resources of the earth and exploit their fellows for their own gain?

No two men have the same power of adaptation to the group, and it is
quite plain that the ones who are the most servile and obedient to the
opinions and life of the crowd are the greatest enemies to change and
individuality. The fact is, none of the generally accepted theories of
the basis of right and wrong has ever been the foundation of law or
morals. The basis that the world has always followed, and perhaps always
will accept, is not hard to find.

The criminal is the one who violates habits and customs of life, the
"folk-ways" of the community where he lives. These customs and folk-ways
must be so important in the opinion of the community as to make their
violation a serious affair. Such violation is considered evil regardless
of whether the motives are selfish or unselfish, good or bad. The
folk-ways have a certain validity and a certain right to respect, but no
one who believes in change can deny that they are a hindrance as well as
a good. Men did not arrive at moral ideas by a scientific or a religious
investigation of good and bad, of right and wrong, of social or
anti-social life.

Man lived before he wrote laws, and before he philosophized. He began
living simply and automatically; he adopted various "taboos" which to
him were omens of bad luck, and certain charms, incantations and the
like, which made him immune from ill-fortune.

All sorts of objects, acts and phenomena have been the subjects of
taboo, and just as numerous and weird have been the charms and amulets
and ceremonies that saved him from the dangers that everywhere beset his
way. The life of the primitive human being was a journey down a narrow