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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

HE business of being an American citizen is not Living what it was when our nation was founded. At in 1776 that time most men in this country were farmers. There were no factories, no railways, no cities of any considerable size. Practically all the people of the colonies were of one race and language. None were very rich and none very poor. They were separated from Europe by a voyage of months. The great tasks of men and women were those of the pioneer: first, to settle the wilderness, cut the forests, plant and harvest; and second, to establish homes, schools, churches, laws, and government. Their new nation was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

set new

problems

Today the work of getting a living is in many ways Changed less heroic than in the days of the pioneer. It does not conditions call for the same hardships; it does not get us up so early of a winter's morning, it does not compel us to make our journeys mainly on foot or to transport our goods by oxen; it does not compel the housewife to know spinning, weaving, cutting and making garments, soap and candlemaking as well as cooking and housekeeping. But the very fact that all these kinds of work once done by hand and in the household, as well as many other new kinds of manufacturing which could not have been done at all in the old days, have gone

into factories; that railways carry us and our goods; that inventions have changed our ways of living and produced great wealth; that we now nearly half or quite half of us live in cities;-all these changes have set new tasks which make living today a real business even more than it was in 1776. These changes have created needs for new laws, for new schools and universities. They have made it necessary for the governments of our cities, state, and nation to care for health and decide many matters that could formerly be left to each person to decide for himself. The great increase in wealth makes it easier for men to mistake what it means to live "well" and so to decide what the real business of living is.

The task of the citizen has also changed. The citizen of today must still think of liberty, union, and democracy, but in new forms. The great changes in the way of carrying on business and the great number of different races who now come to this country and become citizens bring new problems. We may not believe that all men are equal in all respects-and doubtless our fathers did not believe this either-but since we have equal votes we see the need of giving men equal opportunities. Finally the relation of America to other countries is no longer so simple as when it took months for a ship to cross the ocean. Our fathers came away from Europe to find freedom; they hoped to keep it safe by holding aloof from Europe's affairs. We have learned that we cannot enjoy our freedom alone. Europe is so close a neighbor that freedom is not safe here unless it is safe there. We learned the value of union in our own land; now we see the need of worldwide coöperation to keep peace and promote general welfare. We believe not only that government by the

people must not perish from the earth but that "the world must be made safe for democracy."

To begin with a study of the way in which early man lived in clans governed by customs may seem to be a roundabout way of understanding our present problems. But in every field we find it one of the most helpful ways to understand any institution to compare it with earlier stages or with other institutions. Men did not learn coöperation or create liberty and democracy all at once. We can appreciate these more fully if we trace the main steps by which they were worked out. The main types of coöperation and union which men had already tried before the days of our American nation were three:

1. The clan, in which men were controlled by habits and customs.

2. The state, governed by laws, established by a king with a band of warriors. They made order but gave little freedom.

3. The town, made up of traders and craftsmen, brought men together in a new group with more freedom and democracy.

Our early

ancestors

The

great

inventions

CHAPTER II

EARLY LIFE OF MAN

N recent years we have come to know much more about our ancestors. The caves in which are

IN

found tools, weapons, drawings, and even paintings made by early men in Spain, France, Germany, and Great Britain, the lake dwellings in Switzerland, the piles of kitchen waste in Scandinavia, give a view of how the early dwellers in these countries got their living, what animals they hunted, what inventions they had. The discoveries in Egypt, Assyria, and most recently in Crete, show many of the earlier stages by which the wonderful civilization of those countries was built up. The men of the caves in Spain and France lived with the reindeer, the mammoth, and the bison. We know this because we find in the caves the cut or carved drawings of these animals on bone, and colored pictures of them on the cave walls. Early men used chiefly stone tools instead of metal. In many ways they probably resembled our North American Indians. The mounds in Scandinavia, Greece, and Crete show men later using copper or bronze, and finally iron.

The extraordinary thing is that at a very early time men had made the most important inventions, so far as getting a living was concerned. For they had:

First-Fire. We know this because there are ashes in the caves.

Second-The bow and arrow, which enabled them to get food from animals and birds. We know this for

we find the flint arrow heads like those used by the Indians.

Third-Pottery. This also was similar to the pottery made so successfully by our American Indians. Fourth-Weaving. This gave clothing.

Fifth-Taming of animals such as the ox for plowing, the horse for riding, the dog for hunting.

Sixth-Boats for sailing over rivers and even great lakes or seas, and for aid in catching fish.

Seventh-Among some groups, the use of metals, especially iron. In the very early times of our European ancestors iron was not known, and the American Indians got on without it, though they made some use of copper.

These seven discoveries or inventions were all means for getting a better living. They gave man power over nature. Besides these, men had one other great gift which enabled them to unite and aid each other, namely:

Eighth-Speech. Animals use cries or gestures by which they can warn of danger or call to food, or call to their young or their mates. But human language enables men to understand each other and work together far better than animals can.

Ninth And even in very early times men added Writing, at first with pictures, then with signs. This was useful for sending messages, but especially for keeping records, and so making men able to be sure about contracts and promises and in many ways to keep firmly in mind what had happened in the past.

Nothing so important for getting a living as these nine was afterward discovered or invented until the steam engine added a new and great servant to man. This invention had its beginnings in a crude pumping engine about two hundred years ago, but it was not

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