RACES AND PEOPLES 231 



the ancestors of the European peoples, is found in the 

 differences of culture which are economic. The contrast 

 between the culture represented by the modern white 

 man and that of the primitive man is far more funda- 

 mental than the contrast between the ancients and the 

 people with whom they came in contact. This is particu- 

 larly in economic and industrial activities. The in- 

 dustries of primitive peoples of our times are exter- 

 minated by the cheapness and enormous quantity of the 

 products imported by the white trader. The slow and 

 laborious industrial processes of primitive peoples can- 

 not compete with the power of production of the machines 

 of the whites. Moreover, primitive tribes are swamped 

 by the numbers of the immigrating race, which crowds 

 them out of their old haunts so rapidly that there is no 

 time for gradual assimilation. In olden times there was 

 no such immense inequality in numbers as we observe 

 in many regions to-day . 2G "We conclude, therefore, 

 that the conditions for assimilation in ancient Europe 

 were much more favorable than in those countries where 

 in our times primitive people come in contact with 

 civilization. Therefore, we do not need to assume that 

 the ancient Europeans were more gifted than other races 

 which have not become exposed to the influences of civ- 

 ilization until recent times." 27 



SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS. 



BOAS, F. The Mind of Primitive Man. 

 DENIKER, J. The Races of Man. 



GIDDINGS, F. II. Principles of Sociology, part Hi, chapter ii 

 (the theory of the present chapter will not be found in this 



ze Ibid., p. 13. 



27 Ibid.; also Gerland, Georg Das Aussterben der Naturvolker; Ratzel, 

 F. Anthropogeographie, vol. ii, pp. 330 et seq. 



