diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/69888-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69888-0.txt | 10937 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 10937 deletions
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. 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. - - -TABLE OF CONTENTS - - Chapter I. Introduction. - Chapter II. Pecuniary Emulation. - Chapter III. Conspicuous Leisure. - Chapter IV. Conspicuous Consumption. - Chapter V. The Pecuniary Standard of Living. - Chapter VI. Pecuniary Canons of Taste. - Chapter VII. Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture. - Chapter VIII. Industrial Exemption and Conservation. - Chapter IX. The Conservation of Archaic Traits. - Chapter X. Modern Survivals of Prowess. - Chapter XI. The Belief in Luck. - Chapter XII. Devout Observances. - Chapter XIII. Survivals of the Non-Invidious Interest. - Chapter XIV. The Higher Learning as an Expression of the Pecuniary - Culture. - - “The study is a thoughtful and interesting one and is couched - in clear and straightforward English.”--_Minneapolis Journal._ - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Publishers 64–66 Fifth Avenue New York - - - - -Two New Books of Related Interest - - -_Work and Wealth: A Human Valuation_ - -BY J. A. HOBSON, M.A., - -Author of “Industrial Society,” “John Ruskin, Social Reformer,” etc. - - _Cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net_ - - Mr. Hobson is an economist of established reputation - whose writings have for years been eagerly read by his - fellow-economists. The purpose of this, his latest work, is - to present a just and formal exposure of the inhumanity and - vital waste of modern industries by the close application of - the best approved formulas of individual, and social welfare - and to indicate the most hopeful measures of remedy for a - society sufficiently intelligent, courageous and self-governing - to apply them. The wholly satisfying fashion in which the - author has achieved this purpose results in a suggestive and - stimulating review from a novel standpoint of problems in which - all students of economy are interested. 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. - - -_Violence and the Labor Movement_ - -BY ROBERT HUNTER, - -Author of “Poverty,” “Socialists at Work,” etc. - - _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net_ - - 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. It is a - dramatic, historical narrative in which terrorism, anarchism, - syndicalism and socialism are passionately voiced by their - greatest advocates as they battle over programs, tactics and - philosophies. - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - Publishers 64–66 Fifth Avenue New York - - - - -Two Important Interpretations of Present Movements - - -_Progressive Democracy_ - -BY HERBERT CROLY, - -Author of “The Promise of American Life.” - - _Cloth, 8vo, $2.00 net_ - - The object of the author in this book is three-fold. He has - in the first place analyzed the modern progressive democratic - movement in this country in order to separate its essential - from its non-essential ingredients to discover whether there - is any real issue between American progressivism and American - conservatism. In the second place he has tried to reconstruct - the historical background of progressivism to see what roots - or lack of roots it has in the American political and economic - tradition. And finally he has attempted to trace what we may - reasonably expect from the progressive movement, to show what - tools it must use in order to carry out its program and what - claims it has on the support of patriotic Americans. 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. W._ - -BY JOHN GRAHAM BROOKS - -Author of “As Others See Us,” “The Social Unrest,” etc. - - _Cloth, $1.25 net; postpaid, $1.36_ - - “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. - - “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. Mr. - Brooks says: - - “‘In it and through it is something as sacred as the best of - the great dreamers have ever brought us. In the total of this - movement, the deeper, inner fact seems to be its nearness to - and sympathy with that most heavy laden and long enduring mass - of common toilers. 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. Some apparent errors are noted below. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unbalanced. - -Page 72: “graneries” was printed that way. - -Page 76: “watchward” was printed that way. - -Page 158: “seige” was printed that way. - -Page 262: “Berkely” was printed that way; may be a reference to the -Irish philosopher George “Berkeley.” - -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. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INSTINCT OF -WORKMANSHIP *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - 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. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: - -• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - -• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - -• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you “AS-IS”, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ - -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |