Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-05-31
lncREAsE o. WEALTH.
The Form or the Country's Annual Aug
mentatIon.

mentation.
Al the end Of everv year there come.
the question, What has become of tn,
results of the years productions 1t Il
said that the Nation is adding TO it,
wealth 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
Whore is the additional wealth of which
we boast? Is it only in higher valus
ations of lands and buildings and Other
fixed property, valuation which may
be lost with the next turn Of the Wheel
These questions are not as childish al
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 solo
and lasting and capable of reproduction
For if all Jne lands of the country were
worth ten billion dollars year ago and
eleven billion dollars now, but can pro
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
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 we're added Of i'm
proved land about &c. 900, 900 acres, OF
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 labor in clearing, fencing,
breaking and bodybuilding, in the cree
ton Of houses and barns, and the pro-
curing of stock and implements and ma
chinery. The new railroad, which may
not pay a single dollar to owners as yet,
may nevertheless have made possible
and profitable this enormous expend1'
ture of labor in the creation of new
farms, and if the Is, 900, OCO acres yearly
were worth no more than the average
of land in 1880, that alone would repre-
sent an addition of 500, 100000 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 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 ii
was ten years ago. But that means an
increase more than proportiOnate to
population, and the yearly addition of
almost 1850, O00 inhabitants, even il
there were no improvement in the con-
dition and accommodation of the peo-
pie, would by itself require additional
investment yearly of $40, 600 or
more in building. Property of this
kind contributes as truly "a 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 f. 600 600 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 %, 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 $780,
10000 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-
~ ID.