In early America the Europeans who settled the land, by occupying and farming it, had a very hard life. A man worked from sunrise to sunset, at tedious and sometimes strenuous physical labor. It was common for a man to work himself to death in his 30’s.
The American Natives had a different lifestyle, that of largely nomadic hunter gatherers, with a very little agriculture. A man’s job was to hunt, fish, and fight. The rest of the work was for women. The men had a lot of time off.
Some young white boys on the frontier thought being an Indian looked pretty good, and ran off to become one. If they passed the tests of manhood the Natives put them through, they were adopted, and came into the tribe. A few were prominent in the wars with the Indians, fighting against their own people on behalf of their adopted one.
Some of the old mountain men took the side of the Natives, and fought the United States Army on behalf of them. One such, Captain Bob North, led a war party of Sioux and Arapahoe in battle against the Cavalry near Fort Kearny, Wyoming in 1866. He was shot from his horse, and carried off by the Sioux.
Jack Clybar was a member of the Seventh Calvary who was left for dead by his companions, and rescued by the Sioux. He recovered, was adopted into the tribe, and given the name Comanche, which was a compliment. He fought at Little Big Horn under Crazy Horse.
A lot of Native American men would like to live like their ancestors, as subsistence hunters and fishermen. Very few are actually able to do this without governmental financial assistance. But they hang on nonetheless, living a reservation lifestyle.
Eskimo men had no leisure time. They outworked any white man, and showed as much ingenuity and resourcefulness as any people on earth. Physician and anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson, of Iceland, spent fifteen years with the Eskimos. He found no sign of cancer. His discovery is documented in Cancer: Disease of Civilization? They were the healthiest people on earth.
The life of an Eskimo was a daily struggle for survival. These people had an incredible will to live, to survive. If survival requires flexibility, they can be flexible. They adapt, in order to survive. They are natural capitalists.
reaganproject.com 