ABSTRACT
Payment plays a large part in the mental attitude of primitive peoples, which is entirely based on mutual 'give and take', even although purely economic values are not always repaid by others of the same nature, for it not seldom happens that the repayment is also determined by social value. It is only in more highly- developed communities, consisting of a ruling and a subject class, that a change in this respect takes place. Under the despotism of a conquering aristocracy, the demand for unpaid service becomes insistent. In particular, great families possessing slaves form small self-governed communities in which wages, as payment for services rendered, no longer have any meaning. On the other hand, the importance of wages is minimized where finished products are exchanged on the market for money or for things to which a traditional value attaches.
