There is an ʻŌlelo Noʻeau, a Hawaiian proverb, that states: I ka ʻolelo no ke ola, i ka ʻolelo no ka make. This translates to “in speech is life, in speech is death.”

In 1622, the famous poetand clergyman John Donne wrote of Virginia in this fashion, describing thenew colony as the nation’s spleen and liver, draining the “ill humours of thebody . . . to breed good bloud.”

History of the United States (1834)

The years between 1607 and 1610 are biographically murky. Theletters are hard to date and hard to decipher, and the best historicalrecords we have are of jobs that didn’t happen. He failed to get aposition in the Queen’s household in 1607, and there are referencesin the letters to his application to jobs in Ireland or, even moreremotely, Virginia, but neither came to anything, if they were everserious prospects to begin with. It’s equally likely that they were anattempt on his part to look industrious, both to his friends and tohimself; neither Ireland nor Virginia were at all desirable places atthe time.

Discrimination

In this connection it is also usefulsometimes to bear in mind, that the small article does not as-a rule admit of systematic treatment of a given subject, thatperiodical literature is tied to time for its appearance, thatnovelty and notoriety, catering to the masses, i.e. to thealmighty dollar, play a good part in the production of unripeliterature, that some sort of news may be supplied merely tohelp us swallow the ubiquitous advertisement.

it would in most cases be sufficient to indexfrom the most authoritative paper

If a variation of any importancebecomes necessary then it is best to start a new index.

Experiencein dealing with quantities of literature and our special knowledgein our particular field should enable us to discriminate so thaton the one hand no information of value is allowed to slip byand on the other hand we are not burdening ourselves withuseless material.

Advertising although somewhat discredited is anart which rests for its success on a close study of psychology.

The quantity of literature has increased but the methods of 82•dealing with it or controlling it have not advanced proportion-

Quantity

to the change from books to articles and papers, whichleads to a large amount of duplication, and the ne-cessity of wading through a great deal of what doesnot interest us directly.

The small article does reflect however one very general feature 79in modern activity i.e. to treat the specific rather than thegeneral.

The neglect of the book is however not altogether advanta- 78geous.

The tendency is becoming more and moreThe Article pronounced to reduce the bulky volume toarticles published in periodical literature, sothat information formerly printed in book form is now cutup into slices and published at intervals. Collective bodies ofall kinds, increasing ad infinitum, almost always have theirorgans of publicity, again mostly periodicals. These and otherfacilities for publishing articles have brought to light innumer-able authors. Who does not read a paper or write an articlenowadays ? Whatever our opinion, we have to deal with thefact that this tendency exists and that it is largely instrumentalin swelling the bulk of indexable literature to almost unmanage-able proportions.

For the purpose of indexing we shall divide 73our stock of names or terms into those ofconcretes, processes and countries, concretes being the com-modities with which we are concerned, processes indicatingtheir actions, and countries indicating the localities with whichthe concretes are connected (295 et seq.) .

it may even be desirable toindex illustrations without description.

We quote because we are afraid to-change words, lest there be a change in meaning.

Description and illustration are^ comple-mentary, they give together a more complete picture than citherwithout the other.

Form u hi l

Whether we can ex-press in words or not what we observe, has nothing to do withthe fact of observing and reasoning, which must be regardedas quite independent and separate from any record in words.When we arrive at a stage where we desire to reproduce ourobservations by means of language, we enter an entirely newfield of reasoning.

Divergence of views istherefore universal and necessarily so. This is of immensevalue to us, difference of opinion is in fact the parent of im-provement and progress. Divergence causes us to comparenotes as it were, it helps to broaden our views.

Concretes are only known to us superficially.

emphasises thenecessity of taking note of any serious assertion even if contraryto our own ideas.

Words are brought into relation according to recognised rulesand thus give language. Language is that by means of whichwe describe or record intelligently. Records represent know-ledge, they give information, information belongs to our businessmaterials; we use it, we apply it, hence we group it into classesto make it accessible, we index it. Broadly speaking literatureis the result of1 observation of concretes2 translating our observations into language.

What we record is whatwe observe, what we reason out. The subjects of our observingand reasoning arc things in general, real or imaginary, andthe conditions attaching to them. We shall call them concretesand processes respectively.

.Summarising is optional.

summarisingwe bring the various extracts into one consistent statement.

Stated briefly the work of the intelligence department can be 50brought under the three heads: filing, indexing and summarising.

A few moment's reflection will showus that if our pieces are too large, we shall not have the same•opportunity of building up. The process of summarising orbuilding up is in fact restricted by the size of the pieces,generally speaking the smaller the pieces the better the chanceto build up. Too large pieces will preclude us altogetherfrom reporting on smaller subjects.

By the process of indexing therefore we boildown, we reduce our materials to that which is essential forour purpose, we create a nucleus of effective information, in-formation which will be of real use to us in the pursuit ofour business. We cast aside what after due examination isfound to be of no value or to lie outside our field of action.

ur materials naturally fall into two classes,Materials Camples and literature; they represent oneand the same thing— commodities, the one inconcrete form and the other in abstract form. One is thecommodity and the other describes it.

Classification work is however not quite as simple as it maylook, on the contrary, it is a rather tricky subject, for wemust give our classes a name, we must define them, we mustknow at any rate ourselves where they begin and where theyend. It would never do for the classes to interfere with each,other, they must be defined so that they neither overlap amongthemselves nor leave any ground of the organisation as a wholeuncovered. That is certainly a difficulty but it is not insur-mountable where patience and perseverance are brought to»bear.

Since a smaller number can be more easily 29of numbers controlled than a larger one, the aim of or-ganisation obviously is to reduce the numbersto a manageable compass so as to assure adequate control.That is done by dividing the numbers off into groups, depart-ments, classes etc. Thus we may have classes of materials,labour etc, or we may have classes of kinds of materials,labour etc, according to the nature of our business and theextent of our organisation. These classes provide us with thefoundation, the fixed points on which our organisation can bebuilt up.Classification — the mapping out of the various classes— is there- 30fore a subject of the greatest importance in all organisationwork.

The same applies to reorganisation, whoseobject is merely to substitute superior for inferior control oradequate for inadequate control.

Organisation may be called the science of the 27numbers simultaneous control of numbers. Organisa-tion whether small or large, is the directconsequence of numbers and the greater the numbers, the moreneed for organisation. Numbers compel us to organise, withoutsome organisation there can be no effective management, noeffective control

an organisation, i.e. a set of specialised systemscoordinated to work collectively with the same end in view.

One transaction at a time would generallynot lead either to much work or muchbusiness, and besides, a transaction cannot always be completedwhile you wait. The consequence is that we arrive at a num-ber of transactions going on simultaneously. When we nowreach the stage of too much work, then we must find waysand means to supplement our energy. Thus we arrive at amultitude of transactions by means of concerted action.

Our individuality is our greatest asset.

The unit of our activity is the single transac-tion. The activity of the large'st organisationis but a multiple of the single transaction

Reference numbers to paragraphs in vol I are distinguishedby a preceding I

The first draft of this scheme of indexing was worked out inPhiladelphia in 1896-7 and after some years of constant appli-cation involving an index of some 50,000 cards it was re-written-in the light of experience gained.

by system we eliminate duplication, we concentratecontrol;

means of control.

You cannot buy a ready-made intelligence departmenton which to run your business.

what little indexing is attempted can only 14be described as an unsystematic effort. The catchword methodof the catalogue has been bodily transplanted to indexing,which makes it very difficult to control our indexed informationproperly, and limits our supply of information to that whichwill fall in with the catchword method

The dif-ference between a catalogue and an index is so great thatthey ought not to be confused; a catalogue mainly deals withbooks, an index mainly handles information.

t our index would refer us to electricitywherever mentioned in the text of our literature if usableinformation is given, and it should also tell us something more—the aspect under which it is treated in each case. Whetherand from what aspect information is usable, that we must decidefor ourselves.

printed indexes leave the contents almost entirelyuntouched.

it follows that no purchasable articlecan supply our individual wants so far as a key to our stockof information is concerned. We shall always be mainly de-pendent in this direction upon our own efforts to meet ourown situation.

