The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-06-06
INCREASE OF WEALTH.
The Form of the Country's Annual Aug
mentation.

INCREASE OF WEALTH
The Form of the Country's Annual Aug
mentation.
At the end of every year there come
the question, What has become of the
results of the years production?" 1t i,
said that the Nation is adding to til
wealth a thousand millions yearly. In
what form? 1t is not in monetary Cir
culation. 1t is not in claims agains'
other countries or ownership of property
there. The crops of the year we shall,
presently consume, or if part is to be
sold abroad, the goods received in ex.
change will presently be consumed.
Where is the additional wealth of which
we boast? Is it only in higher valu
ations of lands and buildings and other
fixed property, a valuation which may
be lost with the next turn of the wheeli
These questions are not as childish as
to many they may seem. 1t is of nc
small Importance to discover what form
the added wealth of the Nation takes,
SO that We may judge how far it is solid
and lasting and capable of reproduction
worth ten billion dollars year ago 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 a few years two
billion dollars to the nominal value OF
railroad property, without any increase
in the yearly earning power, what
ua1 in - io
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 1000, 900 acres, or
more than so per cent, and there is
every reason to believe that the prog
ress in that respect has been even more
rapid during the last decade. But the
addition of Is, 900, 900 acres of improved
land every year involves permanent in
vestment of la Dor in clearing, fencing,
breaking and bodybuilding, in the erec-
ton 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, 600, 0C0 acres yearly
were worth no more than the average
OF land in 1880, that alone would repre-
sent an 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 well 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 mea rs an
increase more than proportionate to
population, and the yearly addition of
almost 1,750, 900 inhabitants, even if
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 the
manufacturing plant apart from
the buildings otherwise estimated;
to the machinery in use and its produc-
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
production; the new mines in the Lake
Superior district alone, which have
been added within the last five years,
have increased the production more
than 1000, 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 25, 600
patents which may be used in a year
and may prove of real value can not be
omitted. A single telephone patent is
supposed to be worth more than $50
100000. 1t not only has stocks selling
at about that rate, and not only earns a
liberal return on such valuation, but
earns it by rendering the people serv-
ice.-N Y Bulletin.