The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-11 00:00:00

Obstesar. turbribc

SAM DAY, SEPTEMBER 11th, 1880.

WEALTH AND WORK.

Tax increase of wealth in this country, more
especially during the last half century, has
passed into a proverb. The tide of prosperity
has sometimes suffered a temporary check; but
as recent experience has shown, it recovers itself
in the end. Happily this year we have had a
fairly average harvest, the month of Aegean
having turned out favourably for agricultural
operations, and thus offering a welcome contrast
to the weather of twelve months ago. The
harvest, truly, has not hen so goOd as was anti-
cipated from the splendid promise of early July,
e wing to the sunless days which prevailed for so
many weeks when SUDSbine would have teen so
precious; still \it will put the farmer in batter
spirits than he has ken in for some years past,
and will materially add to the national wealth.
What, then, is wealth? Anything which has
an exchange value may safely be clarsed in this
definition. There are some articles which, how-
ever useful and indispensable, can scarcely be
considered wealth. Thus the air we breath has
no exchange 'value ; and no one need give aught
'for any quantity of it for each individual can
obtain gratuitously and. .without any labour as
much air- as he requires. The: same remark
applies to the light of the sun, which is shed
upon the evil and upon the good. We could not
do without it; yet it is not wealth. On the .ether.
hand, water is often converted . into wealth in
places where the natural supply is iesnfficient to
meet the wants of the inhabitants.. An illustra-
tion of this is .found iin the. fact that .in large
tewns water is suppled by means of canals and
aqueducts, and in this case it n:ay Meta, be re-
lee rded as wealth. The precious meals them-
e
selves would be worthless if they bruin() exchange
value. The story of Midas, in heathen mythol-
' .no conv4s a very nsefal lesson in this respect.
e:Pes had readcred some signal service to the
efefs, anti was informed that any favour which
!,e ehe(e.e to ail would be granted. lie seems to
have been an avaricious fellow, and manet.he ex-
traordivary reqnest that whaiever he touched
might be turned into gold. • This was granted,
and in the exuberance of his joy he rushed home
and embraced his wife. The unioteunate lady
was at once convened into a awes of auriferous
metal. if he attempted to eat or drink, to go to
bed, or to shake hands, with a friend, the result
was the same. There was gold everywhere, but
as be could not be kept alive upon it, the foolish
wan was at length fain to ask thegods to release
him from a privilege so equivocal. Me was ac-
cordingly directed to go and wash in the sands
of the river Pactolus, the winds of which are
traditionally regarded as gold to this day.
The story is a good one as bearing upon a
mischievous error often fallen into by persons
who have mistaken the true nature of wealth.
Formerly it was almost universally considered
that wealth and money were synonymous terms.
Acting on this belief, the wealth of a country
was estimated by threamount of gold and silver
it coatained, and artificial restraints were placed
upon commerce with the view of preventing the
precious meta"' from being sent out of the
country. The fallacy of this is shown at a glance
.
by referring to the
.exuerience of Australia and
California. It would have been but small ad-
vantage to these com Eries to keep at home the
- gold which was discovered in their mines. It was
only by exchanging it for the commedhiee which
it would purcheae that it became of value. There
areehowever, exen ,e 1 fee the ccreone who made
there. ieetk o! confounding money and wealtb.
Like meey others, they mistook the sign for the
Weelth is always estimated in
meney ; income of a rich man is said to be
so 'many thousand pounds, and the national re-
venue is described as so many millions.
The relation of work to wealth is one which is
so obyious that it does not require an elaborate'
delioLion. The exact service which labatir
renders to the production of wealth is defined by
Mr. J...lut Stuart Mill as "putting ti,iege into tit
place.' or '‘lneving one thing from or to an-
.tner." This pimple defieitton is so coruprebee-
nra as to inclode all the varied aceretiens of in-
. eusnry. behoee in,he physical .world is always
, eieenoyeal in pe+tieg ohjecte in Motion ; the pro,
tenai;:e of twitter and the laws of neure do the
, -ace Men bee no othet wane of actiag upon
t. r than by movilig it. Take as an ..ILltntrie
.our weieti ia eel/0.07,rd in .t..uildia.g a
13: iaks are made by nitwit:Fs a c-,rtain
I.if Oa) tram the !)SCO ia hICIL 1 is f•na:!.
tye, ireeeino it io a: id, and laieeing fr in eon.
Ponke are made hr tisiv..o att
fliriniA a tree and by rnoviee
the fa:h n 'mak. It ie &Mons ett •ealt th'et
Wra:th csir Wit hr prot:uecti wit hen': labour, the
ealver ife blch !,s increased by the
ietelligenee, reoraWy, and trustworthiness
of 'the worker. 'that the skill of the workman
augments the productive power of labour is
self-evident; his morality and his intelligence
are inlinately associated with each other; and
the trustworthiness of a men renders his services
more valuable to his employer, who seldom fails
to see that all intemperance greatly ditnieishes
physical strength; that the habitual drunkard is
incapable, even when he is sober, of performing
any severe labour, inasmuch es intetnperance
nearly always produces eve:nature decay end
death.