That is not the case.It is true, a variety of published indexes, catalogues and biblio-graphies to periodical and other literature exists, but they donot and cannot meet our individual case, for1 Every individual moves in a sphere of his own and coversindividual ground such as a printed index cannot touch.2 Printed indexes although they give usable information,cannot go sufficiently into details, they must studyabove all the common requirements of a number ofsubscribers sufficiently large to assure their existenceand continuance (apart from the question of adver-tising).

Indexing, whichis the process by which our information is collected and madeaccessible is therefore a subject whose importance it would bedifficult to overestimate; it is. a subject which no man aspiringto success can afford to ignore altogether.

When our stock of information has been systematically arranged,and is available for use, it has ceased to be a mere note-book,which it may have been at the start; it h;i^ x'adually developedinto tin- nucleus of an intelligence department, «>\crin- .-illthe subjects and their ramifications within the scope of oaractivity.

we are not giving ourselves a deal of trouble merely forthe pleasure thereof

we shall beginto realise that a more judicious selection may be desirable.Experience alone can guide us in this.

We make notes mentally too,for that is the only way to gather knowledge, and a well trainedmemory is always a great asset,

wait his future volumes with aconsiderable amount of interest. The third volume — namely, " The

The volume we have before us, is thefirst of a series of three,

The book is excel-lently arranged and printed ; it is provided with a full index, and is-bound in a limp cover, which renders it easily handled by a busyman.

The subject is treated quite dispassionately,no particular file or cabinet is thrust upon the reader, but the re-quirements of ideal appliances and the state of existing ones aredescribed.

Automobile and Carriage Builders' Journal, October 1908. Duringthe last five or six years the carriage builder has been adopting,perhaps slowly, and often unwillingly, the card system in his office.,owing to the extra detail the motor business has brought with it.It will have probably been introduced by a new partner who hasbrought new money into the business, when extra funds were necessaryto cope with the new state of affairs. The motor manufacturer usesit instinctively, for he brings with him,

card system are indebted tothese catalogues for their information. But all these publications areprimarily concerned with the particular cabinet or file of the firm inwhose interest they are published.

o businesses of varied sizes are set forth and their working illustrated."We note with appreciation the author's use of "flags" as indic.itors.Our experience of these handy and ingenious little devices datesfrom their first introduction in the States, and we can endorse all that"he says in their favour.

Yet it is doubtful whether since theintroduction of the typewriter there has been an invention so beneficialto modern business as the card-index system.

The progress of the card system in England has•undoubtedly been very slow; a fact which may be due primarilyto the constitutional conservatism of English business men, althoughprobably it is partly accounted for by the natural irritation and reaction•caused by the hustling but not always tactful enthusiasm of the manyAmerican salesmen who for several years past have been its principalmissionaries.

So far as we are aware, this is the first adequatebook on the card system which has been published in this country.In the main, information on the subject has only been procurablefrom the catalogues and booklets (many of them excellent andinforming; issued by the manufacturers of the impedimenta of thesystem,

So last move (2 years ago) my Kiddo(chronic mental and medical high time demand) dumped my cards and I am still trying to sort them back. ** As of now I am using hair ties to make sure they don't get "accidentally" dumped again. If they do it will have to be done with some fore thought.

…he showed up at our door with a backpack and blue notebook…Each day, my roommates and I would leave for school or work while he stayed in our apartment alone writing feverishly in that notebook.

Ironmonger,3rd October1908.Mr.Kaiserisapastmaster__inallthatappertainsto carding,filing,andindexing systems.

