Chapter XXVII

The Management

>>>>Seven men working sixteen hours could produce food by best
>>>>improved machinery to support one thousand men.
>>>>-- Edward Atkinson

In this final chapter it were well to look at the
Sociai Abyss in its widest aspect, and to put certain
questions to Civilization, by the answers to which
Civilization must stand or fall. For instance, has
Civilization bettered the lot of man ? " Man " I
use in its democratic sense, meaning the average
man. So the question reshapes itself: Has Civili
zation bettered the lot of the average man ?

Let us see. In Alaska, along the banks of the
Yukon River, near its mouth, live the Innuit folk.
They are a very primitive people, manifesting but
mere glimmering adumbrations of that tremendous
artifice, Civilization. Their capital amounts pos
sibly to $10 per head. They hunt and fish for
their food with bone-headed spears and arrows.
They never suffer from lack of shelter. Their
clothes, largely made from the skins of animals, are
warm. They always have fuel for their fires, like-

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v?