The  astute  man,  it  may  be  remarked,  is  of  no  eco-
nomic value  to  the  community —  unless  it  be  for  the
purpose  of  sharp  practice  in  dealings  with  other  com-
munities. His  functioning  is  not  a  furtherance  of  the
generic  life  process.  At  its  best,  in  its  direct  economic
bearing,  it  is  a  conversion  of  the  economic  substance
of  the  collectivity  to  a  growth  alien  to  the  collective
life  process  —  very  much  after  the  analogy  of  what  in
medicine  would  be  called  a  benign  tumor,  with  some
tendency  to  transgress  the  uncertain  line  that  divides
the  benign  from  the  malign  growths.
The  two  barbarian  traits,  ferocity  and  astuteness,  go
to  make  up  the  predaceous  temper  or  spiritual  attitude.
They  are  the  expressions  of  a  narrowly  self-regarding
habit  of  mind.  Both  are  highly  serviceable  for  indi-
vidual expediency  in  a  life  looking  to  invidious  success.
Both  also  have  a  high  aesthetic  value.  Both  are  fostered
by  the  pecuniary  culture.  But  both  alike  are  of  no  use
for  the  purposes  of  the  collective  life.
CHAPTER   XI

THE  BELIEF  IN  LUCK

THE  gambling  propensity  is  another  subsidiary  trait
of  the  barbarian  temperament.  It  is  a  concomitant
variation  of  character  of  almost  universal  prevalence
among  sporting  men  and  among  men  given  to  warlike
and  emulative  activities  generally.  This  trait  also  has
a  direct  economic  value.  It  is  recognised  to  be  a
hindrance  to  the  highest  industrial  efficiency  of  the
aggregate  in  any  community  where  it  prevails  in  an
appreciable  degree.
