The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-26
ARTICLE Nv.

Fishing and hunting have been denom1-
mated" occupatory'' industries, from ac-
/ cupare, which in Roman law means to
take possession Of. The devotees live
by taking possession of game, fishes,
clans. oysters and such things, which
they devour either raw or rudely cooked.
Products of the soil. such as roots and
berries, they use as a rule only when
these grow spontaneously. Agriculture
they despise
The most striking thing about men on
this rude level of life is their utter brute
like dependence upon nature. They wait
as suppliants before her, watching for
the opening of her hand and do not COM
pei her to a new, larger and more varied
productiveness as civilized people do.
They usually work hard enough, but
they amass nothing. Clothing of leaves
or skins, dwellings in moss-carpeted
caves or in huts built of bark or hides,
arms, tools and tackle the simplest and
the toughest, a few ornaments a scanty
supply of jerkeds meat, are their whole
capital. At this stage of social develop
ment private property In land is I'M
known. Most probably indeed all kinds
of primitive property, movable as we'll as
real estate. with such exceptions as each
families clothing and kit of utensils for
hunting, fishing and the like belonged to
the entire village or clan. The inStitu-
ton of private property especially in the
case of land, is comparatively modern.
Another striking think about human
beings on this low plane Is that they do
not practice exchange, whether by the
use of money or in any other way Che
reason why they do not practice eX-
change is that the members of the COM
munity are all so nearly equal in RIA
tive advantages that they have no di-
vision of Dor or industrial organization
Of any kind. No trades exist, no classes,
either economic or social, have as yet
been formed. The early society of which
we here treat is entirely communistic.
Individual initiative has little play. The
body, the crowd Is the great fact Union
Of men with man avails for the defense
of old hunting grounds, and the con-
quest of new, therefore, has it's eco
nomic worth; yet as each man can do
any necessary thing about as well as
any other. union for economic ends has
nothing the variety or scope which the
advanced forms of industry present.
Slaves there are none so long as the
hunting industry is dominant. Naturally,
since, to be of use, slaves would have
to be armed for the chase, and so would
be dangerous. If tribes subjugate tribes,
the conquered are put to DEATH Govern
ment, such as there Is, Is patriarchal
While men are in this condition tribal
ware are inevitable AS We have seen,
these populations are little provident and
never masters of nature. They do not
cultivate or train nature to produce any
thing beyond or unlike what she would
herself yield. Now, game and berries will
not increase as fast as men will need
them. They may, even, disappear entire
ly. In particular, new hunting places
must be had. In course of time there.
fore, wars necessarily ensue, other tribes
being no less anxious to keep their hunt
ing lands than the given tribe is to seize
them. In this conditions Of mankind, war
is an economic necessity.
1t follows from the passive relation OF
hunting tribes to nature that such popu-
latfons can never be very dense, even
under the most favoring circumstances.
Population soon reaches the limit of SUBJ
sistence, after which additions to the
community necessitate migration or
starvation.
Fishing peoples differ little from hunt
ing peoples but some of their peculiar
tiles are worth noticing a. Whne
they, too, are inert to nature, nature Is
more bountiful to them than to their
brethren of the chase, supplies of fish be-
Ing far less likely to give out than SUD-
plies of game. Hence Cd Fishing popu1a.
lions are commonly more dense than
those of hunters and less given to wars
! (5.) slavery is possible among them and
sometimes exists. a. While hunters
tend, usually after period. of robber life
to enter upon pastoral and then upon
an agricultural career, fishermen, on the
contrary, are apt to try piracy for a
while, and then to grow into sailors,
ocean carriers, the instruments and
agents of commerce.
OF the hunting and fishing phase of nu-
man Industry, pure and simple, there are
few, If any, examples remaining. We
must go back to the old stone age. to the
cave jewellers of the geologic records
Yet Hottentots Bushmen and the aborig-
ines of Australia are nearly as primitive
Fishing and hunting were, OF course,
common occupations among the American
Indians when and after Columbus landed,
though in a number of respects the In,
dams had even then advanced beyond
this species of life. They exchanged by
means Of wampum, a very good substi-
. tute for money, Of which also white men
made large use, and they had capital IN
considerable variety and mass
The Indians of the Five Nations in New
York state had gone some steps toward
an agricultural life, though, even they, 1T
appears, had entire community of lands,
game and everything, with no idea of
severalty holding whatever. This caused
many of the conflicts among them and
the whites regarding land, they not sup
posing that sale to the white alienated
the ultimate fee simple held by the tribe.
White men did not understand this sys-
tenn and when Indians maintained tribal
rights to lands which individual Indians