elf to hunting and fishing, or subsisting on the results of his
helpmate's industry. As men's wants increased and they became more
industrious in supplying them, this division of labor was extended. The
man most skilful in fishing neglected the use of the bow and spear, and
his surplus of fish he exchanged with his neighbor for the fruit of the
chase. The very same principle applied to different tribes brought about
the first commerce. A pastoral tribe, with large flocks and herds,
exchanged their surplus products with less civilized tribes who
continued to live by the chase, or with a more civilized people who had
begun to till the soil.

It is plain that these were first steps in civilization. Man, so long as
he supplies only such of his wants as he can supply with the labor of
his unaided hands, must remain in a half-fed, half-clothed, and untaught
condition, because his strength and skill, when diverted in the many
directions which his wants require, are not enough to enable him, even
when he spends all his time at work, to supply himself with more than
the barest necessaries of life. It would be interesting to trace the
development of this principle of action through its various stages down
to the present time, when we see men everywhere working at various
trades and occupations, and always to supply some want of their
fellow-men. Every person in the community is absolutely dependent upon a
multitude of others, most of whom he knows nothing of, for the supply
of almost all his wants. Human society is thus growing more and more
interwoven and interdependent. The motto of the Knights of Labor is a
true one, apart from the altruism involved in it. "An injury to one _is_
the concern of all," because the mass of humanity is connected and woven
together by such strong ties of self-interest, as well as fraternity,
that a calamity to any class or country is felt in some degree
throughout the civilized world. This is vastly more true now than it was
a half-century ago. Under such conditions as existed then, the doctrine
of _laissez-faire_, that the government should confine itself to the
prevention of violence and crime and the maintenance of national honor
and integrity, letting alone the industries of the country to develop
and operate according to natural laws, was not liable to do harm. But
the conditions now are wholly changed. The interdependence of the
community involves a moral inter-responsibility, and the time has