And to their consternation, they will find that they will
have to get off that woman's back themselves, as well as the backs of a
few other women and children they did not dream they were riding upon.
CHAPTER XXVII--THE MANAGEMENT
In this final chapter it were well to look at the Social Abyss in its
widest aspect, and to put certain questions to Civilisation, by the
answers to which Civilisation must stand or fall. For instance, has
Civilisation bettered the lot of man? "Man," I use in its democratic
sense, meaning the average man. So the question re-shapes itself: _Has
Civilisation 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,
Civilisation. Their capital amounts possibly to 2 pounds per head. They
hunt and fish for their food with bone-headed spews 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,
likewise timber for their houses, which they build partly underground,
and in which they lie snugly during the periods of intense cold.
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