Читать книгу Rural Wealth and Welfare: Economic Principles Illustrated and Applied in Farm Life - Geo. T. Fairchild - Страница 5

Table of Contents

Nature.—When men learn to meet their wants by exertion in accord with nature's ways, they are said to use the forces of nature in production of wealth. Every accumulation of materials for satisfying future needs implies some control over natural objects. If advantage is taken of natural motions or other activities to bring about larger accumulation, the man whose plans secure this has gained control over, and so property-rights in, the natural force which he has harnessed. The wind caught by a sail and the water controlled by a dam contribute to the power, and indirectly to the wealth, of the man who contrives to make them move things for him. The directive actions of men necessarily appropriate the natural objects which they use, together with all the qualities of those objects.

Energy.—Human exertion produces wealth, as we have seen, whenever it anticipates and provides for future wants by securing at hand the things to be used. So far as this anticipation includes control of forces or qualities in nature, these natural agencies contribute to wealth of individuals or communities. So voluntary human exertion is combined with involuntary forces of outside nature to give wealth. No amount of [pg 028] gold in Alaska is wealth until some human ability has appropriated it to human uses; but the mere fact of locating a claim for mining purposes gives the prospector advantage over any other man because of his foresight. So every activity of nature may become a factor in wealth by human ingenuity in making it useful.

Natural forces.—Such natural agencies for producing wealth are seen in the simple properties of material bodies, such as the metals or woods or grains or fruits or flowers possess. We secure these properties for our uses. Gravity, sound, heat, light, electricity, chemical affinity, crystallization, even life itself, are names for certain forms of energy in nature which men are using more or less to meet their wants. Whenever exertion is needed to provide for using these, the thought of wealth is connected with the forces themselves. The fish in the sea and rivers become wealth to one who has caught them, and even more distinctly the property of the community which has protected them in breeding. Sunlight may reach all alike in welfare, but the man who has contrived to make it print pictures for him has made sunlight into wealth in the picture. Equally so the farmer's energy and contrivance use the properties of soil and climate and the vital energies of seeds to make wealth in a crop.

Control for welfare.—As each individual worker gains control over any of these properties or forces he advances in wealth and welfare. It becomes his own means of meeting wants. If all individuals in a community share in such control, they think of the good [pg 029] things as part of the general welfare, and do not enumerate them in anybody's wealth except when comparing their own condition with that of another community. Advantages of this kind constantly tend to become more universal, and so to count very little in individual wealth. Many advantages of civilization today belong to all the world alike, so that nature seems to meet our wants gratuitously; but the story of progress shows that these are gifts inherited from the wealth of past ages. The human exertion which they once cost is overlooked in the ease of the present. Mere fire was once a treasure to be cherished and kept at much expenditure of strength and foresight. Now we kindle a fire so easily that nobody thinks of it as a part of the world's wealth.

Land as a force.—Land represents a combination of natural energies and properties so important as to be named sometimes as a distinct force in production. It implies, first, needed space for various kinds of exertion in both country and town. Second, it includes all mineral, vegetable and animal bodies that are found above, on or under the surface. Third, it is soil, an essential part of a farmer's equipment in using nature's processes of growth.

As most of these properties of land can be put to use only by repeated and continued exertion in the same place, a large portion of the earth is necessarily apportioned to individual control, i.e., to the ownership of those who can direct its uses, and so it becomes wealth. The sea in most of its uses to men requires no such local control, and so is not owned by a nation even; [pg 030] but the harbors, ships and wharves, the oyster-beds and fishing banks, soon become the property of some body of men that will make and keep them useful. Even a pathway over the high seas may yet be controlled for the safety of the huge steamers that dash across.

Land, except when used for absolutely universal welfare, must be under individual control, and even then other individuals may have the right of way because of its necessity in the common use. Peculiarities of property in land arising from limitations in quantity or quality will be spoken of under Scarcity Prices and Rent. They differ from similar questions as to any other form of property only because this form of property seems more permanent. Any force of nature brought under control by individual effort contributes to wealth of individuals till all gain equal control. Peculiarities of climate affect the quality of wool, cotton, grains and fruit, and even the beef and mutton raised under it. But these effects we connect with the land. Such peculiarities also affect manufactures of various kinds, and so location has value.

Effort for gain.—Voluntary human effort is always made with the expectation of gain from its exertion; otherwise it would not be made. As Guizot says, “Our ideal is to procure the maximum of utility with the minimum of effort.” The exertion is always counted in the cost of any product, whatever the natural forces employed. If the crop fails, or the product is unsalable, the effort has lost its expected reward, and prospective losses are estimated with more or less care [pg 031] in judging whether a product is worth the exertion. The half crop of a droughty year costs as much as the full crop of a plenteous year, and compensation for the loss is expected from the surplus of the full crop.

In estimating the exertion given, all human energies are counted, whether they belong to the present, like muscular power, good eyesight, quick intelligence; or to the past, like dexterity from training, superior knowledge, accumulated tools, established character. If the immediate exertion is most prominent, the word labor includes the whole exertion. If tools and machinery are used, capital is a contributor to the product and takes its share. If skill or knowledge or character become important, personal attainments are a chief cause of the product, and so a chief claimant in the reward.

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