_Nature._—When men learn to meet their wants by exertion in accord with
nature’s ways, they are said to use the forces of nature in production of
wealth. Every accumulation of materials for satisfying future needs
implies some control over natural objects. If advantage is taken of
natural motions or other activities to bring about larger accumulation,
the man whose plans secure this has gained control over, and so
property-rights in, the natural force which he has harnessed. The wind
caught by a sail and the water controlled by a dam contribute to the
power, and indirectly to the wealth, of the man who contrives to make them
move things for him. The directive actions of men necessarily appropriate
the natural objects which they use, together with all the qualities of
those objects.
_Energy._—Human exertion produces wealth, as we have seen, whenever it
anticipates and provides for future wants by securing at hand the things
to be used. So far as this anticipation includes control of forces or
qualities in nature, these natural agencies contribute to wealth of
individuals or communities. So voluntary human exertion is combined with
involuntary forces of outside nature to give wealth. No amount of gold in
Alaska is wealth until some human ability has appropriated it to human
uses; but the mere fact of locating a claim for mining purposes gives the
prospector advantage over any other man because of his foresight. So every
activity of nature may become a factor in wealth by human ingenuity in
making it useful.
_Natural forces._—Such natural agencies for producing wealth are seen in
the simple properties of material bodies, such as the metals or woods or
grains or fruits or flowers possess. We secure these properties for our
uses. Gravity, sound, heat, light, electricity, chemical affinity,
crystallization, even life itself, are names for certain forms of energy
in nature which men are using more or less to meet their wants. Whenever
exertion is needed to provide for using these, the thought of wealth is
connected with the forces themselves. The fish in the sea and rivers
become wealth to one who has caught them, and even more distinctly the
property of the community which has protected them in breeding. Sunlight
may reach all alike in welfare, but the man who has contrived to make it
print pictures for him has made sunlight into wealth in the picture.
Equally so the farmer’s energy and contrivance use the properties of soil
and climate and the vital energies of seeds to make wealth in a crop.
_Control for welfare._—As each individual worker gains control over any of
these properties or forces he advances in wealth and welfare. It becomes
his own means of meeting wants. If all individuals in a community share in
such control, they think of the good things as part of the general
welfare, and do not enumerate them in anybody’s wealth except when
comparing their own condition with that of another community. Advantages
of this kind constantly tend to become more universal, and so to count
very little in individual wealth. Many advantages of civilization today
belong to all the world alike, so that nature seems to meet our wants
gratuitously; but the story of progress shows that these are gifts
inherited from the wealth of past ages. The human exertion which they once
cost is overlooked in the ease of the present. Mere fire was once a
treasure to be cherished and kept at much expenditure of strength and
foresight. Now we kindle a fire so easily that nobody thinks of it as a
part of the world’s wealth.
_Land as a force._—Land represents a combination of natural energies and
properties so important as to be named sometimes as a distinct force in
production. It implies, first, needed space for various kinds of exertion
in both country and town. Second, it includes all mineral, vegetable and
animal bodies that are found above, on or under the surface. Third, it is
soil, an essential part of a farmer’s equipment in using nature’s
processes of growth.
As most of these properties of land can be put to use only by repeated and
continued exertion in the same place, a large portion of the earth is
necessarily apportioned to individual control, i. e., to the ownership of
those who can direct its uses, and so it becomes wealth. The sea in most
of its uses to men requires no such local control, and so is not owned by
a nation even; but the harbors, ships and wharves, the oyster-beds and
fishing banks, soon become the property of some body of men that will make
and keep them useful. Even a pathway over the high seas may yet be
controlled for the safety of the huge steamers that dash across.
Land, except when used for absolutely universal welfare, must be under
individual control, and even then other individuals may have the right of
way because of its necessity in the common use. Peculiarities of property
in land arising from limitations in quantity or quality will be spoken of
under _Scarcity Prices_ and _Rent_. They differ from similar questions as
to any other form of property only because this form of property seems
more permanent. Any force of nature brought under control by individual
effort contributes to wealth of individuals till all gain equal control.
Peculiarities of climate affect the quality of wool, cotton, grains and
fruit, and even the beef and mutton raised under it. But these effects we
connect with the land. Such peculiarities also affect manufactures of
various kinds, and so location has value.
_Effort for gain._—Voluntary human effort is always made with the
expectation of gain from its exertion; otherwise it would not be made. As
Guizot says, “Our ideal is to procure the maximum of utility with the
minimum of effort.” The exertion is always counted in the cost of any
product, whatever the natural forces employed. If the crop fails, or the
product is unsalable, the effort has lost its expected reward, and
prospective losses are estimated with more or less care in judging whether
a product is worth the exertion. The half crop of a droughty year costs as
much as the full crop of a plenteous year, and compensation for the loss
is expected from the surplus of the full crop.
In estimating the exertion given, all human energies are counted, whether
they belong to the present, like muscular power, good eyesight, quick
intelligence; or to the past, like dexterity from training, superior
knowledge, accumulated tools, established character. If the immediate
exertion is most prominent, the word labor includes the whole exertion. If
tools and machinery are used, capital is a contributor to the product and
takes its share. If skill or knowledge or character become important,
personal attainments are a chief cause of the product, and so a chief
claimant in the reward.