbolism of amity reënforced with gifts and professions -of good-will. Hence a growth of occult meanings -and ceremonial procedure, to which the argument will -have to return presently.<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a></p> - -<p>By this indirect, animistic and magical, line of approach -the matter-of-fact requirements of tillage and -cattle-breeding can be determined and fulfilled in a very -passable fashion, given only the necessary time and -tranquillity. Time is by common consent allowed the -stone-age culture in abundant measure; and common -consent is coming, through one consideration and another, -to admit that the requisite conditions of peace -and quiet industry are also a characteristic feature of -that early time. The fact, broad and profound, that the -known crop plants and animals were for the most part -domesticated in that time is perhaps in itself the most -persuasive argument for the prevalence of peaceful conditions -among those peoples, whoever they may have -been, to whose efforts, or rather to whose routine of -genial superstition, this domestication is to be credited. -This domestication and use of plants and animals was -of course not a mere blindfold diversion. Here as ever -the instinct of workmanship was present with its prompting -to make the most of what comes to hand; and the -technology of husbandry, like the technology of any other -industrial enterprise, has been the outcome of men’s -abiding penchant for making things useful.</p> - -<p>The peculiar advantage of tillage and cattle-breeding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -over the primary mechanic arts, that by which the former -arts gained and kept their lead, seems to have been the -simple circumstance that the propensity of workmanlike -men to impute a workmanlike (teleological) nature to -phenomena does not leave the resulting knowledge of -these phenomena so wide of the mark in the case of -animate nature as in that of brute matter. It will probably -not do to say that the anthropomorphic imputation -has been directly serviceable to the technological -end in the case of tillage and cattle-breeding; it is -rather that the disadvantage or disserviceability of such -an interpretation of facts has been greater in the mechanic -arts in early times. The instinct of workmanship, -through the sentimental propensity to impute workmanlike -qualities and conduct to external facts, has defeated -itself more effectually in the mechanic arts. And as in -the course of time, under favourable local conditions, the -habitual imputation of teleological capacities has in -some measure fallen into disuse, the mechanic arts have -gained; and every such gain has in its turn, as conditions -permitted, acted cumulatively toward the discredit and -disuse of the teleological method of knowledge, and -therefore toward an acceleration of technological gain -in this field.</p> - -<p>The inanimate factors which early man has to turn to -account as a condition precedent to any appreciable -advance in the industrial arts, outside of husbandry and -of the use of fruits and fibres associated with it, do not -lend themselves to an effectual approximation from the -anthropomorphic side. Flint and similar minerals are -refractory, they have no spiritual nature and no scheme -or cycle of life that can be interpreted in some passable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> -fashion as the outcome of instinctive propensities and -workmanlike management. Anthropomorphic insight -does not penetrate into the secret ways of brute matter, -for all the reasonable concession to idiosyncracies, to -recondite conceits, occult means and devious methods, -with which unsophisticated man stands ready to meet -them. He can see as far into a millstone as anyone -along that line; but that is not far enough to be of any -use, and he is debarred by his workmanlike common -sense from systematically looking into the matter along -any other line. It is only the blindfold, unsystematic -accretions of opaque fact coming in, disjointed and unsympathetic, -from the inhuman side of his technological -experience that can help him out here. And experience -of that kind can come upon him only inadvertently, -for he has no basis on which to systematise these facts -as they come, and so he has no means of intelligently -seeking them. His intelligent endeavours to get at the -nature of things will perforce go on the mass of knowledge -which his intelligence has already comprehended, -which is a knowledge of human conduct. Anthropomorphism -is almost wholly obstructive in this field of -brute matter, and in early times, before much in the -way of accumulated matter-of-fact knowledge had -forced itself upon men, the propensity to a teleological -interpretation seems to have been nearly decisive against -technological progress in the primary and indispensable -mechanic arts. And in later phases of culture, where -anthropomorphic interpretations of workmanship have -been worked out into a rounded system of magic and -religion, they have at times brought the technological -advance to a full stop, particularly on the mechanical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -side, and have even led to the cancelment of gains that -should have seemed secure.</p> - -<p>It is likewise a notable fact that, as already intimated -above, myth and legend have found this brute matter -as refractory in their service as the instinct of workmanship -has found it in the genesis of technology; and for -the good reason that the same human penchant for teleological -insight and elaboration has ruled in the one as -in the other. Inanimate matter and the phenomena in -which inanimate matter manifests its nature and force -have, of course, taken a large place in folk-lore; but the -folk-lore, whether myth, legend or magic, in which inanimate -matter is conceived as speaking in its own right -and working out its own spiritual content is relatively -very scant. In magic it commonly plays a part as an -instrumentality only, and indeed as an instrument which -owes its magical efficacy to some efficacious circumstance -external to it. It has most frequently an induced rather -than intrinsic efficacy, being the vehicle whereby the -worker of magic materialises and conveys his design to -its execution. It is susceptible of magical use, rather -than creative of magical effects.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> No doubt this characterisation -of the magical offices of inert matter applies -to early and primitive times and situations rather than -to the high-wrought later systems of occult science and -alchemical lore that are built on some appreciable knowledge -of metallurgy and chemical reactions. So likewise -early myth and legend have had to take recourse to the -intervention of personal, or at least animate agents, to -make headway in the domain of brute matter, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -figures commonly as means in the hands of manlike -agents of some sort, rather than as a self-directing agent -with initiative and a natural bent of its own. The -phenomena of inanimate nature are likely to be thrown -into the hands of such putative agents, who are then -conceived to control them and turn them to account for -ulterior ends not given in the native character of the -inanimate objects themselves.<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> Even so exceptionally -available a range of phenomena as those of fire have -not escaped this inglorious eventuality. In the mythical -legends of fire it will be found that the fire and all its -works come into the plot of the story only as secondary -elements, and the interest centres about the fortunes of -some manlike agency to whose initiative and exploits -all the phenomena of fire are referred as their cause or -occasion.<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> The legends of fire have commonly become -legends of a fire-bringer, etc.,<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a> and have come to turn -about the plots and counterplots of anthropomorphic -beasts and divinities who are conceived to have wrestled -for, with and about the use of fire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span></p> - -<p>So, on the other hand, as an illustration from the side -of technology, to show how matters stood in this connection -through the best days of anthropomorphism, fire -had been in daily and indispensable use through an indefinite -series of millennia before men, in the early modern -times of Occidental civilisation, learned the use of a -chimney. And all that hindered the discovery of this -simple mechanical expedient seems to have been the -fatal propensity of men to impute a teleological nature -and workmanlike design to this phenomenon with which -no truce or working arrangement can be negotiated in -spiritual terms.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a></p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>A doubt may plausibly suggest itself as to the competency -of such an explanation of these phenomena. It -would seem scarcely to lie in the nature of an instinct of -workmanship to enlist the workman in the acquisition -of knowledge which he cannot use, and guide him in -elaborating it into a system which will defeat his own -ends; to build up obstructions to its own working, and -yet in the long run to overcome them. In part this -discrepancy in the outcome arises from the fact that the -sense of workmanship affords a norm of systematisation -for the facts that come into knowledge. This leads to -something like a dramatisation of the facts, whereby they -fall into some sort of a sequence of conduct among themselves,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> -become personalised, are conceived as gifted with -discrimination, inclinations, preferences and initiative; -and in so far as the facts are conceived to be involved in -immaterial or hyperphysical relations of this character -they cannot effectually be made use of for the purposes -of technology. All conceptions that exceed the scope of -material fact are useless for technology, and in so far as -such conceptions are intruded into the body of information -drawn on by the workman they become obstructive.</p> - -<p>But in good part the discrepancies of the outcome are -due to complications with an instinctive curiosity, the -presence of which has tacitly been assumed throughout -the argument,—an “idle” curiosity by force of which -men, more or less insistently, want to know things, when -graver interests do not engross their attention. Comparatively -little has been made of this instinctive propensity -by the students of culture, though the fact of -its presence in human nature is broadly recognised by -psychologists,<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> and the like penchant comes in evidence -among the lower animals, as appears in many investigations -of animal behaviour.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> Indeed, it has been taken -somewhat lightly, in a general way, as being a genial -infirmity of human nature rather than a creative factor -in civilisation. And the reason of its being dealt with -in so slight a manner is probably to be found in the nature -of the instinct itself. With the instinct of workmanship -it shares that character of pliancy and tractability common -in some degree to the whole range of instincts, and -especially characteristic of those instinctive predispositions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span> -that distinguish human nature from the simpler -and more refractory spiritual endowment of the lower -animals.</p> - -<p>Like the other instinctive propensities, it is to be presumed, -the idle curiosity takes effect only within the -bounds of that metabolic margin of surplus energy that -comes in evidence in all animal life, but that appears in -larger proportions in the “higher” animals and in a -peculiarly obtrusive manner in the life of man. It seems -to be only after the demands of the simpler, more immediately -organic functions, such as nutrition, growth and -reproduction, have been met in some passably sufficient -measure that this vaguer range of instincts which constitutes -the spiritual predispositions of man can effectually -draw on the energies of the organism and so can -go into effect in what is recognised as human conduct. -The wider the margin of disposable energy, therefore, the -more freely should the characteristically human predispositions -assert their sway, and the more nearly this -metabolic margin is drained by the elemental needs of -the organism the less chance should there be that conduct -will be guided by what may properly be called the spiritual -needs of man. It is accordingly characteristic of -this whole range of vaguer and less automatically determinate -predispositions that they transiently yield somewhat -easily to the pressure of circumstances. This is -eminently true of the idle curiosity, as it is also true in a -somewhat comparable degree of the sense of workmanship. -But these instincts at the same time, and perhaps -by the same fact, have also the other concomitant and -characteristically human trait of a ubiquitous resiliency -whenever and in so far as there is nothing to hinder.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span> -Their staying power is, in a way, very great, though -their driving force is neither massive nor intractable. -So that even though the idle curiosity, like the sense of -workmanship, may be momentarily thrust aside by more -urgent interests, yet its long-term effects in human culture -are very considerable. Men will commonly make -easy terms with their curiosity when there is a call to -action under the spur of a more elemental need, and -even when circumstances appear to be favourable to its -untroubled functioning a sustained and consistent response -to its incitement is by no means an assured consequence. -The common man does not eagerly pursue the -quest of the idle curiosity, and neither its guidance nor -its award of fact is mandatory on him.<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> Sporadic individuals -who are endowed with this supererogatory gift -largely in excess of the common run, or who yield to -its enticements with very exceptional abandon, are accounted -dreamers, or in extreme cases their more sensible -neighbours may even rate them as of unsound mind. But -the long-term consequences of the common run of curiosity, -helped out by such sporadic individuals in whom the -idle curiosity runs at a higher tension, counts up finally, -because cumulatively, into the most substantial cultural -achievement of the race,—its systematised knowledge -and quasi-knowledge of things.</p> - -<p>This instinctive curiosity, then, comes in now and -again serviceably to accelerate the gain in technological -insight by bringing in material information that may be -turned to account, as well as by persistently disturbing -the habitual body of knowledge on which workmanship<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span> -draws. Human curiosity is doubtless an “idle” propensity, -in the sense that no utilitarian aim enters in its -habitual exercise; but the material information which -is by this means drawn into the agent’s available knowledge -may none the less come to serve the ends of workmanship. -A good share of the facts taken cognisance of -under the spur of curiosity is of no effect for workmanship -or for technological insight, and that any of it should -be found serviceable is substantially a fortuitous circumstance. -This character of “idleness,” the absence -of a utilitarian aim or utilitarian sentiment in the impulse -of curiosity, is doubtless a great part of the reason -for its having received such scant and rather slighting -treatment at the hands of the psychologists and of the -students of civilisation alike.</p> - -<p>Of the material so offered as knowledge, or fact, workmanship -makes use of whatever is available. In ways -already indicated this utilisation of ascertained “facts” -is both furthered and hindered by the fact that the information -which comes to hand through the restless -curiosity of man is reduced to systematic shape, for the -most part or wholly, under canons of workmanship. For -the large generality of human knowledge this will mean -that the raw material of observed fact is selectively -worked over, connected up and accumulated on lines -of a putative teleological order of things, cast in something -like a dramatic form. From which it follows that -the knowledge so gained is held and carried over from -generation to generation in a form which lends itself -with facility to a workmanlike manipulation; it is already -digested for assimilation in a scheme of teleology that -instinctively commends itself to the workmanlike sense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span> -of fitness. But it also follows that in so far as the personalised, -teleological, or dramatic order so imputed to -the facts does not, by chance, faithfully reflect the causal -relations subsisting among these facts, the utilisation of -them as technological elements will amount to a borrowing -of trouble. So that the concurrence of curiosity -and workmanship in the assimilation of facts in this -way may, and in early culture must, result in a retardation -of the technological advance, as contrasted with -what might conceivably have been the outcome of this -work of the idle curiosity if it had not been congenitally -contaminated with the sense of workmanship and thereby -lent itself to conceptions of magical efficacy rather than -to mechanical efficiency.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a></p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The further bearing of the parental bent on the early -growth of technology also merits attention in this connection. -This instinct and the sentiments that arise out -of its promptings will have had wide and free play in -early times, when the common good of the group was -still perforce the chief economic interest in the habitual -view of all its members. It will have had an immediate -effect on the routine of life and work, presumably far -beyond what is to be looked for at any later stage. In -the time when pecuniary competition had not yet become -an institution, grounded in the ownership of goods -in severalty and on their competitive consumption, the -promptings of this instinct will have been more insistent -and will have met with a more unguarded response than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span> -later on, after these institutional changes have taken -effect. A manifest and inveterate distaste of waste, in -great part traceable on analysis to this instinct, still persistently -comes in evidence in all communities, although -it is greatly disguised and distorted by the principles of -conspicuous waste<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> among all those peoples that have -adopted private ownership of goods; and serviceability -to the common good likewise never ceases to command -at least a genial, speculative approval from the common -run of men, though this, too, may often take some grotesque -or nugatory form due to preconceptions of a -pecuniary kind. This bias for serviceability and against -waste falls in directly with the promptings of the instinct -of workmanship, so that these two instinctive predispositions -will reënforce one another in conducing to an impersonally -economical use of materials and resources as -well as to the full use of workmanlike capacities, and to -an endless taking of pains.</p> - -<p>Some reference has also been made already to the -technological value of those kindly, “humane” sentiments -that are bound up with the parental bent,—if -they may not rather be said substantially to constitute -the parental bent. It is of course in the non-mechanical -arts of plant and animal breeding that these humane -extensions of the parental instinct have their chief if not -their only industrial value, both in furthering the day’s -work and in contributing to the advance of technology. -In the primary mechanic arts, <i>e. g.</i>, an affectionate disposition -of this kind toward the inanimate appliances -with which their work is occupied does no doubt still, -as ever, to some extent animate the workmen as well<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span> -as those who may have the remoter oversight of the -work. But the part played by such humane sentiments -is after all relatively slight in men’s dealings with brute -matter, nor do they invariably conduce to expeditious -work or to a hard-headed insight into the mechanics of -those things with which this work has to do. In fact -such tender emotions so placed may somewhat easily -become a source of mischief, in a manner similar to the -mischievous technological consequences of anthropomorphism -already spoken of.</p> - -<p>It is otherwise with the bearing of the parental bent on -the arts of tillage and cattle-breeding. Here its promptings -are almost wholly serviceable to technological gain -as well as to assiduous workmanship. The kindly sentiments -intrinsic to the parental bent are admirably in -place in the care of plants and animals, and their good -effects in so giving a propitious turn to the technology -of early tillage and cattle-breeding are only re-enforced -by the parental and workmanlike inclination to husband -resources and make the most of what comes to hand. -The particular turn given to the anthropomorphic bias -by this line of preconceptions also is rather favourable -than otherwise to a working insight into the requirements -of the art. And it has had certain specific consequences -for the early technology of husbandry, as well as for -the early culture in which husbandry was the chief material -factor, such as to call for a more circumstantial -account.</p> - -<p>Under the canons of workmanship a teleological animus—an -instinctive or “spiritual” nature—is imputed -to the plants and animals brought into domestication. -The art of husbandry proceeds on the apprehended<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span> -needs and proclivities so imputed, and the technology -of the craft therefore takes the form of a “tendance” -designed to further these quasi-animistically conceived -beings in whatever ends they have at heart by virtue of -their natural bent, and to so direct this tendance upon -them as will conduce to shaping their scheme of life in -ways advantageous to man. Like other sentient beings, -as is known to shrewd and unsophisticated man, they -have spiritual needs as well as material needs, and they -are putatively to be influenced by the attitude of their -human cousins towards them and their conduct, interests, -and adventures. Further, their life and comfort -are manifestly conditioned by the run of the seasons -and of the weather; various inclemencies are discouraging -and discomforting to them, as to mankind, and other -vicissitudes of rain and shine and tempest are of the -gravest consequence to them for good or ill. Under these -delicate circumstances it is incumbent on the keepers -of crops and flocks to walk circumspectly and cultivate -the good-will not only of their crops and flocks but also -of the natural phenomena that count for so much in the -life of the crops and flocks. These natural phenomena -are of course also conceived anthropomorphically, in the -sense that they too are seen to follow their natural bent -and do what they will,—or perhaps more commonly -what the personal agents will, in whose keeping these -natural phenomena are conceived to lie; for unsophisticated -man has no other available terms in which to -conceive them and their behaviour than the terms of -initiative, design and endeavour immediately given in -his own conscious action.</p> - -<p>Now, as has already been said, the scheme of life of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> -crops and flocks is, at least in the main, and particularly -in so far as it vitally and always interests their keepers, a -scheme of fecundity, fertility and growth. But these -matters, visibly and by conscious sentiment, pertain in a -peculiarly intimate sense to the women. They are matters -in which the sympathetic insight and fellow-feeling -of womankind should in the nature of things come very -felicitously to further the propitious course of things. -Besides which the life of the women falls in these same -lines of fecundity, nurture and growth, so that their -association and attendance on the flocks and crops should -further the propitious course of things also by the subtler -means of sympathetic suggestion. There is a magical -congruity of great force as between womankind and the -propagation of growing things. And these subtler ways -of influencing events are especially to the point in all -contact with these non-human sentient beings, since -they are speechless and must therefore in the main be -led by living example rather than by precept and expostulation. -And, again, being sentient, somewhat after the -fashion of mankind, it is not to be believed that they -have not the gift visibly common to mankind and many -animals, of following their leader by force of sympathetic -imitation. It may not be easy to say how far this instinctive -impulse of imitation, necessarily credited to all -phenomena to which anthropomorphic traits are imputed, -is to be accounted the ground of all sympathetic -magic; but it is at least to be accepted as sufficient to -account for much of what is done to induce fertility in -flocks and crops.</p> - -<p>So that on many accounts it is evident that in the -nature of things, the care of flocks and crops is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> -women’s affair, and it follows that all intercourse with -the flocks and crops in the early days had best be conducted -by the women, who alone may be presumed intuitively -to apprehend what is timely, due and permissible -in these premises. It is all the more evident that -communion with these wordless others should fall to the -women, since the like wordless communion with their -own young is perhaps the most notable and engaging -trait of their own motherhood. The parental bent also -throws a stress of sentiment on this simple and obvious -phase of motherhood, such as has made it in all men’s -apprehension the type of all kindly and unselfish tendance; -at the same time this ubiquitous parental instinct -tends constantly to place motherhood in the foreground -in all that concerns the common good, in as much as all -that is worth while, humanly speaking, has its beginning -here. In that early phase of culture in which the beginnings -of tillage and cattle-breeding were made and in -which the common good of the group was still the chief -daily interest about which men’s solicitude and forethought -are habitually engaged, motherhood will always -have been the central fact in the scheme of human -things. So that in this cultural phase the parental bent -and the sense of workmanship will have worked together -to bring the women into the chief place in the technological -scheme; and the sense of imitative propriety, as well -as the recognised constraining force exercised by example -and mimetic representation through the impulse -of imitation, will have guided workmanship shrewdly to -play up womankind and motherhood in an ever-growing -scheme of magical observances designed to further the -natural increase of flocks and crops. Where anthropomorphic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> -imputation runs free and with conviction, such -observances, designed to act sympathetically on the -natural course of phenomena, unavoidably become an -integral feature of the technological scheme, no less indispensable -and putatively no less efficacious to this end -than the mechanical operations with which these observances -are associated. There is no practicable line of -division to be drawn between sympathetic magic and -anthropomorphic technology; and in the known cultures -of this early type it is for the most part an open -question whether the magical observances are to be -accounted an adjunct to what we would recognise as -the technological routine of the art, or conversely. The -two are not commonly held apart as distinct categories, -and both are efficacious and indispensable; and in both -the felt efficacy runs on much the same grounds of imputed -anthropomorphic traits.<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a></p> - -<p>On grounds of magical-technological expediency, then, -as well as by force of the sense of intrinsic propriety, -women come to take the leading rôle in the industrial -community of the early time, and the community’s -material interests come to centre about them and their -relation to the natural products of the fields; and since -this interest bears immediately on the fecundity of the -flocks and crops, it is particularly in their character of -motherhood that the women come most vitally into the -case. The natural produce on which the life of the group -depends, therefore, will appertain to the women, in some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> -intimate sense of congruity, so that in the fitness of -things this produce will properly come to the good of the -community through their hands and will logically be -dispensed somewhat at their discretion. So great is the -reach of this logic of congruity that in the known cultures -which show much reminiscence of this early technological -phase it is commonly possible to detect some -remnant of such discretionary control of the natural -produce by the women. And modern students, imbued -with modern preconceptions of ownership and predaceous -mastery, have even found themselves constrained -by this evidence to discover a system of matriarchy and -maternal ownership in these usages that antedate the -institution of ownership. Conceivably, the usages growing -out of this preferential position of women in the -technology and ritual of early husbandry will, now and -again, by the uniform drift of habituation have attained -such a degree of consistency, been wrought into so rigid -a form of institutions, as to have been carried over into -a later phase of culture in which the ownership of goods -is of the essence of the scheme; and in such case these -usages may then have come to be reconstrued in terms -of ownership, to the effect that the ownership of agricultural -products vests of right in the woman, the mother -of the household.</p> - -<p>But if the magical-technological fitness and efficacy -of women has led to the growth of institutions vesting -the disposal of the produce in the women, in a more or -less discretionary way, the like effect has been even -more pronounced, comprehensive and lasting as regards -the immaterial developments of the case. With great -uniformity the evidence from the earlier peaceable agricultural<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span> -civilisations runs to the effect that the primitive -ritual of husbandry, chiefly of a magical character, is in -the hands of the women and is made up of observances -presumed to be particularly consonant with the phenomena -of motherhood.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> And presently, when the more -elaborate phases of these magical rites of husbandry -come, by further superinduction of anthropomorphism, -to grow into religious observances and mythological -tenets, the greater <i lang="el">daimones</i> and divinities that emerge -in the shuffle are women, and again it is the motherhood -of women that is in evidence. The deities, great and -small, are prevailingly females; and the great ones among -them seem invariably to have set out with being mothers.</p> - -<p>In the creation of female and maternal divinities the -parental instinct has doubtless greatly re-enforced the -drift of the instinct of workmanship in the same direction. -The female deities have two main attributes or -characteristics because of which they came to hold their -high place; they are goddesses of fertility in one way or -another, and they are mothers of the people. It is -perhaps unnecessary to hold these two concomitant attributions -apart, as many if not most of the great deities -claim precedence on both grounds. But the lower orders -of female divinities in the matriarchal scheme of things -divine will much more commonly specialise in fertility -of crops than in maternity of the people. The number -of divinities that have mainly or solely to do with fertility -is greater than that of those which figure as mothers -of the people, either locally or generally. And perhaps -in the majority of cases there is some suggestive evidence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span> -that the great female deities have primarily been goddesses -of fertility having to do with the growth of crops—and, -usually in the second place, of animals—rather than -primarily mothers of the tribe;<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> which would suggest -that their genesis and character is due to the canons of -the sense of workmanship more than to the parental -bent, although the latter seems to have had its part in -shaping many of them if not all.</p> - -<p>The female divinities belong characteristically to the -early or simpler agricultural civilisation, and what has -been said goes to argue that they rest on technological -grounds in the main; indeed, in their genesis and early -growth, they are in good part of the nature of technological -expedients. They are at home with the female -technology of early tillage especially, and perhaps only -in the second place do they serve the magical and religious -needs of peoples given mainly to breeding flocks -and herds; although it is to be noted that most of the -greater known goddesses of the ancient Western world, -as well as many of the minor ones, are also found to be -closely related to various of the domestic animals. In -America and the Far East, of course, any connection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> -with the domestication of animals would appear improbable.</p> - -<p>With a change of base, from this early husbandry to a -civilisation in which the main habitual interest is of another -kind, and in which the habitual outlook of men is -less closely limited by the same anthropomorphic conceptions -of nurture and growth, the goddesses begin to -lose their preferential claim on men’s regard and fall -into place as adjuncts or consorts of male divinities designed -on other lines and built out of different materials -and serving new ends.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> But the hegemony of the mother -goddesses has unquestionably been very wide-reaching -and very enduring, as it should be to answer to the extent -in time and space of the civilisation of tillage as -well as to its paramount importance in the life of mankind, -and as it is shown to have been by the archæological -and ethnological evidence.</p> - -<p>A further concomitant variation in the cultural scheme, -associated with and presumably traceable to the same -technological ground, is maternal descent, the counting -of relationship primarily or solely in the female line. In -the present state of the evidence on this head it would -probably be too broad a proposition to say that the -counting of relationship by the mother’s side is due -wholly to preconceptions arising out of the technology -of fertility and growth and that it so is remotely a creature -of the instinct of workmanship; but it is at least -equally probable that that ancient conceit must be abandoned -according to which the system of maternal descent -arises out of an habitual doubt of paternity. The mere<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> -obvious congruity of the cognatic system as contrasted -with the agnatic, has presumably had as much to do -with the matter as anything, and under the rule of the -primitive technology of tillage and cattle-breeding this -obvious congruity of the cognate relationship will have -been very materially re-enforced by the current preconceptions -regarding the preferential importance of the -female line for the welfare of the household and the -community. And so long as that technological era lasted, -and until the more strenuous culture of predation and -coercion came on and threw the male element in the community -into the place of first consequence, maternal -descent as well as the mother goddess appear to have -held their own.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>It will have been noticed that through all this argument -runs the presumption that the culture which included -the beginnings and early growth of tillage and -cattle-breeding was substantially a peaceable culture. -This presumption is somewhat at variance with the traditional -view, particularly with the position taken as a -matter of course by earlier students of ethnology in the -nineteenth century. Still it is probably not subject to -very serious question today. As the evidence has accumulated -it has grown increasingly manifest that the -ancient assumption of a primitive state of nature after -the school of Hobbes cannot be accepted. The evidence -from contemporary sources, as to the state of things in -this respect among savages and many of the lower barbarians, -points rather to peace than to war as the habitual -situation, although this evidence is by no means -unequivocal; besides which, the evidence from these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> -contemporary lower cultures bears only equivocally on -the point of first interest here,—viz., the antecedents of -the Western civilisation. What is more to the point, -though harder to get at in any definitive way, is the prehistory -of this civilisation. Here the inquiry will perforce -go on survivals and reminiscences and on the implications -of known facts of antiquity as well as of certain features -still extant in the current cultural scheme.</p> - -<p>It seems antecedently improbable that the domestication -of the crop plants and animals could have been -effected at all except among peoples leading a passably -peaceable, and presently a sedentary life. And the -length of time required for what was achieved in remote -antiquity in this respect speaks for the prevalence of -(passably) peaceable conditions over intervals of time -and space that overpass all convenient bounds of chronology -and localisation. Evidence of maternal descent, -maternal religious practices and maternal discretion in -the disposal of goods meet the inquiry in ever increasing -force as soon as it begins to penetrate back of the conventionally -accepted dawn of history; and survivals and -reminiscences of such institutions appear here and there -within the historical period with increasing frequency -the more painstaking the inquiry becomes. And that -institutions of this character require a peaceable situation -for their genesis as well as for their survival is not -only antecedently probable on grounds of congruity, -but it is evidenced by the way in which they incontinently -decay and presently disappear wherever the cultural -situation takes on a predatory character or develops -a large-scale civilisation, with a coercive government, -differentiation of classes—especially in the pecuniary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span> -respect—warlike ideals and ambitions, and a considerable -accumulation of wealth.</p> - -<p>Some further discussion of this early peaceable situation -will necessarily come up in connection with the -technological grounds of its disappearance at the transition -to that predatory culture which has displaced it -in all cases where an appreciably advanced phase of -civilisation has been reached.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_103">CHAPTER III<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Savage State of the Industrial Arts</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Technological</span> knowledge is of the nature of a common -stock, held and carried forward collectively by the -community, which is in this relation to be conceived as -a going concern. The state of the industrial arts is a -fact of group life, not of individual or private initiative -or innovation. It is an affair of the collectivity, not a -creative achievement of individuals working self-sufficiently -in severalty or in isolation. In the main, the state -of the industrial arts is always a heritage out of the past; -it is always in process of change, perhaps, but the substantial -body of it is knowledge that has come down from -earlier generations. New elements of insight and proficiency -are continually being added and worked into -this common stock by the experience and initiative of -the current generation, but such novel elements are -always and everywhere slight and inconsequential in -comparison with the body of technology that has been -carried over from the past.</p> - -<p>Each successive move in advance, every new wrinkle -of novelty, improvement, invention, adaptation, every -further detail of workmanlike innovation, is of course -made by individuals and comes out of individual experience -and initiative, since the generations of mankind -live only in individuals. But each move so made is -necessarily made by individuals immersed in the community<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> -and exposed to the discipline of group life as it -runs in the community, since all life is necessarily group -life. The phenomena of human life occur only in this -form. It is only as an outcome of this discipline that -comes with the routine of group life, and by help of -the commonplace knowledge diffused through the community, -that any of its members are enabled to make -any new move that may in this way be traceable to their -individual initiative. Any new technological departure -necessarily takes its rise in the workmanlike endeavours -of given individuals, but it can do so only by force of -their familiarity with the body of knowledge which the -group already has in hand. A new departure is always -and necessarily an improvement on or alteration in that -state of the industrial arts that is already in the keeping -of the group at large; and every expedient or innovation, -great or small, that so is hit upon goes into effect by -going into the common stock of technological resources -carried by the group. It can take effect only in this -way. Such group solidarity is a necessity of the case, -both for the acquirement and use of this immaterial -equipment that is spoken of as the state of the industrial -arts and for its custody and transmission from generation -to generation.</p> - -<p>Within this common stock of technology some special -branch or line of proficiency, bearing on some special -craft or trade, may be held in a degree of isolation by -some caste-like group within the community, limited -by consanguinity, initiation, and the like, and so it may -be held somewhat out of the common stock and transmitted -in some degree of segregation. In the lower cultures -the elements of technology that are so engrossed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span> -by a fraction of the community and held out of the -common stock are most commonly of a magical or ceremonial -nature, rather than effective elements of workmanship; -since any such matters of ritual observance -lend themselves with greater facility to exclusive use -and transmission within lines of class limitation than do -the matter-of-fact devices of actual workmanship. In -the lower cultures the exclusive training and information -so held and transmitted in segregation by various -secret organisations appear in the main to be of this -magical or ceremonial character;<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> although there is no -reason to doubt that this technological make-believe is -taken quite seriously and counts as a substantial asset in -the apprehension of its possessors. In a more advanced -state of the industrial arts, where ownership and the -specialisation of industry have had their effect, trade -secrets, patent and copyrights are often of substantial -value, and these are held in segregation from the common -stock of technology. But it is evident without argument -that facts of this class are after all of no grave or -enduring consequence in comparison with the great -commonplace body of knowledge and skill current in the -community. At the same time, any such segregated -line of technological gain and transmission, if it has any -appreciable significance for the state of the industrial -arts and is not wholly made up of ritual observances, -leans so greatly on the technological equipment at large -that its isolation is at the most partial and one-sided; it -takes effect only by the free use of the general body of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span> -knowledge which is not so engrossed, and it has also in -all cases been acquired and elaborated only by the free -use of that commonplace knowledge that is held in no -man’s exclusive possession. Such is more particularly the -case in all but those latest phases of the industrial development -in which the volume of the technology and -the consequent specialisation of occupations have been -carried very far.</p> - -<p>In the earlier, or rather in all but the late phases of -culture and technology, this immaterial equipment at -large is accessible to all members of the community as a -matter of course through the unavoidable discipline that -comes with the workday routine of getting along. Few, -if any, can avoid acquiring the essential elements of the -industrial scheme by use of which the community lives, -although they need not each gain any degree of proficiency -in all the manual operations or industrial processes -in which this technological scheme goes into effect, and -few can avoid being so trained into the logic of the current -scheme that their habitual thinking will in all these -bearings run within the bounds of experience embodied -in this general scheme.</p> - -<p>All have free access to this common stock of immaterial -equipment, but in all known cultures there is also -found some degree of special training and some appreciable -specialisation of knowledge and occupations; -which is carried forward by expert workmen whose peculiar -and exceptional proficiency is confined to some -one or a few distinct lines of craft. And in all, or at least -in all but the lowest known cultures, the available evidence -goes to say that this joint stock of technological -mastery can be maintained and carried forward only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span> -by way of some such specialisation of training and differentiation -of employments. No one is competent to -acquire such mastery of all the lines of industry included -in the general scheme as would enable him (or her) to -transmit the state of the industrial arts to succeeding -generations unimpaired at all points.</p> - -<p>Some degree of specialisation there always is, even -where there appears to be no urgent technological need -of it. The circumstances of their life differ sufficiently -for different individuals, so that a certain individuation in -workmanship will result from commonplace experience, -even apart from any deliberate specialisation of occupations. -And with any considerable increase in the size -of the group a more or less deliberate specialisation of -occupations will also set in. Individuals who are in this -way occupied wholly or mainly with some one particular -line of work will carry proficiency in this line to a higher -pitch than the generality of workmen and will bring out -details of technological procedure that may never fully -become the common possession of the group at large, -that may not in all details become part of the commonplace -technological information current in the community. -There seems, in fact, never to have been a time -when the industrial scheme was so slight and narrow -that all members of the community could master it in -the greatest feasible degree of proficiency at every point. -But at the same time it holds true for all the more archaic -phases of the development that all members of the community -appear always to have had a comprehensive and -passably exhaustive acquaintance with the technique of -all industries practised in their time.</p> - -<p>This necessary specialisation and detail training has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span> -large consequences for the growth of technology as well -as for its custody and transmission. It follows that a -large and widely diversified industrial scheme is impossible -except in a community of some size,—large enough -to support a number and variety of special occupations. -In effect, substantial gains in industrial insight and -proficiency can apparently be worked out only through -such close and sustained attention to a given line of -work as can be given only within the lines of a specialised -occupation. At the same time the industrial community -must comprise a full complement of such specialised occupations, -and must also be bound together in a system -of communication sufficiently close and facile to allow -the technological contents of all these occupations to -be readily assimilated into a systematic whole. The -industrial system so worked out need not be of the same -extent as any one local group of the people who get their -living by its use; but it seems to be required that if -several local groups are effectively to be comprised in a -single industrial system conditions of peace must prevail -among them. Community of language seems also to be -nearly necessary to the maintenance of such a system. -Where the various local groups are on hostile terms, each -will tend to have an industrial system of its own, with a -technological character somewhat distinct from its -neighbours.<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> If the degree of isolation is pronounced, so -that traffic and communication do not run freely between -groups, the size of the local group will limit the -state of the industrial arts somewhat rigidly; and on the -other hand a marked advance in the industrial arts, such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span> -as the domestication of crop plants or animals or the -introduction of metals, is likely to bring about such a -redistribution of population and industry as to increase -the effective size of the community.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a></p> - -<p>Among the peoples on the lower levels of culture there -prevails commonly a considerable degree of isolation, or -even of estrangement. In a great degree each community -is thrown on its own resources, and under these -circumstances the size of the community may become -a matter of decisive importance for the industrial arts. -Where a serious decline in the numbers of any of these -savage or barbarous peoples is recorded it is also commonly -noted that they have suffered a concomitant decay<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span> -in their technological knowledge and workmanship.<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> In -view of these considerations it is probably safe to say -that under settled conditions any community is, commonly, -no larger than is required to keep up and carry -forward the state of the industrial arts as it runs. The -known evidence appears to warrant the generalisation -that the state of the industrial arts is limited by the size -of the industrial community, and that whenever a given -community is broken up or suffers a serious diminution -of numbers its technological heritage will deteriorate and -dwindle even though it may apparently have been -meagre enough before.</p> - -<p>The considerations recited above are matters of commonplace -observation and might fairly be taken for -granted without argument. But so much of current and -recent theoretical speculation proceeds on tacit assumptions -at variance with these commonplaces that it seems -pertinent to recall them, particularly since they will -come in as premises in later passages of the inquiry.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Given the material environment, the rate and character -of the technological gains made in any community -will depend on the initiative and application of its members, -in so far as the growth of institutions has not seriously -diverted the genius of the race from its natural -bent; it will depend immediately and obviously on individual -talent for workmanship—on the workmanlike<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span> -bent and capacity of the individual members of the -community. Therefore any difference of native endowment -in this respect between the several races will show -itself in the character of their technological achievements -as well as in the rate of gain. Races differ among -themselves in this matter, both as to the kind and as to -the degree of technological proficiency of which they are -capable.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> It is perhaps as needless to insist on this -spiritual difference between the various racial stocks as -it would be difficult to determine the specific differences -that are known to exist, or to exhibit them convincingly -in detail. To some such ground much of the distinctive -character of different peoples is no doubt to be assigned, -though much also may as well be traceable to local -peculiarities of environment and of institutional circumstances. -Something of the kind, a specific difference in -the genius of the people, is by common consent assigned, -for instance, in explanation of the pervasive difference in -technology and workmanship between the Western culture -and the Far East. The like difference in “genius” -is still more convincingly shown where different races -have long been living near one another under settled -cultural conditions.<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a></p> - -<p>It should be noted in the same connection that hybrid -peoples, such as those of Europe or of Japan, where -somewhat widely distinct racial stocks are mingled, -should afford a great variety and wide individual variation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span> -of native gifts, in workmanship as in other respects. -Hybrid stocks, indeed, have a wider range of usual variability -than the combined extreme limits of the racial -types that enter into the composition of the hybrid. So -that a great variety, even aberration and eccentricity, -of native gifts is to be looked for in such cases, and this -wide range of variation in workmanlike initiative should -show itself in the technology of any such peoples. Yet -there may still prevail a strikingly determinate difference -between any two such hybrid populations, both in the -characteristic features of their technology and in their -routine workmanship; as is illustrated in the contrast -between Japan and the Western nations. These racial -differences in point of endowment may be slight in the -first instance, but as they work cumulatively their ulterior -effect may still be very marked; and they may -result in marked differences not only in respect of the -character of the technological situation at a given point -of time but also in the rate of advance and the direction -taken by the technological advance. So in the case of -the Far East, as contrasted with the Occidental peoples, -the genius of the races engaged has prevailingly taken -the direction of proficiency in handicraft, rather than -that somewhat crude but efficient recourse to mechanical -expedients which chiefly distinguishes the technology of -the West.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The stability of racial types makes it possible to study -the innate characters of the existing population under less -complex and confusing circumstances than those of the -cultural situation in which this population is now found. -By going back into the earlier phases of the Western<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span> -culture the scrutiny of the living population of Europe -and its colonies can, in effect, be pushed back in a fragmentary -way over an interval of some thousands of -years. Such acquaintance as may in this way be gained -with the spiritual make-up of the peoples of the Western -culture at any point in its past history and prehistory -should bear immediately and without serious abatement -on the native character of the generation in whose hands -the fortunes of that culture now rest; provided only that -the inquiry assures itself of the racial continuity, racial -identity, of these peoples through this period of time. -This question of race identity is no longer a matter of -serious debate so far as concerns the peoples of northern -and western Europe, within the effective bounds of the -Occidental civilisation and as far back as the beginning -of the neolithic period. Assuredly there is debate and -uncertainty as to local details of racial mixture in nearly -all parts of this cultural area at some point in past time, -but these uncertainties of detail are not of such a nature -or such magnitude as to vitiate the data for an inquiry -into the general characteristics of the races concerned. -By and large, the mixture of races in north Europe has -apparently not varied greatly since early neolithic times, -and the changes that have taken place are known with -some confidence, in the main. Much the same holds -true for the Mediterranean seaboard, although the -changes in that region appear to have been more considerable -and are perhaps less readily traceable. For -northern and western Europe taken together, in spite of -considerable local fluctuations, the variations in the -general racial composition of the peoples has, on the -whole, not been extensive or extremely serious since the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span> -latter part of the stone age. The three great racial stocks<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> -of Western civilisation have apparently shared their -joint dominance in this culture among themselves since -about the time when the use of bronze first came into -Europe, which should be before the close of the stone -age. And these three stocks are not greatly alien to -one another; two of them, the Mediterranean and the -blond, being apparently somewhat closely related in -point of descent and therefore presumably in point of -spiritual make-up.</p> - -<p>It is with less confidence that any student of these -modern cultures can test his case by evidence drawn -from existing or historical communities living on the -savage or lower barbarian plane and not closely related, -racially, to the peoples of Western Europe. The discrepancies -in such a case are of two kinds: (<i>a</i>) The racial -type, and therefore the spiritual (instinctive) make-up -of these alien savages or barbarians, is not the same as -that of the modern Europeans; hence the culture worked -out under the control of their somewhat different endowment -of instincts should come to a different result, -particularly since any such racial discrepancy in the -matter of instincts should be expected to work cumulatively -to a different cultural outcome. These alien communities -of the lower cultures can therefore not be accepted -off-hand as representing an earlier phase of Occidental -civilisation. This infirmity attaches to any recourse -to an existing savage or barbarian community<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span> -for object-lessons to illustrate the working of European -human nature in similarly primitive circumstances, in -the degree in which the community in question may be -remote from the Europeans in point of racial type; which -reduces itself to a difficult question as to the point in the -family-tree of the races of man from which the two -contrasted races have diverged, and of the number, -character, and magnitude of the racial mutations that -may have intervened between the presumed point of -divergence and the existing racial types so contrasted. -(<i>b</i>) It is commonly said, and it is presumably true -enough, that all known communities on the lower levels -of culture are far from a state of primitive savagery; that -they are not to be taken as genuinely archaic, but are the -result either of a comparatively late reversion, under -special circumstances, from a past higher stage, or they -are peoples which have undergone so protracted an experience -in savagery that their present state is one of -extreme sophistification in all “the beastly devices of the -heathen,” rather than substantially an early or archaic -type of culture, such as would have marked a transient -stage in the development of those peoples that have -attained civilised life.</p> - -<p>No doubt there is some substance to these objections, -but they contain rather a modicum of truth than an -inclusive presentation of the facts relevant to the case. -As to (<i>a</i>), the races of man are, after all, more alike than -unlike, and the evidence drawn from the experience of -any one racial stock or mixture is not to be disregarded -as having no significance for the probable course of things -experienced by any other racial stock during a corresponding -interval in its life-history. Yet there is doubtless<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span> -a wide and debatable margin of error to be allowed -for in the use of all evidence of this class. As to (<i>b</i>), by -virtue of the stability of racial types the populations of -existing communities of the lower cultures should be -today what they were at the outset, in respect of the -most substantial factor in their present situation, their -spiritual (instinctive) make-up; and this unaltered complement -of instincts should, under similar circumstances -and with a moderate allowance of time, work out substantially -the same general run of cultural results whether -the resulting phase of culture were reached by approach -from a near and untroubled beginning or by regression -from a “higher plane.” So that the existing communities -of savages or lower barbarians should present a passably -competent object lesson in archaic savagery and -barbarism whether their past has been higher, lower, or -simply more of the same.</p> - -<p>All this, of course, assumes the stability of racial -types. But since, tacitly, that assumption is habitually -made by ethnologists, all that calls for apology or explanation -here is the avowal of it. The greater proportion -of ethnological generalisations on this range of questions -would be quite impotent without that assumption -as their major premise. What has not commonly been -assumed or admitted, except by subconscious implication, -is the necessary corollary that these stable types -with which ethnologists and anthropologists busy themselves -must have arisen by mutation from previously -existing types, rather than by a long continued and divergent -accumulation of insensible variations. A result -of avowing such a view of the genesis of races will be -that the various races cannot be regarded as being all of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> -the same date and racial maturity, or of the same significance -for any discussion bearing on the higher cultures. -The races engaged in the Western culture will presumably -be found to be of relatively late date, as having -arisen out of relatively late mutational departures, as -rated in terms of the aggregate life-history of mankind. -Presumably also many of the other races will be found to -be somewhat widely out of touch with the members of -this Occidental aggregation of racial stocks; some more, -others less remotely related to them, according as their -mutational pedigree may be found to indicate.</p> - -<p>An advantage derivable from such an avowal of the -stability of types, as against its covert assumption and -overt disavowal, is that it enables the student to look -for the beginning, in time and space, of any given racial -stock with which his inquiry is concerned, and to handle -it as a unit throughout its life-history.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>In all probability each of the leading racial stocks of -Europe began its life-history on what would currently -be accounted a low level of savagery. And yet this -phase of savagery, whatever it may have been like, will -have been removed from the first beginnings of human -culture by a long series of thousands of years. That -such was the case, for instance, with the European blond -is scarcely to be questioned;<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> and it is at least highly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span> -probable that the other stocks now associated with the -blond, though probably older, must also have come into -being relatively late in the life-history of the species.</p> - -<p>Vague as this dating may be, it signifies that the initial -phase in the life-history of at least one, and presumably -of all, of the leading races of Europe falls in a savage -culture of a relatively advanced kind as compared with -the rudest human beginnings. Therefore when these -stocks began life, and so were required to make good -their survival, the selective conditions imposed on them, -and to which they were required to conform on pain of -extinction, were the conditions of a savage culture which -had already made some appreciable advance in the arts -of life. They had not to meet brute nature in the helpless -nakedness of those remote ancestors in whom humanity -first began. Mutationally speaking, the stock -was born to the use of tools and to the facile mastery of a -relatively advanced technology. And conversely it is a -fair inference that these stocks that have peopled Europe -would have been unfit to survive if they had come into -the world before some appreciable advance in technology -had been made. That is to say, these stocks could not -by native gift have been fit for a wild life, in the unqualified -sense of the term; nor have they ever lived a life of -nature in any such sense. They came into the savage -world after the race had lived through many thousand -years of technological experience and (presumably) -many successive mutational alterations of racial type,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> -and they were fitted to the exigencies of the savage world -into which they came rather than those of any earlier -phase of savagery. The youngest of them, the latest -mutant, emerged in early neolithic times, and since he -eminently made good his fitness to survive under those -conditions he presumably emerged with such an endowment -of traits, physical and spiritual, as those conditions -called for; and also presumably with no appreciable -burden of aptitudes, propensities, instincts, capacities -that would be disserviceable, or perhaps even that would -be wholly unserviceable, in the circumstances in which -he was placed. And since the other racial elements of -the European population, at least the two main ones, -do not differ at all radically from the blond in their native -capacities, it is likewise to be presumed that they also -emerged from a mutation under circumstances of culture, -and especially of technology, not radically different in -degree from those that first surrounded the blond.</p> - -<p>The difference between these three racial stocks is -much more evident in their physical traits than in their -instinctive gifts or their intellectual capacity; and yet -the similarity of the three is so great and distinctive -even on the physical side that anthropologists are inclined -to class the three together as all and several distinctively -typical of a “white” or “caucasic” race, to -which they are held collectively to belong. Something -to the like effect seems to hold true for the distinctive -groups of racial stocks that have made the characteristic -civilisations of the Far East on the one hand and of -southern Asia on the other hand; and something similar -might, again, be said for the group of stocks that were -concerned in the ancient civilisations of America.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span></p> - -<p>It may be pertinent to add that, except for a long antecedent -growth of technology, that is to say a long continued -cumulative experience in workmanship, with the -resultant accumulated knowledge of the ways and means -of life, none of the characteristic races of Europe could -have survived. In the absence of these antecedent -technological gains, together with the associated growth -of institutions, such mutants, with their characteristic -gifts and limitations, must have perished.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>On that level of savagery on which these European -stocks began, and to which the several European racial -types with their typical endowment of instincts are presumably -adapted, men appear to have lived a fairly -peaceable, though by no means an indolent life; in relatively -small groups or communities; without any of the -more useful domestic animals, though probably with -some domestic plants; and busied with getting their -living by daily work. Since they survived under the -conditions offered them it is to be presumed that these -men and women, say of the early neolithic time, took -instinctively and kindly to those activities and mutual -relations that would further the life of the group; and -that, on the whole, they took less kindly and instinctively -to such activities as would bring damage and discomfort -on their neighbours and themselves.