The morning call., 1893-11-04
ELEMENTS AND PROCESSES.
Effect of Natures Bounty o.
Niggardliness.
MAN sPURRED TO DEVELOPMENT.
Climatic and Geographical Influences
Raw Product-Land and Rent
Scientifically Considered.

IL
evinced last evening by the large audi
ence who intently listened for AMI hour
and half tothe third lecture of Professor
Carl Plehn on Political Economy" at the
Mark Hopkins Institute of Art.
1t is noticeable fact that majority by
far of those who were present asteyening
were young ladies with notebooks in hand.
and they dotted down every salient point
that the lecturer made. Aside from the
students. quite a number Of ladies and
gentlemen long past their college days.and
who are daily dealing in the economic
questions. of life, occupied seats in the
lecture-room. The room is entirely too
small. and not OF sufficient space TO ac-
commodate the students. The value of
these lectures to the young students of the
fundamental principles of economy is of
intrinsic worth, for in them Professor
Plehn touches with accuracy every ele-
ment of the broad subject. and treats il
with such logical and pleasing force that
he does not fail to impress his listeners
with its Importance.
Preparatory 10 the details of his
lecture last night Professor Plehn
said that it and the three succeeding
ones would be devoted TO the constituent
Elements Of Economic Life" The subject
of economy had been properly divided into
four elementary parts. viz. production,
exchange. distribution and con nmptioD.
The primary constituent of these is nature,
and he should deal with that first. consid-
eTing in detail climatic influences. geo.
graphical influences, raw products, land
and rent
The speaker had no rhetorical apos-
trophe to pay to nature, but went directly
at the facts, giving her due credit for all
she furnishes TO man free of labor, and
then proceeded to tell how best man can
appropriate those of her stores which are
necessary Tor his wants but not SO easily
attained.
lie said 10 consider the questions in the
four parts he had named would be alto
gether TOO cumbersome for brief course
of lectures, and therefore be had divided
into Two, Production and Distribution.
Man should not complain of nature"
said The lecturer. "for with lavish gratuity
she often furnishes him in some parts OF
her broad domain with supplies for all his
physical wants, aud all he has 10 do is to
appro opriate them. And it is a fact that
where nature is most bOuntiful maDis most
ind0ient."
lie then referred to the slothfulpess of
natives in the tropics. how little they care
for the arts and sciences. and how energi-
less they lived. with an ambition but little
higher than t0 .lnd plenty TO eat. This
reference gave force to the contrast which
the lecturer made To the conditions of So
ciety in those sections where nature has
been scant in her gifts and sparing in the
geniality OF her seasons.
The center of civilization is in the
temperate zone and to the north of it.
Pinching frost makes man beStr himself
to secure artificial heat, and the with
holding of rain from his crops made him
devise costly conduits fer irrigation. In
other words, where nature is miserly man
is most active and grows rich perforce by
his energy and his genius, or else he would
perish.
The influence of geographic lines has
much to do with the economic prosperty
of society. The struggle for existence on
arid plains is dOubly more expensive than
it is II the fertile valleys perennially
moisteDed BY unfailing waterways and
seasODabe rains. Adam Smith considered
water the greatest factor in the advance of
peoples growth in trade, for up to his
time it was the chief means for the loco
motion OF exchange by which society could
dispose of and intermingle IS products to
mutual advantage. England undou btedly
owes her power and greatness to her free
dom of access to tpe seas. It is said
that one of the natural and
powerful impedimentS which argued so
eloquently for the indissolubility of the
Union and inevitably doomed the South
ern Confederacy to defeat was that the
extreme Southern States could never block
the mouth of the Mississippi River against
the other great States that lie north of
them in that productive valley that extends
to the lakes.
AS 10 the raw products Of nature, the
minerals, certain plants. coal, animals, ice,
etc, which need only to be appropriated,
the proposition that their value is based
Oh the labor expended npon them is not
true. Labor largely enters into their value,
but these things have an intrinsic value
which Is measured by the demands of
society for them. AS they are utilized to
worth is enhanced. and it is the fact of that
worth that justifies and encourages the
labor expended upon them.
Land, however, is the basic point from
which to consider the essential elements
OF economy. From the earliest ages. as
mere dwelling-place, land had its value.
In the pastoral stages of man it took far
more land TO produce the means of sub
sstence than It does in its agricultural
state. and yet in agriculture the profits are
greater than when 1.-THE shepherds tended
their herds on the broad plains" 1t
is not the widest domain that is of
most value. but it is that land which
is most needed in the uses of
society. Society in its aggregation
for lis use. A fruitful example of this is 10
be found in The estimated value that has
been put upon the restricted confines of
Wall street, New York, and Thread
needle street. London. 1t is said that if
the soil occupied by those two narrow
streets was converted into layer of pure
gold an inch thick it would not near ap-
pr0ximate tbe price they are held at.
The lecturer then spoke at some length
as to property values Of fertility in soil
and the returns thereirom TO labor. This,
however, in point of productiveness, is
largely under the control of man, for IN
these days exhausted lands could be re.
stored, and fallow lands could be turned
into wealth. producing fields. Land being
limited in quantity is consequently a mo-
nopoly. because it is absolutely necessary.
And this naturally led the lecturer to
the consideration of the question of rents.
He said that OF all questions rent is one of
the most difficult in the realm of econo-
mics. In its broadest significance rem. is
any kind of gain arising from monopoly,
land, capital or talent. Rent forms no part
of production. 1t swells individual wealth
to the loss of the wealth of society. Upon
land it is only so much of the laborer's toll
and production which goes to enrich the
owner. who has not moved q hand TO
earn it.
The lecturer then wen on to speak about
the Metayer rents in France. Switzerland
and Germany. which were based on per