Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 1Roscher, Wilhelm
History
Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 1
Roscher, Wilhelm
Economics
In all very low stages of civilization, the greatest absence of the
feeling of wants, and the greatest indolence, are wont to prevail, and in
the highest degree. As soon as their merest necessities are provided for,
men begin to look upon labor as a disgraceful occupation, and indolence as
the highest kind of enjoyment. (§ 41, 213 ff.) Sustained and voluntary
efforts, in any number, then become possible only by the creation of new
wants; but these new wants suppose a higher civilization. Escape from this
sorry circle is then effected in the most humane manner, through the
agency of foreign teachers; inasmuch as the representatives of a more
highly cultivated people (missionaries, merchants etc.), by their own
example, make the nation acquainted with more wants, and at the same time
help toward their satisfaction.(404) But, in the case of nations whose
civilization is completely isolated, or having intercourse only with
others equally low, progress is the creature of force exclusively. The
barbarous isolation of families ceases when the strongest and most
powerful force the weaker into their service. It is now that _the division
of labor really begins_: the victor devotes himself entirely to work of a
higher order, to statesmanship, war, worship etc.; the very doing of which
is generally a pleasure in itself. The vanquished perform the lower. The
one-half of the people are forced to labor for something beyond their own
brute wants. And it is, here as elsewhere, the first step that costs.(405)
(§ 45.)
Section LXIX.
Origin Of Slavery.—Want Of Freedom.
It is not to be supposed that slavery, at this stage, is so oppressive
even to those who have been deprived of their freedom. The feeling of
moral degradation which slavery, abstraction even made of its abuses,
awakens in us, is unknown in a very uncivilized age.(406) The child
willingly obeys the orders of strangers, and is hired out to service by
his parents etc. The want or craving for liberty keeps pace with the
intellectual growth of a people. The systematic over-working of servants
or slaves, in the interest of their masters, is scarcely thinkable in an
uncultured age, when, in the absence of commercial intercourse, every
family consumes what it produces.(407) The only thing which the slave has
to fear is an occasional outburst of tyranny on the part of the master, a
thing which is far from unfrequent in all the relations of low
civilizations. Fear restrains masters to a certain extent; for, in those
early days, how few were the institutions of state which could protect
them against the vengeance of their slaves!(408)(409)
Section LXX.
Emancipation.
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