<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> Any racial type of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> -which this had not been true, under the conditions known -then to have prevailed in their habitat, must have presently -disappeared from the face of the land, and the -later advance of the Western culture would not have -known their breed. Some other racial type, temperamentally -so constituted as better to meet these requirements -of survival under neolithic conditions, would have -taken their place and would have left their own offspring -to populate the region.<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a></p> - -<p>What is known of the conditions of life in early neolithic -times<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> indicates that the first requisite of competitive -survival was a more or less close attention to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> -business in hand, the providing of subsistence for the -group and the rearing of offspring—a closer attention, -for instance, than was given to this business by those -other rival stocks whom the successful ones displaced; -all of which throws into the foreground as indispensable -native traits of the successful race the parental bent and -the sense of workmanship, rather than those instinctive -traits that make for disturbance of the peace.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a></p> - -<p>But through it all the suggestion insinuates itself that -the latest, or youngest, of the three main European stocks, -the blond, has more rather than less of the pugnacious -and predatory temper than the other two, and that this -stock made its way to the front in spite of, if not by force -of these traits. The advantage of the blond as a fighter -seems to have been due in part to an adventurous and -pugnacious temper, but also in part to a superior physique,—superior -for the purpose of fighting hand to hand -or with the implements chiefly used in warfare and -piracy down to a date within the nineteenth century. -The same physical traits of mass, stature and katabolism -will likewise have been of great advantage in the quest -of a livelihood under the conditions that prevailed in the -North-sea region, the habitat of the dolicho-blond, in -the stone age. Something to the same effect is true of -the spiritual traits which are said to characterise the -blond,—a certain canny temerity and unrest.<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> So that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span> -the point is left somewhat in doubt; the traits which -presently made the northern blond the most formidable -disturber of the peace of Europe and kept him so for -many centuries may at the outset have been chiefly -conducive to the survival of the type by their serviceability -for industrial purposes under the peculiar circumstances -of climate and topography in which the race -first came up and made good its survival.</p> - -<p>In modern speculations on the origins of culture and -the early history of mankind it has until recently been -usual to assume, uncritically, that human communities -have from the outset of the race been entangled in an -inextricable web of mutual hostilities and beset with an -all-pervading sentiment of fear; that the “state of nature” -was a state of blood and wounds, expressing itself -in universal malevolence and suspicion. Latterly, students -of primitive culture, and more especially those -engaged at first hand in field work, who come in contact -with peoples of the lower culture, have been coming to -realise that the facts do not greatly support such a presumption, -and that a community which has to make its -own living by the help of a rudimentary technological -equipment can not afford to be habitually occupied with -annoying its neighbours, particularly so long as its neighbours -have not accumulated a store of portable wealth -which will make raiding worth while. No doubt, many -savage and barbarian peoples live in a state of conventional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span> -feud or habitual, even if intermittent, war and -predation, without substantial inducement in the way of -booty. But such communities commonly are either so -placed that an easy livelihood affords them a material -basis for following after these higher things out of mere -fancy;<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> or they are peoples living precariously hand-to-mouth -and fighting for their lives, in great part from a -fancied impossibility of coming to terms with their alien -and unnaturally cruel neighbours.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> Communities of the -latter class are often living in a state of squalor and discomfort, -with a population far short of what their environment -would best support even with their inefficient -industrial organisation and equipment, and their technology -is usually ill-suited to a settled life and unpromising -for any possible advance to a higher culture. There -is no urgent reason for assuming that the races which -have made their way to a greater technological efficiency, -with settled life and a large population, must have come -up from this particular phase of civilisation as their -starting point, or that such a culture should have been -favourable to the survival and increase of the leading -racial stocks of Europe, since it does not appear to be -especially favourable to the success of the communities -known to be now living after that fashion.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">76</a></p> - -<p>The preconception that early culture must have been -warlike has not yet disappeared even among students -of these phenomena, though it is losing their respect; but -a derivative of it still has much currency, to the effect<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span> -that all savage peoples, as also the peoples of the lower -barbarism, live in a state of universal and unremitting -fear, particularly fear of the unknown. This chronic -fear is presumed to show itself chiefly in religion and other -superstitious practices, where it is held to explain many -things that are otherwise obscure. There is not a little -evidence from extant savage communities looking in -this direction, and more from the lower barbarian cultures -that are characteristically warlike.<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">77</a> Wherever -this animus is found its effect is to waste effort and divert -it to religious and magical practices and so to hinder the -free unfolding of workmanship by enjoining a cumbersome -routine of ritual and by warning the technologist -off forbidden ground. But it is doubtless a hasty generalisation -to carry all this over uncritically and make it -apply to all peoples of the lower culture, past and present. -It is known not to be true of many existing communities,<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> -and the evidence of it in some ancient cultures is very -dubious. Such a characterisation of the neolithic culture -of Europe, whether north-European or Ægean, finds -no appreciable support in the archæological evidence. -These two regions are the most significant for the neolithic -period in Europe, and the material from both is -relatively very poor in weapons, as contrasted with -tools, on the one hand, and there is at the same time little -or nothing to indicate the prevalence of superstitious -practices based on fear. Indeed, the material is surprisingly -poor in elements of any kind that can safely be -set down to the account of religion or magic, whether as -inspired by fear or by more genial sentiments. It is one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span> -of the puzzles that beset any student who insists on -finding everywhere a certain normal course of cultural -sequence, which should in the early times include, among -other things, a fearsome religion, a wide fabric of magical -practices, and an irrepressible craving for manslaughter. -And when, presently, something of a symbolism and -apparatus of superstition comes into view, in the late -neolithic and bronze ages, the common run of it is by no -means suggestive of superstitious fear and religious -atrocities. The most common and characteristic objects -of this class are certain figurines and certain symbolical -elements suggestive of fecundity, such as might be looked -for in a peaceable, sedentary, agricultural culture on a -small scale.<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">79</a> A culture virtually without weapons, whose -gods are mothers and whose religious observances are a -ritual of fecundity, can scarcely be a culture of dread -and of derring-do. With the fighting barbarians, on the -other hand, male deities commonly take the first rank, -and their ritual symbolises the mastery of the god and the -servitude of the worshipper.</p> - -<p>It is true, of course, that both of weapons and of cult -objects far the greater number that were once in use -will have disappeared, since most of the implements and -utensils of stone-age cultures are, notoriously, made of -wood or similar perishable materials.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> So that the finds<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> -give no complete series of the appliances in use in their -time; whole series of objects that were of first-rate importance -in that culture having probably disappeared -without leaving a trace. But what is true in this respect -of weapons and cult objects should be equally true of -tools, or nearly so. So that the inference to be drawn -from the available material would be that the early -neolithic culture of north Europe, the Ægean, and other -explored localities presumed to belong in the same racial -and cultural complex, must have been of a prevailingly -peaceable complexion. With the advance in technology -and in the elaboration and abundance of objects that -comes into sight progressively through the later neolithic -period, down to its close, this disproportion between -tools and weapons (and cult objects) grows more impressive -and more surprising. Hitherto this disproportion -has been more in evidence in the Scandinavian finds -than in the other related fields of stone-age culture, -unless an exception should be made in favour of the late -neolithic sites explored at Anau.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> But this archæological -outcome, setting off the Baltic stone age as peculiarly -scant of weapons and peculiarly rich in tools, may be -provisional only, and may be due to the more exhaustive -exploration of the Scandinavian countries and the uncommonly -abundant material from that region. In the -later (mainly Scandinavian) neolithic material, where<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span> -the weapons are to be counted by dozens the tools are -to be counted by hundreds, according to a scheme of -classification in which everything that can be construed -as a weapon is so classed, and there are many more -hundreds of the one class than there are dozens of the -other.<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">82</a> As near as can be made out, cult objects are -similarly infrequent among these materials even after -some appreciable work in pottery comes in evidence.</p> - -<p>What has just been said is after all of a negative character. -It says that nothing like a warlike, predatory, or -fearsome origin can be proven from the archæological -material for the neolithic culture of those racial stocks -that have counted for most in the early periods of Europe. -The presumption raised by this evidence, however, is -fairly strong. And considerations of the material circumstances -in which this early culture was placed, as -well as of the spiritual traits characteristically required -by these circumstances and shown by the races in question, -point to a similar conclusion. The proclivity to -unreasoning fear that is visible in the superstitious practices -of so many savage communities and counts for so -much in the routine of their daily life,<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> is to all appearance -not so considerable an element in the make-up of -the chief European stocks. Perhaps it enters in a less -degree in the spiritual nature of the European blond<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> -than in that of any other race; that race—or its hybrid -offspring—has at any rate proved less amenable to religious -control than any other, and has also shown less -hesitation in the face of unknown contingencies. And -the circumstances of the presumed initial phase of the -life-history of this race would appear not to have favoured -a spiritual (instinctive) type largely biassed by an alert -and powerful sentiment of unreasoning fear. So also -an aggressive humanitarian sentiment is as well at home -in the habits of thought of the north-European peoples -as in any other, such as sorts ill with a native predatory -animus. If it be assumed, as seems probable, that the -situation which selectively tested the fitness of this -stock to survive was that of the early post-glacial time, -when its habitat in Europe was slowly being cleared of -the ice-sheet, it would appear antecedently probable -that the new (mutant) type, which made good its survival -in following up the retreating fringe of the ice-sheet and -populating the land so made available, will not have been -a people peculiarly given to fear or to predation. A -great facility of this kind, with its concomitants of caution, -conservatism, suspicion and cruelty, would not -be serviceable for a race so placed.<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">84</a></p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Even if it were a possible undertaking it would not be -much to the present purpose to trace out in detail the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span> -many slow and fumbling moves by which any given race -or people, in Europe or elsewhere, have worked out the -technological particulars that have led from the beginnings -down through the primitive and later growth of -culture. Such a work belongs to the ethnologists and -archæologists; and it is summed up in the proposition -that men have applied common sense, more or less -hesitatingly and with more or less refractory limitations, -to the facts with which they have had to deal; that they -have accumulated a knowledge of technological expedients -and processes from generation to generation, always -going on what had already been achieved in ways and -means, and gradually discarding or losing such elements -of the growing technological scheme as seemed no longer -to be worth while,<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> and carrying along a good many<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span> -elements that were of no material effect but were imposed -by the logic of the scheme or of its underlying -principles (habits of thought).</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Of the early technological development in Europe, so -far as it is genetically connected with the later Western -civilisation, the culture of the Baltic region affords as -good and illustrative an object lesson as may be had; its -course is relatively well known, simple and unbroken. -Palæolithic times do not count in this development, as -the neolithic culture begins with a new break in Europe.</p> - -<p>It is known, then, that by early neolithic times on the -narrow Scandinavian waters men had learned to make -and use certain rude stone and bone implements found -in the kitchen-middens (refuse heaps, shell-mounds of -Denmark), that they had ways and appliances (the -nature of which is not known) for collecting certain shellfish -and for catching such game and fish as their habitat -afforded, and that they presently, if not from the outset, -had acquired the use of certain crop plants and had -learned to make pottery of a crude kind. From this as -a point of departure in the period of the kitchen-middens -the stone implements were presently improved and multiplied, -the methods of working the material (flint) and -of using the products of the flint industry were gradually -improved and extended, until in the long course of time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span> -the utmost that has anywhere been achieved in that -class of industry was reached. Domestic animals began -to be added to the equipment relatively early,<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">86</a> though -at a long interval from the neolithic beginnings as counted -in absolute time. Improvement and extension in all -lines of stone-working and wood-working industry went -forward: except that stone-dressing and masonry are -typically absent, owing, no doubt, to the extensive use -of woodwork instead.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> Along with this advance in the -mechanic arts goes a growing density of population and -a wide extension of tillage; until, at the coming of bronze, -the evidence shows that these communities were populous, -prosperous, and highly skilled in those industrial -arts that lay within their technological range.</p> - -<p>Apart from the pottery, which may have some merit -as an art product, there is very little left to show what -may have been their proficiency in the decorative arts, -or what was their social organisation or their religious -life. The evidences of warlike enterprise and religious -practices are surprisingly scanty, being chiefly the doubtful -evidence of many and somewhat elaborate tombs. -From the tombs (mounds and barrows) and their distribution -something may be inferred as to the social -organisation; and the evidence on this head seems to -indicate a widespread agricultural population, living -(probably) in small communities, without much centralised -or authoritative control, but with some appreciable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span> -class differences in the distribution of wealth in -the later phases of the period.</p> - -<p>With interruptions, more or less serious, from time -to time, and with increasing evidence of a penchant for -warlike or predatory enterprise on the one hand and of -class distinctions on the other hand, much the same story -runs on through the ages of bronze and early iron. Evidences -of borrowing from outside, mainly the borrowing -of decorative technique and technological elements, are -scattered through the course of this development from -very early times, showing that there was always some -intercourse, perhaps constant intercourse, with other -peoples more or less distant. So that in time, by the -beginning of the bronze age, there is evidence of settled -trade relations with peoples as remote as the Mediterranean -seaboard.</p> - -<p>In many of its details this prehistoric culture shows -something of the same facility in the use of mechanical -expedients as has come so notably forward again in the -late development of the industrial arts of western Europe. -It is in its mechanical efficiency that the technology of -the latterday Western culture stands out preëminent, -and it is similarly its easy command of the mechanical -factors with which it deals that chiefly distinguishes the -prehistoric technology of North Europe. In other respects -the prehistoric material from this region does not -argue a high level of civilisation. There are no ornate -or stupendous structures; what there is of the kind is -mounds and barrows of moderately great size and using -only undressed stone where any is used, but making a -mechanically effective use of this. There is, indeed, -nothing from the stone age in the way of edifices, fabrics<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> -or decorative work that is to be classed, in point of excellence -in design or execution, with the polished-flint -woodworking axe or chisel of that time. From the -bronze age at its best there is much excellent bronze -work of great merit both in workmanship and in decorative -effect; but the artistic merit of this work (from the -middle and early half of the bronze age) lies almost -wholly in its workmanlike execution and in the freedom -and adequacy with which very simple mechanical elements -of decoration are employed. It is an art which -appeals to the sense of beauty chiefly through the sense -of workmanship, shown both in the choice of materials -and decorative elements and in the use made of them. -When this art aspires to more ambitious decorative -effects or to representation of life forms, or indeed to -any representation that has not been conventionalised -almost past recognition, as it does in the later periods of -the bronze age, the result is that it can be commended -for its workmanship alone, and so far as regards artistic -effect it is mainly misspent workmanship.<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">88</a></p> - -<p>The same workmanlike insight and facility comes in -evidence in the matter of borrowing, already spoken of. -Borrowing goes on throughout this prehistoric culture, -and the borrowed elements are assimilated with such -despatch and effect as to make them seem home-bred -almost from the start. It is a borrowing of technological -elements, which are rarely employed except in full and -competent adaptation to the uses to which they are -turned; so much so that the archæologists find it exceptionally -difficult to trace the borrowed elements to specific<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span> -sources, in spite of the great volume and frequency of -this borrowing.</p> - -<p>There is a further and obscurer aspect to this facile -borrowing. In the cultures where the technological and -decorative elements are first invented, or acquired at -first-hand by slow habituation, there will in the nature -of the case come in with them into the scheme of technology -or of art more or less, but presumably a good -deal, of extraneous or extrinsic by-products of their -acquirement, in the way of magical or symbolic efficacy -imputed and adhering to them in the habits of thought -of their makers and users. Something of this kind has -already been set out in some detail as regards the domestication -and early use of the crop plants and animals; -and the like is currently held to be true, perhaps in a -higher degree, for the beginnings of art, both representative -and decorative, by the latterday students of that -subject; the beginnings of art being held to have been -magical and symbolic in the main, so far as regards the -prime motives to its inception and its initial principles.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">89</a></p> - -<p>In the origination and indigenous working-out of any -given technological factor, e. g., such as the use of the -crop plants or the domestic animals, elements of imputed -anthropomorphism are likely to be comprised in the -habitual apprehension of the nature of these factors, -and so find lodgment in the technological routine that -has to do with them; the result being, chiefly, a limitation -on their uses and on the ways and means by which they -are utilised, together with a margin of lost motion in the -way of magical and religious observances presumed to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span> -be intrinsic to the due working of such factors. The -ritual connected with tillage and cattle-breeding shows -this magical side of a home-bred technology perhaps -as felicitously as anything; but similar phenomena are -by no means infrequent in the mechanic arts, and in -the fine arts these principles of symbolism and the like -are commonly present in such force as to afford ground -for distinguishing one school or epoch of art from another.</p> - -<p>Now, when any given technological or decorative -element crosses the frontier between one culture and -another, in the course of borrowing, it is likely to happen -that it will come into the new culture stripped of -most or all of its anthropomorphic or spiritual virtues -and limitations, more particularly, of course, if the cultural -frontier in question is at the same time a linguistic -frontier; since the borrowing is likely to be made from -motives of workmanlike expediency, and the putative -spiritual attributes of the facts involved are not obvious -to men who have not been trained to impute them. The -chief exception to such a rule would be any borrowing -that takes effect on religious grounds, in which case, of -course, the magical or symbolic efficacy of the borrowed -elements are the substance that is sought in the borrowing. -Herein, presumably, lies much of the distinctive -character of the north-European prehistoric culture, -which was in an eminent degree built up out of borrowed -elements, so far as concerns both its technology and its -art. And to this free and voluminous borrowing may -likewise be due the apparent poverty of this early culture -in religious or magical elements.</p> - -<p>A further effect follows. The borrowing being (relatively) -unencumbered with ritual restrictions and magical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> -exactions attached to their employment, they would -fall into the scheme of things as mere matter-of-fact, to -be handled with the same freedom and unhindered sagacity -with which a workman makes use of his own -hands, and could, without reservation, be turned to any -use for which they were mechanically suited. Something -of symbolism and superstition might, of course, -be carried over in the borrowing, and something more -would unavoidably be bred into the borrowed elements -in the course of their use; but the free start would always -count for something in the outcome, both as regards the -rate of progress made in the exploitation of the expedients -acquired by borrowing and in the character of the technological -system at large into which they had been introduced. -Both the relative freedom from magical restraint -and the growth of home-made anthropomorphic -imputations may easily be detected in the course of -this northern culture and in its outcome in modern times. -Cattle, for instance, are a borrowed technological fact -in the Baltic and North-Sea region, but superstitious -practices seem never to have attached to cattle-breeding -in that region in such volume and rigorous exaction as -may be found nearer the original home of the domesticated -species; and yet the volume of folk-lore, mostly of -a genial and relatively unobstructive character, that has -in later times grown up about the care of cattle in the -Scandinavian countries is by no means inconsiderable.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_138">CHAPTER IV<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Technology of the Predatory Culture</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> scheme of technological insight and proficiency -current in any given culture is manifestly a product of -group life and is held as a common stock, and as manifestly -the individual workman is helpless without access -to it. It is none too broad to say that he is a workman -only because and so far as he effectually shares in this -common stock of technological equipment. He may -be gifted in a special degree with workmanlike aptitudes, -may by nature be stout or dextrous or keen-sighted or -quick-witted or sagacious or industrious beyond his -fellows; but with all these gifts, so long as he has -assimilated none of this common stock of workmanlike -knowledge he remains simply an admirable parcel of -human raw material; he is of no effect in industry. With -such special gifts or with special training based on this -common stock an individual may stand out among his -fellows as a workman of exceptional merit and value, -and without the common run of workmanlike aptitudes -he may come to nothing worth while as a workman even -with the largest opportunities and most sedulous training. -It is the two together that make the working force of -the community; and in both respects, both in his inherited -and in his acquired traits, the individual is a -product of group life.</p> - -<p>Using the term in a sufficiently free sense, pedigree is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span> -no less and no more requisite to the workman’s effectual -equipment than the common stock of technological mastery -which the community offers him. But his pedigree -is a group pedigree, just as his technology is a group -technology. As is sometimes said to the same effect, -the individual is a creature of heredity and circumstances. -And heredity is always group heredity,<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> perhaps peculiarly -so in the human species.</p> - -<p>The promptings of invidious self-respect commonly -lead men to evade or deny something of the breadth of -their inheritance in respect of human nature. “I am -not as the publican yonder,” whether I have the grace -to thank God for this invidious distinction or more -simply charge it to the account of my reputable ancestors -in the male line. With a change of venue by which the -cause is taken out of the jurisdiction of interested parties, -its complexion changes. So evident is the fact of group -heredity in the lower animals, for instance, that biologists -have no inclination to deny its pervading force, apart -from any conceivably parthenogenetic lines of descent,—and, -to the inconvenience of the eugenic pharisee, parthenogenetic -descent never runs in the male line, besides -being of extremely rare occurrence in the human species. -As a matter of course the Darwinian biologists have -the habit of appealing to group heredity as the main -factor in the stability of species, and they are very -curious about the special circumstances of any given -case in which it may appear not to be fully operative: -and they have, on the other hand, even looked hopefully -to fortuitous isolation of particular lines of descent as -a possible factor in the differentiation and fixation of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> -specific types, being at a loss to account for such differentiation -or fixation so long as no insuperable mechanical -obstacle stands in the way of persistent crossing. The -like force of group heredity is visible in the characteristic -differences of race. The heredity of any given race of -mankind is always sufficiently homogeneous to allow -all its individuals to be classed under the race. And -when an individual comes to light in a fairly pure-bred -community who shows physical traits that vary obviously -from the common racial type of the community, -the question which suggests itself to the anthropologists -is not, How does this individual differ from others of the -same breed? but, What is the alien strain, and how has -it come in? And what is true of the physical characters -of the race in this respect is only less obviously true of -its spiritual traits.</p> - -<p>In a culture where all individuals are hybrids, in point -of pedigree, as is the case with all the leading peoples of -Christendom, the ways of this group heredity are particularly -devious, and the fortunes of the individual in -this respect are in a peculiar degree exposed to the caprice -of Mendelian contingencies; so that his make-up, physical -and spiritual, is, humanly speaking, in the main a chapter -of accidents. Where each individual draws for his -hereditary traits on a wide ancestry of unstable hybrids, -as all civilised men do, his chances are always those of -the common lot, with some slight antecedent probability -of his resembling the nearer ones among his variegated -ancestry. But he has also and everywhere in this hybrid -panmixis an excellent chance of being allotted something -more accentuated, for good or ill, in the way of hereditary -traits than anything shown by his varied assortment of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span> -ancestors. It commonly happens in such a hybrid community -that in the new crossing of hybrids that takes -place at every marriage, some new idiosyncracy, slight -or considerable, comes to light in the offspring, beyond -anything visible in the parents or the remoter pedigree; -for in the crossing of what may be called multiple-hybrid -parents, complementary characters that may have been -dormant or recessive in the parents will come in from -both sides, combine, re-enforce one another, and cumulatively -give an unlooked-for result. So that in a hybrid -community the fortunes of all individuals are somewhat -precarious in respect of heredity.</p> - -<p>Such are the conditions which have prevailed among -the peoples of Europe since the first beginnings of that -culture that has led up to the Western civilisation as -known to history. In these circumstances any individual, -therefore, owes to the group not only his share -of that certain typical complement of traits that characterise -the common run, but usually something more -than is coming to him in the way of individual qualities -and infirmities if he is in any way distinguishable from -the common run, as well as a blind chance of transmitting -almost any traits that he is not possessed of.<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">91</a></p> - -<p>In the lower cultures, where the division of labour is -slight and the diversity of occupations is mainly such -as marks the changes of the seasons, the common stock -of technological knowledge and proficiency is not so -extensive or so recondite but that the common man may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span> -compass it in some fashion, and in its essentials it is accessible -to all members of the community by common -notoriety, and the training required by the state of the -industrial arts comes to everyone as a matter of course -in the routine of daily life. The necessary material -equipment of tools and appliances is slight and the -acquisition of it is a simple matter that also arranges -itself as an incident in the routine of daily life. Given -the common run of aptitude for the industrial pursuits -incumbent on the members of such a community, the -material equipment needful to find a livelihood or to put -forth the ordinary productive effort and turn out the -ordinary industrial output can be compassed without -strain by any individual in the course of his work as he -goes along. The material equipment, the tools, implements, -contrivances necessary and conducive to productive -industry, is incidental to the day’s work; in much the -same way but in a more unqualified degree than the like -is true as to the technological knowledge and skill required -to make use of this equipment.<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">92</a></p> - -<p>As determined by the state of the industrial arts in -such a culture, the members of the community co-operate -in much of their work, to the common gain and to no -one’s detriment, since there is substantially no individual, -or private, gain to be sought. There is substantially -no bartering or hiring, though there is a recognised obligation -in all members to lend a hand; and there is of -course no price, as there is no property and no ownership, -for the sufficient reason that the habits of life under these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> -circumstances do not provoke such a habit of thought. -Doubtless, it is a matter of course that articles of use -and adornment pertain to their makers or users in an -intimate and personal way; which will come to be construed -into ownership when in the experience of the community -an occasion for such a concept as ownership arises -and persists in sufficient force to shape the current habits -of thought to that effect. There is also more or less of -reciprocal service and assistance, with a sufficient sense -of mutuality to establish a customary scheme of claims -and obligations in that respect. So also it is true that -such a community holds certain lands and customary -usufructs and that any trespass on these customary holdings -is resented. But it would be a vicious misapprehension -to read ideas and rights of ownership into these -practices, although where civilised men have come to -deal with instances of the kind they have commonly been -unable to put any other construction on the customs -governing the case; for the reason that civilised men’s -relations with these peoples of the lower culture have -been of a pecuniary kind and for a pecuniary purpose, -and they have brought no other than pecuniary conceptions -from home.<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> There being little in hand worth -owning and little purpose to be served by its ownership, -the habits of thought which go to make the institution -of ownership and property rights have not taken shape. -The slight facts which would lend themselves to ownership -are not of sufficient magnitude or urgency to call -the institution into effect and are better handled under -customs which do not yet take cognisance of property<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> -rights. Naturally, in such a cultural situation there is -no appreciable accumulation of wealth and no inducement -to it; the nearest approach being an accumulation -of trinkets and personal belongings, among which should, -at least in some cases, be included certain weapons and -perhaps tools.<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> These things belong to their owner or -bearer in much the same sense as his name, which was -not held on tenure of ownership or as a pecuniary asset -before the use of trade-marks and merchantable good-will.</p> - -<p>The workman—more typically perhaps the workwoman—in -such a culture, as indeed in any other, is a -“productive agent” in the manner and degree determined -by the state of the industrial arts. What is obvious -in this respect here holds only less visibly for any -other, more complicated and technologically full-charged -cultural situation, such as has come on with the growth -of population and wealth among the more advanced -peoples. He or she, or rather they—for there is substantially -no industry carried on in strict severalty in -these communities—are productive factors or industrial -agents, in the sense that they will on occasion turn out a -surplus above their necessary current consumption, only -because and so far as the state of the industrial arts enables -them to do so. As workman, labourer, producer, -breadwinner, the individual is a creature of the technological -scheme; which in turn is a creation of the group -life of the community. Apart from the common stock<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> -of knowledge and training the individual members of -the community have no industrial effect. Indeed, except -by grace of this common technological equipment no -individual and no family group in any of the known communities -of mankind could support their own life; for -in the long course of mankind’s life-history, since the -human plane was first reached, the early mutants which -were fit to survive in a ferine state without tools and without -technology have selectively disappeared, as being -unfit to survive under the conditions of domesticity -imposed by so highly developed a state of the industrial -arts as any of the savage cultures now extant.<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> The -<i>Homo Javensis</i> and his like are gone, because there is -technologically no place for them between the anthropoids -to the one side and the extant types of man on the -other. And never since the brave days when <i>Homo -Javensis</i> took up the “white man’s burden” for the better -regulation of his anthropoid neighbours has the technological -scheme admitted of any individual’s carrying on -his life in severalty. So that industrial efficiency, whether -of an individual workman or of the community at large, -is a function of the state of the industrial arts.<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">96</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span></p> - -<p>The simple and obvious industrial system of this -archaic plan leaves the individuals, or rather the domestic -groups, that make up the community, economically -independent of one another and of the community at -large, except that they depend on the common technological -stock for the immaterial equipment by means of -which to get their living. This is of course not felt by -them as a relation of dependence; though there seems -commonly to be some sense of indebtedness on part of -the young, and of responsibility on part of the older -generation, for the proper transmission of the recognised -elements of technological proficiency. It is impossible -to say just at what point in the growth and complication -of technology this simple industrial scheme will begin to -give way to new exigencies and give occasion to a new -scheme of institutions governing the economic relations -of men; such that the men’s powers and functions in the -industrial community come to be decided on other -grounds than workmanlike aptitude and special training. -In the nature of things there can be no hard and fast -limit to this phase of industrial organisation. Its disappearance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span> -or supersession in any culture appears always -to have been brought on by the growth of property, but -the institution of property need by no means come in -abruptly at any determinate juncture in the sequence of -technological development. So that this archaic phase -of culture in which industry is organised on the ground -of workmanship alone may come very extensively to -overlap and blend with the succeeding phase in which -property relations chiefly decide the details of the industrial -organisation,—as is shown in varying detail by the -known lower cultures.</p> - -<p>The forces which may bring about such a transition -are often complex and recondite, and they are seldom -just the same in any given two instances. Neither the -material situation nor the human raw material involved -are precisely the same in all or several instances, and -there is no coercively normal course of things that will -constrain the growth of institutions to take a particular -typical form or to follow a particular typical sequence in -all cases. Yet, in a general way such a supersession of -free workmanship by a pecuniary control of industry -appears to have been necessarily involved in any considerable -growth of culture. Indeed, at least in the -economic respect, it appears to have been the most universal -and most radical mutation which human culture -has undergone in its advance from savagery to civilisation; -and the causes of it should be of a similarly universal -and intrinsic character.</p> - -<p>It may be taken as a generalisation grounded in the -instinctive endowment of mankind that the human sense -of workmanship will unavoidably go on turning to account -what there is in hand of technological knowledge,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> -and so will in the course of time, by insensible gains -perhaps, gradually change the technological scheme, -and therefore also the scheme of customary canons of -conduct answering to it; and in the absence of overmastering -circumstances this sequence of change must, -in a general way, set in the direction of great technological -mastery. Something in the way of an “advance” -in workmanlike mastery is to be looked for, in the absence -of inexorable limitations of environment. The limitations -may be set by the material circumstances or by -circumstances of the institutional situation, but on the -lower levels of culture the insurmountable obstacles to -such an advance appear to have been those imposed by -the material circumstances; although institutional factors -have doubtless greatly retarded the advance in most -cases, and may well have defeated it in many. In some -of the known lower cultures such an impassable conjuncture -in the affairs of technology has apparently -been reached now and again, resulting in a “stationary -state” of the industrial arts and of social arrangements, -economic and otherwise. Such an instance of “arrested -development” is afforded by the Eskimo, who have to -all appearance reached the bounds of technological mastery -possible in the material circumstances in which they -have been placed and with the technological antecedents -which they have had to go on. At the other extreme of -the American continent the Fuegians and Patagonians -may similarly have reached at least a provisional limit -of the same nature; though such a statement is less secure -in their case, owing to the scant and fragmentary character -of the available evidence. So also the Bushmen, the -Ainu, various representative communities of the Negrito<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> -and perhaps of the Dravidian stocks, appear to have -reached a provisional limit—barring intervention from -without. In these latter instances the decisive obstacles, -if they are to be accepted as such, seem to lie in the -human-nature of the case rather than in the material -circumstances. In these latter instances the sense of -workmanship, though visibly alert and active, appears -to have been inadequate to carry out the technological -scheme into further new ramifications for want of the -requisite intellectual aptitudes,—a failure of aptitudes -not in degree but in kind.</p> - -<p>The manner in which increasing technological mastery -has led over from the savage plan of free workmanship -to the barbarian system of industry under pecuniary control -is perhaps a hazardous topic of speculation; but the -known facts of primitive culture appear to admit at -least a few general propositions of a broad and provisional -character. It seems reasonably safe to say that -the archaic savage plan of free workmanship will commonly -have persisted through the palæolithic period of -technology, and indeed somewhat beyond the transition -to the neolithic. This is fairly borne out by the contemporary -evidence from savage cultures. In the prehistory -of the north-European culture there is also reason to -assume that the beginnings of a pecuniary control fall -in the early half of the neolithic period.<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> There seems -to be no sharply definable point in the technological -advance that can be said of itself to bring on this revolutionary -change in the institutions governing economic -life. It appears to be loosely correlated with technological<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> -improvement, so that it sets in when a sufficient -ground for it is afforded by the state of the industrial -arts, but what constitutes a sufficient ground can apparently -not be stated in terms of the industrial arts -alone. Among the early consequences of an advance in -technology beyond the state of the industrial arts schematically -indicated above, and coinciding roughly with -the palæolithic stage, is on the one hand an appreciable -resort to “indirect methods of production”, involving a -systematic cultivation of the soil, domestication of -plants and animals; or an appreciable equipment of -industrial appliances, such as will in either case require a -deliberate expenditure of labour and will give the holders -of the equipment something more than a momentary -advantage in the quest of a livelihood. On the other -hand it leads also to an accumulation of wealth beyond -the current necessaries of subsistence and beyond that -slight parcel of personal effects that have no value to -anyone but their savage bearer.</p> - -<p>Hereby the technological basis for a pecuniary control -of industry is given, in that the “roundabout process -of production” yields an income above the subsistence -of the workmen engaged in it, and the material equipment -of appliances (crops, fruit-trees, live stock, mechanical -contrivances) binds this roundabout process of industry -to a more or less determinate place and routine, -such as to make surveillance and control possible. So -far as the workman under the new phase of technology -is dependent for his living on the apparatus and the -orderly sequence of the “roundabout process” his work -may be controlled and the surplus yielded by his industry -may be turned to account; it becomes worth while<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span> -to own the material means of industry, and ownership -of the material means in such a situation carries with it -the usufruct of the community’s immaterial equipment -of technological proficiency.</p> - -<p>The substantial fact upon which the strategy of ownership -converges is this usufruct of the industrial arts, and -the tangible items of property to which the claims of -ownership come to attach will accordingly vary from -time to time, according as the state of the industrial -arts will best afford an effectual exploitation of this -usufruct through the tenure of one or another of the -material items requisite to the pursuit of industry. The -chief subject of ownership may accordingly be the cultivated -trees, as in some of the South Sea islands; or the -tillable land, as happens in many of the agricultural -communities; or fish weirs and their location, as on some -of the salmon streams of the American north-west coast; -or domestic animals, as is typical of the pastoral culture; -or it may be the persons of the workmen, as happens -under divers circumstances both in pastoral and in agricultural -communities; or, with an advance in technology -of such a nature as to place the mechanical appliances of -industry in a peculiarly advantageous position for engrossing -the roundabout processes of production, as in the -latterday machine industry, these mechanical appliances -may become the typical category of industrial wealth -and so come to be accounted “productive goods” in -some eminent sense.</p> - -<p>The institutional change by which a pecuniary regulation -of industry comes into effect may take one form or -another, but its outcome has commonly been some form -of ownership of tangible goods. Particularly has that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span> -been the outcome in the course of development that has -led on to those great pecuniary cultures of which Occidental -civilisation is the most perfect example. But -just in what form the move will be made, if at all, from -free workmanship to pecuniary industry and ownership, -is in good part a question of what the material situation -of the community will permit. In some instances the -circumstances have apparently not permitted the move -to be made at all. The Eskimo culture is perhaps an -extreme case of this kind. The state of the industrial -arts among them has apparently gone appreciably beyond -the technological juncture indicated above as -critical in this respect. It involves a considerable specialisation -and accumulation of appliances, such as boats, -sleds, dogs, harness, various special forms of nets, harpoons -and spears, and an elaborate line of minor apparatus -necessary to the day’s work and embodying a minutely -standardised technique. At the same time these -articles of use, together with their household and personal -effects, represent something appreciable in the -way of portable wealth. Yet in their economic (pecuniary -and industrial), domestic, social, or religious institutions -the Eskimo have substantially not gone beyond -the point of customary regulation commonly associated -with the simpler, hand-to-mouth state of the industrial -arts typical of the palæolithic savage culture. And this -archaic Eskimo culture, with its highly elaborated -technology, is apparently of untold antiquity; it is even -believed by competent students of antiquity to have -stood over without serious advance or decline since European -palæolithic times—a period of not less than ten<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span> -thousand years.<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">98</a> The causes conditioning this “backward” -type of culture among the Eskimo, coupled with -a relatively advanced and extremely complete technological -system, are presumed to lie in their material -surroundings; which on the one hand do not permit a -congestion of people within a small area or enable the organisation -and control of a compact community of any -considerable size; while on the other hand they exact -a large degree of co-operation and common interest, on -pain of extreme hardship if not of extinction.</p> - -<p>More perplexing at first sight is the case of such sedentary -agricultural communities as the Pueblo Indians, who -have also not advanced very materially beyond the simpler -cultural scheme of savage life, and have not taken seriously -to a system of property and a pecuniary control of -industry, in spite of their having achieved a very considerable -advance in the industrial arts, particularly -in agriculture, such as would appear to entitle them to -something “higher” than that state of peaceable, non-coercive -social organisation, in which they were found -on their first contact with civilised men, with maternal -descent and mother-goddesses, and without much property -rights, accumulated wealth or pecuniary distinction -of classes. Again an explanation is probably to be -sought in special circumstances of environment, perhaps -re-enforced by peculiarities of the racial endowment; -though the latter point seems doubtful, since both linguistically -and anthropometrically the Pueblos are -found to belong to two or three distinct stocks, at the -same time that their culture is notably uniform throughout -the Pueblo region, both on the technological and on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span> -the institutional side. The peculiar material circumstances -that appear to have conditioned the Pueblo -culture are (<i>a</i>) a habitat which favours agricultural settlement -only at isolated and widely separated spots, (<i>b</i>) -sites for habitation (on detached mesas or on other difficult -hills or in isolated valleys or canyons) easily secured -against aggression from without and not affording notable -differential advantages or admitting segregation of the -population within the pueblo, (<i>c</i>) the absence of beasts -of burden, such as have enabled the inhabitants of analogous -regions of the old world effectually to cover long -distances and make raiding a lucrative, or at least an -attractive enterprise.</p> - -<p>These, and other peculiar instances of what may perhaps -be called cultural retardation, indicate by way of -exception what may have been the ruling causes that -have governed in the advance to a higher culture under -more ordinary circumstances,—by “ordinary” being -intended such circumstances as have apparently led to a -different and, it would be held, a more normal result in -the old world, and particularly in the region of the Western -civilisation.</p> - -<p>In the ordinary course, it should seem, such an advance -in the industrial arts as will result in an accumulation -of wealth, a considerable and efficient industrial -equipment, or in a systematic and permanent cultivation -of the soil or an extensive breeding of herds or flocks, -will also bring on ownership and property rights bearing -on these valuable goods, or on the workmen, or on the -land employed in their production. What has seemed -the most natural and obvious beginnings of property -rights, in the view of those economists who have taken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> -an interest in the matter, is the storing up of valuables -by such of the ancient workmen as were enabled, by -efficiency, diligence or fortuitous gains, to produce somewhat -more than their current consumption. There are -difficulties, though perhaps not insuperable, in the way -of such a genesis of property rights and pecuniary differentiation -within any given community. The temper -of the people bred in the ways of the simpler plan of -hand-to-mouth and common interest does not readily -bend itself to such an institutional innovation, even -though the self-regarding impulses of particular members -of the community may set in such a direction as would -give the alleged result.<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">99</a></p> - -<p>There are other and more natural ways of reaching -the same results, ways more consonant with that archaic -scheme of usages on which the new institution of property -is to be grafted. (<i>a</i>) In the known cultures of this -simpler plan there are usually, or at least frequently, -present a class of magicians (shamans, medicine men, -angekut), an inchoate priestly class, who get their living -in part “by their wits,” half parasitically, by some sort -of tithe levied on their fellow members for supernatural -ministrations and exploits of faith that are worth as -much as they will bring.<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">100</a> As the industrial efficiency -of the community increases with the technological gain, -and an increasing disposable output is at hand, it should<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> -naturally follow, human nature being what it is, that the -services of the priests or magicians should suffer an advance -in value and so enable the priests to lay something -by, to acquire a special claim to certain parcels of land -or cultivated trees or crops or first-fruits or labour to be -performed by their parishioners. There is no limit to -the value of such ministrations except the limit of tolerance, -“what the traffic will bear.” And much may be -done in this way, which is in close touch with the accustomed -ways of life among known savages and lower -barbarians. To the extent to which such a move is successful -it will alter the economic situation of the community -by making the lay members, in so far, subject to -the priestly class, and will gather wealth and power in -the hands of the priests; so introducing a relation of -master and servant, together with class differences in -wealth, the practice of exclusive ownership, and pecuniary -obligations. (<i>b</i>) With an accumulation of wealth, -whether in portable form or in the form of plantations -and tillage, there comes the inducement to aggression, -predation, by whatever name it may be known. Such -aggression is an easy matter in the common run of lower -cultures, since relations are habitually strained between -these savage and barbarian communities. There is commonly -a state of estrangement between them amounting -to constructive feud, though the feud is apt to lie dormant -under a <i lang="la">modus vivendi</i> so long as there is no adequate -inducement to open hostilities, in the way of booty. -Given a sufficiently wealthy enemy who is sufficiently -ill prepared for hostilities to afford a fighting chance of -taking over this wealth by way of booty or tribute, with -no obvious chance of due reprisals, and the opening of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span> -hostilities will commonly arrange itself. The communities -mutually concerned so pass from the more or less -precarious peaceful customs and animus common to the -indigent lower cultures, to a more or less habitual attitude -of predatory exploit. With the advent of warfare comes -the war chief, into whose hands authority and pecuniary -emoluments gather somewhat in proportion as warlike -exploits and ideals become habitual in the community.<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> -More or less of loot falls into the hands of the victors in -any raid. The loot may be goods, cattle if any, or men, -women and children; any or all of which may become -(private) property and be accumulated in sufficient mass -to make a difference between rich and poor. Captives -may fall into some form of servitude, and in an agricultural -community may easily become the chief item -of wealth. At the same time an entire community may -be reduced to servitude, so falling into the possession of -an absentee owner (master), or under resident masters -coming in from the victorious enemy.</p> - -<p>In any or all of these ways the institution of ownership -is likely to arise so soon as there is provocation for it, -and in all cases it is a consequence of an appreciable -advance in the industrial arts. Yet in a number of recorded -cases a sufficient advance in technology does not -appear to have been followed by so prompt an introduction -of ownership, at least not in the fully developed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span> -form, as the surface facts would seem to have called for. -Custom in the lower cultures is extremely tenacious, and -what might seem an excessive allowance of time appears -to be needed for so radical an innovation in the habitual -scheme of things as is involved in the installation of -rights of ownership. There are cases of a fairly advanced -barbarian culture, with sufficiently coercive government -control, an authoritative priesthood, and well-marked -class distinctions which hold good both in economic and -social relations, and yet where the line of demarcation -between ownership and mastery is not drawn in any -unambiguous fashion—where it is perhaps as accurate -a statement as the case permits, to say that this distinction -has not yet been made, and so would, if applied, -mark a difference that does not yet exist.<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">102</a></p> - -<p>So long as overt predatory conditions continue to rule -the case,—e. g., so long as the community in question -continues, in a sense, under martial law, “in a state of -seige,” where the holders of the economic advantage -hold it on a tenure of prowess or by way of delegated -power and prerogative from a superior of warlike antecedents -and dynastic right,—so long the rights of ownership -are not likely to be well differentiated from those of -mastery. Much the same characterisation of such a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> -state of things is conveyed in the current phrase that -“the rights of person and property are not secure.” The -very wide prevalence in the barbarian cultures of some -such state of things argues that the genesis of property -rights is likely to have been something of this kind in the -common run, though it does not in other cases preclude a -different and more peaceable development out of workmanlike -or priestly economies.</p> - -<p>But even if it should be found, when the matter has -been sifted, that the genesis of ownership is of the latter -kind, it would also in all probability be found that among -the peoples whose institutional growth has a serious -genetic bearing on the Western culture the holding of -property has, late or early, passed through a phase of -predatory tenure in which the distinction between ownership -and mastery has so far fallen into abeyance as to -have had but a slight effect on the further development. -Where, as appears frequently to have been the case both -in Europe and elsewhere, the kingship and temporal -power has arisen out of the priestly office and spiritual -power—or perhaps better where the inchoate kingship -was in its origins chiefly of a priestly complexion, with a -gradual shifting of kingly power and prerogative to a -temporal basis,<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">103</a>—there the transition from a creation of -property and mastery rights by priestly economies -(fraud?) to a tenure of wealth and authority by royal -prerogative (force?) will have so blended the two methods<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span> -of genesis as to leave the attempt at a hard fast discrimination -between them somewhat idle.</p> - -<p>But whatever may be conceived to have been the -genesis of ownership, the institution is commonly found, -in the barbarian culture, to be tempered with a large -infusion of predatory concepts, of status, prerogative, -differential respect of persons and economic classes, and -a corresponding differential respect of occupations. -Whether property provokes to predation or predation -initiates ownership, the situation that results in early -phases of the pecuniary culture is much the same; and -the causal relation in which this situation stands to the -advance in workmanship is also much the same. This -relation between workmanship and the pecuniary culture -brought on with the advent of ownership is a twofold -one, or, perhaps better, it is a relation of mutual give -and take. The increase in industrial efficiency due to a -sufficient advance in the industrial arts gives rise to the -ownership of property and to pecuniary appreciations -of men and things, occupations and products, habits, -customs, usages, observances, services and goods. At the -same time, since predation and warlike exploit are intimately -associated with the facts of ownership through -its early history (perhaps throughout its history), there -results a marked accentuation of the self-regarding sentiments; -with the economically important consequence -that self-interest displaces the common good in men’s -ideals and aspirations. The animus entailed by predatory -exploit is one of self-interest, a seeking of one’s own -advantage at the cost of the enemy, which frequently, -in the poetically ideal case, takes such an extreme form -as to prefer the enemy’s loss to one’s own gain. And in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span> -the emulation which the predatory life and its distinctions -of wealth introduce into the community, the end of endeavour -is likely to become the differential advantage of -the individual as against his neighbours rather than the -undifferentiated advantage of the group as a whole, in -contrast with alien or hostile groups. The members of -the community come to work each for his own interest -in severalty, rather than for an undivided interest in -the common lot. Such sentiment of group solidarity -as there may remain falls also into the invidious and -emulative form; whereby the fighting patriot becomes -the type and exemplar of the public spirited citizen, -whose ideal then is to follow his leader and humble the -pride of those whom the chances of contention have -thrown in with the other side of the game. The sentiment -of common interest, itself in good part a diffuse -working-out of the parental instinct, comes at the best -to converge on the glory of the flag instead of the fulness -of life of the community at large, or more commonly it -comes to be centred in loyalty, that is to say in subservience, -to the common war-chief and his dynastic -successors.</p> - -<p>In the shifting of activities, ideals and aims so brought -in with the advent of wealth and ownership, the part of -the priests and their divinities is not to be overlooked, -for herein lies one of the greater cultural gains brought -on by the technological advance at this juncture. The -margin of service and produce available for consumption -in the cult increases, and by easy consequence the spiritual -prestige and the temporal power and prerogatives -of the priesthood grow greater. The jurisdiction of the -gods of the victors is extended; through the vicarious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span> -power of the priests, over the subject peoples, and as -the temporal dominion is enlarged and an increasing -measure of coercion is employed in controlling these -dominions, so also in the affairs of the gods and their -priests there is an accession of power and dignity. It -commonly happens where predatory enterprise comes -to be habitual and successful that the temporal power -tends to centre in an autocratic and arbitrary ruler; -and in this as in so much else, spiritual affairs are likely -to take their complexion from the temporal, resulting -in a strong drift toward an autocratic monotheism, which -in the finished case comes to a climax in an omnipotent, -omniscient deity of very exalted dignity and very exacting -temper. For the habits of thought enforced in the -affairs of daily life are carried over into men’s sense of -what is right and good in the life of the gods as well. If -there is any choice among the gods under whose auspices -a people has successfully entered on a career of predation, -so that some of the gods have more of a reputation for -rapacity and inhumanity than others, the most atrocious -among them is likely, other things being equal, to become -the war-god of the conquering host, and so eventually to -be exalted to the suzerainty among the gods, and even -in time to become the one and only incumbent of the -divine czardom.</p> - -<p>Should it happen that a relatively humane, tolerant -and tractable deity comes in for exaltation to the -divine suzerainty, as well may be if such a one has -already a good prior claim standing over from the -more peaceable past, he will readily acquire the due -princely arrogance and irresponsibility that vests the -typical heavenly king. It may be added that as a matter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> -of course no degree of imputed inhumanity in the most -high God will stand in the way of a god-fearing and -astute priesthood volubly ascribing to him all the good -qualities that should grace an elderly patriarchal gentleman -of the old school; so that even his most infamous -atrocities become ineffably meritorious and are dispensed -of his mercy.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">104</a></p> - -<p>With the terrors of a jealous and almighty God behind -them, and with faith in their own mission and sagacity -in its administration, the priesthood are in a position -to make the affairs of the heavenly king count for much -in the affairs of men; more particularly since this spiritual -power enters into working arrangements with the temporal -power; so that in the outcome these institutions -which in their origins have grown out of a precarious -margin of product above subsistence come to possess -themselves of the output at large and leave a precarious -margin of subsistence to the community at large.