Note 254 — Chapter IV · AGRICULTURAL TRIBES.

We have said that among agricultural peoples slavery, as an industrial system, only exists where there is still free land; it disappears as soon as all land has been appropriated. We have also seen that slavery does not prevail to any considerable extent where subsistence is dependent on capital254. We may now combine these two conclusions into this general rule: slavery, as an industrial system, is not likely to exist where subsistence depends on material resources which are present in limited quantity.