The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-29
The GLOBES HOME STUDY COURSE
The Rise and Growth of l)eahh
BY E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS. IL. D.

ers, fertile land, broad forests, abundant
mines and salubrious climate. 1t is clear
w better to apply - these things the title
conditions OF : s.'11esttin, !; factors In the
production of wealth The savages had
all this as well as we but the savages
were very poor always on the verge of
starvation, and if we except the forests
and the waters the savages would have
been nearly as well off in land destitute
of these natural resources Many things
which are not wealth have utility vital
utility even. Without air and sunshine
we could not live, yet air and sunshine,
wind, water for drinking, the ocean for
transportation, and so on, indispensable
as they are to wealth, since they stand
outside the list of labor-produced things,
are not wealth. They are utilities. but
not onerous utilities. 1t is the same in
the non-material realm. Honesty and
health, the moral, intellectual and phys-
1cal characteristics of human beings, so
far as they are the pure gifts of nature
ought not to be regarded as wealth.
They partake of that character, if at ALL
only so far as they have originated in
purpose and in labor
But wealth has a further mark Not
every product of human effort is wealth
You may have labored long to create
an article which, when it is done, will
have no utility, and hence not be wealth.
On the other hand, there are many
products of effort, marked by the ut
most utility in their way, which are not
wealth because their utility lies in high
er plane than that of wealth. The power
to be unselfish, obliging. kind, loving.
ones self last, usually grows up only
through effort but when it is grown it is
not wealth; it is something higher and
finer. 1t may not be particularly helpful
in acquiring wealth. A good moral char
4ctap 10 6OnhfI in OFT oj
ment favorable to wealth. but, although
it is the result of hard work, should not
call it of its1lf wealth. 1t touches well
rare, OF course, and that in its temporal
aspects, at a thousand points, Still, I'M
less you mean by temporal welfare some
thing higher than is ordinarily meant
you can hardly call even good moral
character direct or indispensable condi-
ton of such welfare. We come around
again, therefore, to the definition that
wealth is or consists in those classes of
realities, whatever their nature, material
or otherwise, which proceeded from hui
man effort and at the same time directly
contribute to human welfare temporarily
| considered
| wealth to commodities and services that
either are habitually or might be, ex-
| changed, denominating political economy
| the science of exchanges or of values I
deem these definitions superficial and
misleading. 1t is easy to conceive a state
| of society calling for investigation as to
| its wealth and furnishing full basis for
| science of economics, exchange being to-
| tally absent. Exchange is not the sub
| stance of wealth, but an accident, though
| an important one. Had individuals as
| great diversity of productive power as
| they have of consumptive power ex-
| change would nearly disappear. Robin
| son Crusoe on his island might be well
| off now, i'll off next year. There would
| Of course, be reasons for the change and
| these reasons could be investigated and
| their laws aScertained All the more if
| there were many cases of men so isolat-
| ed. Their differences in welfare could be
| compared and the reasons therefor
| studied. If these were analysed careful
1 ly a science of wealth would emerge, but
the topic of exchange would find no place
| in it.
Among primitive men the distinction of
mine and thine hardly arises. Their
| property is mostly common, their produc-
| ton wholly for their own immediate con-
sumption. In the village communities OF
| India, in Polynesia, Australia and over
| large parts of Africa may even now be
seen families and groups of families pro-