BACK OF CARDS 188, 246, 263

357 It is this great difficulty involved in consistency which is responsiblefor the fact that however much we may try or desire to do otherwise,the best man to run a system effectively is he who has devised it,''^for however careful and painstaking we may be in trying to repro-duce his system accurately on paper, these reproductions are merelyabstracts of the original ; reproduction can never be absolutelycomplete. We may reproduce a system on paper in clearly markedoutlines, we may add within the general configuration all the inter-woven details, all of which may be concise and manageable, butbeyond the confines of the system there are blank margins in alldirections, which cannot be filled in until such cases arise as willcompel us to extend the ramifications of our system into thesemargins. It is not possible to express these ramifications before-hand on paper, but they no doubt have been allowed for in themind of the originator of the system, even supposing that he is notalways conscious of it. It is precisely these undefined marginswhich in most cases put consistency on its trial ; hence consistency,already a difficult factor in cases where the deviser deals with hisown system, is doubly so in other cases, for the unexpressed rami-fications which remain in suspense until called into being by unfore-seen circumstances can only be depicted consistently with therest of the system in the mind of the originator, who will have tobe consulted in each case for the purpose.

It is prudent to maturewell before improvements are adopted. Improvements rashlyintroduced may give cause for regret when it is too late to turn back.

don't supervise too little, otherwise your staff will soonbecome prolific in the production and application of all manner ofimprovements, which must eventually prove fatal ; superviseenough to assure adequate continuity and consistency in the system,and to leave your staff sufficient of their individuality to make theirwork interesting to them.

the supervisormust therefore be prepared to carry the system a step furtherwhenever occasion arises. There is therefore an opportunity tobring individuality into play. If we are not prepared to assert ourindividuality within and without the limits set by the system, wemay depend upon it that our collaborators or subordinates willassert theirs, consciously or unconsciously, and we shall find inthe end that our system has been distorted in all directions, withoutnecessarily transgressing our rules, although the latter will be buta matter of time.

The measure of control is also the measure of responsibility. Respon-sibility without control is a hopeless proposition.

System without consistency is an impossibility. 356But let us realise what a difficult matter it is tobe consistent. We are surrounded by changes and inconsistencieseverywhere. Language above all, which we must needs constantlyuse, is not a perfect instrument for giving expression to consistency.We may have our rules all nicely worded and filed in the key cabinet,but if we have not taken the greatest pains in constructing them,if we have not subjected each one to the most searching criticismbefore they are applied, v/e shall find sooner or later that in one

To run a system effectively, we must be prepared 355Servant to uphold it ourselves, we must give the examplein effective work, we must be the first to submitto it although we supply the directing energy to run it. If we thinkourselves above our own system, then it has already ceased to exist.We must bear in mind therefore that any rules we may make, anyinstructions we may give, any supervision we may effect, applyto ourselves equally with others. We may be the masters of thesystem, we are also its servants, but for all that we need not beslaves to it.

It is therefore best to prepare a Daily List

A four drawer cabinetis as a rule ample for the purposes of the key cabinet.

Business In former years the account ledger representedLedger

Chronological registers or directories may beRegisters used for a variety of purposes in almost everyoffice, not only as future reminders^ but alsoas records of past events.

By this plan the subjects of the books may be scattered, but thatis no disadvantage, for they are brought together by the cards.

For larger collections of books it may be thought preferable to use a libraryclassification, such as Mr. Dewey's Decimal Classification, but I doubt very muchif the gain will be in proportion to the additional labour involved.

Summaries*

Since leaving office in 2021, former President Donald J. Trump has spent more than $100 million on lawyers and other costs related to fending off various investigations, indictments and his coming criminal trials, according to a New York Times review of federal records.

There is a reason that the abolitionist Frederick Douglass said that between the Christianity of this land (America) and the Christianity of Christ, he recognized the “widest possible difference.”

Whether this Bible is an example of Christian nationalism I will leave to others. It is at least an example of Christian syncretism, a linking of certain myths about American exceptionalism and the Christian faith. This is the American church’s consistent folly: thinking that we are the protagonists in a story that began long before us and whose main character is in fact the Almighty.

