274 SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



money was iiiikiiowii hccausc [)iiniitive exchange is mere 

 barter, the giving of goods for goods. There was no 

 such system as liiring helj) for work because each com- 

 nniiiity was self-supporting; consequently there could 

 be no competition between wage earners producing a rate 

 of wages. The industry which was carried on, fell to the 

 lot of the women of the community, or to slaves, and no 

 form of remuneration was paid for this work as such. 

 Competition l)etween different forms of capital reflected 

 in the rate of interest could not exist, because the con- 

 cept of capital was absent, there being little or no 

 private property. The idea of property in land was 

 but slightly developed since the land was held in com- 

 mon by the clan. Private property in objects was un- 

 important because of customs of lending, sharing, and 

 giving presents. The growth of ])roperty by inheritance 

 was checked by the custom of burying the treasures of the 

 dead with them. The Indian's concept of property there- 

 fore differs radically from our concept of property. The 

 Indian regards his name as his personal property just 

 as much as we regard our house or our clothes as our 

 private property. He can pawn his name if in debt, or 

 loan it to a friend. 



Perhaps one reason for the slow growth of economic 

 concepts among primitive peoples was the existence of 

 certain traditions which hampered the development of 

 means of producing goods. New methods of production 

 were less easily justified than in modern society. An 

 improved method of producing an article encountered 

 as obstacles to its general introduction many senseless 

 superstitions and conservative prejudices. On the 

 Nicobar Islands the art of pottery was given up because 

 some of the natives who had just begun to make pottery 