<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">105</a></p> - -<p>These further matters of “natural law in the spiritual -world” are not in themselves of direct interest to the -present inquiry, and they are also matters of somewhat -tedious commonplace. Yet this run of things has grave -consequences in the further working-out of the technological -situation as well as in the course of material -welfare for the community on whom it is incumbent to -turn the technological knowledge to account, to conserve -or improve and transmit it, and for this reason it has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> -seemed necessary summarily to recall those general -features of the cultural scheme that are inherently associated -with the earlier pecuniary culture,—the full-blown -barbarian culture. And it seems pertinent also to add -something further in the same connection before leaving -this aspect of the case.</p> - -<p>It is necessary to hark back to what was said in an -earlier chapter, of the relations of tillage and cattle-breeding -to the instinct of workmanship and the course of -technological advance. Both the technological and the -institutional bearing of cattle-breeding is particularly -notable in this connection. As already spoken of in -what has gone before, cattle-breeding has the technological -peculiarity that it may be successfully entered -on and carried forward with a larger admixture of anthropomorphic -concepts than the mechanic arts, or -even than the domestication and care of the crop plants. -It is perhaps not to be admitted that the penchant of -early man to take an anthropomorphic view of the lower -animals and impute to them the common traits of human -nature has directly conduced to their successful domestication, -but it should be within the mark to say that this -penchant may have been primarily responsible for the -course of conduct that led to the domestication of animals,<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> -and that it has apparently never been a serious -drawback to any pastoral culture. Now, wealth in flocks -and herds is peculiar not only in being eminently portable, -even to the extent that in the usual course of this industry -it is necessary for a pastoral community to migrate, -or to go over an extended itinerary with the changing -seasons, but it has also the peculiar quality of multiplying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> -spontaneously, given only a degree of surveillance -and a sufficient range of pasture lands. It follows -that cattle are easy and tempting to acquire by predation, -will accumulate through natural increase without -notable exertion on the part of their owners, and will -multiply beyond the bearing capacity of any disposable -range. Hence a pastoral people, or a people given in -great part to pastoral pursuits, will somewhat readily -take to a predatory life; will have to be organised for -defence (and offence) against raids or encroachments -from its neighbours engaged in the same pursuits; will -find itself short of range lands through the natural increase -of its flocks or herds, and so will even involuntarily -be brought into feud with neighbouring herdsmen through -mutual trespass. Further, the work of herding, on the -scale imposed by the open continental cattle and sheep -ranges, is man’s work, as is also the incidental fighting, -raiding, and cattle-lifting.</p> - -<p>The effects of these technological conditions on the -general culture of a pastoral people are such as are set -forth in their most favourable light in the early historical -books of the Old Testament, or such conditions as may -be found today on the great cattle ranges of west and -north-central Asia. The community falls necessarily -into a patriarchal régime; with considerable concentration -of wealth in individual hands; great disparity in -wealth and social standing, commonly involving both -chattel slavery and serfdom; a fighting organisation -under patriarchal-despotic leadership, which serves both -for civil, political and religious purposes; domestic institutions -of the same cast, involving a degree of subjection -of women and children and commonly polygamy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span> -for the patriarchal upper or ruling class; a religious system -of a monotheistic or monarchical complexion and -drawn on lines of patriarchal despotism; with the priestly -office vested in the patriarchal head of the community -(the eldest male of the eldest male line) if the group is -small enough to admit the administration of both the -temporal and spiritual power at the hands of one man—as -Israel at the time of the earlier sojourn in Canaan—or -vested in a specialised priesthood if the group is of great -size—as Israel on their return to Palestine.</p> - -<p>Such a culture is manifestly fit to succeed both in -avowedly predatory enterprise and in pecuniary enterprise -of a more peaceable sort, so long as range lands are -at its disposal or so long as it can find a sufficiently large -and compact agricultural community to reduce to servitude, -or so long as it can find ways and means of commercial -enterprise while still occupying a position defensible -against all comers. Its population is organised -for offence and defence and trained in the habits of subordination -necessary to any successful war, and the patriarchal -authority and pecuniary ideals inbred in them -give them facility in co-operation against aliens, as well -as the due temper for successful bargaining. Such a -culture has the elements of national strength and solidarity, -given only some adequate means of subsistence -while still retaining its militant patriarchal organisation. -Not least among its elements of national strength is its -religion, which fosters the national pride of a people -chosen by the Most High, at the same time that it trains -the population in habits of subordination and loyalty, -as well as in patient submission to exactions. But it is -essentially a parasitic culture, despotic, and, with due<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span> -training, highly superstitious or religious. What a people -of these antecedents is capable of is shown by the Assyrians, -Babylonians, Medes, Persians, the Hindu invaders -of India, the Hyksos invaders of Egypt, and in -another line by Israel and the Phœnicians, and in a -lesser degree by the Huns, Mongols, Tatars, Arabs and -Turks.</p> - -<p>It is from peoples of this culture that the great religions -of the old world have come, near or remote, but it -is not easy to find any substantial contribution to human -culture drawn indubitably from this source apart from -religious creed, cult and poetry. The domestication of -animals, for instance, is not due to them; with the possible -exception of the horse and the dog, that work had to be -done in peaceable, sedentary communities, from whom -the pastoral nomads will have taken over the stock -and the industry and carried it out on a scale and with -cultural consequences which do not follow from cattle-breeding -under sedentary conditions. Their religion, -on the other hand, seems in no case to have been carried -up to the consummate stage of despotic monotheism -during the nomadic-pastoral phase of their experience, -but to have been worked out to a finished product presently -after they had engaged on a career of conquest -and had some protracted experience of warfare and -despotism on a relatively large scale. The history of -these great civilisations with pastoral antecedents appears -to run somewhat uniformly to the effect that they -collapsed as soon as they had eaten their host into a -collapse. The incidents along the way between their -beginning in conquest and their collapse in exhaustion -are commonly no more edifying and of no more lasting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span> -significance to human culture than those which have -similarly marked the course of the Turk. These great -monarchies were organised by and for an intrusive dynasty -and ruling class, of pastoral antecedents, and they -drew their subsistence and their means of oppression -from a subjugated agricultural population. In the course -of this further elaboration of a predatory civilisation, the -institutions proper to a large scale and to a powerful despotism -and nobility resting on a servile people, were -developed into a finished system; in which the final -arbiter is always irresponsible force and in which the -all-pervading social relation is personal subservience and -personal authority. The mechanic arts make little if -any progress under such a discipline of personalities, -even the arts of war, and there is little if any evidence of -sensible gain in any branch of husbandry. There were -great palaces and cities built by slave labour and corvée, -embodying untold misery in conspicuously wasteful and -tasteless show, and great monarchs whose boast it was -that they were each and several the best friend or nearest -relative of some irresponsible and supreme god, and -whose dearest claim to pre-eminence was that they -“walked on the faces of the black-head race.” Seen in -perspective and rated in any terms that have a workmanlike -significance, these stupendous dynastic fabrics -are as insignificant as they are large, and none of them is -worth the least of the fussy little communities that came -in time to make up the Hellenic world and its petty -squabbles.</p> - -<p>In their general traits these various civilisations -founded (in conquest) by the pastoral peoples are of the -same character as is the pecuniary culture as found<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span> -elsewhere, but they have certain special features which -set them off somewhat in a class by themselves. They -are predatory in a peculiarly overt and accentuated -degree, so that their institutions foster the invidious -sentiments, the self-regarding animus of servility and of -arrogance, beyond what commonly happens in the -pecuniary culture at large; and they carry a large content -of peculiarly high-wrought religious superstitions and -fear of the supernatural, which likewise works out from -and into an animus of servility and arrogance. In these -cultures it is true, even beyond the great significance -which the proposition has in the barbarian culture elsewhere, -that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. -The discipline of life in such a culture, therefore, is consistently -unfavourable to any technological gain; the instinct -of workmanship is constantly dominated by prevalent -habits of thought that are worse than useless for -any technological purpose.</p> - -<p>Much the same, of course, is true for any civilisation -founded on personal government of the coercive kind, -whatever may be the remoter antecedents of the dynastic -and ruling classes; but these other cultures have not the -same secure and ancient patriarchal foundation, ready -to hand, and so they are constrained to build their institutions -of coercion, domestic, civil, political and military, -more slowly and with a more doubtful outcome; nor -does their religious system so readily work out in a -monarchical theology with an omnipotent sovereign and -in all-pervading fear of God. A home-bred despotism -in an agricultural community that has set out with maternal -descent, a matriarchal clan system, and mother -goddesses, is hampered both on the temporal and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span> -spiritual side by ancient and inbred usage and preconceptions -that can be effectually overcome only in the long -course of time. The civilisations of Asia-Minor and the -Ægean region, and even of Egypt and Rome, however -much of pastoral and patriarchal elements may have -been infused into them in the course of time, show their -shortcomings in this respect to the last; perhaps in their -religions more than in any other one cultural trait, since -religion is after all an epigenetic feature and follows -rather than leads in the unfolding of the cultural scheme.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>But these great civilisations dominated by pastoral -antecedents have no grave significance for the modern -culture, except as drawbacks, and none at all for modern -technology or for that matter-of-fact knowledge on which -modern technology runs. The Western peoples, whose -cultural past is of more immediate interest, have also -had their warlike experience, late and early, but it seems -never to have reached the consummate outcome to be -seen in the East. Neither as regards the scale on which -dynastic organisation has been carried out nor as regards -the thoroughness with which their institutions have been -permeated by predatory preconceptions have the Western -peoples in their earlier history approached the standard -of the oriental despotisms. Even now, it may be -remarked, advocates of war and armaments commonly -speak (doubtless disingenuously) for the predatory régime -as being a necessity of defence rather than something -to be desired on its own merits. Not that the -predatory régime has not been a sufficiently grave fact -in the history of occidental civilisation; to take such a -view of history one would have to overlook the Roman<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span> -Empire, the barbarian invasions, the feudal system, the -Catholic church, the Era of statemaking, and the existing -armed neutrality of the powers; but these have, all -but the last, proved to be episodes on a grand scale -rather than such an historical finality as any one of the -successive monarchies in the Mesopotamian-Chaldæan -country,—the test being that occidental civilisation has -not died of any one of these maladies, though it has -come through more than one critical period.</p> - -<p>Western civilisation has gone through these eras of -accentuated predation and has at all times shown an -appreciable admixture of predatory conceptions in its -scheme of institutions and ideals, in its domestic institutions -and its public affairs, in its art and religion, but it is -after all within the mark to say that, at least since the -close of the Dark Ages, a distinctive characteristic that -sets off this civilisation in contradistinction from any -definitively predatory phase of the pecuniary culture, -has been a pertinacious pursuit of the arts of peace, to -which those peoples that have led in this civilisation -have ever returned at every respite. For an appreciation -of the relations subsisting between the sense of -workmanship and the discipline of habituation in the -modern culture, therefore, the phenomena of peaceful -ownership are of greater, or at least of more vivid interest -than those of the predatory phase of the pecuniary culture.</p> - -<p>Modern civilisation, and indeed all history for that -matter, lies within the pecuniary culture as a whole; but -the Western culture of modern times belongs, perhaps -somewhat precariously, to the secondary or peaceable -phase of this pecuniary culture, rather than to that predatory<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> -phase with which the pecuniary scheme of life began -somewhere in the lower barbarism, and that has repeatedly -closed its life cycle in the collapse of one and -another of the great dynastic empires of the old world.</p> - -<p>As in the predatory phase, so also in the peaceable -pecuniary culture, the dominant note is given by the -self-regarding impulses; and the sense of workmanship -is therefore characteristically hedged about and guided -by the institutional exigencies and preconceptions incident -to life under the circumstances imposed by ownership,—in -a situation where the economic interest, the -interest in those material means of life with which workmanship -has to deal, converges on property rights. -Ownership is self-regarding, of course, and the rights of -ownership are of a personal, invidious, differential, emulative -nature; although in the peaceable phase of the -civilisation of ownership, force and fraud are, in theory, -barred out of the game of acquisition,—wherein this -differs from the predatory phase proper.</p> - -<p>An obvious consequence following immediately on the -emergence of ownership in any community is an increased -application to work. This has been taken as a matter -of course in theoretical speculations and is borne out -by the observation of peoples among whom trade relations -have been introduced in recent times. An immediate -result is greater diligence, accompanied apparently -in all cases, if the reports of observers are to be -accepted, by an increase in contention, distrust and -chicanery<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> and an increasingly wasteful consumption of -goods. The diligence so fostered by emulative self-interest -is directed to the acquisition of property, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> -great part to the acquisition of more than is possessed -by those others with whom the invidious comparison in -ownership is made; and under the spur of ownership -simply, it is only secondarily, as a means to the emulative -end of acquisition, that productive work, and therefore -workmanship in its naïve sense, comes into the case at -all. Ownership conduces to diligence in acquisition -and therefore indirectly to diligence in work, if no more -expeditious means of acquiring wealth can be devised. -In its first incidence the incentive to diligence afforded -by ownership is a proposition in business not in workmanship. -Its effects on workmanship, industry and -technology, therefore, are necessarily somewhat uncertain -and uneven. Apparently from the start there is -some appreciable resort to fraudulent thrift, to the production -of spurious or inferior goods.<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> This of course -very presently is corrected in the increased astuteness -and vigilance exercised in men’s dealings with one another, -whereby an appreciable portion of energy goes to -defeat these artifices of disingenuous worldly wisdom.</p> - -<p>It should be added that the pecuniary incentive to -work takes the direction of making the most of the means -at hand, considered as means of pecuniary gain rather -than as means of serviceability, and that it conduces -therefore to the fullest (pecuniary) exploitation of the -standard accepted ways and means of industry rather -than to the improvement of these ways and means beyond -the conjuncture at hand. Further, though this is -also somewhat of a tedious commonplace, since the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span> -only authentic end of work under the pecuniary dispensation -is the acquisition of wealth; since the possession of -wealth in so far exempts its possessor from productive -work; and since such exemption is a mark of wealth and -therefore of superiority over those who have nothing and -therefore must work; it follows that addiction to work -becomes a mark of inferiority and therefore discreditable. -Whereby work becomes distasteful to all men instructed -in the proprieties of the pecuniary culture; and it has -even become so irksome to men trained in the punctilios -of the servile, predatory, phase of this culture that it -was once credibly proclaimed by a shrewd priesthood as -the most calamitous curse laid on mankind by a vindictive -God. Also, since wealth affords means for a free -consumption of goods, the conspicuous consumption of -goods becomes a mark of pecuniary excellence, and so it -becomes an element of respectability in any pecuniary -culture, and presently becomes a meritorious act and -even a requirement of pecuniary decency. The outcome -is conspicuous wastefulness of consumption, the limits -of which, if any, have apparently not been approached -hitherto.<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">109</a></p> - -<p>The bearings of this pecuniary culture on workmanship -and technology are wide and diverse. Most immediate -and perhaps most notable is the conventional -disesteem of labour spoken of above, which seems to follow -as a necessary consequence from the institution of ownership -in all cases where distinctions of wealth are at all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span> -considerable or where property rights are associated with -facts of mastery and prestige. The pecuniary disrepute -of labour acts to discourage industry, but this may be -offset, at least in part, by the incentive given to emulation -by the good repute attaching to acquisition. The wasteful -expenditure of goods and services enjoined by the -pecuniary canons of conspicuous consumption gives an -economically untoward direction to industry, at the -same time that it greatly increases the hardships and -curtails the amenities of life. So also, estrangement and -distrust between persons, classes and nations necessarily -pervades this cultural era, due to the incessant gnawing of -incompatible pecuniary interests; and this state of affairs -appreciably lowers the aggregate efficiency of human -industry and sets up bootless obstacles to be overcome -and irrelevant asperities to be put up with.</p> - -<p>These and the like consequences of pecuniary emulation -are simple, direct and obvious; but the discipline -of the pecuniary culture bears on workmanship also in -a more subtle way, indirect and less evident at first sight. -The discipline of daily life imparts its own bent to the -sense of workmanship through habituation of the workman -to that scheme and logic of things that rules this -pecuniary culture. The outcome as concerns industry -is somewhat equivocal; the discipline of self-seeking at -some points favours workmanship and at others not. -At one period or phase of the pecuniary culture, generally -speaking an early or crude phase, the bent so given to -workmanship and technology seems necessarily to be -conducive to inefficiency; at another (later or maturer) -phase the contrary is likely to be true.</p> - -<p>The pecuniary discipline of invidious emulation takes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> -effect on the state of the industrial arts chiefly and most -pervasively through the bias which it gives to the knowledge -on which workmanship proceeds. It may be called -to mind that the body of knowledge (facts) turned to -account in workmanship, the facts made use of in devising -technological processes and appliances, are of the nature -of habits of thought. This is particularly applicable to -those (tactical) principles under whose control the information -in hand is construed and connected up into a -system of uses, agencies and instrumentalities. These -habits of thought, elements of knowledge, items of information, -accepted facts, principles of reality, in part -represent the mechanical behaviour of objects, the brute -nature of brute matter, and in part they stand for qualities, -aptitudes and proclivities imputed to external objects -and their behaviour and so infused into the facts -and the generalisations based on them. The sense of -workmanship has much to do with this imputation of -traits to the phenomena of observation, perhaps more -than any other of the proclivities native to man. The -traits so imputed to the facts are in the main such as -will be consonant with the sense of workmanship and -will lend themselves to a concatenation in its terms. But -this infusion of traits into the facts of observation, -whether it takes effect at the instance of the sense of -workmanship, or conceivably on impulse not to be identified -with this instinct, is a logical process and is carried -out by an intelligence whose logical processes have in all -cases been profoundly biassed by habituation. So that -the habits of life of the individual, and therefore of the -community made up of such individuals, will pervasively -and unremittingly bend this work of imputation with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span> -set of their own current, and will accordingly involve -incoming elements of knowledge in a putative system of -relations consistent with these habits of life. This comprehensive -scheme of habitual apprehensions and appreciations -is what is called the “genius,” spirit, or -character of any given culture. In all this range of -habitual preconceptions touching the nature of things -there prevails a degree of solidarity, of mutual support -and re-enforcement among the several lines of habitual -activity comprised in the current scheme of life; so that -a certain characteristic tone or bias runs through the -whole,—in so far as the cultural situation has attained -that degree of maturity or assimilation that will allow -it to be spoken of as a distinctive whole, standing out -as a determinate and coherent phase in the life-history -of the race. To this bias of scope and method in the -current scheme of life, intellectual and sentimental, any -new element or item must be assimilated if it is not to be -rejected as alien and unreal or to fall through by neglect.</p> - -<p>All this bears on the scope and method of knowledge, -and therefore on the facts made use of in the industrial -arts, just as it bears on any other feature of human life -that is of the nature of habit. And the immediate question -is as to the bias or drift of the pecuniary culture as -it affects the apprehension of facts serviceable for technological -ends. This pecuniary bias or bent may be -described as invidious, personal, emulative, looking to -differential values in respect of personal force or competitive -success, looking to gradations in respect of comparative -potency, validity, authenticity, propriety, reputability, -decency. The canons of pecuniary repute -preclude the well-to-do, who have leisure for such things,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span> -from inquiring narrowly into the facts of technology, -since these things are beneath their dignity, conventionally -distasteful; familiarity with such matters can -not with propriety be avowed, nor can they without -offence and humiliation be canvassed at all intimately -among the better class. At the same time pecuniary -competition, when carried to its ideal pitch, works the -lower industrial classes to exhaustion and allows them -no appreciable leisure or energy for indulging any possible -curiosity of this kind on their part. The habitual (ideal) -frame of mind is that of invidious self-interest on the -one hand, due to the imperative and ubiquitous need -of gain in wealth or in rank, and on the other hand class -discrimination due to the ubiquitous prevalence of distinctions -in prerogatives and authentic standing. The -discipline of the pecuniary religions, or of the religious -tenets and observances proper to the pecuniary culture, -runs to a similar effect; more decisively so in the earlier, -or distinctively predatory, phases of this culture than -in the peaceable or commercial phase. The vulgar facts -of industry are beneath the dignity of a feudalistic deity -or of his priesthood; at the same time that the overmastering -need of standing well in the graces of an all-powerful, -exacting and irresponsible God throws a deeper -shadow of ignobility over the material side of life, and -makes any workmanlike preoccupation with industrial -efficiency presumptively sinful as well as indecorous.</p> - -<p>The pecuniary culture is not singular in this matter. -Always and everywhere the acquirement of knowledge -is a matter of observation guided and filled out by the -imputation of qualities, relations and aptitudes to the -observed phenomena. Without this putative content<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> -of active presence and potency the phenomena would -lack reality; they could not be assimilated in the scheme -of things human. It is only a commonplace of the logic -of apperception that the substantial traits of objective -facts are a figment of the brain. Under the discipline of -this pecuniary phase of culture the requisite imputation -of character to facts runs, as ever, in anthropomorphic -terms; but it is an anthropomorphism which by habit -conforms to the predatory-pecuniary scheme of preconceptions, -such as the routine of life has made ready and -convincing to men living under the discipline of emulation, -invidious distinctions and authentic pecuniary -decorum. Under these circumstances it is not in the -anthropomorphism of naïve workmanship that the putative -reality of facts is to be sought, but in their conformity -to the conventionally definitive preconceptions -of invidious merit, authentic excellence, force of character, -mastery, complaisance, congruity with the run of -the established institutional values and the ordinances -of the Most High. The canons of reality, under which -sense impressions are reduced to objective fact and so -become available for use, and under which, again, facts -are put in practice and turned to technological account, -are the same canons of invidious distinction that rule -in the world of property and among men occupied with -predatory and pecuniary precedence. In effect men and -things come to be rated in terms of what they (putatively) -are—their intrinsic character—rather than in terms of -what they (empirically) will do.</p> - -<p>Without pursuing the question farther at this point, -it should be evident that the bias of the pecuniary culture -must on the whole act with pervasive force so to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span> -bend men’s knowledge of the things with which they have -to do as to lessen its serviceability for technological ends. -The result is a deflection from matter-of-fact to matter -of imputation, and the imputation is of the personal -character here spoken of. The dominant note appears -to be a differential rating in respect of aggressive self-assertion, -whether in human or non-human agents. -Theological preconceptions are commonly strong in the -pecuniary culture, and under their rule this differential -rating developes into a scheme of graded powers and -efficacies vested in the phenomena of external nature by -delegation from an overruling personal authority. Such -a bent is necessarily prejudicial to workmanship, and it -may seem that the ubiquitous repressive force of this -metaphysics of authority and authenticity should serve -the same disserviceable end for workmanship as the more -genial and diffuse anthropomorphism of the lower cultures, -but with more decisive effect since it runs in a -more competently organised, compact and prescriptive -fashion.</p> - -<p>Where the pecuniary culture has been carried through -consistently on the predatory plan, without being diverted -to that commercial phase current in the latterday -Western civilisation, the conclusion of the matter has -been decay of the industrial arts and effectual dissipation -of that system of matter-of-fact knowledge on which -technological efficiency rests. In the West, where the -predatory phase proper has eventually given place to a -commercial phase of the same pecuniary culture, the -general run of events in this bearing has been a decline -of knowledge, technology and workmanship, running on -so long as the predatory (coercive) rule prevailed unbroken,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span> -but followed presently by a slow recovery and -advance in technological efficiency and scientific insight; -somewhat in proportion as the commercialisation of this -culture has gained ground, and therefore correlated also -in a general way with the decline of religious fear.</p> - -<p>This run of events may tempt to the inference that -while the predatory phase proper of this pecuniary -civilisation is inimical to matter-of-fact knowledge and -to technological insight, the rule of commercial ideas -and ideals characteristic of its subsequent peaceable phase -acts to propagate these material elements of culture. -But what has already appeared in the course of -the inquiry into that still earlier cultural phase that -went before the coercive and invidious régime of predation -suggests that the case is not so simple nor so flattering -to our latterday self-complacency. The self-regarding -sentiments of arrogance and abasement, out of whose -free habitual exercise the pecuniary culture, with its -institutions of prerogative and differential advantage, -has been built up, are not the spiritual source from which -such an outcome is to be looked for. These sentiments -and the instinctive proclivities of which these sentiments -are the emotional expression are presumed to have remained -unchanged in force and character through that -long course of cumulative habituation that has given -them their ascendency in the institutions of the pecuniary -culture, and of their own motion they will yield now results -of the same kind as ever. But the like is true also -for those other instincts out of whose working came the -earlier gains made in knowledge and workmanship under -the savage culture, before the self-regarding sentiments -underlying the pecuniary culture took the upper hand.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span> -The parental bent and the instincts of workmanship and -of curiosity will have been overborne by cumulative -habituation to the rule of the self-regarding proclivities -that triumphed in the culture of predation, and whose -dominion has subsequently suffered some impairment -in the later substitution of property rights for tenure by -prowess, but these instincts that make for workmanship -remain as intrinsic to human nature as the others. What -is to be said for the current commercial scheme of life, -therefore, appears to be that it is only less inimical to -the functioning of those instinctive propensities that -serve the common interest. Hence, gradually, these -instincts and the non-invidious interests which they -engender have been coming effectually into bearing again -as fast as the stern repression of them exercised by the -full-charged predatory scheme of life has weakened into -a less and less effectual inhibition, under the discipline -of compromise and mitigated self-aggrandisement embodied -in the rights of property.</p> - -<p>That authentication of ownership out of which the -sacred rights of property have apparently grown may -well have arisen as a sort of mutual insurance among -owners as against the disaffection of the dispossessed; -which would presently give rise to a sentiment of solidarity -within the class of owners, would acquire prescriptive -force through habitual enforcement, become a matter -of customary right to be consistently respected under -the institutional forms of property, and eventuate in -that highly moralised expression of self-aggrandisement -which it is today. But with the putting-away of fancy-free -predation, as being a conventionally disallowed -means of self-aggrandisement, sentiments of equity and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span> -solidarity would presently come in—perhaps at the outset -by way of disingenuous make-believe—and so the -way would be made easier under the shelter of this range -of conceptions for a rehabilitation of the primordial -parental instinct and its penchant for the common good. -And when ownership has once been institutionalised in -this impersonal and quasi-dispassionate form it will lend -but a decreasingly urgent bias to the cultural scheme -in the direction of differential respect of persons and a -differential rating of natural phenomena in respect of -the occult potencies and efficacies imputed to them.</p> - -<p>As the institutional ground has shifted from free-swung -predation to a progressively more covert régime of self-aggrandisement -and differential gain, the instinct of -workmanship has progressively found freer range and -readier access to its raw material. The differential good -repute of wealth and rank has of course continued to -be of much the same nature in the later (commercial) -stages of the pecuniary culture as in the earlier (predatory) -stages. An aristocratic (or servile) scheme of life -must necessarily run in invidious terms, since that is the -whole meaning of the phenomenon; and resting as any -such scheme does on pecuniary distinctions, whether -direct or through the intermediary term of predatory -exploit, it will necessarily involve the corollary that -wealth and exemption from work (<i lang="la">otium cum dignitate</i>) is -honourable and that poverty and work is dishonourable. -But with the progressive commercialisation of gain and -ownership it also comes to pass that peaceable application -to the business in hand may have much to do with -the acquirement of a reputable standing; and so long -as work is of a visibly pecuniary kind and is sagaciously<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> -and visibly directed to the acquisition of wealth, the -disrepute intrinsically attaching to it is greatly offset -by its meritorious purpose. So much so, indeed, that -there has even grown up something of a class feeling, -among the class who have come by their wealth through -industry and shrewd dealing, to the effect that peaceable -diligence and thrift are meritorious traits.</p> - -<p>This is “middle-class” sentiment of course. The -aristocratic contempt for the tradesman and all his -works has not suffered serious mitigation through all -this growth of new methods of reputability. The three -conventionally recognised classes, upper, middle, and -lower, are all and several pecuniary categories; the upper -being typically that (aristocratic) class which is possessed -of wealth without having worked or bargained -for it; while the middle class have come by their holdings -through some form of commercial (business) traffic; and -the lower class gets what it has by workmanship. It -is a gradation of (<i>a</i>) predation, (<i>b</i>) business, (<i>c</i>) industry; -the former being disserviceable and gainful, the second -gainful, and the third serviceable. And no modern -civilised man is so innocent of the canons of reputability -as not to recognise off-hand that the first category is -meritorious and the last discreditable, whatever his -individual prejudices may lead him to think of the second. -Aristocracy without unearned wealth, or without predatory -antecedents, is a misnomer. When an aristocratic -class loses its pecuniary advantage it becomes questionable. -A poverty-stricken aristocrat is a “decayed -gentleman;” and “the nobility of labour” is a disingenuous -figure of speech.</p> - -<p>The transition from the original predatory phase of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span> -the pecuniary culture to the succeeding commercial phase -signifies the emergence of a middle class in such force as -presently to recast the working arrangements of the -cultural scheme and make peaceable business (gainful -traffic) the ruling interest of the community. With the -same movement emerges a situation which is progressively -more favourable to the intellectual animus required -for workmanship and an advance in technology. The -state of the industrial arts advances, and with its advance -the accumulation of wealth is accelerated, the -gainfulness of business traffic increases, and the middle -(business) class grows along with it. It is in the conscious -interest of this class to further the gainfulness of industry, -and as this end is correlated with the productiveness -of industry it is also, though less directly, correlated -with improvements in technology.</p> - -<p>With the transition from a naïvely predatory scheme -to a commercial one, the “competitive system” takes -the place of the coercive methods previously employed, -and pecuniary gain becomes the incentive to industry. -At least superficially, or ephemerally, the workman’s -income under this pecuniary régime is in some proportion -to his product. Hence there results a voluntary -application to steady work and an inclination to find -and to employ improvements in the methods and appliances -of industry. At the same time commercial -conceptions come progressively to supplant conceptions -of status and personal consequence as the primary and -most familiar among the habits of thought entailed by -the routine of daily life. This will be true especially -for the common man, as contrasted with the aristocratic -classes, although it is not to be overlooked that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span> -standards of propriety imposed on the community by -the better classes will have a considerably corrective -effect on the frame of mind of the common man in this -respect as in others, and so will act to maintain an effective -currency of predatory ideals and preconceptions -after the economic situation at large has taken on a good -deal of a commercial complexion. The accountancy of -price and ownership throws personal prestige and consequence -notably less into the foreground than does the -rating in terms of prowess and gentle birth that characterises -the predatory scheme of life. And in proportion -as such pecuniary accountancy comes to pervade men’s -relations, correspondingly impersonal terms of rating -and appreciation will make their way also throughout -men’s habitual apprehension of external facts, giving -the whole an increasingly impersonal complexion. So -far as this effect is had, the facts of observation will lend -themselves with correspondingly increased facility and -effect to the purposes of technology. So that the commercial -phase of culture should be favourable to advance -in the industrial arts, at least as regards the immediate -incidence of its discipline.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span></p> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_187">CHAPTER V<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Ownership and the Competitive System</span></span></h2> - -<h3><i>I.Peaceable Ownership</i></h3> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> pecuniary system of social organisation that so -results has grave and lasting consequences for the welfare -of society. It brings class divergence of material interests, -class prerogative and differential hardship, and -an accentuated class disparity in the consumption of -goods, involving a very extensive resort to the conspicuous -waste of goods and services as an evidence of wealth. -These consequences of the pecuniary economy may be -interesting enough in themselves, even to the theoretician, -but they need not be pursued here except in so -far as they have an appreciable bearing on the community’s -workmanlike efficiency and the further development -of technology.<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> But the more direct and immediate -technological consequences of this move from a predatory -to a peaceable or quasi-peaceable economic system are -also sufficiently grave—partly favourable to workmanship -and partly otherwise—and these it is necessary for -the purposes of this inquiry to follow up in some detail.</p> - -<p>The interest and attention of the two typical pecuniary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> -classes between whom the affairs of industry now come -to lie, presently part company and enter on a course of -progressive differentiation along two divergent lines. -The workmen, labourers, operatives, technologists,—whatever -term may best designate that general category -of human material through which the community’s -technological proficiency functions directly to an industrial -effect,—these have to do with the work, whereby -they get their livelihood, and their interest as well as -the discipline of their workday life converges, in effect -on a technologically competent apprehension of material -facts. In this respect the free workmen under -this peaceable régime of property are very differently -placed from the servile workman of the predatory régime -of mastery and servitude. The latter has little if any -interest in the efficiency of the industrial processes in -which he is engaged, less so the more widely his status -differs from that of the free workman. His case is analogous -to that of the tenant at will, who has nothing to -gain from permanent improvement of the land which -he cultivates. Whereas the free workman is, at least -immediately and transiently, and particularly in his -own current apprehension of the matter, quite intimately -dependent on his own technological proficiency and -vitally interested in any available technological expedient -that promises to heighten his efficiency. Such -is particularly the case during the earlier phases of the -régime of peaceable ownership, so long as the free workman -is in the typical case working at his own discretion -and disposes of his own product in a limited market. -And such continues to be the case, on the whole, under -the wage system so long as the large-scale production<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span> -and investment have not put an end to the employer’s -intimate supervision of his employés. Indeed, under -the driving exigencies of the competitive wage system -the workmen are somewhat strenuously held to such a -workmanlike apprehension of things, even though they -may no longer have the same intimate concern in their -own current efficiency as in the earlier days of handicraft. -The severe pressure of competitive wages and large organisation, -it might well be thought, should logically -offset the slighter attraction which work as such has -for the hired workman as contrasted with the man -occupied with his own work. The effect of this régime -of free labour should logically be, as it apparently has in -great part been, a close and progressively searching recourse -to the logic of matter-of-fact in all the workmen’s -habitual thinking, and in all their outlook on matters -of interest, whether in industry or in the other concerns -of life that may conceivably be of more capital interest.</p> - -<p>On the other hand the owners under this régime of -peaceable ownership have to do with the pecuniary -management, the gainful manipulation of property. In -the transitional beginnings of this system of peaceable -ownership and free workmen the owners are in the -typical case owners of land or similar natural resources; -but in due course of time there arises a class of owners -holding property in the material equipment of industry -and deriving their gains and livelihood from a businesslike -management of this property, at the same time that -the landlords also fall into more businesslike relations -with their tenants on the one hand and with the industrial -community that supplies their wants on the other -hand. These owners, investors, masters, employers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> -undertakers, businessmen, have to do with the negotiation -of advantageous bargains; it is by bargaining that -their discretionary control of property takes effect, and -in one way or another their attention centres on the -quest of profits. The training afforded by these occupations -and requisite to their effectual pursuit runs in -terms of pecuniary management and insight, pecuniary -gain, price, price-cost, price-profit and price-loss; and -these men are held to an ever more exacting recourse to -the logic of the price system, and so are trained to the -apprehension of men and things in terms which count -toward a gainful margin on investments and business -undertakings; that is to say in terms of the self-regarding -propensities and sentiments comprised in human nature, -and perhaps especially in terms of human infirmity.</p> - -<p>This last point in the characterisation may seem unwarranted, -and may even strike unreflecting persons as -derogatory. It is, of course, not so intended; and any -degree of reflection will bring out its simple bearing on -the facts of business. As is well and obviously known, -the sole end of business as such is pecuniary gain, gain -in terms of price. It need not be held, as has sometimes -been argued, that one businessman’s gain is necessarily -another’s loss; although that principle was once taken -for granted, as the foundation of the Mercantilist policies -of Europe, and is still acted on uncritically by the generality -of statesmen. But it is at any rate true, because -it is contained in the terms employed, that a successful -business negotiation is more successful in proportion as -the party of the second part is less competent to take -care of his own pecuniary interest, whether through -native or acquired incapacity for pecuniary discretion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> -or from pecuniary inability to stand out for such terms -as he otherwise might conceivably exact. A shrewd -businessman can, notoriously, negotiate advantageous -terms with an inexperienced minor or a necessitous customer -or employé. Pecuniary gain is a differential -gain and business is a negotiation of such differential -gains; not necessarily a differential of one businessman -as against or at the cost of another; but more commonly, -and more typical of the competitive system, it is a differential -as between the businessman’s outlay and his -returns,—that is to say, as between the businessman and -the unbusinesslike generality of persons with whom -directly or indirectly he deals as customers, employés, -and the like. For the purposes of such a negotiation of -differentials the weakness of one party (in the pecuniary -respect) is as much to the point as the strength of the -other,—the two being substantially the same fact. The -discipline of the business occupations should accordingly -run to the habitual rating of men, things and affairs in -terms of emulative human nature and of precautionary -wisdom in respect of pecuniary expediency. Instead of -workmanlike or technological insight, this discipline conduces -to worldly wisdom.<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">111</a></p> - -<p>But the disparity between the discipline of the -business occupations and that of industry is by no -means so sheer as this contrast in their main characteristics -would imply, nor do the men engaged in -these two divergent lines of work differ so widely in -their habitual outlook on affairs or their insight into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> -facts. Such is particularly the case in the earlier and -simpler phases of the régime, before the specialisation -of occupations had gone so far as to divide the working -community in any consistent fashion into the two contrasted -classes of businessmen on the one side and workmen -on the other. As this modern régime of peaceable -ownership and pecuniary organisation has advanced -and its peculiar features of organisation and workmanship -have reached a sharper definition, the division between -the two contrasted kinds of endeavour—business -and workmanship—has grown wider and the disparity -in the distinctive range of habits engendered by each -has grown more marked. So that something of a marked -and pervading contrast should logically be found between -the habitual attitude taken by members of the -business community on the one hand and that of the -body of workmen on the other hand; and this contrast -should, logically, go on increasing with each successive -move in advance along this line of specialisation of occupations -and “division of labour.” Some such result -has apparently followed; but neither has the specialisation -been complete and consistent, nor has the resulting -differentiation in respect of their intellectual and spiritual -attitude set the two contrasted classes of persons -apart in so definitive a fashion as a first and elementary -consideration of the causes at work might lead one to -infer.</p> - -<p>Businessmen have to do with industry; more or -less remotely perhaps, but often at near hand, for it is -out of industry that their business gains come; and they -are also subject to the routine of living imposed by the -use of the particular range of industrial appliances and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> -processes available for that use. The workmen on the -other hand have also to do with pecuniary matters, for -they are forever in contact with the market in one way -and another, and it is in pecuniary terms that the livelihood -comes to them for which they are set to work. And -both businessmen and workmen enter on their two divergent -lines of training with much the same endowment -of propensities and aptitudes. Yet it appears that -the training in pecuniary wisdom that makes up the -career of the typical businessman is after all of little -avail in the way of technological insight or efficiency, -as witness the ubiquitous mismanagement of industry -at the hands of businessmen who are, presumably, doing -their best to enhance the efficiency of the industries -under their control with a view to the largest net gain -from the output.<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> If the “efficiency engineers” are to -be credited, it is probably within the mark to say that -the net aggregate gains from industry fall short of what -they might be by some fifty per cent, owing to the trained -inability of the businessmen in control to appreciate -and give effect to the visible technological requirements -of the industries from which they draw their gains. To -appreciate the kind and degree of this commonplace -mismanagement of industry it is only necessary to contrast -the facility, circumspection, shrewd strategy and -close economy shown by these same businessmen in the -organisation and management of their pecuniary, fiscal -and monetary operations, as against the waste of time, -labour and materials that abounds in the industries under -their control. But for the workmen likewise, their daily<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> -work and their insight into its requirements and possibilities -are, by more than half, a “business proposition,” -a proposition in the pecuniary calculus of how to get the -most in price for the least return in weight and tale.</p> - -<p>These various considerations, taken crudely in their -first incidence, would seem to preclude any technological -advance under this quasi-peaceable régime of business. -Business principles and pecuniary distinctions rule the -familiar routine of life, and even the common welfare is -conceived in terms of price, and so of differential advantage; -and under such a system there should apparently -be little chance of the dispassionate pursuit of -such a non-invidious interest as that of workmanship. -The prime mover in this cultural scheme appears to be invidious -self-aggrandisement, without fear or favour; and -its goal appears to be the conspicuous waste of goods and -services. Yet in point of fact the technological advance -under these modern conditions has been larger and more -rapid than in any other cultural situation. Therefore -the circumstances under which these modern gains in -technology have been made will merit somewhat more -detailed attention; as also the cultural consequences -that have followed from this technological advance or -been conditioned by it. And at the risk of some tedious -repetition it seems pertinent summarily to recall these -peculiar circumstances that have conditioned the modern -culture and have presumably shaped its technological -output.</p> - -<p>By and large this modern technological era runs its -course within the frontiers of Occidental civilisation, -and in the period subsequent to the feudal age. Roughly, -its centre of diffusion is the region of the North Sea, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span> -its placement in point of time is in that period of comparative -peace spoken of as “modern times.” Such of -the peoples comprised within this Western culture as -have continued to be actively occupied with fighting -during this modern period have had no creative share in -this technological era, and indeed they have had little -share of any kind. The broad centre of diffusion of this -technology coincides in a curious way with that of the -singularly competent and singularly matter-of-fact neolithic -culture of northern Europe; and the racial elements -that have been engaged in this modern technological -advance are still substantially the same, and mixed in -substantially the same proportions, as during that prehistoric -technological era of the lower barbarism or the -higher savagery. This implies, of course, that the spiritual -(instinctive) endowment of the peoples that have -made the modern technological era is still substantially -the same as was that of their forebears of the Danish -stone age.</p> - -<p>The peoples that have taken the lead in this cultural -growth, and more particularly in the technological advance, -have never lived under a full grown and consistently -worked out patriarchal system, nor have they, -therefore, ever fully assimilated that peculiarly personal -and arbitrarily authoritative scheme of anthropomorphic -beliefs that commonly goes with the patriarchal system. -In the earlier phases of their cultural experience, and -until recently, they have lived in small communities, -under more or less of local self-government, and have in -great part shown some degree of religious scepticism -and insubordination. They have had some experience -of the sea and of that impersonal run of phenomena<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span> -which the sea offers; which call on those who have -to do with the sea for patient observation of how such -impersonal forces work, and which constrain them to -learn by trial and error how these forces may be turned -to account. Latterly, in the days of their most pronounced -technological advance, these peoples have had -experience of an economic and industrial system organised -on an unexampled scale, such as to constitute a -very wide and inclusive industrial community within -which intercourse has been increasingly easy and effective.</p> - -<p>These circumstances have determined the range of -their habituation in its larger features; and these peoples -have come under the discipline of this situation with a -spiritual endowment apparently differing in some degree -from what any other group of peoples has ever brought -to a similar task. How much of the outcome, cultural -and technological, is to be set down naïvely and directly -to a peculiar temperamental bent in this human raw material -would be hazardous to conjecture. Something -seems fairly to be credited to that score. The particular -mixture of hybrids that goes to make up these peoples, -and in which the dolicho-blond enters more or less -ubiquitously, appears to lack a certain degree of subtlety, -such as seems native to many other peoples that have -created civilisations of a different complexion,—a subtlety -that shows itself in a readiness for intrigue and farsighted -appreciation of the springs of human nature, -and which often shows itself also in high-wrought and -stupendous constructions of anthropomorphic myth and -theology, religion and magic, as well as in such large -and fertile systems of creative art as will commonly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span> -accompany these anthropomorphic creations. Those -peoples that are infused with an appreciable blond admixture -have on the other hand, not commonly excelled -in the farther reaches of the spiritual life, particularly -not in the refinements of a sustained and finished anthropomorphism. -Their best efficiency has rather run to -those bull-headed deeds of force and those mechanic -arts that touch closely on the domain of the inorganic -forces.</p> - -<p>Of such a character is also this modern technological -era. It is in the mechanic arts dealing with brute matter -that the modern technology holds over all else, in matter-of-fact -insight, in the naïveté of the questions with which -its adepts search the facts of observation, and in the -crudity (anthropomorphically speaking) of the answers -with which they are content to go back to their work. -Outside of the mechanic arts this technology must be -rated lower than second best. In subtlety of craftsmanlike -insight and contrivance or in delicacy of manipulation -and adroit use of man’s physical aptitudes the peoples -of this Western culture are not now and never have -been equal to the best.</p> - -<p>Such a characterisation of the modern technology may -seem too broad and too schematic,—that it overlooks -features of the case that are sufficiently large and distinctive -to call for their recognition even in the most general -characterisation. So, e. g., in the light of what has been -noted above in speaking of the domestication of the -crop plants and animals, the question may well suggest -itself: Is not the patent success of these modern industrial -peoples in the use and improvement of crops and -cattle to be accepted as evidence of a genial anthropomorphic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span> -bent, of the same kind and degree as took effect -in the original domestication of plants and animals? -For some two hundred years past, it is true, very substantial -advances have been made in tillage and breeding, -and this is at the same time the peculiar domain in which -the anthropomorphic savages of the stone age once -achieved those things which have made civilisation -physically possible; but the modern gains made in these -lines have, in the main if not altogether, been technologically -of the same mechanistic character as the rest -of the modern advance in the industrial arts, with little -help or hindrance due to any such anthropomorphic bias -as guided the savage ancients. It is rather by virtue of -their having come competently to apprehend these facts -of animate nature in substantially inanimate terms, -mechanistic and chemical terms, that the modern technological -adepts in tillage and cattle-breeding have successfully -carried this line of workmanship forward at a rate -and with an effect not approached before. The livestock -expert is soberly learning by trial and error what -to attempt and how to go about it in his breeding experiments, -and he deals as callously as any mechanical engineer -with the chemistry of stock foods and the use -and abuse of ferments, germs and enzymes. The soil -specialist talks, thinks and acts in terms of salts, acids, -alkalies, stratifications, 200-mesh siftings, and nitrogen-fixing -organisms. The crop-plant expert looks to handmade -cross-fertilisation and to the Mendelian calculus -of hybridisation, with no more imputation of anthropomorphic -traits than the metallurgist who analyses fuels -and fluxes, mixes ores, and with goggled eye scrutinises -the shifting tints of the incandescent gases in the open<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span> -hearth. It is from such facts so construed that modern -technology is made up, and it is by such channels that -the sense of workmanship has gone to the making of it.</p> - -<p>So the question recurs, How has it come about that -this pecuniary culture—with its institutions drawn in -terms of differential advantage and moved by sentiments -that converge on emulative gain and the invidiously -conspicuous waste of goods—has yet furthered -the growth of such a technology, even permissively? In -its direct incidence, the discipline of this pecuniary culture -is doubtless inimical to any advance in workmanlike -insight or any matter-of-fact apprehension and use -of objective phenomena. It is a civilisation whose substantial -core is of a subjective kind, in the narrowly subjective, -personal, individualistic sense given by the self-regarding -sentiments of emulous rivalry.<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">113</a> But when all -is said it is after all a peaceable culture, on the whole; -and indeed the rules of the business game of profit and -loss, forfeit and sequestration, require it to be so. It -has at least that much, and perhaps much else, in common -with the great technological era of the north-European -neolithic age. The discipline to which its -peoples are subject may be exacting enough, and its -exactions may run to worldly wisdom rather than to -matter-of-fact; but its invidious distinctions run in -terms of price, that is to say in terms of an objective, -impersonal money unit, in the last resort a metallic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span> -weight; and the traffic of daily life under this price system -affords an unremitting exercise in the exact science of -making change, large and small. Even the daydreams -of the pecuniary day-dreamer take shape as a calculus of -profit and loss computed in standard units of an impersonal -magnitude, even though the magnitude of these -standard units may on analysis prove to be of a largely -putative character. The imputation under the price -system is of an impersonal kind. In the current apprehension -of the pecuniary devotee these magnitudes are -wholly objective, so that in effect the training that comes -of busying himself with them is after all a training in the -accurate appreciation of brute fact.</p> - -<p>At the same time, the instinct of workmanship, being -not an acquired trait, has not been got rid of by disuse; -and when the occasion offers, under the relatively tranquil -conditions of this peaceable or quasi-peaceable pecuniary -régime, the ancient proclivity asserts itself in -its ancient force, uneager and asthenic perhaps, but -pervasive and resilient. And when this instinct works -out through the Bœotic genius of the north-European -hybrid there is a good chance that the outcome of such -observation and reflection will fall into terms of matter-of-fact, -of such close-shorn naïveté, indeed, as to afford -very passable material for the material sciences and the -machine technology.</p> - -<p>So also, the ancient and time-worn civil institutions -of the north-European peoples have apparently not been -of the high-wrought invidious character that comes of -long and strenuous training in the practices and ideals -of the patriarchal system; nor are their prevailing religious -conceits extremely drastic, theatrical or ceremonious,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span> -as compared with what is to be found in the -cults of the great dynastic civilisations of the East. On -the whole, it is only through the Middle Ages that these -peoples have been subject to the rigorous servile discipline -that characterises a dynastic despotism, secular -or religious; and much of the ancient, pagan and prehistoric -preconceptions on civil and religious matters -appear to have stood over in the habits of thought of -the common people even through that interval of submergence -under aristocratic and patriarchal rule. In -the same connection it may be remarked that the blond-hybrid -peoples of Christendom were the last to accept -the patriarchal mythology of the Semites and have also -been the first and readiest to shuffle out of it in the sequel; -which suggests the inference that they have never fully -assimilated its spirit; perhaps for lack of a sufficiently -strict and protracted discipline in its ways and ideals, -perhaps for lack of a suitable temperamental ground.</p> - -<p>There is, indeed, a curiously pervasive concomitance, -in point of time, place, and race, between the modern -machine technology, the material sciences, religious -scepticism, and that spirit of insubordination that makes -the substance of what are called free or popular institutions. -On none of these heads is the concomitance so -close or consistent as to warrant the conclusion that race -and topography alone have made this modern cultural -outcome. The exceptions and side issues are too broad -and too numerous for that; but it is after all a concomitance -of such breadth and scope that it can also not -be overlooked.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The course of mutations that has brought on this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span> -modern technological episode may be conceived to have -run somewhat in the following manner. For lack of -sufficient training in predatory habits of thought (as -shown, e. g., in the incomplete patriarchalism of the -north-Europeans) the predatory culture failed to reach -what may be called a normal maturity in the feudal system -of Europe, particularly in the North and West, -where the blond admixture is stronger; by “normal” -being here intended that sequence of growth, institutionalisation, -and decay shown typically by the great dynastic -civilisations erected by Semitic invaders in the East. -In the full-charged predatory culture, in its earlier phases, -there appear typically to be present two somewhat -divergent economic principles (habits of thought) both -of which have something of an institutional force: (<i>a</i>) The -warrant of seizure by prowess,<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> which commonly comes -to vest in the dynastic head in case a despotic state is -established; and (<i>b</i>) the prescriptive tenure of whatever -one has acquired. These two institutional factors are -at variance, and according as one or the other of the two -finally takes precedence and rules out or masters its -rival postulate, the predatory culture continues on lines -of coercive exploitation, as in these Asiatic monarchies; -or it passes into the quasi-peaceable phase marked by -secure prescriptive tenure of property and a settled nobility, -and presently into a commercialised industrial -situation. Either line of development may, of course,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span> -be broken off without having reached a consummation.