The term 'knowledge work' appeared in The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959) by Peter Drucker.[12] Drucker later coined the term 'knowledge worker' in The Effective Executive[13] in 1966. Later, in 1999, he suggested that "the most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity."

I use “we” loosely because Swisher’s intended audience is not you or me, but instead those with power: she writes about and for them. Over the course of a long and storied career closely reporting on the tech industry and its titans, she has aped their motions, sat at their dinner tables, drunk their wine, gone to their weird parties, played with their baubles, repeated their lies, and offered them counsel. Swisher may style herself as Silicon Valley’s critic laureate, but she’s much closer to the court fool.

‘speak truth to power,’

By insisting the issue with Uber was largely cultural, Swisher ends up affirming the myth that Uber was not only an inevitable but ultimately good innovation, a few bad apples notwithstanding.

In fact, Uber’s top lawyer—Tony West, a Black man—has been the public face of Uber’s campaign against laws that would force the company to pay livable wages to its largely Black and brown workforce.

“white male homogeneity”

Sam Harnett’s 2020 paper “Words Matter: How Tech Media Helped Write Gig Companies Into Existence” remains one of the best accounts of how swaths of the media enthusiastically generated on-demand propaganda for the tech industry, directly setting the stage for these firms to exploit, codify, and expand legal loopholes that largely exempted them from regulation as they raided their users for data and generated billions in revenue. Such intellectual acquiescence would, as Harnett writes, “pave the way for a handful of companies that represent a tiny fraction of the economy to have an outsized impact on law, mainstream corporate practices, and the way we think about work.”

The long and short of it is that Swisher is not a good journalist—or, framed more generously, that she thrived in an industry with remarkably low standards for which we are still paying the price. For decades, tech journalism and criticism has primarily consisted of glowing gadget reviews, laudatory profiles, and reprinted press releases, all of it colored by Silicon Valley’s self-aggrandizing vision of itself as a laboratory of a brighter future.

All missing letters are charged out anonymously in theusual way, the slips being marked missing.

The last card representsthe reverse side of the previous card and shows how to utilise the back of cardswhen necessary.

Correspondence

163

A very effective way of differentiation is themarking of the upper edge of the cards with ink,either its whole length or any portion of it.

No provision is made for charging out cards, becausethey are not supposed to be withdrawn at any time.

Thus the name written on the tab will indicate theposition of the guide among the cards, that is : the tab bearsthe term or name on the card immediately following the guide.

Frequent re- arrangements are a distinct disadvantage,for with every change the filer loses much time in becoming familiaragain with the new positions.

Kegisters refer to the materials and help tolocate them, indexes refer to the information contained in thesematerials. Ag their function, so their construction is quite distinct.Both however treat the same materials, only in different ways.In some offices no indexes may be required.

The most important portion of the face of the card is the left uppercorner, and this place should always be reserved for the subjectof the register.

A central registercertainly offers considerable advantages, it is a great saving incards and labour, the making of corrections which is a consider-able item is reduced to one register instead of many which in itsturn will reduce the percentage of errors to a minimum.

On the other hand the alphabetical register of firm names mustbe regarded not only as indispensable but as occupying a some-what different position from the others.

It was said (76) that it isimpossible to devise a system wliich could be applied universally,the card registers give a very clear illustration of tliis.

As the functionof the caU number is separation, so the function of references isconcentration.

AU references are indicated by the word " See," " See also,"" compare," etc. preceding the term to which reference is made.

It is the object of crossreferences to bring these materials together again when required.

Now the strength of consecutive numbers undoubtedly lies inthe fact that there cannot be any gaps, whatever the size of afile, the series of numbers is always complete.

registering

filing

indexing

registersor directories

recording.

cataloguing

The card system suffers at presentunder one great disadvantage, it has no fixed terminology.

