PROBLEM SOLVED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 125, 19 February 1940, Page 6

PROBLEM SOLVED

ZUNI INDIANS OF MEXICO GIVE LEAD TO WORLD The Zuni Indians of Now Mexico, numbering about 2,000. live in a society in which each man helps his neighbour, wealth is shared, and no [forms of' aggression, such as Avar, murder, and personal attack occur, according to Di Ruth R. Bunzel, of the Department of Anthropology of Columbia University, in a report of a recent study of the Indians. An agrarian culture without unemployment, social life without evidence of class struggle and no police force or jail are accomplishments chalked up by Zunis, Dr Bunzel | found. An Indian accumulating more wealth than his neighbour distributes his surplus through leasts and ceremonies, she added. "Drinking, brawling, and, indeed, nearly every form of open conflict, ire seldom found in the tribe," Dr Bunzel added, who at intervals during the past 14 years has- lived with the Zunis. "There has never been a murder committed within the memory of any of the Indians questioned. About form of lighting that exists is the 'baekl'ence' squabbles of women. On the other harm, extreme sensitivity to from any source produces a genera! suspiciousness o! ail on '..side ■ e;. '* rilOl'O IS I'ti.'e clu-nre {or Oiie member of the tribe to accumulate wealth at the expense of others, because of well-developed institutions Cor sharing any surplus. Neither do the Indians hesitate to distribute any excess goods or food. They are more than anxious to receive the intangible advantages of prestige, security, and religious blessing which accompany the act. ConsejquenUy. the Zunis live- in a cu'tuxj offering a basis of security that kkseking in more competitive civilisa-