</p> - -<p>Within the region of the Western Civilisation, both -in north Europe and repeatedly in the Ægean, the -course of events has fallen out in the line of the latter -alternative; the growth of institutions has shifted from -the footing of prowess to that of prescriptive ownership. -So soon as this shift has securely been made, the development -of trade, industry and a technological system has -come into the foreground, and these habitual interests -have then reacted on the character of the institutions in -force, thereby accelerating the growth of conditions -favourable to their own further advance. There is, of -course, no marked point of conjuncture in the cultural sequence -at which this transition may definitely be said to -have been effected, but in a general way it may be held -that the point of transition has been passed so soon as -the current political and economic speculations uncritically -give precedence to the “commonweal” as against -the fiscal interests of the crown or the “state,” whereby -the crown and its officers come, in theory and public pronouncement, -to be rated as guardians of the community’s -material welfare rather than autocratic exploiters of -the community’s productive capacity. Roughly from -the same period there will duly set in something of an -acceleration in rate of improvement in the state of the -mechanic arts. This movement seems plainly to come -on the initiative of the lower or industrial classes and to -be carried by their genius, rather than by that of the -ruling classes, whether secular or spiritual. It shows -itself, typically, in a growth of handicraft and petty -trade.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span></p> - -<p>So the sense of workmanship and its associated sentiments -again come, by insensible degrees, to take the first -place among the factors that determine the run of habituation -and therefore the character of the resulting culture,—so -making the transition from barbarism to -civilisation, in the narrower sense of the term; which is -accordingly to be characterised, in contrast with the -predatory barbarian culture, as a qualified or mitigated -(sophisticated) return to the spirit of savagery, or at -least as a spiritual reversion looking in that direction, -though by no means abruptly reaching the savage plane. -The new phase has this in common with the typical savage -culture that workmanship rather than prowess again -becomes the chief or primary norm of habituation, and -therefore of the growth of institutions; and that there -results, therefore, a peaceable bent in the ideals and endeavours -of the community. But it is workmanship combined -and compounded with ownership; that is to say -workmanship coupled with an invidious emulation and -consequently with a system of institutions embodying a -range of prescriptive differential benefits.</p> - -<h3><i>II. The Competitive System</i></h3> - -<p>Dominated by the tradition handed down from the -beginning of the nineteenth century, current economic -theory has habitually made much of accumulated goods -as the prime requisite of industry. In industrial enterprise -as it was then carried on the prevailing unit of -organisation was the private firm, with partnership concerns -making up a secondary and less commonplace element -in the business community. Ordinarily and typically<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span> -these private firms and partnerships owned a certain -material equipment employed in industry, and they took -the initiative in industrial enterprise on the ground of -this ownership; hiring the workmen, buying materials -and supplies, and selling the products of the establishment. -Credit relations, such as go to the creation and -conduct of a modern corporation, were still of secondary -consequence, being resorted to rather as an expedient -in emergencies than as the initial move and the substantial -ground of business organisation; the measure of the -concern’s magnitude and consequence was still (typically) -its unencumbered ownership of the material equipment, -the size of the plant and the numbers of its hired -workmen. It follows by easy consequence that in the -practical business conceptions of that time the equipment -of material means, which embodies the concern’s -assets and affords the ground of its initiative and its -rating in the business community, should commonly be -rated as the prime mover in industry and the chief productive -factor. So, also, the theoretical speculation -that drew on that business traffic for its working concepts -came unavoidably to accept these tangible assets, -the community’s material equipment,—implements, livestock, -raw materials, means of subsistence,—as the prime -agency in the community’s economic life. As is true -for the working conceptions and principles of industrial -business, so also in the theoretical formulations of the -economists, the community’s immaterial equipment of -technological proficiency is taken for granted as a circumstance -of the environment conditioning the community’s -economic life,—the state of the industrial arts -and the current workmanlike aptitudes and efficiency.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span> -As the phrase runs, “given the state of the industrial -arts.”</p> - -<p>This is good, homely, traditional common sense; it -reflects the habitual practical run of affairs in the industrial -community of that recent past. Such was the -attitude of practical men toward industrial matters at -the time when the current economic situation took its -rise. But such a conception is no longer so true to the -practical exigencies of the immediate present, nor do the -men of affairs today habitually see these matters in -just this light; although the principles of the law that -govern industrial enterprise still continue to embody -these time-worn conceptions, to which the economists -also continue to yield allegiance. Like other elements -of habitual knowledge this conception of things is drawn -from past experience—chiefly from a past not too remote -for ready comprehension—and it carries over the frame -of mind out of which it arose.</p> - -<p>In the earlier days of the machine industry, then,—say, -in the closing quarter of the eighteenth century,—the -conduct of industrial affairs was in the hands of -business men who owned the material equipment and -who directed the use of this equipment and turned it to -account for their own gain, on the prescriptive ground -of such ownership. Discretion and initiative vested in -the capitalist-employer, who at that time, (typically) -combined ownership of the plant with a somewhat immediate -supervision and control of the industrial processes. -The directive control of industry, covering both -the volume and the character of the processes and output, -was in the typical case directly bound up with -the ownership of the material equipment as such,—as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span> -tangible assets, not as corporation stock-holdings. Since -then changes have come over the business situation, -particularly through an extensive recourse to credit, -such that this time-worn conception will no longer answer -the run of current business practice, particularly not as -touches that large-scale enterprise that now rules industrial -affairs and that is currently accepted as the type -of modern business enterprise.</p> - -<p>Among the assumptions of a hundred years ago was -the premise, self-evident to that generation of thoughtful -men, that the phase of commercialised economic -life then prevailing was the immutably normal order of -things. And the assumptions surrounding that preconception -were good and competent for a formulation of -economic theory that takes such an institutional situation -for granted and assumes it to be unchanging, or to -be a <i lang="la">terminus ad quem</i>. But for anything like a genetic -account of economic life, early or late, capitalistic or -otherwise, such assumptions and the theoretical propositions -and analyses that follow from them are defective -in that they take for granted what requires to be accounted -for. Theoretical speculation that presupposes -the (somewhat old-fashioned) institutions formerly governing -ownership and business traffic, and assumes them -to have the immutable character and indefeasible force -<i lang="la">de facto</i> which is assigned them <i lang="la">de jure</i>, and that likewise -assumes as immutable a passing phase in the “state of -the industrial arts,” may serve passably for a theory of -how business affairs should properly arrange themselves -to fit the conditions so assumed; and such, indeed, has -commonly been the character of theoretical formulations -touching industry and business. And as should fairly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span> -be expected, in the speculations of the economists, -these theoretical formulations have also commonly been -accompanied by a parallel line of remedial advice -designed to show what preventive measures should -be applied to prevent the run of business practice -from doing violence to these assumed conditions that -are held to be immutably normal and indefeasibly -right.</p> - -<p>Now, since in the received theories the accumulated -“productive goods” are conceived to be the most consequential -factor in industry, and therefore in the -community’s material welfare and in the fortunes of -individuals, it logically follows that the discretionary -ownership of them has come to be accounted the most -important relation in which men may stand to the production -of wealth and to the community’s livelihood; -and the pecuniary transactions whereby this ownership -is arranged, manipulated and redistributed are held to be -industrially the most productive of all human activities. -It is only during the nineteenth century that this doctrine -of pecuniary productivity has been worked out -into finished shape and has found secure lodgment in -the systematic structure of economic theory—in the -current theory of “the Function of the Entrepreneur;”<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> -but it is also only during this period that business enterprise -(pecuniary management) has come to dominate the -economic situation in a substantially unmitigated degree, -so that the material fortunes of the community have -come to depend on these pecuniary negotiations into -which its “captains of industry” enter for their own<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span> -gain.<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> In the sense that no other line of activity stands -in anything like an equally decisive relation of initiative -or discretion to the industrial process, or bears with a -like weight on the material welfare of the community, -these business negotiations in ownership are unquestionably -the prime factor in modern industry. But that -such is the case is due to the peculiar institutions of -modern times and to the peculiar current state of the -industrial arts; and the former of these peculiar circumstances -is conditioned by the latter.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>It is not practicable to assign a hard and fast date -from which this modern era began, with its peculiar -scheme of economic life and the economic conceptions -that characterise it. The date will vary from one country -to another, and even from one industrial class to -another within the same country. But it can be said -that historically the modern era begins with the rise of -handicraft; it is along the line of growth marked out by -the development of handicraft that the modern technology -has emerged, together with that industrial organisation -and those pecuniary conceptions of economic -efficiency and serviceability that have gradually come -to their current state of maturity on the ground afforded -by this technology. What historically lies back of the -era of handicraft is not of a piece with the economic situation -of modern times; nor is it characteristic of the -Western civilisation, as contrasted with the agricultural -and predatory civilisations of antiquity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span></p> - -<p>As indicated in an earlier chapter, in speaking of the -decay of the predatory (feudalistic) régime and its servile -agricultural organisation of industry, when peace and -order supervene the instinct of workmanship by insensible -degrees and in an uncertain measure supplants the -invidious self-regarding sentiments that actuate the life -of prowess and servility characteristic of that culture; -so that workmanship comes again into the foreground -among the instinctive propensities that shape the community’s -habitual interest and so bend the course of its -institutional growth and determine the bias of its common -sense.</p> - -<p>The habitual outlook and the bias given by the handicraft -system are of a twofold character—technological -and pecuniary. The craftsman was an artificer engaged -in mechanical operations, working with tools of which -he had the mastery, and employing mechanical processes -the mysteries of which were familiar to his everyday -habits of thought; but from the beginning of the era of -handicraft and throughout his industrial life he was -also more or less of a trader. He stood in close relation -with some form of market, and his proficiency as a craftsman -was brought to a daily practical test in the sale of -his wares or services, no less than in the workmanlike -fashioning of them. Also, the price as well as the workmanlike -quality of the goods presently became subject -of regulation under the rules of the crafts; and the petty -trade which grew up as an occupation accessory to the -handicraft industry was itself organised on lines analogous -to the crafts proper and was regulated by similar -principles; the trader’s work being accounted serviceable, -or productive, in the same general sense as that of any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span> -other craftsman and being recognised as equitably entitling -those who pursued it to a fair livelihood.</p> - -<p>The handicraft system was an organised and regulated -system of workmanship and self-help; and under the -conditions imposed by its technology proficiency in the -latter respect was no less indispensable and no less to the -purpose than in the former. Both counted equally and -in combination toward the successful working of the -system, which is a practicable plan of economic life only -so long as the craftsmen combine both of these capacities -in good force and only so long as the technological exigencies -admit the exercise of both in conjunction. The -system broke down so soon as the state of the industrial arts -no longer enabled the workmen to acquire the necessary -technological proficiency and do the required work -at the same time that they each and several were able -to oversee and pursue their individual pecuniary interests. -With the coming on of a wider and more extensively -differentiated technological scheme, and with -wider and remoter market relations, due in the main to -increased facilities of transportation, these necessary -conditions of a practicable handicraft economy gradually -failed, and the practice of industrial investments and -the larger commerce then gradually supplanted it.</p> - -<p>The discipline of everyday life under the handicraft -economy was a discipline in pecuniary self-help as well -as in workmanship. In the popular ideal as well as in -point of practical fact the complete craftsman stood -shrewdly on his individual proficiency in maintaining -his own pecuniary advantage, as well as on his trained -workmanship; and the gilds were organised to maintain -the craft’s advantages in the market, as well as to regulate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span> -the quality of the output. The craft rules governing -the quality of the output of goods were in the main -enforced with a view to the maintenance of price, and -so with a view to securing an adequate livelihood for the -craftsmen. Efficiency in the crafts came in this way -presently to be counted very much as the modern “efficiency -engineers” would count it,—proximately in terms -of mechanical performance, ultimately in terms of price, -and more particularly in terms of net gain. So that the -habits of life ingrained in the gildsman, and in the community -at large where the gild system prevailed, comprised -as a main fact a meticulous regard for details of -ownership and for pecuniary claims and obligations. It -is out of this insistent, pervasive, and minutely concrete -discipline in the practice and logic of pecuniary detail -that there have arisen those “natural rights” of property -and those “business principles” that have been taken -over by the later era of the machine industry and capitalistic -investment.</p> - -<p>The rules of the gild, as well as the larger legislative -provisions that had to do with gild regulations, were -avowedly drawn with a view to securing the gildsman in -a fair customary livelihood, and the measures logically -adopted to this end were designed to secure him in the -enjoyment and disposal of the returns of his work as -well as in his right to pursue his trade within the rules -laid down for the collective welfare by the gild. With -due training in this logic of the handicraft system it became -a plain matter of common sense that the craftsman -should equitably be entitled to whatever he can -get for his work under the conventionally settled rules -of the trade, and should be free to make the most of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span> -capacities in all that pertains to his pursuit of a livelihood; -and the like principles (habits of thought) apply -to the traffic of the petty trade; which, being presently -interpreted in terms of contract and investment, has -come to mean the right to do business and to enjoy and -dispose of the returns from all bargains made in due -form.</p> - -<p>Presently, as the technological situation gradually -changed its character through extensions and specialisation -in appliances and processes—perhaps especially -through changes in the means of communication and -in the density of population—the handicraft system with -its petty trade outgrew itself and broke down in a new -phase of the pecuniary culture. The increasingly wide -differentiation between workmanship and salesmanship -grew into a “division of labour” between industry and -business, between industrial and pecuniary occupations,—a -disjunction of ownership and its peculiar cares, privileges -and proficiency from workmanship. By this division -of labour, or divergence of function, a fraction of the -community came to specialise in ownership and pecuniary -traffic, and so came to constitute a business community -occupied with pecuniary affairs, running along -beside the industrial community proper, with a development -of practices and usages peculiar to its own needs -and bearing only indirectly on the further development -of the industrial system or on the state of the industrial -arts.</p> - -<p>Master-workmen with means would employ other -workmen without means, and might or might not themselves -continue to work at the trade. Petty traders or -hucksters, nominally members of some craft gild, would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span> -grow wealthy with the increasing volume of traffic and -would organise a more and more extensive household -(sweatshop) industry to meet the increasing demands -of their market; or they might become jobbers, carry -on more far-reaching trade operations over a longer term, -withdraw more distantly from the actual work of the -craft, and in the course of a generation or two (as, e. g., -the Fuggers) would grow into merchant princes and -financiers who maintained but a remote and impersonal -relation to the crafts. Or, again, the associated merchants -(as, e. g., those of the Hansa) would establish depots -and agents, “factories,” that would gradually assemble -something of a working force of craftsmen to sort, warehouse -and finish the products which they handled, at -the same time that they would exercise an increasingly -close and extensive oversight of the industries from -which these products were derived; until these depots, -under the management of the factors, in some cases -grew into factories in somewhat the modern acceptance -of the term. In one way and another this trading or -huckstering traffic, which had been intimately associated -with the handicraft industry and gild life, branched off -in the course of time as the industries advanced to a -larger scale and a more extensive specialisation; and this -increasing “division of labour” between workmanship -and salesmanship led presently to such a segregation of -the traders out of the body of craftsmen as to give rise -to a business community devoted to pecuniary management -alone.</p> - -<p>But the principles on which the new and larger business -was conducted were the same as those on which the -earlier petty trade had been carried on, and therefore the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span> -same in point of derivation and tenor as had been worked -out by long experience within the handicraft system -proper. Business traffic was an outgrowth of the handicraft -system, and it was in as secure a position in respect -of legitimacy and legal and customary guaranty as the -industrial system from which its principles were derived -and from which its gains were drawn.</p> - -<p>The source from which the new line of businessmen -drew the accumulations of wealth by force of which -they were enabled to do business is somewhat in dispute; -but however interesting a question that may -be in its own right, it does not particularly concern -the present inquiry, and the like is true for the still -more interesting and spectacular phenomena that marked -the growth and decline of that early business era that -ran its course within the life-history of the handicraft -system.<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> Throughout that great period of business -activity on the continent of Europe that gathered head -in the sixteenth century and that closed in decay and -collapse in the seventeenth, the principles (habits of -thought) which underlay, authenticated and animated -the business community and its pecuniary traffic continued -to be much the same as animated the body of -craftsmen in their pecuniary relations from the beginning -of the era of handicraft to its close. Such, in its -turn, was also the case with the later business era that -set in with the great industrial advance of England in -the Eighteenth Century, and such continued to be the -case through the greater part of its life-history in the -Nineteenth Century. Of the latterday and latest developments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span> -in business practice and principles the like -cannot unhesitatingly be said, but this too is a matter -that does not immediately concern the inquiry at this -point. But the principles of the new and larger business -were the same as had been slowly worked out under the -system of petty trade. These business principles have -proved to be very tenacious and stable, even in the face -of apparently adverse technological circumstances, coming -as they do out of a long and rigorous habituation of -very wide sweep and having acquired the authenticity -due to formal recognition in legal decisions and to the -painstaking definition given them in the course of a -protracted and exacting struggle against the institutional -remnants of the feudal system. These circumstances -attending the genesis and growth of modern -business principles have led to their being formulated -in a well-defined conceptual scheme of customary right -and also to their embodiment in statutory form. To -this, perhaps, they owe much of their tenacious resistance -to latterday exigencies that have tended to modify or -abrogate them. In their elements, of course, these -business principles are even older than the era of handicraft, -being substantially of the same nature as that -sentimental impulse to self-aggrandisement that lies at -the root of the predatory culture and so makes the substantial -core of all pecuniary civilisations.</p> - -<p>The distinguishing mark of any business era, as contrasted -with the handicraft economy, is the supreme -dominance of pecuniary principles, both as standards -of efficiency and as canons of conduct. In such a businesslike -community efficiency is rated in terms of pecuniary -gain; and in so far as business principles rule,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span> -efficiency in any other direction than business traffic -can claim recognition only in the measure in which it -may be reduced to terms of pecuniary gain. Workmanship, -therefore, comes to be rated in terms of salesmanship. -And the canons of workmanship, and even of -technological efficiency, fall more and more into pecuniary -lines and allow pecuniary tests to decide on -points of serviceability.</p> - -<p>The instinct of workmanship is accordingly contaminated -with ideals of self-aggrandisement and the canons -of invidious emulation, so that even the serviceability -of any given action or policy for the common good comes -to be rated in terms of the pecuniary gain which such -conduct will bring to its author. Any pecuniary strategist—“captain -of industry”—who manages to engross -appreciably more than an even share of the community’s -wealth is therefore likely to be rated as a benefactor of -the community at large and an exemplar of the social -virtues; whereas the man who works and does not manage -to divert something more from the aggregate product -to his own use than what one man’s work may contribute -to it is visited not only with dispraise for having fallen -short of a decent measure of efficiency but also with -moral reprobation for shiftlessness and wasted opportunities. -So also, to the current common sense in a -community trained to pecuniary rather than to workmanlike -discrimination between articles of use, those -articles which serve their material use in a conspicuously -wasteful manner commend themselves as more serviceable, -nobler and more beautiful than such goods as do -not embody such a margin of waste.<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">118</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span></p> - -<p>Under this system of business principles, in one way -and another, the sense of workmanship is contaminated -in all its ramifications by preconceptions of pecuniary -merit and invidious distinction. But what is here immediately -in question is its deflection into the channels -of gainful business, together with the more obvious -consequences that follow directly from the substitution -of differential gain in the place of material serviceability -as the end to which the instinctive propensity of workmanship -so comes to drive men’s ideals and efforts under -the discipline of the pecuniary culture.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>For the purposes of a genetic inquiry into this modern -business situation and its bearing on the sense of workmanship -and on the technological phenomena in which -that instinct comes to an expression, it is necessary summarily -to recall certain current facts pertinent to the -case: (<i>a</i>) It is a competitive system; that is to say it is a -system of pecuniary rivalry and contention which proceeds -on stable institutions of property and contract, -under conditions of peace and order. (<i>b</i>) It is a price -system, i. e., the competition runs in terms of money, -and the money unit is the standard measure of efficiency -and achievement; hence competition and efficiency are -subject to a rigorous accountancy in terms of a (putatively) -stable money unit, which is in all business traffic -assumed to be invariable. (<i>c</i>) Technologically this situation -is dominated by the mechanical industries; so much -so that even the arts of husbandry have latterly taken -on much of the character of the mechanic arts. Hence a -somewhat thoroughgoing standardisation of processes -and products in mechanical terms; which for business<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span> -purposes has with a fair degree of success been made -convertible into terms of price, and so made subject to -accountancy in terms of price. (<i>d</i>) Hence consumption -is also standardised, proximately in mechanical terms -of consumable products but finally, through the mechanism -of the market, in terms of price, and like other -price phenomena consumption also is competitively -subject to and enforced by the like accountancy in terms -of the money unit. (<i>e</i>) The typical industries, which -set the pace for productive work, for competitive gains, -and through the standard rates of gain ultimately also -for competitive consumption, are industries carried on -on a large scale; that is to say they are such as to require -a large material equipment, a wide recourse to technological -insight and proficiency, and a large draught -on the material resources of the community. (<i>f</i>) This -material equipment—industrial plant and natural resources—is -held in private ownership, with negligible -exceptions; the noteworthy exceptions to this rule, as -e. g., harbours, highways, and the like, serving chiefly as -accessory means of industry and so come in chiefly as a -gratuitous supplement to the industrial equipment held -in private ownership and used for competitive gain. -(<i>g</i>) Technological knowledge and proficiency is in the -main held and transmitted pervasively by the community -at large, but it is also held in part—more obviously -because exceptionally—by specially trained -classes and individual workmen. Relatively little, in -effect a negligible proportion, of this technological knowledge -and skill is in any special sense held by the owners -of the industrial equipment, more particularly not by the -owners of the typical large-scale industries. That is to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span> -say, the technologically proficient workmen do not in -the typical case own or control any appreciable proportion -of the material equipment or of the natural resources -to which this technological knowledge and skill applies -and in the use of which it takes effect. (<i>h</i>) It results -that the owners of this large material equipment, including -the natural resources, have a discretionary control -of the technological proficiency of the community -at large, as well as of those special lines of insight and -skill that are vested in these specially trained expert -men in whom a specialised proficiency is added to the -general proficiency that is diffused through the community -at large. (<i>i</i>) In effect, therefore, the owners of -the necessary material equipment own also the working -capacity of the community and the usufruct of the state -of the industrial arts. Except for their effective ownership -of these elements of productive efficiency their -ownership of the material equipment of industry would -be of no effect. But the usufruct of this productive -capacity of the community and its trained workmen -vests in the owners of the material equipment only with -the contingent qualification that if the community -does this work it must be allowed a livelihood, whereby -the gross returns that go in the first instance to these -owners suffer abatement by that much. This required -livelihood is adjusted to a conventional standard of living -which, under the current circumstances of pecuniary -emulation, is in great part—perhaps chiefly—a -standardised schedule of conspicuous waste.</p> - -<p>In what has just been said above, the view is implied -that the owners of the material means, who are in great -part also the employers of workmen and are sentimentally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span> -spoken of as “captains of industry,” have, in effect and -commonly, but a relatively loose grasp of the technological -facts, possibilities, and requirements of modern industry, -and that by virtue of their business training -they are able to make but a scant and uncertain use of -such loose ideas as they have on these heads. To anyone -imbued with the commonplaces of current economic -theory it may seem that exception should dutifully be -taken to this view, as being an understatement of the -businessmen’s technological merits. In current theoretical -formulations the businessman is discussed under -the caption of “entrepreneur,” “undertaker,” etc., and -his gains are spoken of as “wages of superintendence,” -“wages of management,” and the like. He is conceived -as an expert workman in charge of the works, a superior -foreman of the shop, and his gains are accounted a remuneration -for his creative contribution to the process -of production, due to his superior insight and initiative in -technological matters. This conception of the businessman -and his relation to industry has stood over from an -earlier period, the period of the small-scale industry -of handicraft and petty trade, when it still was true that -the owner-employer, in the typical case, kept a personal -oversight of his workmen and their work, and so filled -the place of master-workman as well as that of buyer -and seller of materials and finished goods. And such a -characterisation of the businessman and his work will -still hold true in the modern situation in so far as he -still is occupied with industry conducted on the same -small scale and continues to fill the place of a foreman of -the shop. But under current conditions—the conditions -of the past half century—and more particularly under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span> -the conditions of that large-scale industry that is currently -accounted the type of modern industry, the businessman -has ceased to be foreman of the shop, and his -surveillance of industry has ceased effectually to comprise -a technological management of its details; and in -corresponding measure this traditional theoretical conception -of the businessman has ceased to apply.</p> - -<p>The view here spoken for, that the modern businessman -is necessarily out of effectual touch with the affairs -of technology as such and incompetent to exercise an -effectual surveillance of the processes of industry, is not -a matter of bias or of vague opinion; it has in fact become -a matter of statistical demonstration. Even a -cursory survey of the current achievements of these -great modern industries as managed by businessmen, -taken in contrast with the opportunities offered them, -should convince anyone of the technological unfitness of -this business management of industry. Indeed, the -captains of industry have themselves latterly begun to -recognise their own inefficiency in this respect, and even -to appreciate that a businessman’s management of industrial -processes is not good even for the business purpose—the -net pecuniary gain. And it is all the more -ineffectual for the purposes of workmanship as distinct -from the businessmen’s gains. So, a professional class -of “efficiency engineers” is coming into action, whose -duty it is to take invoice of the preventable wastes and -inefficiencies due to the business management of industry -and to present the case in such concrete and obvious -terms of price and percentage as the businessmen -in charge will be able to comprehend. These men, in a -way, take over the functions assigned in economic theory<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span> -to the “entrepreneur;” in that they are men of general -technological training and insight, who go into their -inquiry on the ground of workmanship, take their data -in terms of workmanship and convert them into terms -of business expediency, somewhat to the same purpose -as the like work of conversion was done by the owner-employers -under that small-scale system of industrial -enterprise from which the current theoretical concept of -the “entrepreneur” was derived. It is then the duty of -these efficiency engineers to present the results so obtained, -for the conviction and guidance of the businessmen -in charge, who thereupon, if their business training -has left them enough of a sense of workmanship, will give -permissive instructions to the expert workmen in direct -charge of the industrial processes to put these statistically -indicated changes into effect. It is the testimony -of these efficiency engineers that relatively few pecuniary -captains in command of industrial enterprises have a -sufficient comprehension of the technological facts to -understand and accept the findings of the technological -experts who so argue for the elimination of preventable -wastes, even when the issue is presented statistically -in terms of price. These men go about their work of -ascertaining the efficiency, actual and potential, of any -given plant, process, working force, or parcel of material -resources, by the methods of precise physical measurement -familiar to mechanical engineers, and as an outcome -they have no hesitation in speaking of preventable -wastes amounting to ten, twenty, fifty, or even ninety -per-cent, in the common run of American industries.<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">119</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span></p> - -<p>The work of the efficiency engineers being always done -in the service of business and with a view to business -expediency, their findings bear directly on the business -exigencies of the case alone, and give definitive results -only in terms of price and profits. How much greater -the ascertained discrepancies in the case would appear if -these findings could be reduced to terms of serviceability -to the community at large, there is no means of forming -a secure conjecture. That the discrepancy would in -such case prove to be appreciably greater than that -shown by the price rating is not doubtful. Under such -an appraisal, where the given industrial enterprises -would be brought to the test of net serviceability to the -community instead of the net gain of the interested -businessmen, many industrial enterprises would doubtless -show a waste of appreciably more than one hundred -per cent of their current output, being rather disserviceable -to the community’s material welfare than otherwise.</p> - -<p>That the business community is so permeated with -incapacity and lack of insight in technological matters -is doubtless due proximately to the fact that their attention -is habitually directed to the pecuniary issue of industrial -enterprise; but more fundamentally and unavoidably -it is due to the large volume and intricate -complications of the current technological scheme, which -will not permit any man to become a competent specialist -in an alien and exacting field of endeavour, such as business -enterprise, and still acquire and maintain an effectual -working acquaintance with the state of the industrial -arts. The current technological scheme cannot be -mastered as a matter of commonplace information or -a by-occupation incidental to another pursuit. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span> -same advance to a large and exhaustive technological -system, in the machine industry, that has thrown the -direction of industrial affairs into the hands of men primarily -occupied with pecuniary management has also -made it impossible for men so circumstanced at all -adequately to exercise the oversight and direction of -industry thereby required at their hands. And the ancient -principles of self-help and pecuniary gain by virtue -of which these men are held to their work of business -enterprise make it also impossible for them adequately -to surrender the discretionary care of the industrial -processes to other hands or to permit the management -of industry to proceed on other than these same business -principles.</p> - -<p>This technological infirmity of the businessmen assuredly -does not arise from a lack of interest in industry, -since it is only out of the net product of industry -that the business community’s gains are drawn—except -so far as they are substantially gains of accountancy -merely, due to an inflation of values. Perhaps no -class of men have ever been more keenly alert in their -interest in industrial matters than the modern businessmen; -and this interest extends not only to the industrial -ventures in which they may for the time be pecuniarily -“interested,” but also and necessarily to other lines of -industry that are more or less closely correlated with -the one in which the given businessman’s fortunes are -embarked; for under modern market conditions any -given line of industrial enterprise is bound in endless -relations of give and take with all the rest. But this -unremitting attention of businessmen to the affairs -of industry is a business attention, and, so far as may be,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span> -it touches nothing but the pecuniary phenomena connected -with the ownership of industry; so that it comes -rather to a training in the art of keeping in touch with -the pecuniary run of business affairs while avoiding all -undue intimacy with the technological facts of industry,—undue -in the sense of being in excess of what may serve -the needs of a comprehensive short-term outlook over -market relations, and which would therefore divert -attention from this main interest and befog the pecuniary -logic by which businessmen are governed.</p> - -<p>Probably, also, no class of men have ever bent more -unremittingly to their work than the modern business -community. Within the business community there is -properly speaking no leisure class, or at least no idle -class. In this respect there is a notable contrast between -the business community and the landed interest. What -there is to be found in this modern culture in the way of -an idle class, considered as an institution, runs back for -its origins and its specific traits to a more archaic cultural -scheme; it is a survival from an earlier (predatory) -phase of the pecuniary culture. In the nature of things -an idle life of fashion is an affair of the nobility (gentry), -of predatory antecedents and, under current conditions, -of predatory-parasitic habits; and as regards those -modern rich men who withdraw from the business community -and fall into a state of <i lang="la">otium cum dignitate</i>, it is -commonly their fortune to be assimilated by a more or -less ceremonial induction into the body of this quasi-predatory -gentry or nobility and so assume an imitative -colouring of archaism.</p> - -<p>The business community is hard at work, and there is -no place in it for anyone who is unable or unwilling to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span> -work at the high tension of the average; and since this -close application to pecuniary work is of a competitive -nature it leaves no chance for any of the competitors to -apply himself at all effectually to other than pecuniary -work. This high tension of work is felt to be very meritorious -in all modern communities, somewhat in proportion -as they are modern; as is necessarily the case -in any work that is substantially of an emulative character. -It spends itself on salesmanship, not on workmanship -in the naïve sense; although the all-pervading preoccupation -with pecuniary matters in modern times has -led to its being accounted the type of workmanlike -endeavour. It concerns itself ultimately with the pecuniary -manipulation of the material equipment of industry, -though there is much of it that does not bear -immediately on that point. The exceptions under this -broad proposition are more apparent than real, although -there doubtless are exceptions actual as well as apparent. -In such a case the business transactions in question are -likely to bear on the ownership of certain specific elements -of the immaterial technological equipment, as -e. g., habits of thought covered by parent-right or mechanical -expedients covered by franchise. Beyond these -there are elements of “good-will” that are subject of -traffic and that consist in preferential advantages in -respect of purely pecuniary transactions having to do -not with the material equipment but with the right -to deal with it and its management, as e. g., in banking, -underwriting, insurance, and the phenomena of the -money market at large.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>But the mature business situation as it runs today is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span> -complex affair, large and intricate, wherein the effective -relations in which business traffic stands to workmanship -and to the community’s immaterial equipment of technological -knowledge at large are greatly obscured by -their own convolutions and by the institutional arrangements -and convictions to which this traffic has given -rise. So that the matter is best approached by way of a -genetic exposition that shall take as its point of departure -that simpler business enterprise of early modern times -out of which the larger development of the present has -grown by insensible accretions and displacements.</p> - -<p>Business enterprise came in the course of time to take -over the affairs of industry and so to withdraw these -affairs from the tutelage of the gilds. This shifting of -the effectual discretion in the management of industrial -affairs came on gradually and in varying fashion and -degree over a considerable interval of time. But the -decisive general circumstance that enforced this move -into the modern way of doing was an advance in the -scope and method of workmanship.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> What threw the -fortunes of the industrial community into the hands of -the owners of accumulated wealth was essentially a -technological change, or rather a complex of technological -changes, which so enlarged the requirements in respect -of material equipment that the impecunious workmen -could no longer carry on their trade except by a working -arrangement with the owners of this equipment; whereby<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span> -the discretionary control of industry was shifted from the -craftsmen’s technological mastery of the ways of industry -to the owner’s pecuniary mastery of the material means. -In the change that so took place to a larger technological -scale much was doubtless due to the extension of trade, -itself in great part an outcome of technological changes, -directly and indirectly. For the craftsmen and their -work the outcome was that recourse must be had to the -material equipment owned by those who owned it, and on -such terms as would content the owners; whereby the -usufruct of the workmen’s proficiency and of the state of -the industrial arts fell to the owners of the material -equipment, on such terms as might be had.<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">121</a> So it fell -to these owners of the material means and of the products<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span> -of industry to turn this technological situation to account -for their own gain, with as little abatement as -might be, and at the same time it became incumbent on -them each and several competitively to divert as large -a share of the community’s productive efficiency to his -own profit as the circumstances would permit.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_231">CHAPTER VI<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Era of Handicraft</span><a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor smaller">122</a></span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Owing,</span> probably, to the peculiar topography of Europe, -small-scale and broken, the pastoral-predatory culture -has never been fully developed or naturalised in this -region; nor has a monarchy of the great type characteristic -of western Asia ever run its course in Europe. The -nearest approach to such a despotic state would be the -Roman Empire; which was after all essentially Mediterranean, -largely Levantine, rather than peculiarly -European. And owing probably to the same conditioning -limitations of topography the subsequent sequence of -institutional phenomena have also been characteristically -different in this European region from that in the large -and fertile lands of the near East. It is necessarily this -run of events in the Western culture that is of chief -interest to the present inquiry; which will therefore -most conveniently follow the historical outlines of this -culture in its later phases, in so far as these outlines are -to be drawn in economic terms of a large generality.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>In a passably successful fashion the peoples of Christendom -made the transition from a frankly predatory<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span> -and servile establishment, in the Dark Ages, to a settled, -quasi-peaceable situation resting on fairly secure property -rights, chiefly in land, by the close of the Middle -Ages. This transition was accompanied by a growth -of handicraft, itinerant merchandising and industrial -towns, so massive as to outlive and displace the feudal -system under whose tutelage it took its rise, and of so -marked a technological character as to have passed into -history as the “era of handicraft.” Technologically, -this era is marked by an ever advancing growth of -craftsmanship; until it passes over into the régime of -the machine industry when its technology had finally -outgrown those limitations of handicraft and petty -trade that gave it its character as a distinct phase of -economic history. In its beginning the handicraft -system was made up of impecunious craftsmen, working -in severalty and working for a livelihood, and the rules -of the craft-gilds that presently took shape and exercised -control were drawn on that principle.<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> The petty trade -which characteristically runs along with the development -of handicraft was carried on after the same detail -fashion and was presently organised on lines afforded by -the same principle of work for a livelihood.</p> - -<p>Presently, however, in early modern times, larger holdings -of property came to be employed in the itinerant -trade, and investment for a profit found its way into this -trade as also into the handicraft system proper. The -processes of industry grew more extensive and roundabout, -the specialisation of occupations (“division of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span> -labour”) increased, the scale of organisation grew larger, -and the practice of employing impecunious workmen in -organised bodies under the direction of wealthier masters -came to be the prevailing form taken by the industry of -the time.</p> - -<p>From near the beginnings of the handicraft system, -and throughout the period of its flourishing, the output of -the industry was habitually sold at a price, in terms of -money. In the earlier days the price was regulated on the -basis of labour cost, on the principle that a competent -craftsman must be allowed a fair livelihood, and much -thought and management was spent on the determination -and maintenance of such a “just price.” But in the -course of generations, with further development of trade -and markets, this conception of price by degrees gave -way to or passed over into the modern presumption that -any article of value is worth what it will bring; until, -when the era of handicraft and petty trade merges in -the late-modern régime of investment and machine -industry, it has become the central principle of pecuniary -relations that price is a matter to be arranged freely -between buyer and seller on the basis of bargain and sale.</p> - -<p>The characteristic traits of this era are the handicraft -industry and the petty trade which handled the output -of that industry, with the trade gradually coming into a -position of discretionary management, and even dominating -the industry of the craftsmen to such an extent that -by the date when the technology of handicraft begins -to give way to the factory organisation and the machine -industry the workmen are already somewhat fully under -the control of the businessmen. Visibly, the ruling cause -of this change in the relations between the craftsmen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span> -on the one hand and the traders and master-employers -on the other hand was the increasing magnitude of the -material means necessary to the pursuit of industry, -due to such a growth of technology as required an ever -larger, more finished and more costly complement of -appliances. So that in the course of the era of handicraft -the ancient relation between owners and workmen -gradually re-established itself within the framework of -the new technology; with the difference that the owners -in whose hands the discretion now lay, and to whose -gain the net output of industry now inured, were the -businessmen, investors, the owners of the industrial -plant and of the apparatus of trade, instead of as formerly -the owners of the soil.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Under the handicraft system, and to the extent to -which that system shaped the situation, the instinct of -workmanship again came into a dominant position -among the factors that made up the discipline of daily -life and so gave their characteristic bent to men’s habits -of thought. In the technology of handicraft the central -fact is always the individual workman, whether in the -crafts proper or in the petty trade. In that era industry -is conceived in terms of the skill, initiative and application -of the trained individual, and human relations outside -of the workshop tend also by force of habit to be -conceived in similar terms of self-sufficient individuals, -each working out his own ends in severalty.</p> - -<p>The position of the craftsman in the economy of that -time is peculiarly suited to induce a conception of the -individual workman as a creative agent standing on his -own bottom, and as an ultimate, irreducible factor in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span> -community’s make-up. He draws on the resources of his -own person alone; neither his ancestry nor the favour of -his neighbours have visibly yielded him anything beyond -an equivalent for work done; he owes nothing to inherited -wealth or prerogative, and he is bound in no -relation of landlord or tenant to the soil. With his -slight outfit of tools he is ready and competent of his own -motion to do the work that lies before him, and he asks -nothing but an even chance to do what he is fit to do. -Even the training which has given him his finished skill -he has come by through no special favour or advantage, -having given an equivalent for it all in the work done -during his apprenticeship and so having to all appearance -acquired it by his own force and diligence. The -common stock of technological knowledge underlying -all special training was at that time still a sufficiently -simple and obvious matter, so that it was readily acquired -in the routine of work, without formal application -to the learning of it; and any indebtedness to the community -at large or to past generations for such common -stock of information would therefore not be sufficiently -apparent to admit of its disturbing the craftsman’s -naïve appraisal of his productive capacity in the simple -and complacent terms of his own person.</p> - -<p>The man who does things, who is creatively occupied -with fashioning things for use, is the central fact in the -scheme of things under the handicraft system, and the -range of concepts by use of which the technological -problems of that era are worked out is limited by the -habit of mind so induced in those who have the work in -hand and in those who see it done. The discipline of the -crafts inculcates the apprehension of mechanical facts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span> -and processes in terms of workmanlike endeavour and -achievement; so that questions as to what forces are -available for use, and of how to turn them to account, -present themselves in terms of muscular force and manual -dexterity. Mechanical appliances for use in industry -are designed and worked out as contrivances to facilitate -or to abridge manual labour, and it is in terms of labour -that the whole industrial system is conceived and its -incidence, value and output rated.</p> - -<p>Such a fashion of conceiving the operations and appliances -of industry seems at the same time to fall in closely -with men’s natural bent as given by the native instinct -of workmanship; and fostered by the consistent drift -of daily routine under the handicraft system this attitude -grew into matter of course, and has continued to direct -men’s thinking on industrial matters even long after -the era of handicraft has passed and given place to the -factory system and the large machine industry. So -much so that throughout the nineteenth century, in -economic speculations as well as in popular speech, the -mechanical plant employed in industry has habitually -been spoken of as “labour saving devices;” even such -palpable departures from the manual workmanship of -handicraft as the power loom, the smelting furnace, -artificial waterways and highways, the steam engine -and telegraphic apparatus, have been so classed.</p> - -<p>There need be no question but that these phenomena -of the machine era will bear such an interpretation; -the point of interest here is that such an interpretation -should have been resorted to and should have commended -itself as adequate and satisfactory when applied to these -mechanical facts whose effective place in technology<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span> -and in its bearing on the economy of human life has -turned out to be so widely different from that range of -manual operations with which it is so sought to assimilate -them.<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">124</a></p> - -<p>The discipline of the handicraft industry enforces an -habitual apprehension of mechanical forces and processes -in terms of manual workmanship,—muscular force and -craftsmanlike manipulation. This discipline touches<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span> -first, and most intimately and coercively, the classes -engaged in the manual work of industry, but it also -necessarily pervades the community at large and gathers -in its net all individuals and classes who have to do with -the facts of industry, near or remote. It gives its specific -character to the habits of life of the community that -lives under its dispensation and by its means, and so it -acts as an overruling formative guide in shaping the -current habits of thought.</p> - -<p>The consequences of this habitual attitude, for the -technology of the machine era that presently follows, -are worth noting. The mechanical inventions and expedients -that lead over from the era of handicraft, through -what has been called the industrial revolution, to the -later system of large industry, bear the marks of their -handicraft origin. The early devices of the machine -industry are uniformly contrivances for performing by -mechanical means the same motions which the craftsmen -in the given industries performed by hand and by -man power; in great part, indeed, they set out with being -contrivances to enable the workmen to perform the same -manual operation in duplicate or multiple—(as in the -early spinning and weaving machinery) or to perform a -given operation with larger effect than was possible to -the unaided muscular work (as in the beginnings of -steam power). In their beginnings the new mechanical -appliances are conceived as improved tools, which extend -the reach and power of the workman or which facilitate -or lighten the manual operations in which he spends -himself. They are, as they aim to be, labour saving -devices, designed to further the workmanlike efficiency -of the men in whose hands they are placed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span></p> - -<p>The early history of steam power shows how closely this -workmanlike conception limited the range of invention. -It was first employed to pump water out of mines. In -this use the pressure of the air on a piston, in a low-pressure -cylinder, was brought to bear on a lever so -suspended as to yield formally the same motion as a -like lever previously moved by human muscle. After a -long interval, sufficiently long to make the use of this -intermittent pressure and the resulting reciprocating -motion familiar and impersonal in men’s habitual apprehension, -the reciprocating motion was turned to use to -produce a rotary motion,—after the fashion suggested -by the treadle of a lathe or spinning wheel, which was -already familiar enough to have been divested of something -of that fog of personality that had doubtless surrounded -it at its first invention.<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> The next serious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span> -move in the development of the steam engine is the invention -of the automatic valves, for admission and escape -of steam from the cylinder. According to the ancient -myth, a boy whose work it was to shift the valves by -hand, contrived to connect them by cords with the moving -parts of the machine in such a way as to lift them at -the proper moment by the motion of the machine itself; -so making the machine perform what had in the -original concept of the valve mechanism been a manual -operation. Later still, after the due interval for externalisation -and assimilation of this mechanical valve -movement as an impersonal fact of the machine process, -further improvement and elaboration of the elements -so gained has worked out in the highly finished mechanism -familiar to later times.</p> - -<p>Detail scrutiny of any one of the greater mechanical -inventions, or series of inventions, will bring out something -of the same character as is seen in the sequence -of successive gains that make up the history of the steam -engine. It is to be noted in this connection that time -appears to be of the essence of the process of mechanical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span> -invention in any field; so much so, indeed, that it will -commonly be found that any single inventor contributes -but one radical innovation in any one particular -connection; which may then presently be taken up again -as a securely objective element by a later inventor and -pushed forward by a new move as radical as that to -which this original invention owed its origin. This time -interval which plays such a part in mechanical inventions -appears necessary only as an interval of habituation, for -the due externalisation of the element, to relieve it, by -neglect, of the personal equation with which it is contaminated -as it first comes into use, and so to leave it such an -objective concept as may be turned to account as mere -technological raw material.</p> - -<p>It appears, then, that the accumulation of technological -experience is not of itself sufficient to bring out a -consecutive improvement of the industrial arts, particularly -not such an advance in the industrial arts as is -embodied in the machine technology of late-modern -times. In this modern machine technology the ruling -norm is the highly impersonal, not to say brutal, concept -of mechanical process, blind and irresponsible. The logic -of this technology, accordingly, is the logic of the machine -process,—a logic of masses, velocities, strains and -thrusts, not of personal dexterity, tact, training, and -routine. In the degree in which the information that -comes to hand comes encumbered with a teleological -bias, a connotation of personal bent, it is unavailable or -refractory under this logic. But all new information -is infused with such an anthropomorphic colouring of -personality; which may presently decay and give place -to a more objective habitual apprehension of the facts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span> -in case use and wont play up the mechanical character -and bearing of these facts in subsequent experience of -them; or which may on the other hand end by giving -its definitive character and value to the acquired information -in case it should happen that the facts of experience -are by use and wont bent to an habitual anthropomorphic -rating and employment. To serve the needs of this -machine technology, therefore, the information which -accumulates must in some measure be divested of its -naïve personal colouring by use and wont; and the degree -in which this effect is had is a measure of the degree of -availability of the resulting facts for the uses of the -machine technology. The larger the available body -of information of this character, and the more comprehensive -and unremitting the share taken by the discipline -of the machine process in the routine of daily -life, therefore, the greater, other things equal, will be -the rate of advance in the technological mastery of -mechanical facts.</p> - -<p>But much else goes to the make-up of use and wont -besides the routine of industry and the utilisation of -those mechanical processes and that output of goods -which the modern machine industry places at men’s disposal. -To put the same thing in terms already employed -in another connection, the sense of workmanship is still -subject to contamination with other impulsive elements -of human nature working under the constraining limitations -imposed by divers conventional canons and principles -of conduct; besides being constantly subject to -self-contamination in the way of an anthropomorphic -interpretation that construes the facts of experience in -terms of a craftsmanlike bent.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span></p> - -<p>As bearing on the effectual reach of this self-contamination -of the sense of workmanship it is pertinent to recall -that craftsmanship ran within a class, and so had the -benefit of that accentuated sentiment of self-complacency -that comes of class consciousness. From its beginnings -down to the period of its dissolution the handicraft -industry is an affair of the lower classes; and, as is -well known, class feeling runs strong throughout the era, -particularly through the centuries of its best development. -Whether their conceit is wholly a naïve self-complacency -or partly a product of affectation, the -sentiment is well in evidence and marks the attitude of -the handicraft community with a characteristic bias. -The craftsmen habitually rate themselves as serviceable -members of the community and contrast themselves -in this respect with the other orders of society who are -not occupied with the production of things serviceable -for human use. To the creative workman who makes -things with his hands belongs an efficiency and a merit -of a peculiarly substantial and definitive kind, he is the -type and embodiment of efficiency and serviceability. -The other orders of society and other employments of -time and effort may of course be well enough in their -way, but they lack that substantial ground of finality -which the craftsman in his genial conceit arrogates to -himself and his work. And so good a case does the craftsman -make out on this head, and so convincingly evident -is the efficiency of the skilled workman, and so patent is -his primacy in the industrial community, that by the -close of the era much the same view has been accepted -by all orders of society.</p> - -<p>Such a bias pervading the industrial community must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span> -greatly fortify the native bent to construe all facts of -observation in anthropomorphic terms. But the training -given by the petty trade of the handicraft era, on the -other hand, is not altogether of this character. The -itinerant merchant’s huckstering, as well as the buying -and selling in which all members of the community were -concerned, would doubtless throw the personal strain -into the foreground and would act to keep the self-regarding -sentiments alert and active and accentuate an individualistic -appreciation of men and things. But the -habit of rating things in terms of price has no such tendency, -and the price concept gains ground throughout -the period. Wherever the handicraft system reaches a -fair degree of development the daily life of the community -comes to centre about the market and to take on the -character given by market relations. The volume -of trade grows greater, and purchase and sale enter more -thoroughly into the details of the work to be done and of -the livelihood to be got by this work. The price system -comes into the foreground. With the increase of traffic, -book-keeping comes into use among the merchants; and -as fast as the practice of habitual recourse to the market -grows general, the uncommercial classes also become -familiar with the rudimentary conceptions of book-keeping, -even if they do not make much use of formal -accounts in their own daily affairs.<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">126</a></p> - -<p>The logic and concepts of accountancy are wholly -impersonal and dispassionate; and whether men’s use -of its logic and concepts takes the elaborate form of a -set of books or the looser fashion of an habitual rating<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span> -of gains, losses, income, and outgo in terms of price, its -effect is unavoidably in some degree to induce a statistical -habit of mind. It makes immediately for an exact quantitative -apprehension of all things and relations that -have a pecuniary bearing; and more remotely, by force -of the pervasive effect of habituation, it makes for a -greater readiness to apprehend all facts in a similarly -objective and statistical fashion, in so far as the facts -admit of a quantitative rating. Accountancy is the beginning -of statistics, and the price concept is a type of -the objective impersonal, quantitative apprehension of -things. Coincidently, because they do not lend themselves -to this facile rating, facts that will not admit of a -quantitative statement and statistical handling decline -in men’s esteem, considered as facts, and tend in some -degree to lose the cogency which belongs to empirical -reality. They may even come to be discounted as -being of a lower order of reality, or may even be denied -factual value.