Devising Once a proper system has been devised, it requiresCard Systems

Elaborate library classifications were either inapplicable or much 74too complicated and therefore unmanageable. Their applicationto business was out of the question. Something simple, easy toimderstand and easy to handle was required. This was foundin the numerical arrangement. The numerical classification inspite of its arbitrary character will always have this advantagethat it ensures accuracy with the least trouble, and this is stillmore the case where large quantities are handled. It was quitenatural therefore that this should be preferred for business purposes.As there are many sets of things arranged numerically, it isnecessary to distinguish one set from the other, so as to know towhat set a given number refers. This is done by affixing dis-tinguishing initials to the numbers, each class being assigned somecharacteristic initial of its own.

Male orphans were taught to hold a musket as soon as they werephysically able.44

As Reverend Bolzius had observed, if slaves were encouraged to“breed like animals,” then poor whites could not reproduce at the same rateand hold on to their land or their freedom.

By 1760, only 5 percent of white Georgians owned even a singleslave, while a handful of families possessed them in the hundreds. JonathanBryan was the perfect embodiment of the “Slave Merchants” whoOglethorpe had warned would dominate the colony.59

In 1750, settlers were formally granted the right toown slaves.58

Georgia also instituted a policy of keeping the land “tail-male,”which meant that land descended to the eldest male child. This feudal rulebound men to their families. The tail-male provision protected heirs whosepoor fathers might otherwise feel pressure to sell their land.53

In the largerscheme of things, his reform philosophy recognized that weak anddesperate men could be led to choose a path that dictated against their owninterests. A man might sell his land for a glass of rum; debt and idlenesswere always a temptation.52

ProslaveryGeorgians were not above accusing Oglethorpe of running a prisoncolony.50

trustees: “to relieve the distressed.” Instead of offering a sanctuary forhonest laborers, Georgia would become an oppressive regime, promoting“the misery of thousands in Africa” by permitting a “free people” to be“sold into perpetual Slavery.”48

A NorthCarolina proprietor, John Colleton, observed in Barbados that poor whiteswere called “white slaves” by black slaves; it struck him that the samecontempt for white field hands prevailed in the southern colonies in NorthAmerica.47

Many contemporaries connected slavery to English idleness. WilliamByrd weighed in on the ban against slavery in Georgia in a letter to aGeorgia trustee. He saw how slavery had sparked discontent among poorwhites in Virginia, who routinely refused to “dirty their hands with Labourof any kind,” preferring to steal or starve rather than work in the fields.Slavery ruined the “industry of our White People,” he confessed, for theysaw a “Rank of Poor Creatures below them,” and detested the thought ofwork out of a perverse pride, lest they might “look like slaves.”

Slavery, however, could not be kept apart from future projections inGeorgia. After allowing South Carolina to send over slaves to fell trees andclear the land for the town of Savannah, Oglethorpe came to regret thedecision. He made a brief trip to Charles Town, and returned to discoverthat in the interim the white settlers had grown “impatient of Labour andDiscipline.” Some had sold good food for rum punch. With drunkenesscame disease. And so, Oglethorpe wrote, the “Negroes who sawed for us”and encouraged white “Idleness” were sent back.46

Oglethorpe felt the disadvantaged could bereclaimed if they were given a fair chance.

He marveled at how the SouthCarolinians deluded themselves in believing they were safe, burdened asthey were with a large slave population—“stupid security,” he called it.

Having foughtas an officer under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Austro–Turkish War of1716–18, he understood military discipline. This was how he came to trustin the power of emulation; he believed that people could be conditioned todo the right thing by observing good leaders. He shared food with thosewho were ill or deprived. Visiting a Scottish community north of Savannah,he refused a soft bed and slept outside on the hard ground with the men.More than any other colonial founder, Oglethorpe made himself one of thepeople, promoting collective effort.43

the colony’s motto, Non sibi sed aliis (Not for themselves, but for others)

