food supply. The rivers teemed with fish and mollusks, and the forests
with game, while upon all sides was an abundance of nutritious roots and
seeds. All of these sources were known, and to a large extent they were
drawn upon by the Indian, but the practical lesson of providing in the
season of plenty for the season of scarcity had been but imperfectly
learned, or, when learned, was but partially applied. Even when taught
by dire experience the necessity of laying up adequate stores, it was
the almost universal practice to waste great quantities of food by a
constant succession of feasts, in the superstitious observances of which
the stores were rapidly wasted and plenty soon gave way to scarcity and
even to famine.

Curiously enough, the hospitality which is so marked a trait among our
North American Indians had its source in a law, the invariable practice
of which has had a marked effect in retarding the acquisition by the
Indian of the virtue of providence. As is well known, the basis of the
Indian social organization was the kinship system. By its provisions
almost all property was possessed in common by the gens or clan. Food,
the most important of all, was by no means left to be exclusively
enjoyed by the individual or the family obtaining it.

For instance, the distribution of game among the families of a party was
variously provided for in different tribes, but the practical effect of
the several customs relating thereto was the sharing of the supply. The
hungry Indian had but to ask to receive and this no matter how small the
supply, or how dark the future prospect. It was not only his privilege
to ask, it was his right to demand. Undoubtedly what was originally a
right, conferred by kinship connections, ultimately assumed broader
proportions, and finally passed into the exercise of an almost
indiscriminate hospitality. By reason of this custom, the poor hunter
was virtually placed upon equality with the expert one, the lazy with
the industrious, the improvident with the more provident. Stories of
Indian life abound with instances of individual families or parties
being called upon by those less fortunate or provident to share their
supplies.

The effect of such a system, admirable as it was in many particulars,
practically placed a premium upon idleness. Under such communal rights
and privileges a potent spur to industry and thrift is wanting.

There is an obverse side to this problem, which a long and i