</p> - -<p>Doubtless, the price system had much to do with the -rise of the machine technology in modern times; not only -in that the accountancy of price offered a practical form -and method of statistical computation, such as is indispensable -to anything that may fairly be classed as -engineering, but also and immediately and substantially -in that its discipline has greatly conduced to the -apprehension of mechanical facts in terms not coloured -by an imputed anthropomorphic bent. It has probably -been the most powerful factor acting positively in early -modern times to divest mechanical facts of that imputed -workmanlike bent given them by habits of thought induced -by the handicrafts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span></p> - -<p>This reduction of the facts of observation to quantitative -and objective terms is perhaps most visible not in -the changes that come over the technology of industry -directly, in early modern times, but rather in that growth -of material science that runs along as a concomitant of -the expansion of the mechanical industry during the -later era of handicraft. The material sciences, particularly -those occupied with mechanical phenomena, -are closely related to the technology of the mechanical -industries, both in their subject matter and in the scope -and method of the systematisation of knowledge at -which they aim; and it is in these material sciences that -the concomitance is best seen, at the same time that it is -the advance achieved in these sciences that most unequivocally -marks the transition from mediæval to -modern habits of thought. This modern interest in -matter-of-fact knowledge and the consequent achievements -in material science, comes to an effectual head -wherever and so soon, as the handicraft industry has -made a considerable advance, in volume and in technological -mastery, sufficient to support a fair volume of -trade and make thoughtful men passably familiar with -the statistical conceptions of the price system.</p> - -<p>It is accordingly in the commercial republics of Italy -that the modern growth of material science takes its -first start, about the point of time when industry and -commerce had reached their most flourishing state on the -Mediterranean seaboard and when the attention of these -communities was already swinging off from these material -interests to high-handed politics and religious reaction. -The higher interests of church and state came to the front, -and science, industry, and presently commerce dwindled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span> -and decayed in the land that had promised so handsomely -to lead Western civilisation out of the underbrush of -piety and princely intrigue.</p> - -<p>Next followed the Low Countries, with the south German -industrial centres, where again industry of the handicraft -order grew great, gave rise to trade on a rapidly -increasing scale, and presently to an era of business enterprise -of unprecedented spirit and scope. But the age of -the Fuggers closed in bankruptcy and industrial collapse -when the princely wrangles of the era of statemaking -had used up the resources of the industrial community -and exhausted the credit of that generation of captains -of industry. Here too religious contention came in for -its share in the set-back of industry and commerce. In -their economic outlines the two cases are very much of -the same kind. Central Europe ran through much the -same cycle of industrial growth, commercial enterprise, -princely ambitions, dynastic wars, religious fanaticism, -exhaustion and insecurity, and industrial collapse and -decay,—substantially repeating, on an enlarged scale -and with much added detail, the sequence that had -brought South Europe into arrears. Meantime the -material sciences had come forward again in the West, -and flourished at the hands of the Netherlanders, South -Germans and French scholars, who under the favouring -discipline of this new advance in industry and commerce -had slowly come abreast of the same matter-of-fact -conceptions that had once made Italy the home of modern -science. And here again, as before, princely politics, -with the attendant war, exactions and insecurity, followed -presently by religious controversies and persecutions, -not only put an end to the advance of industry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span> -and business but also checked the attendant development -of science nearly to a standstill.</p> - -<p>So that when a further move of the kind is presently -made it is the British community that takes the lead. -Great Britain had been in arrears in all those respects -that make up civilisation of the Occidental kind, and not -least in the material respect; until the time when the -peoples of the Continent by their own act fell into the -rear in respect of those material interests—technology -and business enterprise—which afford the material -ground out of which the Occidental type of civilisation -has grown. In Great Britain the sequence of these -cultural phenomena has not been substantially different, -taken by and large, from that which had previously -been run through by the Continental communities; -except that the same outcome was not reached, apparently -because the sequence was not interrupted by -collapse at the same critical point in the development.</p> - -<p>The run of events under the handicraft system in -England differs in certain consequential features from -that among the Continental peoples,—consequential -for the purposes of this inquiry, whether of similarly -grave consequence from the point of view given by any -other and larger interest. These peculiar traits of the -British era of handicraft yield a side light on the methods -and reach of the handicraft discipline as a factor in -civilisation at large, at the same time that a consideration -of them should go to show how slender an initial difference -may come to be decisive of the outcome in case circumstances -give this initial difference a cumulative effect.</p> - -<p>As regards the ultimately substantial grounds of -the British situation, in the way of racial make-up,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span> -natural resources, and cultural antecedents, the British -community has no singular advantage or disadvantage -as against its Continental competitors. What is true -of England in respect of peculiarly favourable natural -resources later on, about and after the close of the era -of handicraft, does not hold for the beginnings or the -best days of that era. Racially there is no appreciable -difference between the English population of that time -and the population of the Low Countries, of the Scandinavian -peninsulas, or even of the nearer lying German -territories; and no markedly characteristic national type -of temperament had at that time been developed in Great -Britain, as against the temperamental make-up of its -Continental neighbours,—whatever may be conceived -to have become the case in the nearer past.</p> - -<p>The characteristic, and apparently decisive, peculiarities -of the British situation may all confidently be traced -to the insular position of the country. Owing to the -isolation so given to the Island the British community -was notably in arrears in early modern times, as contrasted -with the more cultured, populous and wealthier -peoples of the Continent; and this backward state of -England in the earlier period of the era of handicraft -is no less marked in respect of technology than in any -other. As is well known, England borrowed extensively -and persistently from its Continental neighbours throughout -the era, and it was only by help of these borrowed -elements that the English were able to overtake and finally -to take the lead of their competitors. Similarly, the -British commercial development also comes on late as -compared with the Continent; so much so that the British -had substantially no share in the great expansion of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span> -business enterprise that has been called the Age of the -Fuggers. This late start of the English, coupled with -their peculiar advantage in being able to borrow what -their neighbours had worked out, conduced to a more -rapid rate and shorter run of industrial advance and -expansion in the Island, and so, among other consequences, -hindered the rounded system of handicraft, industrial -towns, and gild organisation from attaining the -same degree of finality, and ultimately of obstructive inertia, -that resulted in many of the Continental countries.</p> - -<p>Again, owing to the same geographic isolation that -long held England culturally in arrears, the English -community lay, in great measure, outside of that political -“concert of nations” that worked out the exhaustion -and collapse of industry and business on the Continent. -Not that the English took no interest in the grand whirl -of politics and princely war that occupied the main body -of Christendom in that time. The English crown, or -to use a foreign expression, the English State, was deeply -enough implicated in the political intrigues of late -mediæval and early modern Europe; but as modern -time has advanced the English community has visibly -hung back with an ever growing reluctance. And whatever -may be conceived to be the share of the English -crown in the political complications of the Continent, -it remains true that the English community at large, -during the mature and concluding phases of the era of -handicraft, stood mainly and habitually outside of these -princely concerns.<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> In effect, after the handicraft era<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span> -was well under way, England is never for long or primarily -engaged in international war, nor, except for the -civil war of the Commonwealth period, in destructive -war of any kind. Hence the era runs to a different outcome -in England from what it does elsewhere. It ends -not in the exhaustion of politics, but in the industrial -revolution. The close of the handicraft system in England -comes by way of a technological revolution, not by -collapse.</p> - -<p>To this attempted explanation of the English case, -as due to its geographic isolation, the objection may well -suggest itself that other cases which parallel the British -in this respect do not show like results. So, for instance, -the Scandinavian countries enjoyed an isolation nearly -if not quite as effective as that of Great Britain during -this period of history; whereas the outcome in these -countries is notoriously not the same. The Scandinavian -case, however, differs in at least one essential respect, -which seems decisive even apart from secondary circumstances. -These countries were too small to make -up a self-supporting community under the conditions -required by the system of handicraft. They had neither -the population nor the natural resources on such a scale -as a passably full development of the handicraft system -required. At any advanced stage of its growth the system -can work out into a self-balanced technological -organisation, with full specialisation of labour and local -differentiation of industry, only in a community of a -certain (considerable) size. This condition was not met -by the Scandinavian countries. Hence they remained -in a relatively backward state, on the whole, through -the handicraft era, and never reached anything like an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span> -independent position in the industrial world of that time, -either technologically or in point of commercial development; -hence also they failed to achieve or maintain -that degree of independence, or isolation, in their political -relations that left England free to pursue a self-directed -course of material development.</p> - -<p>At an earlier period, as, for instance, from neolithic -times down to the close of paganism, under the slighter, -less differentiated, less complex technological conditions -of a more primitive state of the industrial arts, the -Scandinavian countries had, each and several, proved -large enough for a very efficient industrial organisation; -and, again, during the early historical period they had -also proved to be of a sufficient and suitable size to make -up national units of a thoroughly competent sort, autonomous -politically as well as industrially and working -out their own fortunes in severalty,—very much as the -British community does later on, in the days of the later -handicraft era and the early growth of the machine industry. -But during the era of handicraft, and indeed -somewhat in a progressive fashion as the technology of -that era grew to a fuller development and required -larger territorial dimensions, the Scandinavian countries -lost ground, relatively to the larger communities of Great -Britain and the Continent; in a degree they progressively -lost autonomy both in the political and the industrial -respect, and much the same is to be said for their position -in point of general culture. This falling into arrears and -dependence is least marked in the case of Sweden, the -largest and still passably isolated community among -them; and it is most marked in the case of Norway and -Iceland, the most isolated but at the same time the least<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span> -sizable units of the Scandinavian group. In material -sciences, that most characteristic trait of the Western -culture, the case of these peoples is much the same as -in the matter of technology and cultural autonomy at -large; the largest of them has the most to show.</p> - -<p>Great Britain, on the other hand, fulfilled the conditions -of size and isolation demanded in order to a free -development of the industrial arts during this era, when -the traffic in dynastic politics stood ready to absorb -all accessible resources of industry and sentiment. And -England accordingly takes the lead when the era of handicraft -goes out and that of the new technology comes in.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Material science of the modern sort has been drawn -into the discussion as a cultural phenomenon closely -bound up with the state of the industrial arts under the -handicraft system. This modern science may, indeed, -be taken as the freest manifestation of that habit of -mind that comes to its more concrete expression in the -technology of the time. To show the pertinency of such -a recourse to the state of science as an outcome of the -discipline exercised by the routine of life in the era of -handicraft some further detail touching the state and -progress of scientific inquiry during that period will be -in place.</p> - -<p>In its beginnings, the theoretical postulates and preconceptions -of modern science are drawn from the scholastic -speculations of the late Middle Ages; the problems -which the new science undertook to handle, on the -other hand, were, by and large, such concrete and material -questions as the current difficulties of technology -brought to the notice of the investigators. These traditional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span> -postulates, preconceptions, canons, and logical -methods that stood over from the past were essentially of -a theological complexion, and were the outcome of much -time, attention and insight spent on the systematisation -of knowledge in a cultural situation whose substantial -core was the relation of master and servant, -and under the guidance of a theological bias worked out -on the same ground. The postulates of this speculative -body of knowledge and the preconceptions with which -the scholastic speculators went to their work of systematisation, -accordingly, are of a highly anthropomorphic -character; but it is not the anthropomorphism of workmanship, -at least not in the naïve form which the sense -of workmanship gives to anthropomorphic interpretation -among more primitive peoples.<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> It may be taken as -a matter of course that the sense of workmanship is -present in its native, direct presentment throughout the -intellectual life of the middle ages, as it necessarily is -under all the permutations of human culture; but it is -equally a matter of course that the promptings of an -unsophisticated sense of workmanship do not afford -the final test of what is right and good in a cultural -situation drawn on rigid lines of mastery and submission.</p> - -<p>During the middle ages the faith had taken on an -extremely authoritative and coercive character, to answer -to the similar principles of organisation and control -that ruled in secular affairs; so that at the transition -to modern times the religious cult of Christendom was -substantially a cult of fearsome subjection and arbitrary -authority. Much else, of a more genial character, was -of course comprised in the principles of the faith of that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span> -time, but when all is said the fact remains that even in -its genial traits it was a cult of irresponsible authority -and abject submission,—a cult of the pastoral-predatory -type, adapted and perfected to answer the circumstances -of feudal Europe, and so embodying the principles (habits -of thought) that characterised the feudal system.</p> - -<p>Notoriously, the fashions of religious faith change tardily. -Such change is always of the nature of concession. -And since the conceptions of the cult are of no material -consequence, taken by themselves and in their direct -incidence, they are subject, as such, to no direct or -deliberate control or correction in behalf of the community’s -material interests or its technological requirements. -It is almost if not altogether by force of their -consonance or dissonance with the prevailing habits of -thought inculcated by the routine of life that any given -run of religious verities find acceptance, command general -adherence to their teaching, or become outworn and -are discarded; and such lack of consonance must become -very pronounced before a radical change of the kind -in question will take effect. Barring conversion to a new -faith, it is commonly by insensible shifts of adaptation -and reconstruction that any wide-reaching change is -worked out in these fundamental conceptions. Such -was the character of the move by which the Mediæval -cult merged in the modernised theological concepts of a -later age.</p> - -<p>Gradually, by force of unremitting habituation to a -new scheme of life, and marked by long-drawn theological -polemics, a change passed over the spirit of theological -speculation, whereby the fundamentals of the faith -were infused with the spirit of the handicraft system,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span> -and the preconceptions of workmanship insensibly -supplanted those of mastery and subservience in the -working concepts of devout Christendom. Meantime, -while the routine of the era of handicraft was slowly reconstructing -the current conceptions of divinity on lines -consonant with the habit of mind of workmanship, the -ancient conceptions continued with gradually abating -force to assert their prescriptive dominion over men’s -habitual thinking. This gradually loosening hold of the -ancient conceptions is best seen in the speculations of the -philosophers and in the higher generalisations of scientific -inquiry in early modern times.</p> - -<p>In the mediæval speculations whether theological, -philosophical or scientific, the search for truth runs back -to the authentic ground of the religious verities,—largely -to revealed truth; and these religious verities run back to -the question, “What hath God ordained?” In the course -of the era of handicraft this ultimate question of knowledge -came to take the form, “What hath God wrought?” -Not that the creative office of God in the divine economy -was overlooked or in any degree intentionally made -light of by the earlier speculators; nor that the sovereignty -of God was denied or in any degree questioned by -those devout inquirers who carried forward the work in -later time. But in that earlier phase of faith and inquiry -it is distinctly the suzerainty of God, and His ordinances, -that afford the ground of finality on which all inquiry -touching the economy of this world ultimately come to -rest; and in the later phase, as seen at the close of the -era of handicraft, it is as distinctly His creative office -and the logic of His creative design that fill the place -of an ultimate term in human inquiry—as that inquiry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span> -conventionally runs within the spiritual frontiers of -Christendom. God had not ceased to be the Heavenly -King, and had not ceased to be glorified with the traditional -phrases of homage as the Most High, the Lord -of Hosts etc., but somewhat incongruously He had also -come to be exalted as the Great Artificer—the preternatural -craftsman. The vulgar habits of thought bred -in the workday populace by the routine of the workshop -and the market place had stolen their way into the -sanctuary and the counsels of divinity.</p> - -<p>Similarly, in the best days of scholastic learning -scientific inquiry ran back for a secure foundation to the -authentic ordinances of the Heavenly King; under the -discipline of the era of handicraft it learned instead to -push its inquiries to the ground of efficient cause, ultimately -of course, in the philosophical liquidation of -accounts in that devout age, to the creative efficiency of -the First Cause. In the scientific inquiries of the earlier -age the test of truth was the test of authenticity, and the -logic of systematisation by use of which knowledge in -that time was digested and stored away was essentially -a logic of subsumption under securely authentic categories -that could be run back at need to the ascertained -requirements of the glory of God. The canon of truth -is that of the revealed word, reënforced and filled out -with the quasi-divine Aristotelian scheme of things. It -is a logic of hierarchical congruity in respect of potencies -and qualities, suggestively resembling the devolution -of powers and dignities under the finished scheme of -feudalism. In the later age the good of man gradually, -insensibly supplants the glory of God as the ultimate -ground of systematisation. The sentimental ground of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span> -conviction comes to be the recognised serviceability of -the ascertained facts for human use, rather than their -conformity with the putative exigencies of a self-centred -divine will. The Providential Order that means so much -in the scheme of knowledge in the mature years of the -era of handicraft is an order imposed by a providentially -beneficent Creator who looks to the good of man; as -it has been expressed, it is a scheme of “humanism.”</p> - -<p>By the close of the era this beneficent providential -order had worked out in an Order of Nature, indued -with the same meliorative trend; and in the sentimental -conviction of the inquiring spirits of that age it lay in -the nature of this beneficent order of the universe that -in the end, in the finished product of its working, it would -bring about the highest practicable state of well-being -for man,—very much as any skilled workman of sound -sense and a good heart would turn out good and serviceable -goods. And in this Order of Nature, as it runs -in the matter-of-course convictions of thoughtful men -at the close of the era, the person of the deity, even as -a workmanlike creative Providence, had fallen into the -background. The Order of Nature, with its scheme of -Natural Law, is felt as the work of a consummately skilful -and ingenious workmanlike agency that looks to a -serviceable end to be accomplished; and the profoundly -thoughtful scientific inquiry of that time harbours no -doubt that this workmanlike agency of Nature at large -rules the world of visible fact and will achieve its good -work in good time. But this quasi-personal Nature is -not reverenced for anything but its workmanlike qualities; -the awe which it inspires is not the fear of God, -such as that fear has played its part under the feudalistic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span> -rule of the church and sent men hunting cover from the -imminent wrath to come. As he stands in the presence -of this eighteenth-century Nature, man is not primarily -a sinner seeking a remission of penalties at all costs, but -rather a focus of workmanlike attention upon whose -welfare all the forces of the visible universe beneficently -converge.</p> - -<p>How this workmanlike Nature goes about her<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> work is -no more plain to the casual spectator than are the recondite -processes of high-wrought handicraft to the uninstructed. -But Nature after all accomplishes her ends in -a workmanlike fashion, and by staying by and patiently -watching the operations of Nature and construing the -facts of observation by the sympathetic use of a rational -common sense men may learn much of the methods of -her manipulation as well as of the rules of procedure -under whose guidance the works of Nature are accomplished. -For it is a matter of course to that generation -that Nature is essentially rational in her aims and logic -as well as in the technology of her work; very much -after the fashion of the master craftsman, who goes to -his work with an intelligent oversight of the available<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span> -means and the purpose to be wrought out, as well as with -a firm and facile touch on all that passes under his trained -hand. Like the perfect craftsman, “Nature never makes -mistakes,” “never makes a jump,” “never does anything -in vain,” “never turns out anything but perfect -work.”</p> - -<p>The means whereby this work of Nature is brought to -its consummate issue are forces of Nature working under -her Laws by the method of cause and effect. The principle, -or “law,” of causation is a metaphysical postulate; -in the sense that such a fact as causation is unproved -and unprovable. No man has ever observed a case of -causation, as is a commonplace with the latterday -psychologists. But such a doubt does not present itself -seriously in the days of handicraft; it would be out of -touch with the spirit of the time and the discipline of -that craftsmanship out of which the spirit of the time -arises. To the inquiring minds of that era it is a matter of -course and of common sense that the forces of Nature -are seen to work out the effects which emerge before their -eyes. What they see in fact may be, as the modern psychologists -would perhaps say, a certain concomitance -and sequence in the observed phenomena; but what -those observers see in effect is always a certain cause -working out a certain effect. The imputation of causal -efficiency to the observed phenomena is so thoroughly -a matter of course that there is no sense of imputation -in the observer’s mind.</p> - -<p>Observation simply, without imputation of anthropomorphic -qualities and efficacies, should yield nothing -more to the purpose than idle concomitance and sequence -of phenomena, but there is, in effect, none<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span> -of this early scientific work done in terms of simple -concomitance or sequence alone; nor for that matter, -has any of the effective (theoretical) work of -modern science been carried to an issue by the use of -such objective terms of concomitance and sequence -alone, whether in that or in a later age, without the help -of a putative causal nexus. Through the early modern -scientific period there runs an increasingly free and frequent -recourse to statistical argument,—in the material -sciences a recourse to punctilious measurement, enumeration -and instruments of precision; but it is of the essence -of the case that the phenomenal facts which so are subjected -to measurement and statistical computation are -facts selected for the purpose on the strength of their -(putatively) known causal implication in the problem -whose solution is sought, and that the facts which emerge -from these measurements, computations, and instruments -of precision, are turned to account in an argument -of cause and effect; they have served their purpose only -when and in so far as they enable the inquirer to determine -the course of efficient transition from a putative -cause to a putative effect, or conversely.</p> - -<p>The relation of cause and effect, as commonly conceived -by the vulgar and as commonly employed by the scientist, -is a putative relation between phenomena which can -not be said to stand in any observed relation of efficiency -to one another. Efficiency, as understood in this connection, -is not a fact of observation, but of imputation; -and efficiency, performance of work, is the substance -of the causal relation as that concept is universally employed -in modern science. It may well be said that this -recourse to the concept of efficient cause—a metaphysical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span> -postulate touching a putative fact—is the distinguishing -characteristic of modern science as contrasted -with any other scheme of systematised knowledge.<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">130</a></p> - -<p>Not only does the development of modern science rest -on this postulate of causality, but the concept of causation -which so characterises the modern sciences is of a -particular and restricted kind. At least on the face of -things it seems unquestionable that the peculiar temper -and limitations of this modern European concept of -causation are to be credited to the habits wrought out -by a life under the handicraft system. It has been noted -already that the ubiquitous prevalence of trade and of -the price system in modern times has given to the modern -apprehension of facts a certain objectivity, a degree of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span> -impersonality, which is at least a characteristic of modern -knowledge, whether scientific or commonplace, even if it -cannot be said to be a unique distinction of modern -science as contrasted with other deliberate systems of -knowledge. But it is the unique distinction of modern -science, particularly as it comes into view in its early -phases, that its concept of causality is drawn not simply -in terms of workmanship but specifically in terms of -craftsmanship. There need probably be no argument -spent on the thesis that the sense of causality is, by and -large, a particular manifestation of the sense of workmanship. -But the sense of workmanship in its native -scope apparently covers something more than the manual -efficiency of the skilled workman simply. And in other -times and under other cultural (technological) circumstances -the sense of workmanship has apparently given -rise to concepts of causation of a wider, or at least of a -looser, scope. In the naïve rating of savage peoples workmanship -appears to cover, perhaps uncertainly, notions -of generation, nurture, tendance, and the like, without -any sharp line being drawn between these various lines -of effective endeavour on the one side and manual efficiency -on the other. And so, on the other hand, in the -cosmological knowledge (or quasi-knowledge) current -among these peoples explanation in terms of generation -and growth are accepted as final along with explanations -in terms of what the modern man would conceive -to be the stricter sense of cause and effect. Even -in the speculations of the sages of classical antiquity, -and again in the cosmologies and natural history of the -far-Oriental peoples, many questions of cause and effect -are found to be sufficiently disposed of when worked out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span> -in the like terms of generation, growth and quasi-physiological -mutation.</p> - -<p>To modern inquiry explanations in these terms, other -than those of physically effective work, are provisional -at the best, and are held to only as awaiting a final -solution in a materially, mechanistically competent way. -And what is alone materially competent in the modern -scientific apprehension is such an explanation as will -make things plain in terms of matter and motion, working -a change in the constitution of things by displacement -through contact and pressure. Causation is conceived -as manual work,—to use a French term, it is a <i lang="fr">remaniement</i> -of raw materials at hand. Physiological or chemical -explanations must finally be recast in terms of physics, -to satisfy the modern scientist’s sense of finality, and -physics must be made to run in terms of impact, pressure, -displacement in space, regrouping of material particles, -coördinated movements and a shifting of equilibrium.</p> - -<p>Through all this runs the concomitant requirement of -quantivalence, statable in statistical form. The scientist’s -results are not finally merchantable, on the scientific -exchange, until they have been reduced to such terms -of accountancy as would be comprehensible to the man -trained in the merchandising traffic of the petty trade, -for whose conviction things must be punctiliously rated -in exchange value. But, as has been noted above, it is -only as an expedient of scientific accountancy that the -facts under inquiry are kept account of in an itemised -bill of values. This meticulous statistical accountancy -is necessary to safeguard the accuracy of the work done -and its conformity with the facts in hand; but the work -so done handles these facts as active factors which go<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span> -efficiently to the production of the results observed. The -cause is conceived to produce the effect, somewhat after -the fashion in which a skilled workman produces a finished -article of trade. But when the scientist has set -forth the operations and working conditions that have -brought forth the effects which he is engaged in explaining, -he must also, in order to the conviction of his fellow -craftsmen, show a statistically itemised statement of -receipts and expenditures covering the facts engaged,—in -quantitative values he must show that the costs are -balanced by the values that emerge in the finished product -of that workmanlike process of causation whose -recondite nature and course he has so laid bare to the -light of understanding.</p> - -<p>This attempted characterisation of modern scientific -inquiry and its working concepts applies immediately -to the earlier phases and down to a date well past the -advent of the machine industry,—so far past that date -as to allow time and experience to work the new habits -of thought peculiar to the machine technology into the -texture of men’s preconceptions. In time, but tardily, -as is the case with the pervasive effects of any new line -of habituation, the discipline of the machine has wrought -a further, though, hitherto less profound and decisive, -change in the aims and methods of science; a discussion -of which is deferred until it comes up again in its connection -with the new technology. Less cogently and with -qualifications, however, the above characterisation will -apply to the later phases of modern science, as well as -to that initial stage that marks the era of handicraft.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Something further is due to be said of the cultural<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span> -consequences of this discipline in workmanship during -the era of handicraft, besides its guidance in the growth -of technology and the related field of material science. As -has been intimated above, habituation to the working -conceptions of handicraft had much to do with that -revision of the religious cult and its theological tenets -that has shaped the spiritual life of modern times in -contrast with the medieval life of faith. But it is an -ungrateful, perhaps ungraceful, office to turn the dry -light of matter-of-fact on the sacred verities, and a degree -of parsimony will best be observed in any layman’s -discussion of these intimate movements of the spirit. -Yet it seems necessary to call to mind at least one point -of singular concomitance between the state of the industrial -arts and fortunes of the Christian faith.</p> - -<p>Characteristic of modern times has been the Protestant -rehabilitation of the cult and its tenets. In this rehabilitation, -which has not been without effect even within -the Catholic church, much of the ancient spirit of subjection -has been lost, replaced in part with a certain attitude -of self-help and autonomy on the part of the laity. -There is a degree of democratic initiative and a gild-like -spirit of lay discretion in spiritual affairs. As already -noted above, the tenets of the faith have also in some -degree been revised and reconstructed in terms consonant -with the workmanlike conceptions of the handicraft -system. Such a protestant or quasi-protestant reconstruction -of the cult and its tenets set in, as is well known, -successively in the several leading countries of Europe, -somewhat in the same order as these several countries -successively advanced to a high level of technological -and commercial enterprise. As noted above, in the south<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span> -in the so-called Latin countries, this era of industrial -and commercial enterprise was presently checked; the -like being true in a less pronounced fashion for the peoples -of Central Europe. Wherever the advance was seriously -checked, so that the era of handicraft closed in collapse -or reaction on its secular side, there the reconstruction -of the religious cult also came to an incomplete issue at -the most. So that by the definitive close of the era of -handicraft those peoples of Christendom that had maintained -the advance achieved in this secular respect were -also the ones that had accepted and continued to hold -the revised form of the faith. Where this era of industrial -and business enterprise closed in exhaustion and collapse, -there the ancient form of the faith also triumphed over -the heretics. It is, indeed, to be remarked as a sufficiently -striking coincidence that even now the centre of diffusion -of the modern industry is at the same time the centre of -diffusion of religious protestantism and heresy. And the -antique forms and fervour of the faith are found in better -preservation progressively outward from this centre of -diffusion; and even in somewhat minute detail it appears -to hold true not only that the more advanced industrial -peoples are the less amenable to religious control and less -given to superstitious observances of the archaic sort, -but also that within these industrial countries the industrial -centres in the narrower sense of the word are -less devout, or devout in a less archaic fashion, than -the non-industrial population at large. Something of the -kind, indeed, has been visibly true ever since a relatively -early phase of the handicraft system; though nothing like -undevoutness can be alleged of the industrial town -population during the handicraft era proper. The handicraft<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">268</span> -population was devout, but not consistently orthodox; -and the industrial towns of that time were devout -enough in their way, but it was in a way obnoxious to -the received dogmas of the church. They were centres -of devout heresy. It is only in late modern times that -the malady has progressed so far that it may fairly be -called a degree of apostacy. This concomitance between -technological mastery and religious dissent is -doubtless susceptible of a good and serviceable explanation -at the hands of the religious experts; it is here -cited without prejudice as having at least a negative -bearing on the question of how the discipline of the -handicraft industry may be conceived to affect men’s -spiritual attitude in a field so remote as that of the life -of faith.<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">131</a></p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>What is known to economic history as the era of handicraft -is for the purposes of the political historian spoken -of as the era of statemaking. The two designations may -not cover precisely the same interval, but they coincide -in a general way in point of dates, and the phenomena -which have given rise to the two designations have much -more than an accidental connection. It is not simply -that the development of handicraft happens to fall in -the same general period of history that is characterised -by the dynastic wars that went to the making of the -larger states. The growth of handicraft had much to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span> -do with making the large states practicable and with -supplying the material means of large-scale warfare; -while the traffic of dynastic politics in that time had in -its turn very much to do with bringing that era of industrial -and commercial enterprise to an inglorious close. -The new industry supplied the sinews of war, and the -wars ate up the substance of the industrial community.</p> - -<p>The new industry gave rise to a growth of industrial -towns and commercial centres, primarily occupied by -the traffic of the itinerant traders. One of the immediate -consequences of this extension of merchandising enterprise -was the improvement of means of communication, -both in the way of an extension and improvement of -shipping—itself a technological fact—and in the way of -improved routes of communication. A secondary consequence -was a growth of population, coupled with its -concentration in urban centres, together with a growth of -wealth, in good part drawn together in the same centres. -These changes enabled the powers in control to extend -an effectual coercion over larger distances and over -larger aggregations of population and wealth; it became -practicable, mechanically, to swing a larger political -aggregation and to hold it together in closer coördination -than before. The physical conditions requisite to the -formation and enduring maintenance of large political -organisations were in this way supplied by the new industrial -era as an incidental result of its technological -efficiency.</p> - -<p>More direct and obvious, though of no graver importance, -is the contribution made by the new technology -to the means of coercion placed at the disposal of the -warlords, in the way of improved weapons and armour,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span> -defences and warlike appliances. The improvements -worked out in the means of warfare during the early -half of the era of handicraft exceed in material effect -and in boldness of conception all the traceable improvements -wrought in that line by all the warlike peoples of -classical antiquity and all the fighting aggregations of -Asia and Africa, from the beginning of the bronze age -down to modern times. The craftsmen spent their -best endeavours and their most brilliant ingenuity on -this production of arms and munitions, with the result -that these articles still lie over in the modern collections -as the most finished productions of workmanship which -that era has to show. The (unintended) result at large -was that these improved appliances enabled the warlords -and their fighting men to control the industrial -classes for their own ends and to levy exactions on trade -and industry up to the limit of what the traffic would -bear, or perhaps more commonly somewhat over that -limit. It was, in this way, their own technological mastery -that furnished the means of their own undoing, -directly (mechanically speaking) and indirectly (in the -resulting growth of warlike sentiment).</p> - -<p>That the craftsmen went so diligently into this production -of ways and means for their own discomfort and -abiding defeat is due not to any innately perverse bent -of the sense of workmanship as it comes to expression -in the spirit of the handicraft community, but rather to -the exigencies created by the price system, with its principles -of self-help,—a secondary, conventional product -of the handicraft industry. As has been noted already, -with perhaps tedious iteration, there runs through the -handicraft community a high-wrought spirit of individual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span> -self-sufficiency. So soon as the petty trade has grown -to effective dimensions the individual workman comes -into somewhat direct relations with the market, and -except for the collective interest and action embodied in -the gild organisations the craftsmen stand in little else -than a pecuniary relation to one another and bear little -else than a pecuniary responsibility to their fellow craftsmen -or to the community. It is the place of each to -gain a livelihood by honest work through his own individual -skill and enterprise. Notoriously, the craftsmen -were in effect lacking in that sense of solidarity -that makes an efficient organisation for defence or offence; -concerted action, outside the regulative activity -of the gild, was to be had only with extreme difficulty -on any other basis than individual pecuniary advantage. -Each worked for himself, with an eye steadily to the -main chance. And the main chance, from an early date -in this era, meant gain in terms of price. So the craftsman -worked for such customers as would pay his price, -and he spent his skill and ingenuity on such goods as -were in demand. The trade in arms and weapons was -good at that time. These appliances were a means of -livelihood to the men at arms and a means of income -and prestige to their princely employers. So the traffic -went busily on, and the individual craftsmen put forth -their best efforts toward enhancing the efficiency of the -ruling and fighting classes, whose endeavours, without -much collusion but by the inevitable drift of circumstance, -converged on the subjection of the community of craftsmen -at large and on the exhaustion of the community’s -resources.</p> - -<p>Through its side issue in the commercial enterprise<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span> -which it fostered the handicraft industry brought to -the hands of the politicians a further means of trouble. -The trade brought on the price system, and so made it -possible for ambitious princes to buy what they needed -in their warlike negotiations; with funds in hand stores -and munitions could be bought where they were needed, -so enabling warlike operations to be carried on with -greater facility at a greater distance than was feasible -under the earlier rule of contributions in kind. The -price system also enabled the warlords to hire mercenaries, -and so to organise and maintain a standing force -of skilled fighting men, mobile and irresponsible. But -to hold one’s own in the competitive use of this new arm -the prince must have funds; which led incontinently to -all available manner of exactions on trade and commerce, -since it was from these sources almost solely -that funds could be had. But it led also and equally -to an increasing traffic between the princes and the -captains of industry, for the use of funds. Funds had -become the sinews of war, since the handicraft industry -had come to turn out goods for sale and the merchandising -trade had made funds accessible in sufficient volume -to be worth while. So the princes dealt with the captains -of industry, selling what they could and hypothecating -what they could not sell, in a competitive struggle to -outdo one another at war and diplomacy. The game -was then as always an emulative one, in which any advantage -was a differential advantage only. Hence the -princes engaged, each and several, needed all the funds -they could get the use of, and their need was ever present, -not to be deferred. Hence they borrowed what they -could and where they could, their borrowings being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span> -floated by the help of all manner of expedients. Some -of these fiscal expedients brought monopolistic advantage -to the captains of industry, and so contributed to -their further gain and to the concentration of wealth in -fewer hands. Meantime, the princely chancelries, being -in debt as far as possible, extorted further loans from -the captains by seizure and by threats of bankruptcy; -and whatever was borrowed was expeditiously used up -in the destruction of property, population, industrial -plant and international commerce. So, when all available -resources of revenue and credit, present and prospective, -had been exhausted, and all the accessible material -had been consumed, the princely fisc went into bankruptcy, -followed by its creditors, the captains of industry, -followed by the business community at large with -whose funds they had operated and by the industrial -community, whose stock of goods and appliances was -exhausted, whose trade connections were broken and -whose working population had been debauched, scattered -and reduced to poverty and subjection by the wars, -revenue collectors and forced contributions. Meantime, -too, habituation to the sentiments, ideals, standards -and manner of life suitable to a state of predation had -swamped the handicraft spirit and put abnegation and -dependence on arbitrary power in the place of that -initiative and pertinacious self-reliance that had made -the era of handicraft. It was from this eventuality that -England in great measure escaped by favour of her insular -position and the inability of her princes to draw a reluctant -industrial community into the traffic of dynastic -intrigue that filled the Continent.</p> - -<p>It will have been remarked that one of the essential<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span> -moves in this sequence of events, from the beginnings of -handicraft in impecunious and self-reliant workmanship -to its eventual collapse in exhaustion, is the gradual -accumulation of commercial and industrial wealth in -relatively few hands. This accumulation of wealth, or -rather its segregation in few hands, appears, as already -indicated, to have entered as a potent factor in the course -of things that lead the system of handicraft through -maturity to collapse, as on the Continent, or to decay, -as in England. It will accordingly be in place to go -somewhat more narrowly into the circumstances of its -beginnings and growth and the manner in which it -plays its part in the organisation of the handicraft -industry.</p> - -<p>It appears that this uneven distribution of wealth -arises out of the technological exigencies of handicraft -and of the petty trade which characteristically runs along -with the handicraft industry in its early stages.<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> In its -earliest, impecunious beginnings, handicraft as known -in mediæval Europe was like its congener, the manual -arts of the savage and lower barbarian peoples, in that -the whole material equipment requisite to its pursuit -consisted of a skilled workman and an extremely slender -kit of tools. The tradition countenanced by historical -students says that the beginnings of the handicraft system, -with its specialised industry and trained workmanship, -is due to such workmen, possessed of substantially -nothing but their own persons, who escaped in one way -and another from the bonds of the manorial system, or -its equivalent, and found shelter on sufferance near some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span> -feudal protector or religious corporation that found some -advantage in this novel arrangement.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">133</a></p> - -<p>On looking into this inchoate working arrangement -between these masterless workmen and their patrons, -and generalising the run of facts as may be permitted -an inquiry that aims at theoretical presentation rather -than historical description, the probable causal relation -running through these obscure events will appear somewhat -as follows. It happened in Europe, as it has happened -now and again elsewhere, that the ownership of -the soil in advanced feudal times took shape as a Landed -Interest living at peace and under settled relations with -the community from which they drew their livelihood -and their means of controlling the community. Under -these circumstances there grew up an ever-widening -industrial system, under manorial auspices, in which the -foremost place is taken by the mechanic arts, in the way -of specialised crafts and mechanical processes and appliances. -The tranquil conditions that prevail under -such a settled, pacific or sub-predatory scheme of control -bring out an increased volume of consumable products, -particularly since these same settled conditions -admit a larger and more economical use of all industrial -appliances. The immediate consequence is that an increased -net product accrues to the propertied class; -which calls them to an intensified consumption of goods; -which requires increased elaboration and diversity of -products; which calls for an increasing diversity and -volume of appliances and more prolonged and elaborate -technological processes. The needs of the propertied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span> -class, particularly in the way of superfluities, reach such -a degree of diversity that it is no longer practicable to -supply these needs by specialised work within the industrial -framework of the manor or its equivalent. The -itinerant trade comes in to help out in this difficult passage -by bringing exotic luxuries, curious articles of great -price; but that is not sufficient to cover the requirements -of the case, since there is much needed work of -elaboration that cannot be taken care of by way of an -importation of finished goods.</p> - -<p>Here comes the opportunity of the skilled masterless -workman. The growth of wealth has provided a place -for him in the economy of the time, and having once -got a foothold he and his followers congregate in industrial -towns and find a living by the work of their hands.</p> - -<p>The point should be kept in mind in any consideration -of the era of handicraft that its beginnings are made by -these “masterless men,” who broke away (or were -broken out) from the bonds of that organisation in which -the arbitrary power of the landed interest held dominion. -By tenacious assertion of the personal rights which they -so arrogated to themselves, and at great cost and risk, -they made good in time their claim to stand as a class -apart, a class of ungraded free men among whom self-help -and individual workmanlike efficiency were the -accepted grounds of repute and of livelihood. This -tradition never dies out among the organised craftsmen -until the industrial system which had so been inaugurated -went under in the turmoil of politics and finance -or was supplanted by the machine era that grew out of -it. With this class-tradition of initiative and democratic -autonomy is associated, as an integral fact in the system,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span> -the concomitant tradition that work is a means of livelihood.</p> - -<p>In these early phases of the system the individual -workman is (typically) competent to work out his livelihood -with the use of such a slight equipment of tools as -could readily be acquired in the course of his employment. -In great part, indeed, the craftsman of the early -days made his tools and appliances as he went along. -But it follows necessarily that further training in the -skilled manipulations of the crafts led to the use of improved -and specialised tools as well as to the use of larger -appliances useful in the technological processes employed, -such as could scarcely be called tools in the simpler -sense of the word but would rather be classed as -industrial plant. With the advance of technology the -material equipment so requisite to the pursuit of industry -in the crafts increases in volume, cost and elaboration, -and the processes of industry grow extensive and -complex; until it presently becomes a matter of serious -difficulty for any workman single-handed to supply the -complement of tools, appliances and materials with -which his work is to be done. It then also becomes a -matter of some moment to own such wealth.</p> - -<p>As under any earlier and simpler industrial régime, so -in this early-advanced phase of the handicraft system -the workman must also have command of that immaterial -equipment of technological information at large -that is current in the community, in so far as it affects -his particular occupation; and he must in addition acquire -the special trained skill necessary in his own branch -of craft. The former he will, at that stage of technological -growth, still come by without particular deliberate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">278</span> -application, in the ordinary routine of life; it is made up -of general information and familiarity with current ways -of doing, simply, and on the level of general information -which then prevailed no special training or schooling -seems to have been needed to place the young man -abreast of his time. In other words, the common stock -of technological knowledge had not by that time grown -so unwieldy as to require special pains to assimilate it. -As for the latter, the special skill which would make -him a craftsman, that was also accessible at the cost of -some application; but under the rules of handicraft the -early apprentice gained this trained skill at no cost -beyond application to the work in hand. But the like -does not continue to hold true of the material equipment; -which presently was no longer to be compassed -as a matter of course and of routine application to the -work in hand. It was becoming increasingly important -and increasingly difficult to be provided with these -means with which to go to work, and the ownership of -such means gave an increasingly decisive advantage to -their owner.</p> - -<p>What adds further force to this position of affair is -the fact that in many of the crafts the work could no -longer be carried on to full advantage in strict severalty; -the best approved processes required a gang or corps of -workmen in coöperation, and required also something in -the way of a “plant” suitable for the employment of -such a corps rather than of a single individual. Such a -condition, of course, came on earlier and more urgently -in some crafts, as, e. g., in tanning, or brewing, or some -of the metal-working trades, than in others, as, e. g., -the building trades, locksmithing, cobbling, etc. But<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">279</span> -an advance of this kind, and the exigencies which such -an advance brings, came on gradually and with such a -measure of general prevalence through the crafts that -the general statement made above may fairly stand as -a free characterisation of the state of the industrial arts -in the crafts at large at the period in question. The -growing resort to working methods requiring organised -groups of workmen together with something in the way -of collective industrial plant would greatly hasten the -concentration of the ownership of the material equipment. -Ownership in all ages is individual ownership; -and then as ever any single item of property, such as a -workshop and its appliances, would presently fall into -the possession of an individual owner. The owners of -the plant became employers of their impecunious fellow -craftsmen and so came into a position to dispose of their -working capacity and their product.</p> - -<p>When and in so far as the advanced state of the industrial -arts, therefore, made it impracticable for the -individual craftsman readily to acquire the material -means for work in his craft, any proficiency in the craft -would be of no effect except by arrangement with some -one who could supply these material means. The possession -of the material equipment, therefore, placed in -the discretion of its owners the utilisation of such technological -knowledge and skill as the members of the -given crafts might possess. The usufruct of the handicraft -community’s technological proficiency in this way -came to vest in the owners of the plant, in the same -measure as this plant was necessary to the pursuit of -industry under the technological scheme then in force. -This effect would be had so soon and in such measure as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span> -it became a matter of appreciable difficulty to acquire -and maintain the material equipment requisite to the -workmanlike pursuit of industry; and it would become -generally decisive of the relation between master and -workman so soon as the outfit of material means required -for effective work had grown larger than the common -run of workmen could acquire in the course of such -training as would fit them to do the work in the particular -branch of industry in which they engaged.</p> - -<p>The change brought on in this way by the growth of -technology was neither abrupt nor sharply defined. Like -other changes in the technological scheme it was an outgrowth -of the knowledge and methods already previously -current, and it took effect in detail and in a very concrete -way, leading on through fluctuating usage to a gradually -settled general practice which came at length to differ -substantially from the situation out of which it had -grown. By insensible gradations it came into such -general prevalence and everyday recognition, and established -such stable methods of procedure, as presently left -it standing as an established institutional fact. It grew -into the prevalent habits of thought without a visible -break, and made its way more or less thoroughly in the -several branches of industry which it touched, until it -came to be accepted as the type of handicraft organisation -to which other, outlying branches of industry would -then also tend to conform, even when there was no direct -provocation for these outlying members of the industrial -system to take on the typical form so given. But given -the tranquil conditions necessary to the accumulation -of such industrial appliances and to the invention and -employment of long and roundabout processes in industry,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span> -and the resulting change that sets in will be of a -cumulative character, affecting an ever increasing proportion -of the industrial arts, and permeating the industrial -system at large in a progressive fashion.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances, and in proportion as these -technological exigencies take effect in one branch of -industry and another, the usufruct of the industrial -community’s current productive efficiency comes to vest -effectually in those who own the material means of industry. -Their effectual exploitation of the community’s -industrial efficiency will extend to such industries, and -with such a degree of thoroughness and security, as -the state of the industrial arts may decide. This effectual -engrossing of the technological heritage by the -owners will extend to any branch of the industrial arts -in which so considerable a material equipment is required, -in appliances and raw materials, that the workmen -who go into this given line of employment cannot -practically create or acquire it as they go along. In an -uncertain measure, therefore, and varying in degree -somewhat from one industry to another, the owner of -the plant becomes in effect the owner of the community’s -technological knowledge and workmanlike skill, and -thereby the owner of the workman’s productive capacity.</p> - -<p>In the small beginnings of the handicraft industry the -craftsman typically passed by a simple routine from -the status of apprentice to that of master, picking up -the slight necessary outfit as he went along; in the closing -phases of the era handicraft methods had reached a high -degree of specialisation and made use of extensive processes -and appliances, and it was then only by exception -that any craftsman could pass from apprenticeship<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span> -through the intervening stages to the position of a working -master, without the help of inherited means or special -favour. Toward the close of the era the masters were, -typically, employers of skilled labour and foremen in -their own shop, except in the frequent case where they -altogether ceased to work at the trade and gave their -whole attention to the business side of the industry. -Many of these nominal master craftsmen were in fact -mere traders, captains of industry, businessmen, who -never came in manual contact with the work.<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">134</a></p> - -<p>So capitalism emerged from the working of the handicraft -system, through the increasing scale and efficiency -of technology. And on the ground afforded by this -capitalistic phase of the system arose that era of business -enterprise that ruled the economic fortunes of Europe -in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with its captains -of industry and great financial houses. Whether the -large means with which these captains of industry operated -were primarily drawn from the gains of the petty -trade that had gone before, or were drawn into this field -of business from outside, is a debated question which -need not detain the present inquiry. The fact remains -that, by whatever means, this development of the situation -comes out of that growth of handicraft whereby -the ownership and control of the industrial plant passed -out of the hands of the body of working craftsmen.</p> - -<p>When this business situation collapsed, therefore, as -already spoken of above, the handicraft industry at its -best was organised on capitalistic lines and managed for -capitalistic ends,—with a view to profits on investment, -not primarily with a view to the livelihood of the working<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span> -craftsmen. The new situation which then presented itself, -as a consequence of the collapse of the business community, -was industrially and commercially better suited -to the simpler and ruder methods of handicraft that had -succeeded in the early days of the system; but the current -preconceptions and trade relations that actually ruled at -the time were of a capitalistic kind, and the current -state of the industrial arts, even where industry had -fallen into a fragmentary state, was such as technologically -required the large-scale organisation in order to its -due working. Between the impossibility of going forward -on the accustomed lines and the impracticability -of an effectual rehabilitation of more primitive methods, -there resulted a period of poverty and confusion, helped -out by the continued mismanagement of the dynastic -politicians; so that the industrial situation of the Continent -never recovered until it was overtaken by the new -era of the machine industry inaugurated by the English.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The circumstances of life for the common man underwent -more than one substantial change during the era -of handicraft, and these changes were not all in the -same sense. The dominant note changes from workmanship -in the earlier phases of the era to pecuniary -competition and political anxiety toward the close, particularly -as regards the industrial communities of the -Continent. The era is a long period of history, all told, -running over some five or six centuries, from an advanced -stage of the feudal age to the eighteenth century, or to -various earlier dates in those countries where the handicraft -system came to a provisional close in the era of -statemaking; and the discipline of life does not run to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span> -the same effect in the earlier of these phases of the development -as in the later. Not that handicraft ceased -to be the prevailing method in the mechanical industries -of these countries when the reaction overtook them, but -the technological advance had been seriously checked, -and such handicraft industry as still went on had ceased -to dominate the economic situation and no longer held -the primacy among the factors that shaped the life of -the communities in question. Its place as a dominant -force was taken by the new political interests and by -such commercial enterprise as still went on.</p> - -<p>But through the centuries of its earlier growth the -handicraft industry, simply as a routine of workmanship, -shaped the conditions of life for the common people -more pervasively and consistently than any other one -factor. Its discipline, therefore, was of protracted duration -and touched the current habits of thought in an -intimate and enduring fashion; so as to leave a large -and enduring effect on the institutions of the peoples -among whom it prevailed. The English-speaking community -shows these effects in a larger measure and a more -evident manner than any other,—visible only in a less -degree in the Low Countries, and more equivocally in the -Scandinavian countries. These peoples had not been -subjected to the handicraft discipline for a longer time -or in a more exacting fashion than their Continental -neighbours, but they had on the other hand escaped the -full measure of the political activity of the era of statemaking -that did so much to neutralise the effects of the -handicraft system in the larger Continental countries.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Something has been said above of the way in which the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">285</span> -discipline of life under the rule of handicraft shaped and -coloured men’s thinking in those materialistic sciences -whose early growth runs parallel with the technological -advance in modern times. It has also been evident that -this training in the manner of conceiving things for the -purposes of technology wrought certain broad changes -in the theological and philosophical conceptions that -guided the inquiring spirits of the same and subsequent -generations. This effect wrought by the routine of life -under the handicraft system on scientific and philosophical -conceptions is of a very pervasive character, -being of the nature of an habitual bent, an attitude or -frame of mind, whose characteristic mark is the acceptance -of creative workmanship as a finality. It became -an element of common sense in the apprehension of -thoughtful men whose frame of mind was formed under -the traditions of that era that creative workmanship is -an ultimate, irreducible factor in the constitution of -things, accepted as a matter of course and used unsparingly -and with ever-growing conviction as a <i lang="la">terminus a -quo</i> and <i lang="la">ad quem</i>.<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">135</a></p> - -<p>Creative workmanship, fortified in ever-growing measure -by the conception of serviceability to human use, -works its way gradually into the central place in the -theoretical speculations of the time, so that by the close -of the era it dominates all intellectual enterprise in the -thoughtful portions of Christendom. Hence it becomes -not only the instrument of inquiry in the sciences, but a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">286</span> -major premise in all work of innovation and reconstruction -of the scheme of institutions. In that extensive -revision of the institutional framework that characterises -modern times it is the life of the common people, -their rights and obligations, that is forever in view, and -their life is conceived in terms of craftsmanlike industry -and the petty trade. By and large, the outcome of this -revision of civil and legal matters under handicraft auspices -is the system of Natural Rights, including the concept -of Natural Liberty. The whole scheme so worked -out is manifestly of the same piece with that Order of Nature -and Natural Law that dominated the inquiries of -the scientists and the speculations of the philosophers.</p> - -<p>It lies in the nature of the case that the English-speaking -community should take the lead in the final advance -in all these matters and should work out the most -finished, secure and enduring results within these premises, -both in the field of scientific inquiry and in that -of the theory of institutions. It lies in the nature of the -case because the English-speaking community had the -benefit of the technological gains made before their -time, because they had a long and passably uneventful -experience of the handicraft routine in industry and in -the workday life to whose wants the handicraft industry -ministered, and because the discipline of the handicraft -era was not in their case neutralised in its closing phase -by the turmoil, insecurity and civic debaucheries of an -epoch of war and political intrigue. And here again the -neighbouring peoples come into the case as copartners in -this work with England in much the same measure in -which their experience through this period was of the -same general nature.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">287</span></p> - -<p>The scheme of Natural Rights, and of Natural Liberty, -which so emerges is of a pronounced individualistic -tenor, as it should be to answer to the scheme of experience -embodied in the system of handicraft. In the -crafts, particularly during the protracted early phases -of the system, it is the individual workman, working -for a livelihood by use of his own personal force, dexterity -and diligence, that stands out as the main fact; -so much so, indeed, that he appears to have stood, in the -apprehension of his time, as the sole substantial factor -in the industrial organisation. Similarly under the canon -of Natural Liberty the individual is thrown on his own -devices for his life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. -The craftsman by immemorial custom traditionally disposed -of his work and its product as he chose, under the -rules of his gild. He was by prescription in full possession -of what he made, subject only to the gild regulations -imposed for the good of his neighbours who were -similarly placed. The most sacred right included in the -scheme of Natural Rights is that of property in whatever -wealth has been honestly acquired, subject only to -the qualification that it must not be turned to the detriment -of one’s fellows. In the days of the typical handicraft -system the petty trade runs along with the handicraft -industry, in such a way that every master craftsman -is more or less of a trader, disposing of his goods or -services in plenary discretion, and even the apprentices -and journeymen similarly bargain for their terms of -work and at times for the disposal of their product; while -the professional itinerant trader is a member of this -industrial community on much the same footing as the -craftsmen proper. So it is a secure item in the scheme<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">288</span> -of Natural Rights that all persons not under tutelage -have an indefeasible right to dispose by purchase and -sale not only of products of their own hands but of whatever -items they have come by through alienation by -its producer or lawful owner. And ownership is in natural-rights -theory always to be traced back to the creative -workmanship of its first possessor.<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">136</a></p> - -<p>In the sequel this natural right freely to dispose of -one’s person and work, when it had found lodgment -among the principles of civil rights in the eighteenth -century, contributed substantially to the dissolution of -that organ of surveillance and control that the craftsmen -of an earlier generation had instituted in the gild system. -The case is but an instance of what is continually happening -and bound to happen in the field of institutional -growth. Institutional principles, such as this item of -civil rights, emerge from use and wont, resulting as a -settled line of convention from usage and custom that -grow out of the exigencies of life at the time. But use -and wont is a matter of time. It takes time for habituation -to attain that secure degree of conventional recognition -and authenticity that will enable it to stand as -an indefeasible principle of conduct, and by the time -this consummation is achieved it commonly happens -that the exigencies which enforced the given line of use -and wont have ceased to be operative, or at least to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">289</span> -be so imperative as in their earlier incidence. The control -which the gilds were initially designed to exercise -was a control that should leave the gildsmen free in the -pursuit of their work, subject only to a salutary surveillance -and standardisation of the output, such as would -maintain the prestige of their workmanship and facilitate -the disposal of the goods produced. The initial purpose -seems, in modern phrase, to have been a creation of intangible -assets for the benefits of the body of gildmen. -Under the new conditions that came to prevail when -capitalistic management took over the direction of industry -these gild regulations no longer served their purpose, -but they seem on the contrary to have become an -obstacle to the free employment of skilled workmen.</p> - -<p>A similar fortune was about the same time beginning -to overtake this principle of Natural Liberty itself, and -that even in the particular bearing which seems at the -outset to have been its primary and most substantial -aim. Initially, it seems, the point of interest, and indeed -of contention, was the freedom of the masterless workman -to dispose of his person and workmanship as he saw -fit and as he best could and would,—to take care of his -life, liberty and pursuit of happiness without let or -hindrance from persons vested with authority or prerogative. -With the passage of time, use and wont erected -this conventional rule into an inalienable right. But -included with it, as an integral extension of the powers -which this inalienable right safeguarded, was the right -of purchase and sale, touching both work and its product, -the right freely to hold and dispose of property. -Presently, toward the close of the handicraft era, or -more specifically in the late eighteenth century in England,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">290</span> -industry fell under capitalistic management. When -this change had taken passably full effect the workman -was already secure in his civil (natural) right to dispose -of his workmanship as he thought best, but the circumstances -of employment under capitalistic management -made it impossible for him in fact to dispose of his work -except to these employers, and very much on their terms, -or to dispose of his person except where the exigencies -of their business might require him. And the similarly -inalienable right of ownership, which had similarly -emerged from use and wont under the handicraft system, -but which now in effect secured the capitalist-employer -in his control of the material means of industry,—this -sacred right of property now barred out any -move that might be designed to reinstate the workman -in his effective freedom to work as he chose or to dispose -of his person and product as he saw fit.</p> - -<p>The connection so shown between the growth of handicraft -and the system of Natural Rights does not purport -to be a complete account of the rise of that system, even -in outline. The more usual account traces this system -to the concept of <i lang="la">jus naturale</i>, of the late Roman jurists. -There is assuredly no call here to question or disparage -the work of those jurists and scholars who have busied -themselves with authenticating the system of Natural -Rights by showing it to be founded in the <i lang="la">jus gentium</i> -and the <i lang="la">jus naturale</i> of the Latin Codes. Their work is -doubtless historically exact and competent. But as is -commonly the case with such work at the hands of -jurists and scholars, especially in that past age, it contents -itself with tracing an authentic pedigree, rather -than go into questions of the causes that led to the vogue<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">291</span> -of these concepts at the time of their acceptance or the -circumstances which gave these Natural Rights that particular -scope and content which they have assumed in -modern theory of law and civil relations. The thesis -which is here offered is to the effect that the habituation -of use and wont under the handicraft system installed -these rights, in an inchoate fashion, in the current preconceptions -of the community, and that this habituation -is traceable, causally rather than by process of ratiocination, -to the sense of workmanship as it took form and -went into action under the particular conventional circumstances -of the early era of handicraft; that the preconceptions -that so went into effect determined the -current attitude of thoughtful men toward questions of -civil rights and legal principle; and that the jurists who -had occasion to take notice of these current preconceptions -touching human rights found themselves constrained -to deal with them as elementary facts in the -situation as it lay before them, and therefore to find a -ground for them in the accepted canons, such as would -satisfy the legal mind of their authenticity by ancient -prescription, or such as should determine the scope of -their application in conformity with legal principles -having a prior claim and authoritative sanction. The -thesis, therefore, is not that the jurists founded these -modern principles of legal theory on the popular prejudices -current in their time and due in point of habituation -to the routine of handicraft, nor that they stretched -the ancient principles of <i lang="la">jus naturale</i> to meet the demands -of popular prejudice, but that on prompting of legal -exigencies to which the practical acceptance of these -principles had given rise, the jurists found in the capitularies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">292</span> -of the code what was necessary to authenticate -these principles of legal theory and give them the sanction -of authority,—a work of reasoning all the more congenial -and convincing to the jurists since they in common -with the rest of their generation were by habit and tradition -imbued with the penchant to find these principles -right and good, and consequently to find none other in -the codes that might fatally traverse those whose authentication -was due. But these are matters of pedigree, -and this work of the great jurists and philosophers is in -great part of the nature of accessory after the fact, so far -as bears on that sweeping acceptance of these principles -and that incontestable efficiency that marks the course -of their life-history in modern times. The jurists and -philosophers have sought and shown the sufficient reason -for accepting this scheme of principles, as well as -for the particular fashion in which they have been formulated; -but the insensible growth of habits of thought -induced by the conditions of life in (early) modern times -must be allowed to stand as the efficient cause of their -dominant control over modern practice, speculation, and -sentiment touching all those relations that have been -standardised in their terms. By use and wont the range -of conventional elements included in the scheme had -become eternal and indubitable principles of right reason, -ingrained in the intellectual texture of the jurists as well -as in their lay contemporaries; and the task of the jurists -therefore was to work out their authentication in terms -of sufficient reason; it was not for them to trouble with -any question of the causes to which these principles -owed their eternal fitness in the scheme of Nature at that -particular time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">293</span></p> - -<p>The Natural Rights which so found authentication -at the hands of the jurists were of the individualistic -kind which the discipline of the handicraft system had -inculcated, and the authentication found in the <i lang="la">jus -naturale</i> does not range much beyond the individualistic -bounds so prescribed, nor are other lines of ancient prescription, -at variance with these rights, brought at all -prominently into the light by the legal inquiries of the -jurists. Whereas it is no matter of serious question that -the chief bearing of the ancient findings embodied in -the code is not of this individualistic character. The -causes which brought on the modern acceptance of this -scheme of Natural Rights are a matter of use and wont, -quite distinct from that line of argument by which the -jurists established them on grounds of sufficient reason -resting on ancient prescription.</p> - -<p>The extreme tenacity of life shown by the system of -Natural Rights may raise a reasonable doubt as to the -adequacy of any account that assigns their derivation -to the discipline of use and wont peculiar to any particular -cultural era, even when the era in question is of -so consistent a character and such protracted duration -as the era of handicraft. What adds force to such a question -is the fact that something like these preconceptions -of natural right is not uncommon in the lower cultures. -So that on the face of the returns there appears to be -good ground in the nature of things for designating these -conventional rights “natural.” Something of the kind -is current in an obvious fashion among the peaceable -communities on the lower levels of culture, among whom -the scheme of accepted rights and obligations bears -more than a distant resemblance to the Natural Rights<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">294</span> -of the eighteenth century. But something of the kind -will also be found among peoples on a higher level, both -peaceable and predatory; though departing more notably -in point of contents from the eighteenth-century system. -The point of similarity, or of identity, among all these -systems of conventionally fundamental and eternal -human rights is to be found in their intrinsic sanction—they -are all and several right and good as a matter of -course and of common sense; the point of divergence or -dissimilarity is to be found in the contents of the code, -which are not nearly the same in all cases. In the mediæval -natural common-sense scheme of rights, prerogative, -personal and class exemption, is of the essence of -the canon; but the scheme is none the less intrinsically -mandatory on those who had been bred into a matter-of-course -acceptance of it by the routine of life in that age. -Differential rights, duties and privilege give the point -of departure in this mediæval system of civil relations; -whereas in the system worked out under the auspices of -the handicraft industry the denial of differential advantage, -whether class or individual, is the beginning of -wisdom and the substance of common sense as applied -to civil relations. The one of these schemes comes out -of an economic situation drawn on lines of predation, -ancient, prescriptive and settled, and its first principle -is that of master and servant; the other comes of a situation -grounded in workmanlike efficiency, and its first -principle is that of an equitable livelihood for work done.</p> - -<p>That some of the working systems of civil rights in -customary force among the peaceable communities of -the lower culture have more in common with modern -Natural Rights than this mediæval scheme, should logically<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">295</span> -be due to a similarity in the conditions of life out of -which they have arisen. In these savage or lower barbarian -communities, too, the principle of organization is -work for a livelihood, and the conventional ground of -economic relations is that of workmanship, as it is under -the early handicraft system; but with the difference that -whereas the technology of handicraft throws the skilled -workman into perspective as a self-sufficient individual, -and so throws self-help into the foreground as the principle -of economic equity, among these savages and lower -barbarians living by means of a technology of a less highly -specialised character, with a material situation not admitting -of the same degree of severalty in work or livelihood, -the prime requisite in the relations governing the -rights and duties of the members of the group is not the -individual livelihood of the skilled workman but that of -the group at large. The individual’s personal claims -come in only as secondary and subservient to the needs of -the group at large; rights of ownership are loose and -vague, and they lack that tenacity of life that characterises -the like rights under the handicraft system. It -is true, the product of industry belongs primarily to the -producer of it, it is his in some sense that might pass into -ownership if the technological situation admitted of work -for a livelihood in strict and consistent severalty; but in -the actual case as found on these lower levels the product -commonly escapes somewhat easily from his individual -possession and comes to inure to the use of the group. -Except for such articles as continue to pertain to him by -virtue of intimate and daily use, the producer’s possessive -control of his product is likely at the best to be -transient and dubious, readily giving way before any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">296</span> -urgent call for its use by other members of the -group.<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">137</a></p> - -<p>A fact of some incisive effect in this connection is -doubtless the characteristic trait of handicraft that, in -its early phases wholly and obviously and in its later -development also somewhat evidently, it was the affair -of a class; whereas in the savage communities with which -it is here compared, the technology and the livelihood in -question are those of the community at large, not of a -class that stands in contrast and in some degree of competition -with the community at large. The craftsmen -were a fraction of the community by work for whose -needs they got their livelihood, even though, in the -course of time, they became the dominant element within -the local community (municipality) whose fortunes they -shared. And as between this fraction of the population -and outside classes with whom they carried on their -traffic, particularly the well-to-do and land-holding -classes, there could be no constraining sense of a solidarity -of interest. The ancient bond of master and servant -had been broken by something like an overt act of -class secession on the part of the craftsmen, and nothing -like a bond of fellowship had taken its place. The fellowship -ran within the lines of craftsmanship, while the -traffic of each craftsman typically ran across the line -that divided the craftsman from the old order and population -outside of this industrial system.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">297</span></p> - -<p>That the eighteenth-century system of Natural Rights -shows such a degree of approximation to the scheme of -rights and obligations observed among many primitive -peoples need flutter no one’s sense of cultural consistency. -Return to Nature was more or less of a password in the -closing period of the era of handicraft and after, and in -respect of this system of civil relations it appears that -the popular attitude of that time was in effect something -of a reversion to primitive habits of thought; though it -was at best a partial return to a “state of nature” in -the sense of a state of peace and industry rather than a -return to the unsophisticated beginnings of society. -That such a partial reversion takes effect in the habits -of thought of the time appears to be due to a similarly -partial return to somewhat analogous habits of life. -The correspondence in the habits of thought is no greater -than that in the habits of life out of which these habits -of thought emerged. The primitive peoples that show -this suggestive resemblance to the system of Natural -Rights typically are living under a routine of workmanship -and in a state of habitual peace,—in these respects -being placed somewhat similarly to the handicraft community. -The handicraft system comes true to the same -characterisation in so far that it was dominated by a -routine of workmanship and so far as, in effect, its life-history -falls in an era of prevailingly peaceable conditions; -and such a characterisation holds true of the industrial -community proper through the period during -which handicraft is the ruling factor in the community’s -habitual range of interest. It is not that the era of -handicraft was an era of reversion to savagery, but only -that the tone-giving factor in the community of that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">298</span> -time reverted, by force of the state of the industrial arts, -to habits of peace and industry, in which direct and detailed -manual work takes a leading place. There is also -the further point of economic contact with the savage -state that in the handicraft community distinctions of -wealth are neither large nor of decisive consequence -during the long period of habituation that brought the -preconceptions of that era into the settled shape that -gave them the character of a finished and balanced system -of principles.</p> - -<p>It may be added, at the risk of tedious repetition, -that the habits of life characteristic of the era, as well as -the frame of mind suited to this characteristic routine -of life, seem peculiarly suited to the native endowment -of the European peoples,—perhaps in an especial degree -suited to the native bent of those sections of the population -in which there is an appreciable admixture of the -dolicho-blond stock. That such may be the case is at -least strongly suggested by the tenacious hold which -this system of Rights apparently still has on the sentimental -allegiance of these Western peoples, after the -conditions to which these Rights owe their rise, and to -which they are suited, have in the main ceased to exist; -as well as by the somewhat blind fervour with which these -peoples, and more especially the English-speaking section -of them, go about the idyllic enterprise of rehabilitating -that obsolescent “competitive system” that embodied -the system of Natural Rights, and that came up with the -era of handicraft and went under in its dissolution.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">299</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_299">CHAPTER VII<br> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Machine Industry</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> era of the machine industry has been designated -variously, to answer to the varying point of view from -which it has been considered by divers writers. As an -historical era it shows divers traits, more or less characteristic, -and it has been designated by one or another of -these traits according to the particular line of interest -that may have directed the attention of those who have -had occasion to name it. It is spoken of as the era of -the factory system, of large-scale industry, as the age -of Capitalism or of free competition, or again as an era -of the credit economy. But as seen from the point of -view of technology, and more specifically from that of -workmanship as it underlies the technological system, -it is best characterised as the era of the machine industry, -or of the machine process. As a technological period -it is commonly conceived to take its rise in the British -industrial community about the third quarter of the -eighteenth century, the conventional date of the Industrial -Revolution,—those who have a taste for precise -dates assigning it more specifically to the sixties of that -century, to coincide with the earliest practical use of -certain large mechanical inventions of that age.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">138</a></p> - -<p>Such a precise date is scarcely serviceable for any other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">300</span> -than a mnemonic purpose. If the matter is taken in -historical perspective the era of the machine process -will be seen to have been coming on in England through -the earlier years of the century, and even from before -that time; whereas notable mechanical inventions, and -engineering exploits of the like general bearing in technology, -had begun to affect the industrial situation in -some of the Continental countries at an appreciably -earlier period. So, <i>e. g.</i>, practical improvements had -gone into effect in water-wheels, pumps and wind mills, -in the use of sails and the designs of shipping, in wheeled -vehicles (though the early modern improvements in -this particular may easily be over-rated) and in such -appliances as chimneys; and, again, there is the peculiar -but highly instructive field of applied mechanics represented -by the invention and improvement of firearms. -Such engineering enterprises as the drainage systems of -Holland also belong here and are to be counted among -the notable achievements in applied mechanics.</p> - -<p>Even the most casual review of the technological situation -in Europe, say in the seventeenth century, will -bring out characteristic features that cannot be denied -honourable mention as applications of mechanical science, -although the reserve caution is immediately to be entered -that these early mechanical expedients and their employment -stand out as sporadic facts of mechanical -contrivance in an age of manual work, rather than as -characteristic traits of the industrial system in which -they are found. The beginnings of the machine industry -are of this sporadic character. They come up as an outgrowth -of the handicraft technology, particularly at -conjunctures where that technology is called on to deal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">301</span> -with such large mechanical problems as exceed the force -of manual labour or that elude the reach of the craftsman’s -tools.</p> - -<p>So, <i>e. g.</i>, in England, say from the sixteenth century -onward, there are improvements in highways and waterways -and in the drainage of agricultural lands; and, as -an instance more obviously related to the machine industry -as commonly apprehended, there comes early -in the eighteenth century the “horse-hoing cultivation” -on which Jethro Tull spent his enthusiasm. Along with -this obviously mechanical line of endeavour and innovation -is also to be noted the deliberate efforts to improve -the races of sheep and cattle that were in progress about -the same time. These are perhaps not to be rated as -mechanical inventions in the simple and obvious sense -of the phrase, but they have this trait in common with -the inventions of the machine era that they turn ascertained -facts of brute nature to account for human use -by a logic that has much of that character of impersonal -incidence that marks the machine technology. The -machine industry comes on gradually; its initial stages -are visible in the early eighteenth century, but it is only -toward the close of that century that its effects on the -industrial system become so pronounced that the era -of the machine technology may fairly be said to have -set in; and it is only in Great Britain that it can be said -to prevail at that period.</p> - -<p>Of the other features above alluded to as characteristic -of this period of history none are of so substantial a -character or so distinctive of this particular period as its -technological peculiarities. Free competition, <i>e. g.</i>, belongs -as much to the era of handicraft as to that of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">302</span> -machine, having prevailed—more extensively in theory -than in practice—under the former régime as under -the latter; and in point of fact it gradually falls under -increasing restrictions as the machine age advances, until -in the more highly developed phases of the current situation -it has largely ceased to be a practicable line of policy -in industrial business. So, also, Capitalism did not take -its rise coincident with the industrial revolution, although -its best development and largest expansion may -lie within the machine age. It had its beginnings in the -prosperous days of handicraft, and one capitalistic era -had already run its course, on the Continent, before the -machine industry came in. The “credit economy,” -associated with the capitalistic management of industry, -is also of older growth, so far as regards the days of its -early vigour, although the larger and more far-reaching -developments of credit come effectually into play only -in the later decades of the machine age. Much the same -is true of the so-called large-scale organisation of industry -and the factory system. Its highest development -comes with the advanced stages of the machine technology -and is manifestly conditioned by the latter, but -it was already a force to be counted with at the time of -the industrial revolution. The large-scale industry contemplated, -with a degree of apprehension, by Adam -Smith, e. g., was not based on the machine technology -but on handicraft with an extensive division of labour, -and on the “household industry” as that was gaining -ground in his time. The latter was, in form, what has -since come to be known as the “sweatshop” industry.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>In this new era technology comes into close touch with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">303</span> -science; both the science and the technology of the new -age being of a matter-of-fact character, beyond all precedent. -So much so that by contrast, the technology -of handicraft would appear to have stood in no close or -consistent relation with the avowed science of its time. -Not that anthropomorphic imputation is altogether -wanting or inoperative in this latterday scientific inquiry, -or in the technological utilisation of the facts in -hand; but in the later conceptions anthropomorphism -has at the best been repressed and sterilised in an unprecedented -degree. And it holds true for the machine -technology beyond any other state of the industrial arts -that the facts of observation can effectually be turned -to account only in so far as they are apprehended in a -matter-of-fact way. The logic of this technology, by -which its problems are to be worked out, is the logic of -a mechanical process in which no personal or teleological -factors enter. The engineer or inventor who designs -processes, appliances and expedients within these premises -is required to apprehend and appreciate the working -facts after that dispassionate, opaque, unteleological -fashion in which the phenomena of brute matter occur; -and he must learn to work out their uses by the logic of -brute matter instead of construing them by imputation -and by analogy with the manifestations of human workmanship. -Less imperatively, but still in a marked degree, -the same spirit must be found in the workmen under -whose tendance these processes and appliances are to -work out the designed results.</p> - -<p>Under the simpler technology of more primitive industrial -systems recourse to anthropomorphic imputation -has also always been a hindrance to workmanlike<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">304</span> -mastery, more particularly in the mechanic arts proper, -and only less pronounced in those industrial arts, like -husbandry, that have to do immediately with plants and -animals. Knowledge of brute facts as interpreted in -terms of human nature appears never to have been serviceable -in full proportion to their content. But in these -more primitive industrial systems—as also in the better -days of handicraft—the workman is forever in instant -control of his tools and materials; the movements made -use of in the work are essentially of the nature of manipulation, -in which the workman adroitly coerces the materials -into shapes and relations that will answer his -purpose, and in which also nothing (typically) takes -place beyond the manual reach of the workman as extended -by the tools which his hands make use of. Under -these conditions it is a matter of relatively slight effect -whether the workman does or does not rate the objects -which he uses as tools and materials in quasi-personal -terms or imputes to them a degree of self-direction, since -they are at no point allowed to escape his manual reach -and are by direct communication of his force, dexterity -and judgment coerced into the forms, motions and -spatial dispositions aimed at by him. His imputing -some bias, bent, initiative or spiritual force or infirmity -to brute matter will doubtless incapacitate him by so -much for efficiently designing processes and uses for the -available material facts; his creative imagination proceeds -on mistaken premises and goes wrong in so far; -and so this anthropomorphic interpretation must always -count as a material drawback to technological mastery -of the available resources and in some degree retard the -possible advance in the industrial arts. But within the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">305</span> -premises given by the industrial arts as they stand, he -may still do effective work as a mechanic skilled in the -manual operations prescribed by the given state of the -arts. For in the mechanic industries of all these other -and more archaic industrial systems the workman does -the work; it may be by use of tools, and even by help of -more or less extended processes in which natural forces -of growth, fermentation, decay, and the like, play a material -part; but the decisive fact remains that the motions -and operations of such manual industry take effect at -his hands and by way of his muscular force and manual -reach. Where natural processes, as those of growth, -fermentation or combustion, are drawn into the routine -of industry, they lie, as natural processes, beyond his -discretionary control; at the most he puts them in train -and lets them run, with some hedging and shifting as -they go on, to bring them to bear in such a way as shall -suit his ends; he takes his precautions with them and -then he takes the chance of their coming to the desired -issue. They are not, and as he sees the work and its -conditions they need not be, within his control in anything -like the fashion in which he controls his tools and -the materials employed in his manual operations; they -work well or ill, and what comes of it is in some degree -a matter of his fortune of success or failure, such as comes -to the man who has done his best under Providence. -In case of a striking outcome for good or ill from the -operation of such natural processes the devout craftsman -is inclined to rate it as the act of God; very much as does -the devout husbandman who depends on rain rather -than on irrigation. It is the part of the wise workman in -such a case to take what comes, without elation or repining,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">306</span> -in so far as these factors of success and failure are -not comprised in his presumed workmanlike proficiency.</p> - -<p>The matter lies differently in the machine industry. -The mechanical processes here engaged are calculable, -measurable, and contain no mysterious element of providential -ambiguity. In proportion as they work to the -best effect, they are capable of theoretical statement, -not merely approachable by rule of thumb. The designing -engineer takes his measures on the basis of ascertained -quantitative fact. He knows the forces employed, -and, indeed, he can employ only such as he knows and -only so far as he knows them; and he arranges for the -processes that are to do the work, with only such calculable -margin of error as is due to the ascertained average -infirmity of the available materials. He deals with -forces and effects standardised in the same opaque terms. -He will be proficient in his craft in much the same degree -in which he is master of the matter-of-fact logic involved -in mechanical processes of pressure, velocity, displacement -and the like; not in proportion as he can adroitly -impart to the available materials the workmanlike turn -of his own manual force and dexterity, nor in the degree -in which he may be able shrewdly to guess the run of -the season or the variations of temperature and moisture -that condition the effectual serviceability of natural -processes in handicraft.</p> - -<p>The share of the operative workman in the machine -industry is (typically) that of an attendant, an assistant, -whose duty it is to keep pace with the machine process -and to help out with workmanlike manipulation at -points where the machine process engaged is incomplete.<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">139</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">307</span> -His work supplements the machine process, rather than -makes use of it. On the contrary the machine process -makes use of the workman. The ideal mechanical contrivance -in this technological system is the automatic -machine. Perfection in the machine technology is attained -in the degree in which the given process can dispense -with manual labour; whereas perfection in the -handicraft system means perfection of manual workmanship. -It is the part of the workman to know the -working of the mechanism with which he is associated -and to adapt his movements with mechanical accuracy -to its requirement. This demands a degree of intelligence, -and much of this work calls for a good deal of -special training besides; so that it is still true that the -workman is useful somewhat in proportion as he is skilled -in the occupation to which the machine industry calls -him. In the new era the stress falls rather more decidedly -on general intelligence and information, as contrasted -with detail mastery of the minutiæ of a trade; so that -familiarity with the commonplace technological knowledge -of the time is rather more imperative a requirement -under the machine technology than under that of handicraft. -At the same time this common stock of technological -information is greatly larger in the current state -of the industrial arts; so much larger in volume, and at -the same time so much more exacting in point of accuracy -and detail, that this commonplace information -that is requisite to any of the skilled occupations can no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">308</span> -longer be acquired in the mere workday routine of industry, -but is to be had only at the cost of deliberate -application and with the help of schools.</p> - -<p>On this head, as regards the requirements of industry -in the way of general information on the part of the -skilled workmen, the contrast is sufficiently marked, -<i>e. g.</i>, between Elizabethan times and the Victorian age. -At the earlier period illiteracy was no obstacle to adequate -training in the skilled trades. In the seventeenth -century Thomas Mun includes among the peculiar and -extraordinary acquirements necessary to eminent success -in commerce, matters that are now easily comprised -in the ordinary common-school instruction; and in so -doing he plainly shows that these acquirements were -over and above what was usual or would be thought -useful for the common man. Even Adam Smith, in the -latter half of the eighteenth century, shrewd observer -as he was, does not include any degree of schooling or any -similar pursuit of general information among the requisites -essential to the efficiency of skilled labour. Even -at that date it appears still to have been true that the -commonplace information and the general training necessary -to a mastery of any one of the crafts lay within so -narrow a range that what was needful could all be acquired -by hearsay and as an incident to the discipline of -apprenticeship. Within a century after the first inception -of the machine industry illiteracy had come to be a -serious handicap to any skilled mechanic; the range of -commonplace information that must habitually be drawn -on in the skilled trades had widened to such an extent, -and comprised so large a volume of recondite facts, that -the ability to read came to have an industrial value; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">309</span> -higher proficiency in any branch of the mechanic arts -presumed such an acquaintance with fact and theory -as could neither be gained nor maintained without habitual -recourse to printed matter. And this line of requirements -has been constantly increasing in volume -and urgency, as well as in the range of employments to -which the demand applies, until it has become a commonplace -that no one can now hope to compete for proficiency -in the skilled occupations without such schooling -as will carry him very appreciably beyond the three R’s -that made up the complement of necessary learning for -the common man half a century ago.</p> - -<p>It follows as a consequence of these large and increasing -requirements enforced by the machine technology that -the period of preliminary training is necessarily longer, -and the schooling demanded for general preparation -grows unremittingly more exacting. So that, apart -from all question of humanitarian sentiment or of popular -fitness for democratic citizenship, it has become a matter -of economic expediency, simply as a proposition in technological -efficiency at large, to enforce the exemption -of children from industrial employment until a later -date and to extend their effective school age appreciably -beyond what would once have been sufficient to meet all -the commonplace requirements of skilled workmanship.<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">140</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">310</span></p> - -<p>The knowledge so required as a general and commonplace -equipment requisite for the pursuit of these modern -skilled occupations is of the general nature of applied -mechanics, in which the essence of the undertaking is a -ready apprehension of opaque facts, in passably exact -quantitative terms. This class of knowledge presumes -a certain intellectual or spiritual attitude on the part of -the workman, such an attitude and animus as will readily -apprehend and appreciate matter of fact and will guard -against the suffusion of this knowledge with putative -animistic or anthropomorphic subtleties, quasi-personal -interpretations of the observed phenomena and of their -relations to one another. The norm of systematisation -is that given by the logic of the machine process, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">311</span> -scope of it is that inculcated by statistical computation -and the principle of material cause and effect.</p> - -<p>In some degree the routine of the machine industry -necessarily induces such an animus in its employees, -since such is the scope and method of its own working; -and the closer and more exacting the application to -work of this kind, the more thorough-going should be the -effects of its discipline. But this routine and its discipline -extend beyond the mechanical occupations as such, -so as in great part to determine the habits of all members -of the modern community. This proposition holds true -more broadly for the current state of the industrial arts -than any similar statement would hold, <i>e. g.</i>, for the -handicraft system. The ordinary routine of life is more -widely and pervasively determined by the machine industry -and by machine-like industrial processes today, -and this determination is at the same time more rigorous, -than any analogous effect that was had under the handicraft -system. Within the effective bounds of modern -Christendom no one can wholly escape or in any sensible -degree deflect the sweep of the machine’s routine.</p> - -<p>Modern life goes by clockwork. So much so that no -modern household can dispense with a mechanical timepiece; -which may be more or less accurate, it is true, but -which commonly marks the passage of time with a degree -of exactness that would have seemed divertingly supererogatory -to the common man of the high tide of handicraft.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> -Latterly the time so indicated, it should be called -to mind, is “standard time,” standardised to coincide -over wide areas and to vary only by large and standard<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">312</span> -units. It brings the routine of life to a nicely uniform -schedule of hours throughout a population which exceeds -by many fold the size of those communities that once -got along contentedly enough without such an expedient -under the régime of handicraft. In this matter the demands -of the machine have even brought on a revision -of the time schedule imposed by the mechanism of the -heavenly bodies, so that not only “solar time,” but even -the “mean solar time” that once was considered to be a -sufficient improvement on the ways of Nature, has been -superseded by the schedule imposed by the railway -system.</p> - -<p>The discipline of the timepiece is sufficiently characteristic -of the discipline exercised by the machine process -at large in modern life, and as a cultural factor, as a -factor in shaping the habits of thought of the modern -peoples, it is itself moreover a fact of the first importance. -Of the standardisation of the time schedule just spoken -of, the earlier, the adoption of “mean solar time,” was -due immediately to the exigencies of the machine process -as such, which would not tolerate the seasonal fluctuations -of “apparent” solar time. This epithet “apparent,” -by the way, carries a suggestion that the time schedule -so designated is less true to the actualities of the case -than the one which superseded it. And so it is if the -actualities to which regard is had are those of the machine -process; whereas the contrary is true if the actualities -that are to decide are those of the seasons, as -they were under the earlier dispensation. “Standard -time” has gone into effect primarily through the necessities -of railway communication,—itself a dominant -item in the mechanical routine of life; but it is only in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">313</span> -less degree a requirement of the other activities that go -to make up the traffic of modern life. The railway is -one of the larger mechanical contrivances of the machine -age, and its exigencies in this respect are typical of what -holds true at large. Communication of whatever kind, as -well as the supply of other necessaries, is standardised -in terms of time, space, quantity, frequency, and indeed -in all measurable dimensions; and the “consumer,” as -the denizens of these machine-made communities are -called, is required to conform to this network of standardisations -in his demand and uses of them, on pain of -“getting left.” To “get left” is a colloquialism of the -machine era and describes the commonest form of privation -under the régime of the machine process. It is -already a time-worn colloquialism, inasmuch as it is -now already some time since the ubiquitous routine of -the machine process first impressed on the common man -the sinister eventuality covered by the phrase.</p> - -<p>The relation in which the consumer, the common man, -stands to the mechanical routine of life at large is of -much the same nature as that in which the modern -skilled workman stands to that detail machine process -into which he is dovetailed in the industrial system. To -take effectual advantage of what is offered as the wheels -of routine go round, in the way of work and play, livelihood -and recreation, he must know by facile habituation -what is going on and how and in what quantities -and at what price and where and when, and for the best -effect he must adapt his movements with skilled exactitude -and a cool mechanical insight to the nicely balanced -moving equilibrium of the mechanical processes engaged. -To live—not to say at ease—under the exigencies of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">314</span> -this machine-made routine requires a measure of consistent -training in the mechanical apprehension of things. -The mere mechanics of conformity to the schedule of -living implies a degree of trained insight and a facile -strategy in all manner of quantitative adjustments and -adaptations, particularly at the larger centres of population, -where the routine is more comprehensive and -elaborate.</p> - -<p>And here and now, as always and everywhere, invention -is the mother of necessity. The complex of technological -ways and means grows by increments that come -into the scheme by way of improvements, innovations, -expedients designed to facilitate, abridge or enhance the -work to be done. Any such innovation that fits workably -into the technological scheme, and that in any appreciable -degree accelerates the pace of that scheme at any point, -will presently make its way into general and imperative -use, regardless of whether its net ulterior effect is an -increase or a diminution of material comfort or industrial -efficiency. Such is particularly the case under the current -pecuniary scheme of life if the new expedient lends -itself to the service of competitive gain or competitive -spending; its general adoption then peremptorily takes -effect on pain of damage and discomfort to all those -who fail to strike the new pace. Each new expedient -added to and incorporated in the system offers not only -a new means of keeping up with the run of things at an -accelerated pace, but also a new chance of getting left -out of the running. The point is well seen, e. g., in the -current competitive armaments, where equipment is -subject to constant depreciation and obsolescence, not -through decline or decay, but by virtue of new improvements.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">315</span> -So also in the increase and acceleration of advertising -that has been going on during the past quarter -of a century, due to increased facilities and improved -methods in printing, paper-making, and the other industrial -arts that contribute to the appliances of publicity.</p> - -<p>It is of course not hereby intended to imply that these -modern inventions meet no wants but such as they -themselves create. It is beyond dispute that such mechanical -contrivances, for instance, as the telephone, the -typewriter, and the automobile are not only great and -creditable technological achievements, but they are also -of substantial service. At the same time it is at least -doubtful if these inventions have not wasted more effort -and substance than they have saved,—that they are to -be credited with an appreciable net loss. They are designed -to facilitate travel and communication, and such -is doubtless their first and obvious effect. But the net -result of their introduction need by no means be the -same. Their chief use is in the service of business, not -of industry, and their great further use is in the furtherance, -or rather the acceleration, of obligatory social -amenities. As contrivances for the expedition of traffic -both in business and in social intercourse their use is -chiefly, almost wholly, of a competitive nature; and in -the competitive equipment and manœuvres of business -and of gentility the same broad principle will be found -to apply as applies to competitive armaments and improvements -in the technology of warfare. Any technological -advantage gained by one competitor forthwith -becomes a necessity to all the rest, on pain of defeat. -The typewriter is, no doubt, a good and serviceable contrivance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">316</span> -for the expedition of a voluminous correspondence, -but there is also no reasonable doubt but its introduction -has appreciably more than doubled the volume -of correspondence necessary to carry on a given volume -of business, or that it has quadrupled the necessary cost -of such correspondence. And the expedition of correspondence -by stenographer and typewriter has at the -same time become obligatory on all business firms, on -pain of losing caste and so of losing the confidence of -their correspondents. Of the telephone much the same -is to be said, with the addition that its use involves a very -appreciable nervous strain and its ubiquitous presence -conduces to an unremitting nervous tension and unrest -wherever it goes. The largest secure result of these -various modern contrivances designed to facilitate and -abridge travel and communication appears to be an -increase of the volume of traffic per unit of outcome, -acceleration of the pace and heightening of the tension -at which the traffic is carried on, and a consequent increase -of nervous disorders and shortening of the effective -working life of those engaged in this traffic. But -in these matters invention is the mother of necessity, -and within the scope of these contrivances for facilitating -and abridging labour there is no alternative, and -life is not offered on any other terms.<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">142</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">317</span></p> - -<p>Other kinds of routine, standardised and elaborate, -have been or still are in force, besides this machine-like -process of living as carried on under modern technological -conditions; and one and another of these will at times -rise to a degree of exigence quite comparable with that -of the machine process. But these others are of a different -character in that their demands are not enforced -by sanctions of an unmediated mechanical kind; they -do not fall on the delinquent with a direct mechanical -impact, and the penalties of non-conformity are of a conventional -nature. So, <i>e. g.</i>, the punctilios of religious -observance may come to a very rigid routine, to be -observed on pain of sufficiently grave consequences; but -in so far as these eventual (eschatological) consequences -are statable in terms of material incidence (of fire, sulphur, -or the like) the mechanically trained modern -consumer will incline to hold that they are of a putative -character only. So, again, in the matter of fashion and decorum -the schedule of observances may be sufficiently rigorous, -but here too failure to articulate with the sweep -of a punctilious routine with all the sure and firm touch -of the expert is not checked with an immediate disastrous -impact of mechanical shock. Conformity in the -technological respect with the routine of living under -other technological systems than that of the machine -process had also something of this character of conventional -prescription; and the discipline exercised by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">318</span> -routine of living in these more archaic technological -eras was also something more in the nature of a training -in conventional expedients. The resulting growth of -habits of thought in such a community should then -also differ in a similar way from what comes in sight in -the present.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Both in its incidence on the workman and on the -members of the community at large, therefore, the training -given by this current state of the industrial arts is a -training in the impersonal, quantitative apprehension -and appreciation of things, and it tends strongly to -inhibit and discredit all imputation of spiritual traits -to the facts of observation. It is a training in matter-of-fact; -more specifically it is a training in the logic of the -machine process. Its outcome should obviously be an -unqualified materialistic and mechanical animus in all -orders of society, most pronounced in the working classes, -since they are most immediately and consistently exposed -to the discipline of the machine process. But -such an animus as best comports with the logic of the -machine process does not, it appears, for good or ill, -best comport with the native strain of human nature in -those peoples that are subject to its discipline. In all -the various peoples of Christendom there is a visible -straining against the drift of the machine’s teaching, -rising at time and in given classes of the population to -the pitch of revulsion.</p> - -<p>It is apparently among the moderately well-to-do, the -half-idle classes, that such a revulsion chiefly has its -way; leading now and again to fantastic, archaising -cults and beliefs and to make-believe credence in occult<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">319</span> -insights and powers. At the same time, and with the -like tincture of affectation and make-believe, there runs -through much of the community a feeling of maladjustment -and discomfort, that seeks a remedy in a “return -to Nature” in one way or another; some sort of a return -to “the simple life,” which shall in some fashion afford -an escape from the unending “grind” of living from day -to day by the machine method and shall so put behind -us for a season the burdensome futilities by help of which -alone life can be carried on under the routine of the -machine process.</p> - -<p>All this uneasy revulsion may not be taken at its face -value; there is doubtless a variable but fairly large element -of affectation that comes to expression in all this -talk about the simple life; but when all due abatement -has been allowed there remains a substantial residue of -unaffected protest. The pitch and volume of this protest -against “artificial” and “futile” ways of life is -greatest in the advanced industrial countries, and it -has been growing greater concomitantly with the advance -of the machine era. What is perhaps more significant -of actualities than these well-bred professions of -discomfort and discontent is the “vacation,” being a -more tangible phenomenon and statable in quantitative -terms. The custom of “taking a vacation” has been on -the increase for some time, and the avowed need of a -yearly or seasonal holiday greatly exceeds the practice -of it in nearly all callings. This growing recourse to -vacations should be passably conclusive evidence to the -effect that neither the manner of life enforced by the -machine system, nor the occupations of those who are -in close contact with this technology and its due habits<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">320</span> -of thought, can be “natural” to the common run of civilised -mankind.</p> - -<p>According to accepted theories of heredity,<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> civilised -mankind should by native endowment be best fit to -live under conditions of a moderately advanced savagery, -such as the machine technology will not permit.<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a> Neither -in the physical conditions which it imposes, therefore, -nor in the habitual ways of observation and reasoning -which it requires in the work to be done, is the machine -age adapted to the current native endowment of the -race. And these various movements of unrest and revulsion -are evidence, for as much as they are worth, that -such is the case.</p> - -<p>Not least convincing is the fact that a considerable -proportion of those who are held unremittingly to the -service of the machine process “break down,” fall into -premature decay. Physically and spiritually these modern -peoples are better adapted to life under conditions -radically different from those imposed by this modern -technology.<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> All of which goes to show, what is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">321</span> -point here in question, that however exacting and however -pervasive the discipline of the machine process may -be, it can not, after all, achieve its perfect work in the -way of habituation in the population of Christendom -as it stands. The limit of tolerance native to the race, -physically and spiritually, is short of that unmitigated -materialism and unremitting mechanical routine to which -the machine technology incontinently drives.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>For anything like a comprehensive view of the effects -which the machine technology has had on the scope and -method of knowledge in modern times it is necessary -to turn back to its beginnings. Historically the machine -age succeeds the era of handicraft, but the two overlap -very extensively. So much so that while the era of the -machine technology is commonly held to have set in -something like a century and a half ago it is still too -early to assert that the industrial system has cleared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">322</span> -itself of the remnants of handicraft or that the habits -of thought suitable to the days of handicraft are no -longer decisive in the current legal and popular apprehension -of industrial relations. The discipline of the -machine process has not yet had time, nor has it had a -clear field. The best that can be looked for, therefore, -in the way of habits of thought conforming to the ways -and means of the machine process should be something -of a progressive approximation; and the considerations -recited in the last few paragraphs should leave it doubtful -whether anything more than an imperfect approximation -to the logic of the machine process can be achieved, -through any length of training, by the peoples among -whom the greatest advance in that direction has already -been made.</p> - -<p>The material sciences early show the bias of the machine -technology, as is fairly to be expected, since these -sciences stand in a peculiarly close relation to the technological -side of industry,—almost a relation of affiliation. -At no earlier period has the correlation between -science and technology been so close. And the response -in respect of the scope and method of these sciences to -any notable advance in technology has been sufficiently -striking. As has already been indicated above, modern -science at large takes to the use of statistical methods -and precise mechanical measurements, and in this matter -scientific inquiry has grown continually more confident -and more meticulous at the same time that this mechanistic -procedure is continually being applied more -extensively as the technological advance goes forward. -How far this statistical-mechanistic bias of modern inquiry -is to be set down to the account of the drift of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">323</span> -technology toward mechanical engineering, and how far -it may be due to an ever increasing familiarity with -conceptions of accountancy enforced by the price system -and the time schedule in daily life, may be left an open -question. The main fact remains, that in much the same -degree as niceties of calculation have come to dominate -current technological methods and devices the like insistence -on extreme niceties of mechanical measurement -and statistical accuracy has also become imperative -in scientific inquiry; until it may fairly be said that such -meticulous scrutiny of quantitative relations as would -have seemed foolish in the early days of the machine -era has become the chief characteristic of scientific inquiry -today.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> It is of course not overlooked that in this -matter of quantitative scruple the relation between current -technology and the sciences is a relation of mutual -give and take; but this fact can scarcely be urged as an -objection to the view that these two lines of expression -of the modern habit of mind are closely bound together, -since it is precisely such a bond of continuity between -the two that is here spoken for.</p> - -<p>As shown in the foregoing chapter, in the course of -the transition to modern times and modern ways of -thinking the principle of efficient cause gradually replaced -that of sufficient reason as the final ground of -certitude in conclusions of a theoretical nature. This -shifting of the metaphysical footing of knowledge from -a subjective ground to an objective one first and most -unreservedly affects the material sciences, as it should<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">324</span> -if it is at all to be construed as an outcome of the discipline -exercised by the then current technology of -handicraft. But the like effect is presently, though -tardily, had in other lines of systematic knowledge that -lie farther from the immediate incidence of technology -and secular traffic. So that by the time of the industrial -revolution the like mechanistic animus had come to -pervade even the philosophical and theological speculations -current in those communities that were most intimately -and unreservedly touched by the discipline of -craftsmanship and the petty trade.<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">147</a></p> - -<p>By this time,—the latter part of the eighteenth century,—the -material sciences (overtly) admit no principle -of systematisation within their own jurisdiction other -than that of efficient cause. But at that date the concept -of causation still has much of the content given it by -the technology of handicraft. The efficient cause is still -conceived after an individualistic fashion; without grave -exaggeration it might even be said that the concept of -cause as currently employed in the scientific speculations -of that time had something of a quasi-personal complexion. -The inquiry habitually looked to some one -efficient cause, engaged as creatively dominant in the -case and working to its end under conditioning circumstances<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">325</span> -that might greatly affect the outcome but that -were not felt (or avowed) to enter into the case with the -same aggressive thrust of causality that belonged to the -efficient cause proper. The “contributory circumstances” -were conceived rather extrinsically as accessory -to the event; “accessory before the fact,” perhaps, but -none the less accessory. And scientific research took the -form of an inquiry into the causal nexus between an antecedent -(a cause or complex of causes) and its outcome in -an event. The inquiry looked to the beginning and end -of an episode of activity, the outcome of which would -be a finished product, somewhat after the fashion in -which a finished piece of work leaves the craftsman’s -hands. The craftsman is the agency productively engaged -in the case, while his tools and materials are accessories -to his force and skill, and the finished goods leave -his hands as an end achieved; and so an episode of creative -efficiency is rounded off.