Mower County transcript., 1890-05-07
INCREASE OF WEALTH.

INCREASE OF WEALTH.
The Form OF the Country's Annual AuR-
mont AtlOn. 5fs5 81 i:
At the end OF every year there comes
tho question, What has become Of the
results Of the years production?" It Is
said that the Nationals adding to Its
wealth thousand millions yearly. In
what form? 1t ID not In monetary cir
culation. It Is not in claims against
other countries or ownership ofproperty
there. The crops OF the year We shall
presently consume, or II partis to be
sold abroad, the goods received in OK
change will presently be; consumed.
Where is the additional wealth. of which
we boast? Isit only In higher valu-
ations of lands and buildings and other
liked property, q valuation which may
be lost with the next turn OF the wheel?
Those questions are not as childish as
to many they may seem. 1t is OF no
small Importance to discover what form
the added wealth of the Nation takes,
SO that we may Judge how fur 1t is solid
and lasting and capable of reproduction.
For II all the lands OF tho country wero
worth ton billion dollars year ngo and
eleven billion dollars now, but can pro-
duce no more than before, the added
wealth Is imaginary. Or If there has
been added within q few years two
billion dollars to the nominal value of
railroad property, without any increase
in the yearly earning power, what
actual gain in wealth Is there?
The foundation OF prosperity is the
land, and each year witnesses an actual
increase in the number of acres reduced
to cultivation and productiveness. That
change means increased wealth. From
1870 to 1880 there were added Of i'm
proved land about 10000, 600 acres, or
more than so per cent, and there is
every reason to believe that the prog
ress in that respect has been even moro
rapid during tho last decade. But the
addition of Ii, ,O0O, 900 acres Of improved
land every year involves permanent in
vestment OF labor in clearing, fencing,
breaking and road-building, in the erec-
tion of houses and barns, and the pro-
curing of stock and implements and ma
chinery. The new railroad, which may
not pay single dollar to owners as yet,
may nevertheless have made possible
and profitable this enormous expendi-
ture OF labor in the creation OF new
farms, and if the Is, O00, 600 acres yearly
were worth no more than the average
OF land in 1880, that alone would repre-
sent on addition of $500, 900, 900 or more
to the National wealth each year, even
though nothing had been added to
the price Of land previously cultivated.
But the completion Of roads and rail-
roads, the settlement of other lands
near by and the gradual development
of a community also add largely to the
actual as we'll as the nominal value of
all farm property within the circle of
influence.
So it is with the dwellings and other
structures in cities and towns. The
country is not worse, but better sup
piled with all such structures than it
was ten years ago. But that means an
increase more than proportionate to
population, and the yearly addition of
almost 1,75O, 900 inhabitants, even ii
there were no improvement in the con-
dition and accommodations of the peo-
pie, would by itself require additional
investment yearly of $40, 900, 900 or
more in building Property of this
kind contributes as truly as any other
to the wealth-producing power of the
country, dwellings no less than stores,
or warehouses or factories. But, in
addition, there has been each year
an enormous addition to tho
manufacturing plant apart from
the buildings otherwise estimated;
to the machinery in use and its produce
tive capacity. 1t is not so easy to form
even an approximate estimate of the
value Of these additions, but every one
realizes that they must be large. More
over, new mines are constantly opened,
which add millions every year to the
productions; the new mines in the Lake
Superior district alone, which have
been added within the last five years,
have increased the production more
than 1900, 900 tons each year.
Not least among the properties of per-
manent value is the fruit of inventive
genius. New ideas are the Nations
most valuable capital, and the $1,000
patents which may be used in year
and may prove of real value can not be
omitted. A single telephone patent Is
supposed to be worth more than $780,
600, 900. It not only has stocks selling
at about that rate, and not only earns a
liberal return on such a valuation, but
earns it by rendering the people a serv-
ice.-N. Y. Bulletin.
/ ST. PETERS DOME.
Iron Bands EnClrcle 1t to Keep 1t from
Cracking.