According to Francis Moore, who visited the settlement in its secondyear of operation, two “peculiar” customs stood out: both alcohol and dark-skinned people were prohibited. “No slavery is allowed, nor negroes,”Moore wrote. As a sanctuary for “free white people,” Georgia “would notpermit slaves, for slaves starve the poor laborer.” Free labor encouragedpoor white men in sober cultivation and steeled them in the event they hadto defend the land from outside aggression. It also promised to cure settlersof that most deadly of English diseases, idleness.41

Conservative land policies limited individual settlers to a maximum offive hundred acres, thus discouraging the growth of a large-scale plantationeconomy and slave-based oligarchy such as existed in neighboring SouthCarolina. North Carolina squatters would not be found here either. Poorsettlers coming from England, Scotland, and other parts of Europe weregranted fifty acres of land, free of charge, plus a home and a garden.Distinct from its neighbors to the north, Georgia experimented with a socialorder that neither exploited the lower classes nor favored the rich. Itsfounders deliberately sought to convert the territory into a haven forhardworking families. They aimed to do something completelyunprecedented: to build a “free labor” colony.

under the direction of anambitious projector.

Explorers, amateurscientists, and early ethnologists like William Byrd all assumed—andunabashedly professed—that inferior or mismanaged lands bred inferior,ungovernable people.

He mused that colonization would have had a better outcomeif male settlers had been encouraged to intermarry with Indian women.Over two generations, the Indian stock would have improved, as a speciesof flower or tree might; dark skin blanched white, heathen ways dimmed.Here, Byrd was borrowing from the author John Lawson, who wrote in ANew Voyage to Carolina that men of lower rank gained an economicadvantage by marrying Native women who brought land to the union.

In a “porcivorous” country, people spent their days foragingand fornicating; when upset, they could be heard yelling out, “Flesh aliveand tear it.” It was their “favorite exclamation,” Byrd said. This bizarrecolloquialism suggested cannibalism, or perhaps hyenas surrounding a freshkill and devouring it. How could these carnivorous swamp monsters bethought of as English?37

The Mapp of Lubberland or the Ile of Lazye (ca. 1670) portrayed an imaginaryterritory in which sloth is contagious and normal men lack the will to work.British Print, #1953.0411.69AN48846001, The British Museum, London, England

When Byrd identified the Carolinians as residents of “Lubberland,” hedrew upon a familiar English folktale that featured one “Lawrence Lazy,”born in the county of Sloth near the town of Neverwork.

In milder weather they got as far as thinking aboutplunging a hoe into the ground.

Evenbefore his betrayal, though, he felt little identification with the colonists,writing that North Carolinians were the most “cowardly Blockheads[another word for lubber] that ever God created & must be used likenegro[e]s if you expect any good of them.”29

In an unexpected development, the proprietor Lord Shaftesbury came toCulpeper’s defense. He delivered an eloquent oration before the Court ofKing’s Bench, arguing that a stable government had never legally existed inNorth Carolina. Anticipating Locke’s Two Treatises of Government,Shaftesbury concluded that the colony remained effectively in a state ofnature. Without a genuine government, there could be no rebellion.Commentary like this merely underscored northern Carolina’s outlierstatus.26

The misnamed Culpeper’s Rebellion (1677–79) isparticularly instructive. In a contest with Thomas Miller, an ambitioustrader and tobacco planter who wanted to crack down on smugglers, collectcustoms duties, and gain favor with proprietors, Thomas Culpeper, asurveyor, sided with the poorer settlers.

By 1700, we should note, slaves comprised half the population of thesouthern portion of the Carolina colony, an imbalance that widened to 72percent by 1740. Beginning in 1714, a series of laws required that for everysix slaves an owner purchased, he had to acquire one white servant.Lamenting that the “white population do not proportionally multiply,”South Carolina lawmakers had one more reason to wish that a corps ofLeet-men and women had actually been formed. Encouraged to marry andmultiply, tied to the land, they might have provided a racial and class barrierbetween the slaves and the landed elites.13

“lazy lubbers,” meaning stupid, clumsy oafs,the word that came to describe the vagrant poor of Carolina.11

The Fundamental Constitutions was really a declaration of war againstpoor settlers.