IN HIGHER PEOPLES 161 



The native Australians are said to be "incapa- 

 ble of anything like persevering labor, the reward 

 for which is in the future." The savage lives in 

 the present. And he is unwilling to put forth ex- 

 ertions whose fruits are removed even a few weeks 

 in time. A traveler calls the Hottentots of South 

 Africa ''the laziest people under the sun." Of 

 some of the native tribes of India it is said that 

 they have not only a distaste for labor, but a con- 

 tempt for it, and will starve rather than work. 

 Many tribes of American Indians, when cut off 

 from their hunting life, quickly disappeared, be- 

 cause they were incapable of maintaining them- 

 selves by labor, as the higher races do. Burton 

 says of the Dakota Indians : * ' The warrior con- 

 siders the chase his share of the curse of labor. 

 He is so lazy that he will not rise to saddle or un- 

 saddle his pony. He would rather die than em- 

 ploy himself in useful industry. ' ' 



Higher peoples are a great improvement over 

 savages in the amount of energy they are able to 

 produce. But they have not yet developed suffi- 

 ciently in energy-producing power to enjoy the 

 amount of work they are ordinarily called upon 

 to do. 



In the better times to come labor will not be 

 looked upon as something to be avoided if at all 

 possible to do so. It will be natural and pleasur- 

 able. Laziness will pass away — just as cruelty 

 and killing will pass away. The human body will 

 grow more and more dynamic (energy-produc- 



