Page:May Walden - Woman and Socialism (1909).pdf/7

 Rh years more, woman reigned supreme in what is called "The Matriarchate," or "Mother-right."

The lower status of barbarism began with the making of pottery and ended differently on the two hemispheres. On the Eastern Hemisphere, it ended with the domestication of animals such as gave meat and milk. On the Western Hemisphere, where there were no wild animals suitable for taming the lower status ended with the use of the sun-dried brick and stone, for house building.

The middle status of barbarism began with the domestication of animals in the Eastern hemisphere, and in the Western with the cultivation of plant foods by irrigation, and the use of sun-dried brick and stone, and ended with the invention of the process of smelting iron ore. This, roughly speaking, is the end of the Stone Age, though the use of stone implements continued after iron ones were made.

The upper status of barbarism began with the manufacture of iron and ended with the invention of the phonetic alphabet, and the use of writing. The Grecian tribes of the time depicted by Homer; the Italian tribes, before the founding of Rome; and the Germanic tribes of the time of Cæsar, were all in the upper status of barbarism. At this point barbarism ends and civilization begins with the invention of the phonetic alphabet, and the use of written records.

But what has all this to do with Socialism? A great deal, for as I said in the beginning,