But, supposing the sudden arrival of strangers armed with superior weapons
and knowledge, who should exterminate all wild beasts and render war and
the consequent loss of male life a thing of the past; not only would the
male be driven to encroach on the female's domain of domestic agriculture
and labour generally, but the males, not being so largely destroyed, they
would soon equal and surpass in numbers the females; and not only would it
then become a moot matter, "a problem," which labours were or were not to
be performed by man and which by woman, but very soon, not the woman alone
nor the man alone, but both, would be driven to speculate as to the
desirability or necessity of polygamy, which, were men as numerous as
women, would leave many males without sex companions. The more intelligent
and progressive individuals in the community would almost at once arrive at
the conclusion that polygamy was objectionable; the most fearless would
seek to carry their theory into action; the most ignorant and unprogressive
would determinately stick to the old institutions as inherited from the
past, without reason or question; differences of ideal would cause conflict
and dissension in all parts of the body social, and suffering would ensue,
where all before was fixed and determinate. So also if the strangers
introduced new and improved methods of agriculture, and food became
abundant, it would then at once strike the most far-seeing and readily
adaptable members of the community, both male and female, that there was no
necessity for the destruction of their offspring; old men and women would
begin seriously to object to being hastened to death when they realised
that starvation did not necessarily stare them in the face if they survived
to an extreme old age; the most stupid and hide-bound members of the
community would still continue to sacrifice parents and offspring long
after the necessity had ceased, under the influence of traditional bias;
many persons would be in a state of much moral doubt as to which course of
action to pursue, the old or the new; and bitter conflict might rage in the