</p> - -<p>From an early period in the machine era a new attitude -toward questions of causation comes in evidence in scientific -inquiry. The obvious change is perhaps the larger -scale on which the sequence of cause and effect is conceived. -It is no longer predominantly a question of -episodes of causal efficiency, detached and rounded off. -Such detail episodes still continue to occupy the routine -of investigation; necessarily so, since these empirical -sciences proceed step by step in the determination of -the phenomena with which they are occupied. But in -an increasing degree these detached phenomena are -sought to be worked into a theoretical structure of larger -scope, and this larger structure of theory falls into shape -as a self-determining sequence of cumulative change.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">326</span> -The same concept of process that rules in the machine -technology invades the speculations of the scientists and -results in theories of cumulative sequence, in which the -point of departure as well as the objective end of the -sequence of causation gradually come to have less and -less of a determinative significance for the course of -the inquiry and for its results. In theoretical speculations -based on the data of the empirical sciences, interest -and attention come progressively to centre on this -process of cumulative causation, so that the interest in -the productive efficiency of consummation ceases gradually -to be of decisive moment in the formulations of -theory; which comes in this way to be an account of an -unfolding process rather than a checking up of individual -effects against individual causes. What once were ultimate -questions have in modern science become ulterior -questions and have lost their preferential place in the -inquiry. Neither the seat of efficient initiative, that -would be presumed to give this unfolding process of -cumulative change its content and direction, nor its -eventual goal, wherein it would be presumed to come to -rest when the initial impulse has spent itself and its end -has been compassed,—neither of these ultimates holds -the attention or guides the inquiry of modern science.</p> - -<p>It is only gradually, concomitant with the gradual -maturing of the machine technology, that the systematisation -of knowledge in scientific theory has come by common -consent to converge on formulations of a genetic -process of cumulative change. This science of the machine -age is “evolutionary” in a peculiarly impersonal, -indeed in a mechanistic sense of the term. In the consummate -form, as it stands at the transition to the twentieth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">327</span> -century, this evolutionary conception of genetic -process is, at least ideally, void of all teleological elements -and of all personality—except as personality may -be concessively admitted as a by-product of the mechanistic -sweep of the blind motions of brute matter. -Neither the name nor the notion of a genetic evolution -is peculiar to the machine age; but this current, impersonal, -unteleological, mechanistic conception of an evolutionary -process is peculiar to the late modern fashion of -apprehending things.</p> - -<p>It goes without saying that this mechanistic conception -of process has worked clear of personation and -teleological bias only gradually, by insensible decay -and progressive elimination of those preconceptions of -personal force and teleological fitness that ruled all -theoretical knowledge in the days when the principle of -sufficient reason held over that of efficient cause; and -it should likewise be a matter of course that this shift to -the mechanistic footing is by no means yet complete, -that scientific inquiry is not yet clear of all contamination -with animistic, anthropomorphic, or teleological -elements; since the change is of the nature of habit, -which takes time, and since the discipline of modern -life to which the mechanistic habit of mind is traceable -is by no means wholly consistent or unqualified in its -mechanistic drift. Yet so far has the habituation to -mechanistic ways of thinking taken effect, and so comprehensive -and thorough has the discipline of the machine -process been, that a mechanistic, unteleological notion -of evolution is today a commonplace preconception -both with scientists and laymen; whereas a hundred -years ago such a conceit had intimately touched the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">328</span> -imagination of but very few, if any, among the scientific -adepts of the new era.</p> - -<p>To what effect Lucretius and his like in classical antiquity, -<i>e. g.</i>, may have speculated and tried to speak -in these premises is by no means easy to make out; nor -does it concern the present inquiry, since no vital connection -or continuity of habit is traceable between their -achievements in this respect and the theoretical preconceptions -of modern science or of the machine technology. -In the course of modern times conceptions of an evolutionary -sequence of creation or of genesis come up with -increasing frequency, and from an early period in the -machine age these conceptions take on more and more -of a mechanistic character, but it is not until Darwin -that such a genetic process of evolution is conceived in -terms of blind mechanical forces alone, without the help -of imputed teleological bias or personalised initiative. -It may perhaps be an open question whether the Darwinian -conception of evolution is in no degree contaminated -with teleological fancies, but however that may -be it remains true that a purely mechanistic conception -of a genetic process in nature had found no lodgment in -scientific theory up to the middle of the nineteenth century. -With varying success this conception has since -been assimilated by the adepts of all the material sciences, -and it may even be said to stand as a tacitly postulated -commonplace underlying all modern scientific theory, -whether in the material or the social sciences. It is -accepted by common consent as a matter of course, although -doubtless much antique detail at variance with -it stands over both in the theoretical formulations of -the adepts and in popular thought, and must continue<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">329</span> -to stand over until the course of habituation may conceivably -in time enforce the sole competency of this -mechanistic conception as the definitive norm of systematic -knowledge. Whether such an eventuality is to -overtake the scope and method of knowledge in Western -civilisation should apparently be a question of how protracted, -consistent, unmitigated, and how far congruous -with their native bent the discipline of the machine -process may prove in the further history of these peoples.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>As has been shown above, in its beginnings the machine -technology took over the working concepts of handicraft, -and it has gradually shifted from the ground of manual -operation so afforded to the ground of impersonal mechanical -process; but this shifting of base in respect of -the elementary technological preconceptions has not -hitherto been complete, much of the personal attitude -of craftsmanship toward mechanical forces and structures -being still visible in the work of modern technologists. -In like manner, and concomitant with the transition -to the machine industry, there has gone forward a -like shifting in respect of the point of view and the elementary -preconceptions of science. This has taken -effect most largely and gone farthest in the material -sciences, as should be expected from the close connection -that subsists between these sciences and the technology -of the machine industry; but here again the elimination -of craftsmanlike conceptions has hitherto not been complete. -And, what is more instructive as to the part -played by technological discipline in the growth of science, -the character of this change in scientific scope, method -and preconceptions is somewhat obviously such as would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">330</span> -be given by habituation to the working of the machine -process. Where later scientific inquiry has departed -from or overpassed the limitations imposed by the habits -of thought peculiar to craftsmanship the movement has -taken the direction enforced by the machine technology.</p> - -<p>So, <i>e. g.</i>, while the elements made use of by the machine -technology, and characteristic of its work, are conceptions -of mass, velocity, pressure, stress, vibration, -displacement, and the like, these elements are made use -of only under the rule that action in any of these bearings -takes effect only by impact, by contact directly or -through a continuum. The mathematical computations -and elucidations that are one main instrumentality -employed by the technologist do not and can not include -this underlying postulate of contact, since it is an assumption -extraneous to those magnitudes of quantity in terms -of which this technology does its work. How far this -preconception that action can take place only by contact -is to be rated as an elementary concept carried over -from handicraft, where it is obviously at home and fundamental -in all work of manipulation, may perhaps be an -idle question. In any case the machine technology is -at one with craftsmanship on this head, even though -there are many features in modern industrial processes -that do not involve action by contact in any such obvious -fashion as to suggest its necessary assumption, as, -<i>e. g.</i>, in processes involving the use of light, heat or electricity. -Yet it remains true that, by and large, the -technology of the machine process is a technology of -action by contact; and, apparently under stress of this -wide though not necessarily universal application of -the principle, the trained technologist does not rest content<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">331</span> -until he has in some tenable fashion construed any -apparent exception as a special instance under the rule.</p> - -<p>So also in modern scientific inquiry. The conceptual -elements with which the scientist is content to work are -precisely those that have commended themselves as -competent in their technological use. Since action by -contact is, on the whole, the working principle in the machine -process, it is also accepted as the prime postulate -in the formulation of all exact knowledge of impersonal -facts. There is, of course, no inclination here to criticise -or take exception to this characteristic habit of thought -that pervades modern scientific inquiry. It has done -good service, and to this generation, trained in the enexorably -efficient ways of the machine process, the fact -that it works is conclusive of its truth.<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> Yet the further -fact is not to be overlooked that adherence to this principle -is not due to unsophisticated observation simply. -It is a principle, a habit of thought, not a fact of simple -observation. Doubtless it is a fact of observation, direct -and unambiguous, in respect of our own manual operations; -and doubtless also it is a matter of such ready -inference in respect of many external phenomena as to -do duty as a fact of observation in good faith; but doubtless -also there are many of these external phenomena -that have to be somewhat painstakingly construed to -bring them under the rule. Conceivably, even if such a -habit of thought had not been handed down from the -experience of handicraft it might have been induced -by the discipline of the machine process, and might -even have been ingrained in men exposed to this discipline<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">332</span> -in sufficiently rigorous fashion to serve as a prime -postulate of scientific inquiry; the machine process -doubtless bears out such a principle in the main, and -very rigorously. But in point of historical fact it is -quite unnecessary to suppose this principle of action -by contact to be a product <i lang="la">de novo</i> of the discipline of the -machine, since it is older than the advent of the machine -industry and is also quite consonant with the habits of -work enforced by the technology of handicraft, more so -indeed than with the technology of the machine industry. -It appears fairly indubitable that this principle is -a legacy taken over from the experience of life in the -days of craftsmanship. And it may even be an open -question whether the machine technology would not -today be of an appreciably different complexion if it had, -as it conceivably might have, developed without the -hard and fast limitations imposed by this postulate. -Doubtless, scientific inquiry, and the theoretical formulations -reached by such inquiry, would differ somewhat -notably from what they currently are if the scientists -had gone to their work without such a postulate, or holding -it in a qualified sense, as a principle of limited scope, -as applying only within a limited range of phenomena, -only so far as empirical evidence might enforce it in -detail.</p> - -<p>If, as seems at least presumably true, this principle -of action by contact owes its origin to habits induced by -manipulation, it will be seen to be of an anthropomorphic -derivation. And if it further owes its acceptance as a -principle universally applicable to material phenomena -to the protracted discipline of life under the technology -of handicraft, its universality must also take rank as an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">333</span> -anthropomorphic imputation enforced by long habit. -It is of the nature of habit, and moreover of workmanlike -habit. Casting back into the past history of civilisation -and into the contemporary lower cultures, it will -appear that the principle (habit of thought) in question -is prevalent everywhere and presumably through all -human time; as it should be if it is traceable to so ubiquitous -an experience as manipulation. But it will also -appear that, except within the bounds, in time and -space, of the high tide of craftsmanship and the machine -technology, this principle does not arrogate to itself -universal mandatory authority in the domain of external -phenomena. Not only are the tenets of magic and -theology at variance with the proposition that action -can take place only by mechanical contact; but in the -naïve thinking of commonplace humanity outside this -machine-made Western civilisation, action at a distance -is patently neither imbecile nor incomprehensible as a -familiar trait of external objects in their everyday behaviour.</p> - -<p>Nor is it by any means a grateful work of spontaneous -predilection, all this mechanistic mutilation of objective -reality into mere inert dimensions and resistance to -pressure; as witness the widely prevalent revulsion, -chronic or intermittent, against its acceptance as a final -term of knowledge. Laymen seek respite in the fog of -occult and esoteric faiths and cults, and so fall back on -the will to believe things of which the senses transmit -no evidence; while the learned and studious are, by -stress of the same “aching void,” drawn into speculative -tenets of ostensible knowledge that purport to go nearer -to the heart of reality, and that elude all mechanistic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">334</span> -proof or disproof. This revulsion against thinking in -uncoloured mechanistic terms alone runs suggestively -parallel with that other revulsion, already spoken of, -against the geometrically adjusted routine of conduct -imposed on modern life by the machine process; the two -are in great part coincident, or concomitant, both in -point of the class of persons affected by each and in -point of the uncertain measure of finality attending the -move so made in either case. Neither the manner of -life imposed by the machine process, nor the manner -of thought inculcated by habituation to its logic, will -fall in with the free movement of the human spirit, -born, as it is, to fit the conditions of savage life. So -there comes an irrepressible—in a sense, congenital—recrudescence -of magic, occult science, telepathy, spiritualism, -vitalism, pragmatism.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">335</span></p> - -<p>It was noted above that action by contact is not included, -except by subsumption, in the mathematical -formulations of technology or science. It should now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">336</span> -be added that in all the concomitance and sequence with -which the mathematical formulations of mechanical phenomena -are occupied, the assumption of concomitance -or sequence at a distance will fill the requirements of -the formulæ quite as convincingly and commonly more -simply than the assumption of concomitance by contact -only. To realise the difficulties which beset this postulate -of action by mechanical continuity solely, as well as the -<i lang="la">prima facie</i> imbecility of the principle itself, it is only -necessary to call to mind the tortuous theories of gravitation -designed to keep it intact, and the prodigy of incongruous -intangibilities known as the ether,—a rigid -and imponderable fluid.</p> - -<p>Associated with the principle of action by mechanical -continuity alone is a second metaphysical postulate of -science,—the conservation of energy, or persistence of -quantity. Like its fellow it does not admit of empirical -proof; yet it is likewise held to be of universal application. -This principle, that the quantity of matter or of -energy does not increase or diminish, or, perhaps better, -that the quantity of mechanical fact at large is invariable, -has a better presumptive claim to rank as a by-product -of the machine technology; although such a claim could -doubtless be allowed only with broad qualifications.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">337</span> -Not that the principle was not known or not formally -accepted prior to the machine age; long ago the Roman -scholar and the scholastic philosophers after him declared -<i lang="la">ex nihilo nihil, in nihilum nil posse reverti</i>. But -throughout the era of handicraft there continued also -to be devoutly held the postulate that the material -universe had a beginning in an act of creation, as also -that it would some day come to an end, a quantitative -collapse. As the era of handicraft advanced and, apparently, -as the discipline of life under that technology -enforced the habitual acceptance of the proposition that -the quantity of material fact is constant, much ingenuity -and much ambiguous speech was spent in an endeavour -to reconcile the mechanical efficiency of the creative -fiat with the dictum, <i lang="la">ex nihilo nihil fit</i>. But down to the -close of that era it remains true that, by and large, the -peoples of Christendom continued to believe in the -mechanically creative efficiency of the Great Artificer; -although, it must be admitted, with an ever growing -apprehension that in this tenet of the faith they were -face to face with a divine mystery. The eighteenth-century -scientists, and many even in the nineteenth -century, continued to profess belief in a creative origin -of material things, as well as also in a providential guidance -of material events,—which latter must have been -conceived to be exerted by some other means than action -through mechanical contact, since one term of the relation -was conceived not to be of a mechanical nature.</p> - -<p>It is not until the machine age is well under way and -the machine technology has come to occupy the land, -that faith in the theorem of the conservation of energy -has grown robust enough to let the scientists lose interest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">338</span> -in all questions of creation. The tenet has died by neglect, -not by confutation. That it has done so among -the adepts of the material sciences, and that it is doing -so among the lay population at large in the modern industrial -communities, is probably to be credited to the -discipline of the machine process and the technological -conceptions to which that discipline conduces. It conduces -to this outcome in more than one way. This -modern technology is a technology of mechanical process; -it looks to and takes care of a sequence of mechanical -action, rather than to the conditions of its -inception or the sequel of its conclusion. A mind imbued -with the logic of this machine process does not -by habitual proclivity or with incisive effect attend to -these alien matters that have no meaning within the -horizon of that logic. The creative augmentation of -material objects is a matter lying without the scope of -the machine’s logic.</p> - -<p>As has already been remarked, the principle (habit of -thought) that the quantity of material fact is constant -is necessarily of ancient derivation and long growth. -Taken in a presumptive sense, and held loosely as a -commonplace of experience, it must have come up and -attained some force very early in the workmanlike experience -of the race. And the closer the application to -the work in hand, the more consistently would this -principle of common sense approve itself; so that it -should, as indeed is sufficiently evident, be well at home -among the habitual generalisations current in the days -of handicraft; although it does not seem to have been -generally accepted at that time as a principle necessarily -having a universal application,—as witness the ready<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">339</span> -credence then given to theological dogmas of creation -and the like. The habits of accountancy that came on -under the price system, as the scope of the market grew -larger with the growth and diversification of handicraft, -seem to have had a great effect in extending and confirming -the habitual acceptance of such a theorem. A -strict balance, a running equilibrium of the quantitative -items involved, is the central fact of the accountant’s -occupation. And this habit of scrutiny and balancing -of quantities, and a meticulous tracing out and accounting -for any apparent excess or deficiency in the sums -handled, pervades the community at large, though in a less -pronounced fashion, as well as that fraction of the population -employed in trade. The discipline of the handicraft -system in this respect gains incontinently in scope and -vigour as the growth of that technological system, with -its characteristic business management, goes forward.</p> - -<p>When presently the machine technology comes forward -this habitual preconception touching the invariability -of material quantity finds new applications and -new refinements of application, with the outcome that -its guidance of men’s thinking grows ever more inclusive -and more peremptory. But it is not until half a century -after the Industrial Revolution that the principle may be -said finally to have gained unquestioning acceptance as -a theorem universally binding on material phenomena. -By that time—about the second quarter of the nineteenth -century—the unqualified validity of this theorem -had become so unmitigated a matter of course as to have -fairly shifted from the ground of empirical generalisation -to that of metaphysical thesis. Men of science then -quite ingenuously set about proving the law of the Conservation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">340</span> -of Energy by appeal to experiments and reasoning -that proceeded with absolute naïveté on the tacit -assumption of the theorem to be proven.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>In its bearing on the growth of institutions the machine -technology has yet scarcely had time to make its -mark. Such institutional factors as, e. g., the common -law are necessarily of slow growth. A system of civil -rights is not only a balanced scheme of habitual responses -to those stimuli at whose impact they take effect; it is -at the same time a scheme which has the sanction of -avowed common consent, such as will express itself in -rating these institutional elements as facts of immemorial -usage or as integrally inherent in the nature of -things from the beginning. Such civil institutions take -shape as prescriptive custom, and matters of habit which -so are supported by broad grounds of authenticity and -correlation with other elements of a prescriptive scheme -of things will adapt themselves only tardily to any change -in the situation or to any new bias in the drift of discipline. -What happened in the matter of civil rights under -the system of handicraft is an illustration in point. -There need be little question but the eighteenth century -scheme of Natural Rights was an outcome of the protracted -discipline characteristic of the era of handicraft, -and an adaptation to the exigencies of daily life under -that system.</p> - -<p>The scheme of Natural Rights, with its principles of -Natural Liberty and its insistence on individual self-help, -was well adapted to the requirements of handicraft -and the petty trade, whose spirit it reflects with admirable -faithfulness. But it was of slow growth, as any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">341</span> -scheme of institutions must be, in the nature of things. -So much so that handicraft and the petty trade had -been in effectual operation some half-a-dozen centuries, -in ever increasing force, before the corresponding system -of civil rights and moral obligations made good its -pretensions to rule the economic affairs of the community. -Indeed, it is only by the latter half of the -eighteenth century that the system of Natural Rights -came to passable maturity and finally took rank as a -secure principle of enlightened common sense; and by -that time the handicraft system was giving way to the -machine industry. And even then this result was reached -only in the most advanced industrial community of -Europe, where the discipline of handicraft and trade had -had the freest scope to work out its natural bent, with -the least hindrance from other dominant interests at -variance with its schooling.<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">150</a></p> - -<p>So it has come about that while the system of Natural -Rights is an institutional by-product of workmanship -under the handicraft system and is adapted to the exigencies -of craftsmanship and the petty trade, it never -fully took effect in the shaping of institutions until that -phase of economic life was substantially past, or until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">342</span> -the new era, of the machine industry and the large -business brought on by the new technology, had come -to rule the economic situation. So that hitherto the -work of the machine industry has been organised and -conducted under a code of legal rights and business -principles adapted to the state of the industrial arts -which the machine industry has displaced. Latterly, it -is true, the requirements of the machine technology, in -the way of large-scale organisation, continuity of operation, -and interstitial balance of the industrial system, -have begun to show themselves so patently at variance -with these business principles engendered by the era of -handicraft as to throw a shadow of doubt on the adequacy -of these “Natural” metaphysics of natural liberty, -self-help, free competition, individual initiative, and the -like. But, harsh as has been the discrepancy between -the received system of economic institutions on the one -side and the working of the machine technology on the -other, its effect in reshaping current habits of thought -in these premises has hitherto come to nothing more -definitive than an uneasy conviction that “Something -will have to be done about it.” Indeed, so far is the -machine process from having yet recast the principles -of industrial management, as distinct from technological -procedure, that the efforts inspired in responsible public -officials and public-spirited citizens by this patent discrepancy -have hitherto been directed wholly to regulating -industry into consonance with the antiquated scheme -of business principles, rather than to take thought of -how best to conduct industrial affairs and the distribution -of livelihood in consonance with the technological requirements -of the machine industry.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">343</span></p> - -<p>It is true, among the workmen, and particularly among -those skilled workmen who have been trained in the -machine technology and are exposed to the full impact -of the machine’s discipline, uncritical habitual faith in -this institutional scheme is beginning to crumble, so far -as regards that principle of Natural Rights that vests -unlimited discretion in the owner of property, and so -far as regards property in the material equipment of -industry. But this is about as broad a proposition of -such a kind as current facts of opinion and agitation -will bear out, and this inchoate break with the received -habitual views touching the dues and obligations of -discretion in industrial matters is extremely vague and -almost wholly negative. Even in those members of the -community who are most directly and rigorously exposed -to its discipline the machine process has hitherto -wrought no such definite bias, no such positive habitual -attitude of workmanlike initiative towards the conventions -of industrial management as to result in a constructive -deviation from the received principles.<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">151</a></p> - -<p>On the other hand the business principles engendered -by the habit of mind that gave rise to the system of Natural -Rights has had grave consequences for workmanship -under the conditions imposed by the machine industry. -As has been shown in some detail in the foregoing -chapter, the individualistic organisation of the -work, coupled with the personal incidence of the handicraft -technology, and the stress thrown on price rating -and self-help by the ever increasing recourse to bargain -and sale (“free contract”) under that system, led in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">344</span> -the end to the habitual rating of workmanship in terms -of the price it would bring. Then as always workmanlike -efficiency commanded the approval of thoughtful men, -as being serviceable to the common good and as a substantial -manifestation of human excellence; and at the -same time, then as ever, efficient work was a source of -comfort and complacency to the workman. But under -the teaching of the price system efficiency came to be -rated in terms of the pecuniary gain.</p> - -<p>With the advent of the machine industry this pecuniary -rating of efficiency gained a new impetus and -brought new consequences for technology as well as for -business enterprise. Typically, the machine industry -runs on a large scale, as contrasted with handicraft, and -it involves a relatively wide and exacting division of -labour between workmanship and salesmanship. Under -the conditions of large ownership implied in this modern -industrial system the workmen no longer have, or can -have, the responsibility of the pecuniary management of -the industrial concern; on the other hand the same conditions -of large ownership and extensive business connections -require the businessmen in charge to delegate -the immediate oversight of the plant and its technological -processes to other hands, and to devote their own -energies to the pecuniary management of the concern -and its transactions. Hence it follows that as the machine -system and the highly specialised business enterprise -that goes with it reach a larger scale and a higher -degree of elaboration the businessmen in charge are, -by training and by progressive limitation of interest, -less and less competent to take care of the technological -exigencies of the machine system. But at the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">345</span> -time the discretion in technological matters still rests -in their hands by force of their ownership. So that, -while the responsibility of technological discretion still -rests on them, and cannot be fully delegated to other -hands, the exigencies of business enterprise and of -the training which it involves will no longer permit -them to meet this responsibility in a competent fashion.</p> - -<p>The businessmen in control of large industrial enterprises -are beginning to appreciate something of their -own unfitness to direct or oversee, or even to control, -technological matters, and so they have, in a tentative -way, taken to employing experts to do the work for them. -Such experts are known colloquially as “efficiency engineers” -and are presumed to combine the qualifications -of technologist and accountant. In point of fact -it is as accountants, capable of applying the tests of accountancy -in a new field, that these experts commend -themselves to the businessmen in control, and the “efficiency” -which they look to is an efficiency counted in -terms of net pecuniary gain. “Efficiency” in these -premises means pecuniary efficiency, and only incidentally -or in a subsidiary sense does it mean industrial -efficiency,—only in so far as industrial efficiency conduces -to the largest net pecuniary gain. All the while -the businessmen retain the decisive superior discretion -in their own incompetent hands, since all the while the -whole matter remains a business proposition. The -“staff organisation,” in which vests the superior control -of these technological affairs, consistently remains an -organisation of worldly wisdom, business enterprise—not -of technological proficiency,—a state of things not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">346</span> -to be remedied so long as industry is carried on for business -profits.</p> - -<p>Meantime the workmen of all kinds and grades—labourers, -mechanics, operatives, engineers, experts—all -imbued with the same pecuniary principles of efficiency, -go about their work with more than half an eye to the -pecuniary advantage of what they have in hand. The -attitude of the trades-unions towards their work and -towards the industrial concerns in whose employ their -work is done illustrates something of the habitual frame -of mind of these men, who are avowed experts in the -matter of workmanship.</p> - -<p>Latterly many inconveniences have beset the community -at large as well as particular sections and classes -of the industrial community, due in the main to a consistent -adherence to these business principles in the -management of industrial affairs. The capitalist-employers, -on the one hand, have gone on the full powers -with which the modern institution of ownership and its -broad implications has vested them; with the result that -the public at large, investors, consumers of industrial -products, users of “public utility” agencies serving such -needs as light, fuel, transportation, communication, -amusement, etc., feel very much aggrieved; as do -also and more particularly the workmen with whom -the capitalist-employers do business on the lines laid -down by the authentic business principles involved in -the discretionary ownership of the industrial plant and -resources. On the other hand the workmen, resting their -case on the same common-sense view that the individual -is a self-sufficient economic unit who owes nothing to the -community at large beyond what he may freely undertake<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">347</span> -“for a good and valuable consideration in hand -paid,”—the workmen stand likewise on the full powers -given them by the current institutions of ownership and -contractual discretion, and so work what mischief they -can to their employers and to the public at large, always -blamelessly within the rules of the game as laid down -of old on the pecuniary principles of business discretion, -and in the light of such sense as their training has given -them with regard to efficiency in the industries that have -fallen into their hands. And then the “money power” -comes in as a third pecuniarily trained factor, with ever -increasing force and incisiveness, to muddle the whole -situation mysteriously and irretrievably by looking after -their own pecuniary interests in a fashion even more -soberly legitimate and authentic, if possible, than the -workmen’s management of their own affairs.</p> - -<p>Of course, all this working at cross purposes is not -altogether due to trained incapacity on the part of the -several contestants to appreciate the large and general -requirements of the industrial situation; perhaps it is -not even chiefly due to such inability, but rather to an -habitual, and conventionally rightful, disregard of other -than pecuniary considerations. It would doubtless appear -that a trained inability to apprehend any other than -the immediate pecuniary bearing of their manœuvres -accounts for a larger share in the conduct of the businessmen -who control industrial affairs than it does in that -of their workmen, since the habitual employment of -the former holds them more rigorously and consistently -to the pecuniary valuation of whatever passes under -their hands; and the like should be true only in a higher -degree of those who have to do exclusively with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">348</span> -financial side of business. The state of the industrial -arts requires that these several factors should coöperate -intelligently and without reservation, with an eye single -to the exigencies of this modern wide-sweeping technological -system; but their habitual addiction to pecuniary -rather than technological standards and considerations -leaves them working at cross purposes. So -also their (pecuniary) interests are at cross purposes; -and since these interests necessarily rule in any pecuniary -culture, they must decide the line of conduct for each -of the several factors engaged.</p> - -<p>These discrepancies, obstructive tactics and disserviceable -practices are commonly deplored and are presumably -deplorable, and they doubtless merit extensive -discussion on these grounds, but their merits in this -bearing do not properly come into consideration here. -The matter has been brought in here not with any view -of defence, denunciation or remedy, but because it is a -matter of grave consequence as regards the training given -by business experience to these men in whose hands the -current scheme of institutions has placed the technological -fortunes of the community. And whether these -pecuniary tactics and practices that fill so large a place -in the attention and sentiments of this generation come -chiefly of a lack of insight into current technological -exigencies, or of a deliberate choice of evils enforced by -the pecuniary necessities of the case, still their disciplinary -value as bearing on the sense of workmanship -taken in its larger scope will be much the same in either -case. Habituation to bargaining and to the competitive -principles of business necessarily brings it about that -pecuniary standards of efficiency invade (contaminate)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">349</span> -the sense of workmanship; so that work, workmen, equipment -and products come to be rated on a scale of money -values, which has only a circuitous and often only a putative -relation to their workmanlike efficiency or their -serviceability. Those occupations and those aptitudes -that yield good returns in terms of price are reputed -valuable and commendable,—the accepted test of success, -and even of serviceability, being the gains acquired. -Workmanship comes to be confused with salesmanship, -until tact, effrontery and prevarication have come to -serve as a standard of efficiency, and unearned gain is -accepted as the measure of productiveness.</p> - -<p>Efficiency conduces to the common good, and is also -a meritorious and commendable trait in the person who -exercises it. But under the canons of self-help and pecuniary -valuation the test of efficiency in economic -matters has come to be, not technological mastery and -productive effect, but proficiency in pecuniary management -and the acquisition of wealth. Both in his own -estimation and in the eyes of his fellows, the man who -gains much does well; he is conceived to do well both as -a matter of personal efficiency and in point of serviceability -to the common good. To “do well” in modern -phrase means to engross something appreciably more of -the community’s wealth than falls to the common run. -But since gains, and hence efficiency, are conceived in -terms of price, it follows that the man, workman or -businessman, who can induce his fellows to pay him well -for his services or his goods is accounted efficient and -serviceable; from which it follows that under this canon -of pecuniary efficiency men are conceived to serve the -common good somewhat in proportion as they are able<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">350</span> -to induce the community to pay more for their services -than they are worth.</p> - -<p>The businessman who gains much at little cost, who -gets something for nothing, is rated, in his own as well -as in his neighbours’ esteem, as a public benefactor indispensable -to the community’s welfare, and as contributing -to the common good in direct proportion to the -amount which he has been able to draw out of the aggregate -product. It is perhaps needless to call to mind that -of this character are the main facts in the history of all -the great fortunes;<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">152</a> although the current accounts of -their accumulation, being governed by pecuniary standards -of efficiency and serviceability, dwell mainly on the -services that have inured to the community from the -traffic with which the great captains have interfered in -their quest of gain. The prevalence of salesmanship, that -is to say of business enterprise, and the consequent high -repute of the salesmanlike activities and aptitudes in -any community that is organised on a price system, is -perhaps the most serious obstacle which the pecuniary -culture opposes to the advance in workmanship. It -intrudes into the most intimate and secret workings -of the human spirit and contaminates the sense of workmanship -in its initial move, and sets both the proclivity -to efficient work and the penchant for serviceability at -cross purposes with the common good.</p> - -<p>But under the conditions engendered by the machine -technology the scope of this pecuniary standard of workmanship -has been greatly enlarged. On the whole the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">351</span> -machine industry calls for a large-scale organisation, -increasingly so as time has passed and the machine process -has come more fully to dominate the industrial -situation. By the same move initiative and discretion -have come to vest in those who can claim ownership of -the large material equipment so required, and the exercise -of such initiative and discretion by these owners is -loosely proportioned to the magnitude of their holdings. -Smaller owners have the same freedom of initiative and -discretion, in point of legal and conventional competency,—such -freedom and equality between persons -being of the essence of Natural Rights; but in point of -practical fact, as determined by technological and business -exigencies, there is but small discretion left such -smaller holders. Initiative and discretion in modern -industrial matters vest in the owners of the industrial -plant, or in such moneyed concerns as may stand in an -underwriting relation to the owners of the plant; such -discretion is exercised through pecuniary transactions; -and these pecuniary transactions whereby the conduct -of industry is guided and controlled are entered into -with a view to gain in terms of price. It is but a slight -exaggeration to say that such transactions, which govern -the course of industry, are carried out with an eye single -to pecuniary gain,—the industrial consequences, and -their bearing on the community’s welfare, being matters -incidental to the transaction of business. In every-day -phrase, under the rule of the current technology and -business principles, industry is managed by businessmen -for business ends, not by technological experts or for -the material advantage of the community. And in this -control of industrial affairs the smaller businessmen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">352</span> -are in great part subject to the discretion of the -larger.<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">153</a></p> - -<p>By ancient habit, handed down from the days of -handicraft and petty trade, this pecuniary management -is conventionally conceived to be directed to the production -of goods and services, and the businessman is still -conventionally rated as a producer and his gains accepted -as a measure of his productive efficiency. In -conventional speech “producer” means the owner of -industrial plant, not the workmen employed nor the -mechanical apparatus about which they are employed.<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">154</a> -The “producers,” “manufacturers,” “captains of industry,” -whose interests are safeguarded by current -legislation and by the guardians of law and order are the -businessmen who have a pecuniary interest in industrial -affairs; and it is their pecuniary interests that are so -safeguarded, in the naïve faith that the material interests -of the community at large coincide with the opportunities -for gain so secured to the businessmen.</p> - -<p>It has already been spoken of above that the processes -of industry are bound in a comprehensive system of give -and take, in such a manner that no considerable fraction -of this industrial system functions independently of the -rest. The industrial system at large may be conceived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">353</span> -as a comprehensive machine process, the several sub-processes -of which technologically inosculate and ramify -in what may be conceived as a network of elements working -in a moving equilibrium, none of which can go on -at its full productive efficiency except in duly balanced -correlation with all the rest. This characterisation will -strictly apply only so far as the machine technology has -taken over the various branches of industry, but it applies -in a loose though by no means idle fashion also as -regards those elements of the industrial system in which -the machine technology has not yet become dominant. -In so far as the industrial system is of this character -it will also hold that the business management of any -one branch or line or parcel of industries will have its -effect on the rest, primarily and proximately on those -other branches or lines with which the given parcel stands -in immediate relations of give and take, through the -market or more directly through technological correlation,—as, -e. g., in the transportation system. Business -management which affects a large section of this balanced -system will necessarily have a wide-reaching effect -on the working of the system at large. Such business -control of industry, as has just been remarked above, -is exercised with a view to pecuniary gain; but pecuniary -gain in these premises comes from changes, and apprehended -changes, in the efficiency of the various industrial -processes that are touched by such control, rather than -from the workday functioning of the several items of -equipment involved. The changes which so bring gain -to these larger businessmen may be favourable to the -effective working of industry, but they may also be unfavourable; -and the opportunities for gain which they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">354</span> -afford the larger businessmen may be equally profitable -whether the disturbance in question is favourable or unfavourable -to industrial efficiency. The gains to be derived -from such disturbance are proportioned to the -magnitude of the disturbance rather than to its industrial -productiveness. It should follow, of course, that if the -machine technology should come so to dominate the -industrial situation as to bind all industry in a rigorously -comprehensive balanced process, the material -fortunes of the community would come to rest unreservedly -and in all details in the hands of those -larger businessmen who hold the final pecuniary discretion.</p> - -<p>In qualification of this broad proposition it is to be -noted that, while the gains of the superior rank of businessmen -accrue in the manner indicated,—by means of -disturbances which may indifferently be favourable or -unfavourable to industry,—yet in the long run it is necessarily -true that the gains which so inure to the pecuniary -magnates must be derived from the net product of industry -and will in the long run be larger in the aggregate -the more productive the community’s industry is. What -makes business profitable to the businessmen is, after -all, their usufruct of the community’s industrial efficiency. -In the long run nothing can accrue as income -to the pecuniary magnates more than the surplus product -of industry above the subsistence of the industrial community -at large. But so long as the magnates have not -come to a working arrangement on this basis and “pooled -their interests” the proposition as formulated above -appears to be adequate to the facts,—that the gains of -these larger businessmen are a function of the magnitude<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">355</span> -of the disturbances which they create rather than -of their productive effect.</p> - -<p>It should also follow, and so far as the above characterisation -holds it does follow, that the current pecuniary -organisation of industry vests the usufruct of the community’s -industrial proficiency in the owners of the -industrial equipment. Proximately this usufruct of the -industrial community’s technological knowledge and -working capacity vests in the detail owners of the equipment, -but only proximately. At the further remove it -vests only in the businessmen whose command of large -means enables them to create and control those pecuniary -conjunctures of industry that bring about changes in -the market value and ownership of the equipment.</p> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="footnotes"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Cf. Jacques Loeb, <cite>Comparative Physiology of the Brain and Comparative -Psychology</cite>, ch. i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> Cf. W. James, <cite>Principles of Psychology</cite>, ch. xxiv and xxv, where, however, -the difference between tropism and instinct is not kept well in -hand,—the tropisms having at that date not been subjected to inquiry -and definition as has been true since then; William McDougall, <cite>Introduction -to Social Psychology</cite>, ch. i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> Loeb, <cite>Comparative Physiology of the Brain</cite>, pp. 177–178.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> Cf. Graham Wallas, <cite>Human Nature in Politics</cite>, especially ch. i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Cf., e. g., James, <cite>Principles of Psychology</cite>, ch. xxiv; William McDougall, -<cite>Introduction to Social Psychology</cite>, ch. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Loeb, <cite>Comparative Physiology of the Brain</cite>, especially ch. xiii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> It is of course only as physiological traits that the tropisms are conceived -not to overlap, blend or interfere, and it is likewise only in respect -of their physiological discontinuity that the like argument would bear -on the instincts. In respect of their expression, in the way of orientation, -movement, growth, secretion, and the like, the tropismatic response to -dissimilar stimuli is often so apparently identical that expert investigators -have at times been at a loss to decide to which one of two or several -recognised tropismatic sensibilities a given motor response should be -ascribed. But in respect of their ultimate physiological character, the -intimate physiological process by which the given sensibility takes effect, -the response due to different tropismatic sensibilities appears in each case -to be distinctive and not to blend with any other response to a different -stimulus, with which it may happen to synchronise.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> Cf., e. g., McDougall, <cite>Introduction to Social Psychology</cite>, ch. i-iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Cf., e. g., Otto Ammon, <cite lang="de">Die Gesellschaftsordnung</cite>; G. Vacher de Lapouge, -<cite lang="fr">Les sélections sociales</cite>, and <cite lang="fr">Race et milieu social</cite>, especially “Lois -fondamentales de l’Anthroposociologie.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> The all-pervading modern institution of private property appears to -have been of such an origin, having cumulatively grown out of the self-regarding -bias of men in their oversight of the community’s material interests.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> Cf. McDougall, <cite>Social Psychology</cite>, ch. x.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> Latterly the question of instincts has been a subject of somewhat extensive -discussion among students of animal behaviour, and throughout -this discussion the argument has commonly been conducted on neurological, -or at the most on physiological ground. This line of argument is -well and lucidly presented in a volume recently published (<cite>The Science of -Human Behavior</cite>, New York, 1913) by Mr. Maurice Parmalee. The book -offers an incisive critical discussion of the Nature of Instinct (ch. xi) with -a specific reference to the instinct of workmanship (p. 252). The discussion -runs, faithfully and competently, on neurological ground and reaches -the outcome to be expected in an endeavour to reduce instinct to neurological -(or physiological) terms. As has commonly been true of similar -endeavours, the outcome is essentially negative, in that “instinct” is not so -much explained as explained away. The reason of this outcome is sufficiently -evident; “instinct,” being not a neurological or physiological concept, -is not statable in neurological or physiological terms. The instinct -of workmanship no more than any other instinctive proclivity is an -isolable, discrete neural function; which, however, does not touch the -question of its status as a psychological element. The effect of such an -analysis as is offered by Mr. Parmalee is not to give terminological precision -to the concept of “instinct” in the sense assigned it in current usage, -but to dispense with it; which is an untoward move in that it deprives the -student of the free use of this familiar term in its familiar sense and therefore -constrains him to bring the indispensable concept of instinct in again -surreptitiously under cover of some unfamiliar term or some terminological -circumlocution. The current mechanistic analyses of animal behaviour -are of great and undoubted value to any inquiry into human -conduct, but their value does not lie in an attempt to make them supersede -those psychological phenomena which it is their purpose to explain. -That such supersession of psychological phenomena by the mechanistic -formulations need nowise follow and need not be entertained appears, -e. g., in such work as that of Mr. Loeb, referred to above, <cite>Comparative -Physiology of the Brain and Comparative Psychology</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Endless in the sense that the effects of such concatenation do not run -to a final term in any direction.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> Many students of animal behaviour are still, as psychologists generally -once were, inclined to contrast instinct with intelligence, and to confine -the term typically to such automatically determinate action as takes -effect without deliberation or intelligent oversight. This view would -appear to be a remnant of an earlier theoretical position, according to -which all the functions of intelligence were referred to a distinct immaterial -entity, entelechy, associated in symbiosis with the physical organism. -If all such preconceptions of a substantial dichotomy between -physiological and psychological activity be abandoned it becomes a matter -of course that intellectual functions themselves take effect only on the -initiative of the instinctive dispositions and under their surveillance, and -the antithesis between instinct and intelligence will consequently fall -away. What expedients of terminology and discrimination may then -be resorted to in the study of those animal instincts that involve a minimum -of intellect is of course a question for the comparative psychologists. -Cf., for instance, C. Lloyd Morgan, <cite>Introduction to Comparative Psychology</cite> -(2nd edition, 1906) ch. xii, especially pp. 206–209, and <cite>Habit and Instinct</cite>, -ch. i and vi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> Cf. H. S. Jennings, <cite>Behavior of the Lower Animals</cite>, ch. xii, xx, xxi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> See McDougall, <cite>Introduction to Social Psychology</cite>, ch. iii and x.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Cf. M. F. Washburn, <cite>The Animal Mind</cite>, ch. x, xi, where the simpler -facts of habituation are suggestively presented in conformity with current -views of empirical psychology.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> Cf., e. g., Spencer and Gillen, <cite>Native Tribes of Central Australia</cite>; -Seligmann, <cite>The Veddas</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> Hutton Webster, <cite>Primitive Secret Societies</cite>, especially ch. iii and iv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> J. G. Frazer, <cite>Early History of the Kingship</cite>, ch. iv, p. 107.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> E. g., some native tribes of Australia; cf. Spencer and Gillen, <cite>The -Native Tribes of Central Australia</cite>, especially ch. i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> Skeat and Blagden, <cite>Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> J. Murdoch, “The Point Barrow Eskimo,” <cite>Report of the Bureau of -American Ethnology</cite>, 1887–1888; F. Boas, “The Central Eskimo,” <i>Ibid</i>, -1884–1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> E. H. Man, “On the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman -Islands,” <i>J. A. I.</i>, vol. xii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> <cite>Reports, Bureau of American Ethnology</cite>, numerous papers by different -writers, perhaps especially Mrs. Stevenson, “The Sia,” 11th Report -(1889–1890).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> Current economic theory commonly proceeds on the “hedonistic -calculus”, so called, (cf. Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the <cite>Principles -of Morals and Legislation</cite>) or the “hedonic principle”, as it has also been -called, (cf. Pantaleoni, <cite>Pure Economics</cite>, ch. i). This “principle” affords -the major premise of current theory. It postulates that individual self-seeking -is the prime mover of all economic conduct. There is some uncertainty -and disagreement among latterday economists as to the precise -terms proper to be employed to designate this principle of conduct and -its working-out; in the apprehension of later speculators Bentham’s -“pleasure and pain” has seemed too bald and materialistic, and they -have had recourse to such less precise and definable terms as “gratification,” -“satisfactions,” “sacrifice,” “utility” and “disutility,” “psychic -income,” etc., but hitherto without any conclusive revision of the terminology. -These differences and suggested innovations do not touch the -substance of the ancient postulate. Proceeding on this postulate the -theoreticians have laid down the broad proposition that “present goods -are preferred to future goods”; from which arise many meticulous difficulties -of theory, particularly in any attempt to make the deliverances -of theory square with workday facts. The modicum of truth contained -in this proposition would appear to be better expressed in the formula: -“Prospective security is preferred to prospective risk;” which seems to -be nearly all that is required either as a generalisation of the human motives -in the case or as a premise for the theoretical refinements aimed at, -whereas the dictum that “present goods are preferred to future goods” -must, on reflection, commend itself as substantially false. By and large, -of course, goods are not wanted except for prospective use—beyond the -measure of that urgent current consumption that plays no part in the -theoretical refinements for which the dictum is invoked. It will immediately -be apparent on reflection that even for the individual’s own advantage -“present goods are preferred to future goods” only where and -in so far as property rights are secure, and then only for future use. It -is for productive use in the future, or more particularly for the sake of -prospective revenue to be drawn from wealth so held, by lending or investing -it, that such a preference becomes effective. Apart from this -pecuniary advantage that attaches to property held over from the present -to the future there appears to be no such preference even as a matter -of individual self-seeking, and where such pecuniary considerations are -not dominant there is no such preference for “present goods.” It is -present “wealth,” not present “goods,” that is the object of desire; and -present wealth is desired mainly for its prospective advantage. It is -well known that in communities where there are habitually no businesslike -credit extensions or investments for profit, savings take the form of -hoarding, that is, accumulation for future use in preference to present -consumption. There might be some division of opinion as to the character -of the prospective use for which goods are sought, but there can be -little question that much, if not most, of this prospective use is not of a -self-regarding character and is not sought from motives of sensuous gain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> Traditionally a theoretical presumption has been held to the contrary. -It has been taken for granted that the institutional outcome of men’s -native dispositions will be sound and salutary; but this presumption -overlooks the effects of complication and deflection among instincts, due -to cumulative habit. The tradition has come down as an article of uncritical -faith from the historic belief in a beneficent Order of Nature; -which in turn runs back to the early-modern religious conception of a -Providential Order instituted by a shrewd and benevolent Creator; -which rests on an anthropomorphic imputation of parental solicitude and -workmanship to an assumed metaphysical substratum of things. This -traditional view therefore is substantially theological and has that degree -of validity that may be derived from the putative characteristics of any -anthropomorphic divinity.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> Cf. e. g., F. H. Cushing, “A Study of Pueblo Pottery as illustrative -of Zuñi Culture Growth,” <cite>Report, Bureau of Ethnology</cite>, 1882–1883 -(vol. iv); J. W. Fewkes, “Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895,” -sections on “Pottery” and “Paleography of the Pottery,” <i>ibid</i>, 1896–1897 -(vol. xviii); W. H. Holmes, “The Ancient Art of Chiriqui,” <i>ibid</i>, -1884–1885 (vol. vi).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> The restrictions in this respect are mainly those which devote the -“sacred” vessels, distinguished by peculiar shapes and decorations, to -particular ceremonial uses.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> Cf. E. B. Tylor, <cite>Primitive Culture</cite>, especially ch. xvii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> Cf. “The Evolution of the Scientific Point of View,” <cite>University of -California Chronicle</cite>, Oct., 1908.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> So, e. g., the proficiency of Bushmen, Veddas, Australians, American -Indians, and other peoples of a low technological plane, in tracking game -has been remarked on with great admiration by all observers; and the -efficiency of these and others of their like is no less admirable as regards -swimming, boating, riding, climbing, stalking, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> Cf. G. and A. de Mortillet, <cite lang="fr">Le Préhistorique</cite>, especially the chapter -“Données chronologiques,” pp. 662–664; W. G. Sollas, <cite>Ancient Hunters</cite>, -ch. i and xiv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> Cf. Sophus Müller, <cite lang="fr">L’Europe Préhistorique</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> Cf., e. g., <cite>Report of Bureau of American Ethnology</cite>, 1884–1885, Franz -Boas, “The Central Eskimo;” <i>ibid</i>, 1887–1888, John Murdoch, “The -Point Barrow Eskimo.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> What is assumed here is what is commonly held, viz. that the racial -stocks that made up the late palæolithic population of Europe are still -represented in a moderate way in the racial mixture that fills Europe -today, and that these older racial types not only recur sporadically in the -European population at large but are also present locally in sufficient -force to give a particular character to the population of given localities. -(See G. de Mortillet, <cite lang="fr">Formation de la nation française</cite>, 4me partie, and -Conclusions, pp. 275–329.) Great changes took place in the racial complexion -of Europe in the beginning and early phases of the neolithic -period, but since then no intrusion of new stocks has seriously disturbed -the mixture of races, except in isolated areas, of secondary consequence -to the cultural situation at large.</p> - -<p>See also W. G. Sollas, Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> These improved races are commonly, if not always, a product of -hybridisation, though it is conceivable that such a race might arise as a -“sport,” a Mendelian mutant. To establish such a race or “composite -pure line” of hybrids and to propagate and improve it in the course of -further breeding demands a degree of patient attention and consistent -aim.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> The late neolithic, or “æneolithic,” culture brought to light by Pumpelly -at Anau in Transcaspia shows the synchronism of advance between -the technology of the mechanic arts on the one hand and of tillage and -cattle-breeding on the other hand in a remarkably lucid way. The site -is held to date back to some 8000 B. C. or earlier and shows continuous occupation -through a period of several thousand years. The settlers at -Anau brought cereals (barley and wheat) when the settlement was made; -so that the cultivation of these grains must date back some considerable -distance farther into the stone age of Asia. In succeeding ages the people -of Anau made some further advance in the use of crop plants; whether by -improvement and innovation at home or by borrowing has not been determined. -Presently, in the course of the next few thousand years, they -brought into domestication and adapted to domestic use by selective -breeding the greater number of those species of animals that have since -made up the complement of live stock in the Western culture. In the -mechanic arts the visible advance is slight as compared with the work in -cattle-breeding, though it cannot be called insignificant taken by itself. -The more notable improvements in this direction are believed to be due -to borrowing. Perhaps the most characteristic trait of the mechanic -technology at Anau is the total absence of weapons in the lower half of -the deposits.—Raphael Pumpelly, <cite>Explorations in Turkestan: Prehistoric -Civilizations of Anau</cite>. (Carnegie Publication No. 73.) Washington, -1908.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> Cf. O. F. Cook, “Food Plants of Ancient America.” <cite>Report of Smithsonian -Institution</cite>, 1903. E. J. Payne, <cite>History of the New World Called -America</cite>, vol. i, (1892), pp. 336–427.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> Cf. E. J. Payne, as above.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> Cf., e. g., Lumholtz, <cite>Unknown Mexico</cite>, vol. i, ch. vi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> Cf., e. g., J. W. Powell, “Mythology of the North American Indians,” -Report, <cite>Bureau of Eth.</cite>, 1879–1880 (vol. i); F. H. Cushing, “Outlines of -Zuñi Creation Myths,” <i>ibid</i>, 1891–1892; J. O. Dorsey, “A Study of -Siouan Cults,” <i>ibid</i>, 1889–1890.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> Witness, again, the tales collected under the caption of <cite>The Day’s -Work</cite>, where the anthropomorphic romance of mechanics is made the -most of by the same master who told the tales of the <cite>Jungle Book</cite> and of -“The Cat that Walked.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="fnanchor">44</a> Cf. Presidential Address by Francis Darwin at the Dublin meeting -of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; cf. also H. -Bergson, <cite lang="fr">Évolution créatrice</cite>, and particularly passages that deal with the -élan de la vie.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> Cf. G. J. Romanes, <cite>Animal Intelligence</cite>, especially the Introduction.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> Cf. Jane E. Harrison, <cite>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion</cite>, especially -ch. iv; The same, <cite>Themis</cite>, especially ch. i, ii, iii and ix; with -which compare the Pueblo cults referred to above.