Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



and authorities founded on mere possession. The 

 growth of Wealth disintegrates the ancient Society ; 

 the temptations of power, of possession, etc., 

 which accompany it, wrench the individual from 

 his moorings ; personal greed rules ; " each 

 man for himself" becomes the universal motto ; 

 the hand of every man is raised against his brother, 

 and at last society itself becomes an organisation 

 by which the rich fatten upon the vitals of the poor, 

 the strong upon the murder of the weak. [It 

 is interesting in this connection to find that Lewis 

 Morgan makes the invention of a written alphabet 

 and the growth of the conception of private property 

 the main characteristics of the civilisation-period 

 as distinguished from the periods of savagery 

 and barbarism which preceded it ; for the invention 

 of writing marks perhaps better than anything else 

 could do the period when Man becomes self- 

 conscious — when he records his own doings and 

 thoughts, and so commences History proper; 

 and the growth of private property marks the 

 period when he begins to sunder himself from his 

 fellows, when therefore the conception of sin (or 

 separation) first enters in, and with it all the long 

 period of moral perplexity, and the denial of that 

 community of life between himself and his fellows 

 which is really of the essence of man's being.] 



And then arises the institution of Government. 



Hitherto this had not existed except in a quite 

 rudimentary form. The early communities troubled 

 themselves little about individual ownership, and 

 what government they had was for the most part 



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