New-York tribune., 1921-02-06
By Dy. Rudolph NJ. Binder

N1AG SttNS 9lSQ Was Inc
4 ideal human being" ac-
cording to some authors.
''The Cave Man was worse than
q beast" IS the statement Of others.
Where is the truth?
The truth Is that he was neither
the one nor the other. but simply
an ignorant, poor, superstitious, un-
9erfed and very much afraid speci-
men Of 'Fhomo sapiens." He has
been much msligned and much
praised. It will be impossible for
us to get at his real nature for the
simple reason that he has left few
records Of his existence for our in
vestigation. All we can do Is to re-
construct, by means of our knowl-
edge Of savages who have survived
to-day, something Of his life.
His Food Was Poor
We know, perhaps, that he
hunted with a club or stone, that
he ate fish, but that he lived chiefly
on roots, herbs and grubs. This food
naturally was not productive of
high mentality, because for better
or for worse We are to a large ex-
tent what we eat. If we eat nour-
ishing, wholesome food regularly
our health is likely to be good and
our minds are apt to be alert and
keen. Owing to his poor mentality,
the Cave Man had naturally poor
morality and sociality. 1t is here
that charges are made against him
constantly as raving beast going
about to shay and kill-not only the
beasts Of the field and of the forest,
but his own kith and kin.
Concerning his marital condition
we may infer something fairly tan
gible from his poor vitality, men
tality and morality A man who
was more or less constantly in q
condition OF starvation, who could
not think any further than the i'm
mediate moment, was not likely to
have been gracious and forbearing,
generous and attentive to his
Womenfolk. He was simply q male
with sex appetites just like any
other animal, AS the higher mann
mails fight for the females, SO he
fought for his. He fought other
men for the possession of the one
who promised most satisfaction
along that particular line. While
he considered her as his own he
naturally Rever Wanted her to be
unfaithful to him. The penalty FOR
nfidelity was not likely to be small
or put Off to the distant future.
Brute that he was, he punished her
Immediately and likely in q pretty
thorough manner, Whatever was
most handy served his purpose. 1t
may have been the club, stone or
the raw fist, and since he was un-
able to control himself, the blow
was likely to kill or MAIN.
When he went out to war one of
the chief objects was to get another
woman, perhaps several of them. He
had but few satisfactioas in life,
and chief among these were food
and sex, so he looted and raped.
There was 10 courtesy about it. He
certainly didn't go around with a
visiting card to leave at the door of
the woman he sought.
Woman Was Strong, Too
We should, however, look at the
other side of the picture. If the
Cave Man was crude in his methods
Of subjecting the woman, the Cave
Woman was OF about his own mental
and moral standards. He might be
strong, but she was certainly not a
weakling. In all the early periods
of mans life the woman was as q
rule nearly if not quite mans equal
in strength. While he was perhaps
better able to wield club, she could
WELD it almost equally well.
To this very day we find that
among the Patagonians, for instance
the women are we'll able to look
after themselves against the over
bearing male. When it comes to
the trial of strength the woman is
almost certain to have the support
Of other women, while the man has
TO fight it out alone, and no man
Enjoys the prospect Of having to
fight perhaps half dozen enraged
women. This consideration operated
in many cases RS subduing infIu-
ence upon the male.
Mans Equal at First
We are apt to confuse the weak
ness Of the woman which appeared
zauch later in history with TIE
earlier stages, where she is about
mans equal in strength. This was
the natural condition, inherited
from the animal ancestors. The
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