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> Cf., e. g., Skeat, <cite>Malay Magic</cite>, perhaps especially ch. v, section on the -cultivation of rice.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> Hence animism, which applies its conceptions to inanimate rather -than animate objects.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> The like applies in the case of the seasonal and meteorological myths; -where it happens rarely if at all that the phenomena of the seasons or the -forces that come in evidence in meteorological changes are personified -directly or unambiguously. It is always some god or dæmon that controls -or uses the wind and the weather, some indwelling sprite or manlike -giant that inhabits and watches over the hill or spring or river, and it -is always the interests of the indwelling personality rather than that of -the tangible objects in the case that are to be safeguarded by the superstitious -practices with which the myth surrounds men’s intercourse with -these features of the landscape.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="fnanchor">50</a> As in the legends of Prometheus; compare legends and ritual of fire -from various cultures in L. Frobenius, <cite>The Childhood of Man</cite>, ch. xxv-xxvii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="fnanchor">51</a> For an interesting illustration of this point see a paper by Duncan -Mackenzie on “Cretan Palaces” in the <cite>Annual of the British School at -Athens</cite> for 1907–1908, where the whole discussion hangs on the fact, unquestioned -by any one of the disputants in a wide and warm controversy, -that during some centuries of unwholesome nuisance from smoky fires -in draughty rooms the great civilisation of the Mediterranean seaboard -never hit on the ready solution of the difficulty by putting in a chimney.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> Cf., e. g., W. James, <cite>Principles of Psychology</cite>, ch. xxiv; McDougall, -<cite>Social Psychology</cite>, ch. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> Cf., e. g., M. F. Washburn, <cite>The Animal Mind</cite>, ch. xii, xiii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> For illustrations see Dudley Kidd, <cite>The Essential Kafir</cite>, especially -ch. ii, on “Native Beliefs.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> Cf. “The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation,” <cite>Journal of -Sociology</cite>, March, 1906, pp. 585–609; “The Evolution of the Scientific -Point of View,” <cite>University of California Chronicle</cite>, vol. x, pp. 396–415.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> Cf. <cite>Theory of the Leisure Class</cite>, ch. iv, v.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> This technological blend of manual labour with magical practice is well -seen, for instance, in the Malay ritual of rice culture.—W. W. Skeat, -<cite>Malay Magic</cite>, various passages dealing with the ceremonial of the planting, -growth and harvesting of the rice-crop.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> Cf. J. E. Harrison, <cite>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion</cite>, especially -ch. iv; J. G. Frazer, <cite>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</cite>, bk. i, ch. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> Such seems to be the evidence, for instance, for Cybele, Astarte -(Aphrodite, Ishtar), Mylitta, Isis, Demeter (Ceres), Artemis, and for -such doubtfully late characters as Hera (Juno),—see Harrison, <cite>Prolegomena -to the Study of Greek Religion</cite>; Frazer, <cite>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</cite>, -and <cite>The Golden Bough</cite>. Quanon may be a doubtful case, as possibly also -Amaterazu. The evidence from such American instances as the great -mother goddesses of the Pueblos and other Indian tribes runs perhaps -the other way, or at the best it may leave the point in doubt. See, for -instance, Matilda C. Stevenson, “The Zuñi Indians,” <cite>Report Bureau of -American Ethnology</cite>, 1901–1902, section on “Mythology;” The same, -<i>ibid</i>, 1889–1890, “The Sia;” Frank H. Cushing, <i>ibid</i>, 1891–1892, “Zuñi -Creation Myths.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> Cf., e. g., Frazer, <cite>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</cite>, bk. ii, ch. iii, bk. iii, ch. vi -and xi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> Cf., e. g., Hutton Webster, <cite>Primitive Secret Societies</cite>, especially ch. -iii, iv, v; Spencer and Gillen, <cite>Native Tribes of Central Australia</cite>, ch. vii, -viii, ix, xvi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> Cf. for instance, Codrington, <cite>The Melanesians</cite>; Seligmann, <cite>The Melanesians -of British New Guinea</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> These considerations may of course imply nothing, directly, as to the -size of the political organisation or of the national territory or population; -though national boundaries are likely both to affect and to be affected -by such changes in the industrial system. A community may be small, -relatively to the industrial system in and by which it lives, and may yet, -if conditions of peace permit it, stand in such a relation of complement or -supplement to a larger complex of industrial groups as to make it in effect -an integral part of a larger community, so far as regards its technology. -So, for instance, Switzerland and Denmark are an integral -part of the cultural and industrial community of the Western civilisation -as effectually as they might be with an area and population equal to those -of the United Kingdom or the German Empire, and they are doubtless -each a more essential part in this community than Russia. At the same -time, as things go within this Western culture, national boundaries have -a very considerable obstructive effect in industrial affairs and in the -growth of technology. It will probably be conceded on the one hand that -any appreciable decline in the aggregate population of Christendom would -result in some curtailment or retardation of the technological advance -in which these peoples are jointly and severally engaged; and it is likewise -to be conceded on the other hand that the like effect would follow -on any marked degree of success from the efforts of those patriotic and -dynastic statesmen who are endeavouring to set these peoples asunder in -an armed estrangement and neutrality.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> Cf., as an extreme case, Matilda C. Stevenson, “The Sia,” <cite>Report -Bur. Eth.</cite>, xi (1889–1890).</p> - -<p>The like decline is known to have occurred in many parts of Europe -consequent on the decline of population due to the Black Death and -the Plague.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> On such native differences between the leading races of Europe, cf., -e. g., G. V. de Lapouge, <cite lang="fr">Les Sélections Sociales</cite>; and <cite lang="fr">l’Aryen</cite>; O. Ammon, -<cite lang="de">Die Gesellschaftsordnung</cite>; G. Sergi, <cite lang="it">Arii e Italici</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> For instance, the Japanese and the Ainu, the Polynesians and the -Melanesians, the Cinghalese and the Veddas. On the last named, cf. -Seligmann, <cite>The Veddas</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> Cf. W. Z. Ripley, <cite>The Races of Europe</cite>; G. Sergi, <cite>The Mediterranean -Race</cite>; V. de Lapouge, <cite lang="fr">L’Aryen</cite>; cf. also, J. Deniker, <cite lang="fr">Les races européennes</cite>, -and “Les six races composant la population de l’Europe,” <cite>Journal Anthropological -Institute</cite>, vol. 34.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> The available evidence indicates that the dolicho-blond race of -northern Europe probably originated in a mutation (from the Mediterranean -as its parent stock?) during the early neolithic period, that is to -say about at the beginning of the neolithic in western Europe. There is -less secure ground for conjecture as to the date and circumstances under -which any one of the other European races originated, but the date and -place of their origin seems to lie outside of Europe and earlier than the -European neolithic period. Unfortunately there has been little direct or -succinct discussion of this matter among anthropologists hitherto.—Cf. -“The Mutation Theory and the Blond Race,” <cite>Journal of Race -Development</cite>, April, 1913.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> The Melanesians may be contrasted with the Baltic peoples in this -respect, though the comparison is perhaps rather suggestive than convincing. -The Melanesians are apparently endowed with a very respectable -capacity for workmanship, as regards both insight and application, -and with a relatively high sense of economic expediency. They are also -possessed of an alert and enduring group solidarity. But they apparently -lack that reasonable degree of “humanity” and congenital tolerance that -has on the whole kept the peoples of the Baltic region from fatal extravagances -of cruelty and sustained hatred between groups. Not that any -excess of humanity has marked the course of culture in North Europe. -But it seems at least admissible to say that mutual hatred, distrust and -disparagement falls more readily into abeyance among these peoples -than among the Melanesians; particularly when and in so far as the material -interest of the several groups visibly suffers from a continued free -run of extravagant animosity. The difference in point of native propensity -may not be very marked, but such degree of it as there is has apparently -thrown the balance in such a way that the Baltic peoples have, -technologically, had the advantage of a wide and relatively easy contact -and communication; whereas the Melanesians have during an equally -protracted experience spent themselves largely on interstitial animosities—Cf. -Codrington, <cite>The Melanesians</cite>; Seligmann, <cite>The Melanesians of -British New Guinea</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="fnanchor">70</a> These considerations apparently apply with peculiar force to the -blond race, in that the evidence of early times goes to argue that this -stock never lived in isolation from other, rival stocks. It began presumably -as a small minority in a community made up chiefly of a different -racial type, its parent stock, and in an environment at large in -which at least one rival stock was present in force from near the outset; -so that race competition, that is to say competition in terms of births and -deaths, was instant and unremitting. And this competition the given -conditions enforced in terms of group subsistence.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> Cf., e. g., Sophus Müller, <cite lang="de">Vor Oldtid</cite>, “Stenalderen.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> It has not commonly been noted, though it will scarcely be questioned, -that fighting capacity and the propensity to fight have rarely, if ever, -been successful in the struggle between races and peoples when brought -into competition with a diligent growing of crops and children, if success -be counted in terms of race survival.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> It is apparently an open question whether these spiritual traits are -properly to be ascribed to the dolicho-blond as traits of that type taken -by itself, rather than traits characteristic of the hybrid offspring of the -blond stock crossed on one or other of the racial stocks associated with -it in the populations of Europe. The evidence at large seems rather to -bear out the view that any hybrid population is likely to be endowed -with an exceptional degree of that restlessness and discontent that go to -make up what is spoken of as a “spirit of enterprise” in the race.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> As, e. g., the inhabitants of many Polynesian islands at the time of -their discovery. See, also, Codrington, <cite>The Melanesians</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> Not an unusual state of things among the Melanesians and Micronesians, -and in a degree among the Australians.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="fnanchor">76</a> See note, <a href="#Page_120">p. 120</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="fnanchor">77</a> E. g., some Australian natives and some of the lower Malay cultures.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> E. g., the Pueblo and the Eskimo.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="fnanchor">79</a> Indeed, such as very suggestively to recall the ritual objects and observances -of the Pueblo Indians.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> For an extreme case of this among living communities, see Skeat and -Blagden, <cite>Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula</cite>, vol. i, pp. 242–250, where -the generalisation is set down (p. 248) that “the rudimentary stage of -culture through which these tribes have passed, and in some cases are still -passing, may perhaps be more accurately described as a wood and bone -age than as an age of stone,” in as much as the evidence goes to show that -before they began to get metals from the Malays their only implements of -a more durable material were “the anvil and hammer (unwrought) ..., -the whetstone, chips or flakes used as knives, and cooking stones.” -From the different character of their environment this recourse to wood -and bone could scarcely have been carried to such an extreme by the -savages of the Baltic region.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> Cf. Pumpelly, <cite>Explorations in Turkestan</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="fnanchor">82</a> A casual visit to the Scandinavian museums will scarcely convey -this impression. To meet the prepossessions of the public, and perhaps -of the experts, the weapons are made much of in the showcases, as is -to be expected; but they are relatively scarce in the store-rooms, where -the tools on the other hand are rather to be estimated by the cubic yard -than counted by the piece.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> Seen, e. g., in the observance and sanction of tabu in many of the -lower cultures.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="fnanchor">84</a> The Eskimo are placed in circumstances that are in some respects -similar to those presumed to have conditioned the life of the blond race -and its hybrids during the early phases of its life-history, and among -the traits that have made for the survival of the Eskimo is undoubtedly -to be counted the somewhat genial good-fellowship of that race, coupled -as it is with a notable disinclination to hostilities. So also the Indians of -the North-West Coast, whose situation perhaps parallels that of the -neolithic Baltic culture more closely even than the Eskimo, are not among -the notably warlike peoples of the earth, although they undoubtedly -show more of a predatory animus than their northern neighbours. In this -case it is probably safe to say that their technological achievements have -in no degree been furthered by such warlike enterprise as they have -shown, and that their comfort and success as a race would have been -even more marked if they had been gifted with less of the warlike spirit -and had kept the peace more consistently throughout their habitat -than they have done.—Cf. Franz Boas, “The Central Eskimo,” <cite>Bureau -of American Ethnology</cite>, Report, 1884–1885; The same, “The Secret Societies -and Social Organisation of the Kwakiutl Indians,” <cite>Report, National -Museum</cite>, 1895; A. P. Niblack, “Coast Indians of Southern Alaska -and Northern British Columbia,” <i>ibid</i>, 1888.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> Such loss by neglect of technological elements that have been superseded -may have serious consequences in case a people of somewhat advanced -attainments suffers a material set-back either in its industrial -circumstances or in its cultural situation more at large,—as happened, -e. g., in the Dark Ages of Europe. In such case it is likely to result that -the community will be unable to fall back on a state of the industrial -arts suited to the reduced circumstances into which it finds itself thrown, -having lost the use of many of the technological elements familiar to -earlier generations that lived under similar circumstances, and so the -industrial community finds itself in many respects driven to make a -virtually new beginning, from a more rudimentary starting point than the -situation might otherwise call for. This in turn acts to throw the people -back to a more archaic phase of technology and of institutions than the -initial cultural loss sustained by the community would of itself appear -to warrant.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="fnanchor">86</a> Sophus Müller, <cite lang="de">Vor Oldtid</cite>, “Stenalderen,” sec. iii, “Tidsforhold i den -ældre Stenalder;” O. Montelius, <cite lang="fr">Les temps préhistoriques en Suède</cite>, ch. i, -p. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> Compare the case of the Indians of the North-West Coast, who have -occupied a region comparable to the neolithic Baltic area in the distribution -of land and water as well as in the abundance of good timber.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="fnanchor">88</a> Sophus Müller, <cite lang="de">Vor Oldtid</cite>, “Bronzealderen,” secs. xiii, xiv; Montelius, -<cite lang="fr">Les temps préhistoriques en Suède</cite>, ch. ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> Cf., e. g., C. A. Haddon, <cite>Evolution in Art</cite>, section on “Magic and -Religion.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> Except for species that habitually breed by parthenogenesis.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> The caution is perhaps unnecessary that it is not hereby intended to -suggest a doubt of Mr. Galton’s researches or to question the proposals of -the Eugenicals, whose labours are no doubt to be taken for all they are -worth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> See, e. g., Skeat and Blagden, <cite>Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula</cite>, -vol. ii, part ii; <cite>Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1884–1885</cite>, -F. Boas, “The Central Eskimo.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> Cf. Basil Thomson, <cite>The Diversions of a Prime Minister</cite>, and <cite>The -Figians</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> The extent of this “quasi-personal fringe” of objects of intimate use -varies considerably from one culture to another. It may often be inferred -from the range of articles buried or destroyed with the dead among -peoples on this level of culture.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> A doubt may suggest itself in this connection touching such cultures -and peoples as the pagan races of the Malay peninsula, the Mincopies of -the Andaman Islands, or (possibly) the Negritos of Luzon, but these conceivable -exceptions to the rule evidently do not lessen its force.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> It may be pertinent to take note of the bearing of these considerations -on certain dogmatic concepts that have played a part in the theoretical -and controversial speculations of the last century. Much importance has -been given by economists of one school and another to the “productivity -of labour,” particularly as affording a basis for a just and equitable distribution -of the product; one school of controversialists having gone so -far against the current of received economic doctrine as to allege that -labour is the sole productive factor in industry and that the Labourer is on -this ground entitled, in equity, to “the full product of his labor.” It is of -course not conceived that the considerations here set forth will dispose -of these doctrinal contentions; but they make it at least appear that the -productivity of labor, or of any other conceivable factor in industry, is -an imputed productivity—imputed on grounds of convention afforded -by institutions that have grown up in the course of technological development -and that have consequently only such validity as attaches to habits -of thought induced by any given phase of collective life. These habits of -thought (institutions and principles) are themselves the indirect product -of the technological scheme. The controversy as to the productivity of -labor should accordingly shift its ground from “the nature of things” to -the exigencies of ingrained preconceptions, principles and expediencies as -seen in the light of current technological requirements and the current -drift of habituation.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> See Sophus Müller, <cite lang="de">Vor Oldtid</cite>, “Stenalderen,” and <cite lang="da">Aarböger for nordisk -Oldkyndighed</cite>, 1906.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="fnanchor">98</a> Cf. W. G. Sollas, <cite>Ancient Hunters</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="fnanchor">99</a> See, e. g., Basil Thomson, <cite>The Figians</cite>, especially ch. iv, xiv, xxviii, -xxxi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="fnanchor">100</a> The Pueblos offer a curious exception to this common rule of a parasitic -priesthood. While they are much given to religious observances -and have an extensive priestly organisation, comprising divers orders and -sub-orders, this priesthood appears commonly to derive no income, or -even appreciable perquisites, from their office.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> The difference in importance and powers between the war chief of the -peaceable Pueblos on the one hand and of the predatory Aztecs on the -other hand shows how such an official’s status may change <i lang="la">de facto</i> without -a notable change <i lang="la">de jure</i>.—Cf. also Basil Thomson, <cite>The Figians</cite>, -ch. iv, xxxi, on “Constitution of Society,” and “The Tenure of Land,” -where the growth of custom is shown to throw pecuniary prerogative -and control into the hands of the successful war chief.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> For instance, somewhat generally in the island states of Polynesia. -Something suggestively reminiscent of such a condition of things is visible -in early feudal Europe, where feudal holdings changed hands with a -change in the status of their holders in a way that suggests that ownership -was in great measure a corollary following from the tenure of certain civil -powers. So, also, in ecclesiastical holdings of the same period and later. -And, again, in the doubtful and changing status of the servile classes of -feudal Europe, where the distinction between mastery and ownership -often seems something of a legal fiction or a distinction without a difference. -Feudal Japan affords evidence to much the same effect.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="fnanchor">103</a> Cf. J. G. Frazer, <cite>Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship</cite>. The -drift of evidence for the North-European cultures of pagan antiquity -appears to set strongly in this direction, though the term “priestly,” -as applied to these pagan kings, is likely to convey too broad an implication -of solemnity and vicariously divine power.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="fnanchor">104</a> Witness the alleged dealings of Jahve with his chosen people and the -laudation bestowed on Him by His priests for “conduct unbecoming a -gentleman.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> As witness Pharaonic Egypt, Ancient Peru, Babylon, Assyria, Israel -under Solomon and his nearer successors.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> See F. B. Jevons, <cite>Introduction to the History of Religion</cite>, ch. x.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> Cf., e. g., Basil Thomson, <cite>The Figians</cite>, ch. iv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> As shown, for instance, by the pottery and baskets made for trade -by the American Indians where they come in trade contact with civilised -men.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> For a more detailed discussion of these secondary consequences of the -institution of ownership, the irksomeness of labour and the conspicuous -waste of goods, which cannot be pursued here, see <cite>The Theory of the -Leisure Class</cite>, ch. ii-vi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> For some further analysis of the relation between ownership, earnings -and the material equipment see <cite>Quarterly Journal of Economics</cite>, August, -1908, “On the Nature of Capital;” as also a paper by H. J. Davenport -in the same Journal for November, 1910, on “Social Productivity versus -Private Acquisition.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="fnanchor">111</a> For a more detailed discussion of this disciplinary disparity between -business and industrial occupations, cf. <cite>The Theory of Business Enterprise</cite>, -ch. iv, viii and ix.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> Cf., e. g., Harrington Emerson, <cite>Efficiency as a Basis for Operation and -Wages</cite>, ch. i, iv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="fnanchor">113</a> Such is tacitly assumed to be the nature of modern economic life in -the current theoretical formulations of the economists, who make the -theory of exchange value the central and controlling doctrine in their -theoretical systems, and who with easy conviction trace this value back -to an individualistic ground in the doctrines of differential utility—“marginal -utility.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> Apart from scattered and progressively inconsequential manifestations -of this canon of pecuniary equity in the European community at -large, there occurs a quaint and well-defined application of it in the practice -of “<i lang="is">hólmgangr</i>” in late pagan and early Christian times among the -Scandinavian peoples. The “wager of battle” is probably of the same -derivation, at least in part.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> Cf. Frederic Barnard Hawley, <cite>Enterprise and the Productive Process</cite>, -for an extreme, mature and consistent development of this tenet.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> See <cite>The Theory of Business Enterprise</cite>, ch. iv, vi, vii, for a more detailed -discussion of this business traffic and the working principles which -govern it. See also H. J. Davenport, <cite>The Economics of Enterprise</cite> (New -York, 1913).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> Cf., e. g., Ehrenberg, <cite lang="de">Das Zeitalter der Fugger</cite>; Sombart, <cite lang="de">Der Moderne -Kapitalismus</cite>, bk. i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> Cf. <cite>The Theory of the Leisure Class</cite>, ch. iv, v, vi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> Cf. Harrington Emerson, <cite>Efficiency as a Basis for Operation and -Wages</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> Cf., e. g., Karl Bücher, <cite lang="de">Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft</cite>, (3d ed.), -ch. iv, “Die gewerblichen Betriebssysteme,” ch. v. “Der Niedergang -des Handwerks;” W. J. Ashley, <cite>English Economic History and Theory</cite>, -part ii, ch. i, sec. 25, ch. iii, especially sec. 44; W. Cunningham, <cite>The -Growth of English Industry and Commerce</cite>, vol. ii, Introduction; Werner -Sombart, <cite lang="de">Der Moderne Kapitalismus</cite>, bk. i, especially ch. iv-xii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="fnanchor">121</a> To complete the sketch at this point, even in outline, it would be necessary -to go extensively into the relations of ownership and control -(largely indirect) in which the owners of land and natural resources, the -Landed Interest, had stood to the industrial community of craftsmen -before this transition to the business era got under way, as also into the -further mutual relations subsisting between the landed interest, the -craftsmen and the business community during this transition to a business -régime. In the most summary terms the pertinent circumstances -appear to have been that from the beginning of its technological era the -handicraft community, with its workmanship and its technological attainments, -was in an uncertain measure at the discretionary call of the -landed interest, largely in an impersonal way through channels of trade -and on the whole with decreasingly exacting effect as time went on; and -the industrial community at large had by no means emancipated themselves -from this control when the era of business enterprise set in; for the -landed interest continued to draw its livelihood from the mixed agricultural -and handicraft community, and the products of handicraft still -continued to go chiefly as supplies to the landed interest in return for the -means of subsistence controlled by the latter; and long after the businessmen -had taken over the direction of industry the claims of the landed -interest still continued paramount in the economic situation, and industry -still continued to be carried on largely with a view to meeting the -requirements of the landed interest.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> “Handwerk (im engeren Sinne) ist diejenige Wirtschaftsform, die -hervorwächst aus dem streben eines gewerblichen Arbeiters seine zwischen -Kunst und gewöhnlicher Handarbeit die Mitte haltende Fertigkeit zur -Herrichtung oder Bearbeitung gewerblicher Gebrauchsgegenstände in -der Weise zu vertreten, dass er sich durch Austausch seiner Leistungen -oder Erzeugnisse gegen entsprechende Äquivalente seinen Lebensunterhalt -verschafft.”—Sombart, <cite lang="de">Moderne Kapitalismus</cite>, bk. i, ch. iv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> Cf. Sombart, <cite lang="de">Der Moderne Kapitalismus</cite>, bk. i; W. J. Ashley, <cite>English -Economic History and Theory</cite>, bk. i, especially ch. iii; Karl Bücher, <cite lang="de">die -Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft</cite>, ch. iv, v.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="fnanchor">124</a> A classic passage of Adam Smith shows this handicraft conception of -the mechanics of industry: “The annual labour of every nation is the -fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies -of life which it annually consumes....” “But this proportion [of the -produce to the consumers] must in every nation be regulated by two different -circumstances; first, by the skill, dexterity, and judgment with -which its labour is generally applied; and, secondly, by the proportion -between the number of those who are employed in useful labour, and -that of those who are not so employed.”—<cite>Wealth of Nations</cite>, Introduction, -p. 1.</p> - -<p>Adam Smith consistently speaks of industry in terms of manual workmanship, -as the traditions and the continued habitual outlook of that -generation unavoidably led him to do; and the sweeping way in which -his interpretation of economic life finds acceptance with his contemporaries -shows that in so doing he is speaking in full consonance with the -prevailing conceptions of his time. He writes during the opening passages -of the machine era, but he speaks in terms of the past industrial -era, from which his outlook on the economic situation and his conception -of normal economic relations had been derived. It may be added that -his conception of natural liberty in economic matters is similarly derived -from the traditional situation, whose discipline during the later phases -of the handicraft era inculcated freedom of ownership as applied to the -workman’s product and freedom of bargain and sale as touches the traffic -of the typical petty trader. And so thoroughly had this manner of conceiving -industry and the economic situation been worked into the texture -of men’s thinking, that the same line of interpretation continues to satisfy -economic theory for a hundred years after Adam Smith had formulated -this canon of economic doctrine, and after the situation to which it would -apply had been put out by the machine industry and large business -management.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> The case of the treadle applied to the production of rotary motion is -typical of what happens to a technological element of the general class -here under discussion. Such a new technological expedient appears at -the outset to be apprehended in terms of manual workmanship; but -presently it comes, through habitual use, to take its place as a mechanical -functioning of the tools in whose use it takes effect,—to be associated in -current apprehension with the mechanical appliances employed in its -production and, by so much, dissociated from the person of the workman. -In a measure, therefore, it falls into the category of impersonal facts that -are available as technological raw material with which to go about the -work in hand. With further use, and particularly with the interjection -of further mechanical expedients between the workman and this given -technological element, it will be conceived in progressively more objective -fashion, as a fact of the mechanics of brute matter rather than an extension -of the workman’s manual reach; until it passes finally into the category -of mechanical fact simply, obvious and commonplace through -routine use; in which there remains but a vanishing residue of imputed -personality, such as attaches to all conceptions of action. The given -technological element in this way may be said to pass by degrees out of -the workman’s “quasi-personal fringe” of manual effects, into the domain -of raw material available for use in workmanship; where it will, in -apprehension, be possessed of only such imputed quasi-personal or anthropomorphic -characteristics as are necessarily imputed to external -facts at large.</p> - -<p>Concretely, the concept of the treadle seems in its beginnings to be a -variant of the same conception that leads to the use of the bow-drill. -Both inventions comprise at least two distinct forms. In each the simpler -and presumably more primitive form converts a reciprocating longitudinal -motion into a reciprocating rotary motion; and it is apparently only -after an interval of familiarity and externalisation of this mechanical -achievement that the next move takes place in the direction of the perfected -treadle, which converts a reciprocating longitudinal into a continuous -rotary motion.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> Cf. Sombart, <cite lang="de">Moderne Kapitalismus</cite>, bk. i, Exkurs zu Kapitel 7, -bk. ii, ch. xv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> The adventures of Charles I and James II sufficiently illustrate this -insular temper of the industrial and commercial community as contrasted -with the crown and the court party.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> See ch. <a href="#toclink_38">ii</a> and <a href="#toclink_103">iii</a>, above.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> The imputation of the feminine in this personification of Nature is -probably nothing more than a carrying over of the Latin gender of the -word, but there is commonly involved in this quasi-personal conception -of Nature a notable imputation of kindliness and gentle solicitude that -well comports with her putative womanhood. By extraordinarily easy -gradation <i lang="la">Natura naturans</i> passes over into Mother Nature. The contrast -in this respect, simply on its sentimental side, between the conception -of Nature, say in the eighteenth century, on the one hand, and the -patriarchal Heavenly King, remote and austere, of the Mediæval cult on -the other hand is striking enough. In point of sentimental content this -conception of Nature is more nearly in touch with the mediæval Mother -of God than with the Heavenly King.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> This, of course, does not overlook the fact that in the course of -scientific inquiry there has been an increasing use of statistical methods -and results, and that this recourse to statistics has been of an increasingly -objective character, both in its methods and in the items handled. -It is also to be noted that from time to time serious and consequential -attempts have been made to reduce scientific argument at large to similarly -objective terms of quantity, quantivalence and concomitance. -Karl Pearson’s <cite>Grammar of Science</cite>, for instance is a shrewd and somewhat -popularly known endeavour of this kind. So, again, the philosophical -views associated with the names of Leibnitz and of Berkely are of this -nature, and there is not a little of the same line of scepticism in the -speculations of Hume. But it is equally to be noted that except on the -remote plane of generality that belongs to philosophical speculation, and -except in the works of pure mathematics, this method of handling facts -has not proved available for scientific ends. The “idle curiosity” which -finds employment in scientific inquiry is not content with the vacant relation -of concomitance alone among the facts which it seeks and systematises. -In scientific theory no headway has been made hitherto without -the use of this indispensable imputation of causality.—In this connection -cf. a paper on “The Evolution of the Scientific Point of View,” <cite>University -of California Chronicle</cite>, November, 1908, especially footnote, p. 396.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> In this connection it is worth noting, for what it may be worth, that -there is a similarly rough concomitance between the diffusion of the blond -racial stock in Europe and the modern forms of protestantism and religious -heresy. Whether this fact strengthens or weakens any argument -that may be drawn from the concomitance of heresy and industry cited -above may perhaps best be left an open question.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> See <a href="#toclink_187">chapter v</a>, above.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> Cf. Ashley, <cite>English Economic History and Theory</cite>, bk. i, ch. i; Karl -Bücher, <cite lang="de">Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft</cite>, ch. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> Cf. R. Ehrenberg, <cite lang="de">Das Zeitalter der Fugger</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> Seen, as indicated above, in the matter-of-course resort of the scientists -to the conception of efficient cause as a solvent of problems touching -material phenomena, as well as in the theologians’ and philosophers’ -resistless drift toward creative efficiency as the ultimate term of their -speculations.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> Cf. Locke, <cite>Of Civil Government</cite>, ch. v, “Though the earth and all inferior -creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a property in -his own person; this nobody has a right to but himself. The labour of -his body and the work of his hands we may say are properly his. Whatsoever, -then, he removes out of the state that Nature hath provided and -left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is -his own, and thereby makes it his property.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> Illustrative instances of such a customary code of “natural” rights -and obligations are numerous in the late literature of ethnology. Good -illustrations are afforded by various papers in the <cite>Reports of the Am. -Bureau of Ethnology</cite>, on the culture of the Pueblos, Eskimo, and the -Indians of the North-West Coast; so also in Skeat and Blagden, <cite>Pagan -Races of the Malay Peninsula</cite>, or in Seligmann, <cite>The Veddas</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="fnanchor">138</a> Cf., e. g., C. Beard, <cite>The Industrial Revolution</cite>, ch. ii; Spencer Walpole, -<cite>History of England from 1815</cite>, vol. i; C. W. Taylor, <cite>The Modern Factory -System</cite>, ch. i, ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> In a general way, the relation in which the skilled workman in the -large industries stands to the machine process is analogous to that in -which the primitive herdsman, shepherd or dairymaid stand to the -domestic animals under their care, rather than to the relation of the -craftsman to his tools. It is a work of attendance, furtherance and skilled -interference rather than a forceful and dexterous use of an implement.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="fnanchor">140</a> It follows also, among other secondary consequences, that the effective -industrial life of the skilled workman will, in order to the best average -effect, begin at an appreciably more advanced age, and will therefore be -shortened by that much. The period of preparation becomes more protracted, -more exacting and more costly, and the effective life cycle of the -workman grows shorter. Although it does not, perhaps, belong in precisely -this connection, it may not be out of place to recall that the increasingly -exacting requirements of the machine industry, particularly -in the way of accurate, alert and facile conformity to the requirements of -the machine process, interrupt the industrial life of the skilled workman -at an earlier point in the course of senile decay. So that the industrial -life-cycle of the workman is shortened both at its beginning and at its -close, at the same time that the commonplace preparation for work grows -more costly and exacting.</p> - -<p>Child labour, which once may, industrially speaking, have been an -economical method of consuming the available human material, is no -longer compatible with the highest industrial efficiency, even apart from -any question of hardship or deterioration incident to an excessive or -abusive recourse to child labour; it is incompatible with the community’s -material interests. Therefore the business community—the body of -businessmen at large—for whose behoof the industries of the country are -carried on, have a direct interest not only in extending the age of exemption -from industrial employment but also in procuring an adequate -schooling of the incoming generation of workmen. The business community -is evidently coming to appreciate this state of the case, at least -in some degree, as is evidenced by their inclination to favour instruction -in the “practical” branches in the public schools, at the public expense, -as well as by the wide-reaching movement that aims to equip private and -state schools that shall prepare the youth for work in the various lines of -industrial employment.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> <i>Cf.</i>, <i>e. g.</i>, Adam Smith’s reflections on the uses of an accurate watch, -<cite>Theory of the Moral Sentiments</cite>, part iv, ch. 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="fnanchor">142</a> On the other hand the aphorism often cited, that “Necessity is the -Mother of Invention,” appears to be nothing better than a fragment of -uncritical rationalism. It offers a rationalised, <i lang="la">ex post facto</i> account of -changes that take place, and reflects that ancient preconception by help -of which the spokesmen of edification were enabled to interpret all -change as an improvement due to the achievement of some definitely -foreknown end. It appears also to be consistently untrue, except so far -as “invention” is to be taken as a euphemistic synonym for “prevarication.” -Doubtless, the felt need of ways and means has brought on many -changes in technology, but doubtless also the ulterior consequences of -any one of the greater mechanical inventions have in the main been -neither foreseen nor intended in the designing of them. The more serious -consequences, especially such as have an institutional bearing, have been -enforced by the inventions rather than designed by the inventors.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> See pp. <a href="#Page_18">18–21</a>, above.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="fnanchor">144</a> Cf., however, what has been said above (pp. 21–23) of the variability -and adaptability of a hybrid population and the possible selective -establishment of a hybrid type more suitable to current conditions of life -than any one of the racial stocks out of which the hybrid population is -made up.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> So, <i>e. g.</i>, the modern technology has, directly and indirectly, brought -on the growth of large cities and industrial towns, as well as an increasing -density of population at large. This modern state of the industrial -arts is a creation of the European community of nations, with the blond-hybrid -populations leading. The population of these countries is drifting -into these machine-made cities and towns, and this drift affects the blond-hybrids -in a more pronounced degree than any other similarly distinguishable -element in the population. At the same time the birth-rate is -lower and the death-rate higher in these modern urban communities than -in the open country, in spite of the fact that more attention is given to -preventive sanitation in the urban than in the rural communities, and -it is in the urban communities that medical attendance is most available -at the same time that its most efficient practitioners congregate there. -This accelerated death-rate strikes the blond-hybrids of the towns in an -eminent degree; and infant mortality in the towns, particularly, runs at -such a figure as to be viewed with the liveliest apprehension. In its -summary effects on the viability of the modern peoples this modern -technology appears to be as untoward as would their removal to an unsuitable -climate. Indeed the hygienic measures that are taken or advocated -as a remedy for these machine-made conditions of urban life -are of much the same character and require much the same degree of -meticulous attention to details that are required to preserve the life of -Europeans under the precarious climatic conditions of the low latitudes. -So that, for these Europeans at least, the hygienic situation created -by their own technology has much of that character of a comprehensive -clinic that attaches to the British occupation of India or the later European -occupation of West Africa or the Philippines.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> The statisticians of a hundred years ago, <i>e. g.</i>, were content to work -in round percentages where their latterday successors are doubtfully -content with three-place decimals.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> An eminently illustrative instance of the mechanistic bias in the moral -sciences is afforded by the hedonistic conceptions of the early nineteenth -century; and the deistic theology of that period and earlier is no less -characteristic a symptom of the same animus.</p> - -<p><i>Cf.</i> also, for a view running to a conclusion opposed to that spoken -for above, H. Bergson, <cite>Creative Evolution</cite> (translation by Arthur Mitchell, -New York, 1911), ch. i, especially pp. 16–23; where the mechanistic conception -is construed as an instinctive metaphysical norm and contrasted -with the deliverances of reason and experience, which are then held to -inculcate an anthropomorphic interpretation of the same facts.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> “Pragmatism” is the term that has been elected to cover this metaphysical -postulate of efficiency conceived as the bench mark of actuality.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="fnanchor">149</a> Of all these latterday revulsionary schemes of surcease from the -void and irritation of the mechanistic conception, that spoken for by -M. H. Bergson is doubtless the most felicitous, at the same time that it -is, in its elements, the most engagingly naïve. Apart from, and without -prejudice to, the (doubtless very substantial) merits of this system of -speculative tenets, the vogue which it has achieved appears to be due -in good part to its consonance with this archaic bent of civilised human -nature, already spoken of. The immanent, or rather intrinsically dominant, -creative bent inherent in matter and not objectively distinguishable -from it, is sufficiently suggestive of that praeter-mechanical efficacy -that seems so easy of comprehension to many of the peoples on the -lower levels of culture, and that affords the substantial ground of magical -practices and finds untroubled expression in the more naïve of their -theoretical speculations. It would be a work of extreme difficulty, e. g., -to set up a consistently tenable distinction between M. Bergson’s <i lang="fr">élan -de la vie</i>, on the one hand, and the <em>mana</em> of the Melanesians (<i>Cf.</i> Codrington, -<cite>The Melanesians</cite>, esp. ch. vii and xii), the <em>wakonda</em> of the Sioux -(<i>Cf.</i> A. C. Fletcher and F. la Flesche, “The Omaha Tribe,” <cite>Bureau of -Ethnology, Report xxvii</cite> (1905–1906), esp. pp. 597–599), or even the -<cite lang="is">hamingia</cite> of Scandinavian paganism, on the other hand.</p> - -<p>In fact, the point of departure and support for M. Bergson’s speculations -appears to be nothing else than a projection, into objective reality, -of the same human trait that has here been spoken of as the instinct of -workmanship; this norm of initiative and efficiency which so is imposed -on objective facts being then worked out with great subtlety and sympathetic -insight, to make a comprehensive, cosmological scheme. The -like projection of workmanlike initiative and efficiency, and its imputation -to objective reality, both at large—as with M. Bergson—and in -concrete detail, with more or less of personalisation, is one of the main, -though frequently misunderstood, factors in the cosmologies that do -duty as a body of science and philosophy among savages and the lower -barbarians.</p> - -<p>That the roots of this speculative scheme of “creative evolution” -should reach so far into the background of human culture and draw on -sources so close to the undisciplined prime-movers of human nature is, -of course, in no degree derogatory to this system of theory; nor does it -raise any presumption of unsoundness in the tenets that so are, in -the course of elaboration, built up out of this metaphysical postulate. In -point of fact, the characterisation here offered places M. Bergson’s thesis, -and therefore his system, precisely where he has been at pains to explain -that he wishes to take his initial position in advocating his view,—at an -even break with the mechanistic conception; the merits of which, as -contrasted with his own thesis, will then be made to appear in the course -of the further argument that is to decide between their rival claims to -primacy. In point of formal and provisional legitimation, such an imputation -of workmanlike efficacy at large rests on ground precisely even -with that on which the mechanistic conception also rests,—viz. imputation -by force of metaphysical necessity, that is to say by force of an instinctive -impulse. The main theorem of causation, as well as its several -mechanistic corollaries, are, in the last resort, putative traits of matter -only, not facts of observation; and the like is true—in M. Bergson’s -argument admittedly so—of the <i lang="fr">élan de la vie</i> as well. So far, therefore, -as regards the formally determinable antecedent probability of the two -rival conceptions, the one is as good as the other; but M. Bergson’s argument, -running on ground of circumstantial evidence in the main, makes -out at least a cogently attractive likelihood that the conception for which -he speaks is to be accepted as the more fundamental, underlying the -mechanistic conception, conditioning it and on occasion overruling its -findings in matters that lie beyond its ascertained competence. Which -would come, in a different phrasing, to saying that the imputation of -creatively workmanlike efficiency rests on instinctive ground more indefeasibly -intrinsic to human nature; presumably in virtue of its embodying -the functioning of an instinctive proclivity less sophisticated and -narrowed by special habituation, such special habituation, e. g., as that -exercised by the technology of handicraft and the machine process in -recent times.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="fnanchor">150</a> All this, of course, neither ignores nor denies the substantial part -which the <i lang="la">jus gentium</i> and the <i lang="la">jus naturale</i> of the Roman jurists and their -commentators have played in the formulation of the system of Natural -Rights. In point of pedigree the line of derivation of these legal principles -is doubtless substantially as set forth authentically by the jurists who -have spent their competent endeavors on that matter. So far as regards -the English-speaking communities this pedigree runs back to Locke, and -through Locke to the line of jurists and philosophers on whom that great -scholar has drawn; while for the promulgation of the like system of principles -more at large the names of Grotius, Pufendorf, Althusius doubtless -have all the significance commonly assigned them. See pp. <a href="#Page_290">290–293</a> above.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="fnanchor">151</a> Unless the “Syndicalist” movement is to be taken as something -sufficiently definite in its principles to make it an exception to the rule.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="fnanchor">152</a> Cf., e. g., Anna Youngman, <cite>The Economic Causes of Great Fortunes</cite>, -especially ch. vi; R. Ehrenburg, <cite lang="de">Grosse Vermögen</cite>; Ida Tarbell, <cite>History -of the Standard Oil Company</cite>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="fnanchor">153</a> Cf. a paper “On the Nature of Capital” in the <cite>Quarterly Journal of -Economics</cite>, November, 1908.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="fnanchor">154</a> As late as Adam Smith’s time “manufacturer” still retained its -etymological value and designated the workman who made the goods. -But from about that time, that is to say since the machine process and -the business control of industry have thoroughly taken effect, the term -no longer has a technological connotation but has taken on a pecuniary -(business) signification wholly; so that the term now designates a businessman -who stands in none but a pecuniary relation to the processes of industry.</p> - -</div> -</div></div> - -<div id="ad"> -<div class="chapter bbox"> -<p class="p0 b0 in0"><span class="allsmcap larger"><span class="dc">T</span>he</span> following pages contain advertisements of -books by the same author or on kindred subjects</p> -</div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center bold wspace bb">By the Same Author</p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>The Theory of the Leisure Class</i> -</p> - -<p class="center">An Economic Study of Institutions</p> - -<p class="p1 right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net</i><br> -<i>Macmillan Standard Library Edition, $0.50 net</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center">EXTRACT FROM PREFACE</p> - -<p>It is the purpose of this inquiry to discuss the place and value of the -leisure class as an economic factor in modern life, but it has been found -impracticable to confine the discussion strictly within the limits so marked -out. Some attention is perforce given to the origin and the line of derivation -of the institution, as well as to features of social life that are not -commonly classed as economic.</p> - -<p class="p1 center">TABLE OF CONTENTS</p> - -<table id="adsampletoc"> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">I.</td> - <td class="tdl">Introduction.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">II.</td> - <td class="tdl">Pecuniary Emulation.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">III.</td> - <td class="tdl">Conspicuous Leisure.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl">Conspicuous Consumption.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">V.</td> - <td class="tdl">The Pecuniary Standard of Living.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl">Pecuniary Canons of Taste.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl">Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl">Industrial Exemption and Conservation.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl">The Conservation of Archaic Traits.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">X.</td> - <td class="tdl">Modern Survivals of Prowess.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">XI.</td> - <td class="tdl">The Belief in Luck.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">XII.</td> - <td class="tdl">Devout Observances.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">XIII.</td> - <td class="tdl">Survivals of the Non-Invidious Interest.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">Chapter</td> - <td class="tdr">XIV.</td> - <td class="tdl">The Higher Learning as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture.</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The study is a thoughtful and interesting one and is couched in clear and -straightforward English.”—<cite>Minneapolis Journal.</cite></p> -</div> - -<p class="center"> -PUBLISHED BY<br> -<span class="larger wspace">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -<span class="smaller">Publishers        64–66 Fifth Avenue        New York</span> -</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="p4 center bold wspace bb">Two New Books of Related Interest</p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>Work and Wealth: A Human Valuation</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> J. A. 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Not only is the book an important contribution to the -literature of its field; it is no less valuable in its bearing on general questions -of the day with which other than purely professional economists are concerned.</p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>Violence and the Labor Movement</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> ROBERT HUNTER,</p> - -<p class="center smaller">Author of “Poverty,” “Socialists at Work,” etc.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>This book deals with the mighty conflict that raged throughout the latter -part of the last century for possession of the soul of labor. It tells of the -doctrines and deeds of Bakounin, Netchayeff, Kropotkin, Ravachol, Henry, -Most and Caserio. It seeks the causes of such outbursts of rage as occurred -at the Haymarket in Chicago in 1886 and are now being much discussed -as Syndicalism, Haywoodism and Larkinism. 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The work -seeks, therefore, to express for the first time a consistently educational -theory of democracy.</p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>Progressivism and After</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING,</p> - -<p class="center smaller">Author of “The Larger Aspects of Socialism,” “Socialism As It Is,” etc.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>This is a book which every thoughtful socialist, social reformer and those -to whom social reform makes any appeal, ought to read. Mr. Walling views -social and economic questions as a thinker and student, never merely as a -theorist or partisan. In the political events of the last few years Mr. Walling -sees much that is significant not only for the present but for the future. -What the progress of affairs in the next generation is to be he outlines in -this work in a fashion that is as convincing as it is unusual from the socialistic -standpoint. Of particular interest are his analyses of President Wilson, -Colonel Roosevelt and other prominent leaders, while his description of -that which has been and that which is to come is trenchant and keen. -Whether one agrees with his predictions or not the force and clearness with -which the issues are indicated distinguish the volume for all kinds of readers.</p> -</div> - -<p class="center"> -PUBLISHED BY<br> -<span class="larger wspace">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -<span class="smaller">Publishers        64–66 Fifth Avenue        New York</span> -</p> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>American Syndicalism—The I. W. W.</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> JOHN GRAHAM BROOKS</p> - -<p class="center smaller">Author of “As Others See Us,” “The Social Unrest,” etc.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, $1.25 net; postpaid, $1.36</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Mr. Brooks’s book is a careful, sympathetic, and critical study of American -syndicalism as represented in the order named the Industrial Workers -of World.</p> - -<p>“The theory, or ‘philosophy,’ of this syndicalism is given, a review made of -the practical experiences of the movement as it has expressed itself here in -the last few years, and a view sought of its possible destinies in the United -States. 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Alike to our peril and to our -loss shall we ignore this fact.’”—<cite>New York Tribune.</cite></p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>The Social Unrest</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center">Studies in Labor and Social Movements</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> JOHN GRAHAM BROOKS</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, 394 pages, $1.50 net</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The author, Mr. John Graham Brooks, takes up and discusses through -nearly four hundred pages the economic significance of the social questions -of the hour, the master passions at work among us, men <i lang="la">versus</i> machinery, -and the solution of our present ills in a better concurrence than at present exists—an -organization whereby every advantage of cheaper service and cheaper -product shall go direct to the whole body of the people.... Nothing -upon his subject so comprehensive and at the same time popular in treatment -as this book has been issued in our country. It is a volume with live -knowledge—not only for workman but for capitalist, and the student of -the body politic—for every one who lives—and who does not?—upon the -product of labor.”—<cite>The Outlook.</cite></p> - -<p>Mr. Bliss Perry, the editor of <cite>The Atlantic Monthly</cite>, says of it: “A fascinating -book—to me the clearest, sanest, most helpful discussion of economic -and human problems I have read for years.”</p> -</div> - -<p class="center"> -PUBLISHED BY<br> -<span class="larger wspace">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -<span class="smaller">Publishers        64–66 Fifth Avenue        New York</span> -</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="p4 center bold wspace bb">By WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING</p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>The Larger Aspects of Socialism</i> -</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, $1.50 net; postpaid, $1.63</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“For the second time William English Walling has made a notable contribution -to the literature of Socialism.”—<cite>Mary Brown Sumner in The -Survey.</cite></p> - -<p>“Your two books, together and separately, constituted the supreme English -contribution to Socialism.”—<cite>Professor George D. Herron.</cite></p> - -<p>“This book is exceptionally suggestive and interesting.... It is to be -hoped that Mr. Walling will continue to give us such careful and suggestive -analyses of socialistic thought.”—<cite>Alexander Fleisher in The Annals of the -American Academy.</cite></p> - -<p>“The author has earned a right to a front-rank place among the American -Socialist ‘intellectuals.’... A clear-sighted observer, and a reporter -honest with himself and the public.”—<cite>The Nation.</cite></p> - -<p>“You are certainly one of those exasperating men who must be counted -with. I have gone over your first book with admiration and extreme disapprobation. -There is no book with which I have any acquaintance which -is so truthful in telling what a considerable body of our countrymen are -thinking about.”—<cite>Professor Albert Bushnell Hart.</cite></p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>Socialism As It Is</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center">A Survey of the World-Wide Revolutionary Movement</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, $2.00 net; postpaid, $2.12</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center larger">A NEW DEPARTURE IN SOCIALIST BOOKS</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Can be most highly recommended as a sane and clear exposition and is -not a rehash of the various volumes that have been already published on -the subject, but is a contribution from a distinct and new point of view.”—<cite>The -New York Times.</cite></p> - -<p>“The best and most scholarly presentation of the subject that has yet fallen -into my hands. It gave me an insight into the situation, for which I longed -but to which I could not find any access.”—<cite>Professor Jacques Loeb.</cite></p> - -<p>“You certainly give a wonderful insight into Socialism as it is and getting -to be—and it is an insight that every citizen ought to have.”—<cite>Professor -John R. Commons.</cite></p> - -<p>“I have been reading your book with great interest. The great contribution, -it seems to me, is the clear contrast between State Socialism and revolutionary -socialism.”—<cite>Professor Simon N. Patten.</cite></p> -</div> - -<p class="center"> -PUBLISHED BY<br> -<span class="larger wspace">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -<span class="smaller">Publishers        64–66 Fifth Avenue        New York</span> -</p> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>The Theory of Social Revolutions</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> BROOKS ADAMS</p> - -<p class="center smaller">Author of “The Law of Civilization and Decay,” “The New Empire,” etc.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“A remarkable work.”—<i>The Argonaut.</i></p> - -<p>“A cleverly written book by a clever man. The argument is that the existing -social system will soon be changed and that the courts have become -political and not judicial.”—<cite>Pittsburgh Post.</cite></p> - -<p>“No one interested in either history or politics can afford to neglect Mr. -Adams’ views.”—<cite>Newark Evening News.</cite></p> - -<p>“... no more fascinating study of a topic so grave is often printed.”—<cite>New -York World.</cite></p> - -<p>“... there has not appeared in recent years so calm and determined an -attack upon judicial legislation.”—<cite>La Follette’s Magazine.</cite></p> - -<p>“A very stimulating study.”—<cite>Review of Reviews.</cite></p> -</div> - -<p class="adtitle"> -<i>Labor and Administration</i> -</p> - -<p class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">By</span> JOHN R. COMMONS</p> - -<p class="center smaller">PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN</p> - -<p class="right"> -<i>Cloth, 12mo, $1.60 net</i> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The history of labor laws and strikes has this in common to both—laws -become dead letters; the victories of strikes are nibbled away. Some philosophers -fall back on the individual’s moral character. Little, they think, -can be done by law or unions. There are others who inquire how to draft -and enforce the laws, how to keep the winnings of strikes—in short, how -to connect ideals with efficiency.</p> - -<p>These are the awakening questions of the past decade, and the subject of -this book. Here is a field for the student and economist—not the “friend -of labor” who paints an abstract working-man, but the utilitarian idealist, -who sees them all as they are; not the curious collector of facts and statistics -but the one who measures the facts and builds them into a foundation and -structure. His constructive problem is not so much the law and its abstract -rights, as administration and its concrete results.</p> -</div> - -<p class="center"> -PUBLISHED BY<br> -<span class="larger wspace">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br> -<span class="smaller">Publishers        64–66 Fifth Avenue        New York</span> -</p> -</div> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made -consistent when a predominant preference was found -in the original book; otherwise they were not changed. -Some apparent errors are noted below.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced -quotation marks were remedied when the change was -obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_72">Page 72</a>: “graneries” was printed that way.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_76">Page 76</a>: “watchward” was printed that way.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_158">Page 158</a>: “seige” was printed that way.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_262">Page 262</a>: “Berkely” was printed that way; -may be a reference to the Irish philosopher -George “Berkeley.”</p> - -<p>Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, -have been collected, sequentially renumbered, -and repositioned after the main text of the -book, just before the advertisements.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INSTINCT OF WORKMANSHIP ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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