priated a man
who does not own land has no chance to live except at the mercy of the
landlord. He is obliged to offer himself as a wage-earner or a tenant.
The landlord can obtain, therefore, all the help he may need without
coercion. Free labor is then economically advantageous to both the
landlord and the wage-earner, since the freedom of the latter inspires
greatly increased production. From these facts and considerations,
verified by history, it may be laid down as a sociological law that
where land is monopolized slavery necessarily yields to a regime of
freedom.[1]

In applying these principles to Africa it is necessary to take account
of the natural division of the continent into distinct economic zones.
Immediately under the equator is a wide area of heavy rainfall and
dense forest. The rapidity and rankness of vegetable growth renders
the region unsuited to agriculture. But the plentiful streams abound
in fish and the forests in animals and fruits. The banana and plantain
grow there in superabundance, and form the chief diet of the
inhabitants. This may be called, for convenience, the banana zone. To
the north and south of this zone are broad areas of less rainfall and
forest, with a dry season suitable to agriculture. These may be called
the agriculture zones. Still further to the north and south are areas
of very slight rainfall and almost no forests, suitable for pasturage.
Here cattle flourish in great numbers. These may be called the
pastoral zones. These zones stretch horizontally across the continent
except in case of the cattle zones, which, on account of the
mountainous character of East Africa, include the plateau extending
from Abyssinia to the Zambesi river. Each of these zones gives rise to
different types of men, and different characteristics of economic
organization, of family life, government, religion, and art.

In the banana zone nature is extremely bountiful. The people subsist
mostly upon the spontaneous products. A small expenditure of effort
will support a vast population. Agriculture is very little practiced.
Here the effort to live would seem to be easier and more agreeable
than in any other part of the world, so that man would not be under
pressure to enslave his kind. But alas, the work of gathering and
transporting the fruits, of the preparation and cooking them, as well
as the bringing home and cooking of the game, the building of houses,
etc., is not altogether pleasant. It is uni