his customers, annoyed rather than pleased if brisk
business came his way. The artisan usually worked by and for himself,
keeping his own hours and knocking off whenever he chose. The peasant
arose with the dawn, but around noon he and his animals lay down for a
long nap and slept until, in the cool of afternoon, they awoke,
stretched themselves, and, comfortably and casually, went to work again.

To such people the speed, system, and discipline of our economic life
are painfully repugnant, and adaptation can at best be effected only
very slowly and under the compulsion of the direst necessity. Meanwhile
they suffer from the competition of those better equipped in the
economic battle. Sir William Ramsay paints a striking picture of the way
in which the Turkish population of Asia Minor, from landlords and
merchants to simple peasants, have been going down-hill for the last
half-century under the economic pressure not merely of Westerners but of
the native Christian elements, Armenians and Greeks, who had partially
assimilated Western business ideas and methods. Under the old state of
things, he says, there was in Asia Minor "no economic progress and no
mercantile development; things went on in the old fashion, year after
year. Such simple business as was carried on was inconsistent with the
highly developed Western business system and Western civilization; but
it was not oppressive to the people. There were no large fortunes; there
was no opportunity for making a great fortune; it was impossible for one
man to force into his service the minds and the work of a large number
of people, and so to create a great organization out of which he might
make big profits. There was a very large number of small men doing
business on a small scale."[227] Sir William Ramsay then goes on to
describe the shattering of this archaic economic life by modern business
methods, to the consequent impoverishment of all classes of the
unadaptable Turkish population.

How the agricultural classes, peasants and landlords alike, are
suffering from changing economic conditions is well exemplified by the
recent history of India. Says the French writer Chailley, an
authoritative student of Indian problems: "For the last half-century
large fractions of the agricultural classes are being entirely despoiled
of their lands or reduced to onerous tenancies. On the other hand, new
classes are rising and taking their place.... Both ryots and
zamindars[228] a