Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/531

Rh other hand, sea-fishing and plain-hunting to be successful had to be carried on by clans or cooperating companies of virile males—manly-men, as they were called—and as root-culture advanced from the original essartageland clearing [sic] methods to the more complicated plantation system, the association of the women and womanly-men was found essential. As far as these latter cases were concerned, therefore, the character of the surplus required personal association of labor and in this way the cooperative system was originally established.

Whether the character of the surplus was such as to require sexual or personal association of labor, in the natural state, the sources of the surplus were far too widespread to admit of monopolization. True, the spawning grounds of fish might be closed in to some extent, but for the most part, fishing, hunting and primitive agricultural opportunities were too far dispersed to be monopolized by any one party within the community to the exclusion of others. As a result, access to the surplus source was not restricted to any particular class. Where the character of the surplus was such as to require only sexual association of labor, there each family had immediate access to the surplus source and the individual members were dependent upon the domestic group for their livelihood. Where the character of the surplus was such as to require personal association of labor, there the cooperating company had immediate access to the surplus source and the individual members were dependent upon the clan for their livelihood. But though in both cases individuals were dependent upon the group to which they belonged, still no one set of individuals was dependent upon another set of individuals for their livelihood. In short, the fact that the surplus source could not be controlled precluded the possibility of coercion and left the cooperative system supreme in the natural state.

During the proprietary period which succeeded the natural state the surplus was derived primarily from cattle-raising and agriculture. For the development of the pastoral surplus personal association was necessary for the defense of the flock and for the occupation and defense of pasture lands, with the result that we find the manly-men of pastoral peoples organized like the hunters of the plain into military companies under a competent chief. For the development of the agricultural surplus personal association of labor was not everywhere necessary. In the temperate zone, where the extensive system of agriculture was most profitable, the land could best be cleared and cultivated by individual families. In the subtropical zone, however, agricultural opportunities were confined to certain favored localities, such as oases, river valleys or lakesides, where irrigation and hoe and spade culture were necessary. These conditions called for intensive agriculture and this in turn necessitated the associated labor of men, women and even children. In summarizing, therefore, we may say that during the proprietary period the