1. Consumption is the destruction of values. Production implies
consumption. In general, all material is destroyed in entering into
new forms of wealth. Thus, leather must be destroyed in order to the
production of shoes. Flour must disappear in the manufacture of bread,
and wheat in the making of flour. Every kind of implement, or machine
or structure is consumed by use. This consumption is immediate, or
by a single use; or it is gradual. The food that we eat and the fuel
that we burn are examples of the former; tools, bridges, buildings
and aqueducts are examples of the latter. It is accomplished in a few
months or years; or is protracted through centuries.
2. Consumption is either _voluntary_ or _involuntary_. Of the latter
kind we have instances in the _natural decay_ of objects, as in wood
and vegetables; the rusting of iron, the mildew and the moth-eating of
cotton and woolen fabrics, and the wearing away by attrition of gold,
silver, and other metals; also the destruction caused by vermin. Much
of this may be prevented by the prudent foresight which sound economy
enjoins; yet much loss will inevitably take place. A great deal of
consumption is _accidental_. Great destruction is caused by fires,
steam-boiler explosions, floods and tornadoes, earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions.
3. Voluntary consumption is either _productive_ or _unproductive_.
The former is when the material appears in new form and with a higher
value, as cloth made into garments and iron into hardware and cutlery.
Unproductive consumption occurs, both in the cases before mentioned of
natural and accidental consumption, and in cases where gratification
of desire is the sole object sought and achieved, as when one eats and
drinks simply for the enjoyment, and without reference to the waste of
nature or the nourishment of the system.
It is not altogether easy to discriminate between these two kinds of
consumption. We readily see the difference between a man’s drinking a
quantity of whiskey, not because it will help him in the performance
of any duty, but because he likes it, and the scattering of a quantity
of seed over the ground in spring. There is no doubt that one act is
productive and the other unproductive. But there are cases where the
distinction is less clear.
It is not necessarily a case of unproductive consumption when one
destroys value for the sake of gratifying some desire. Probably a
majority of men eat and drink simply because they desire food and
drink, having no thought of any ulterior object. Yet this eating and
drinking is absolutely essential to productive labor. The wealth
consumed in this way reappears, to a large extent, in the products of
human industry.
Still there is much really unproductive consumption; a destruction of
value, in the place of which no other value ever appears. There are,
for instance, men and women—
* * * “who creep
Into this world to eat and sleep,
And know no reason why they’re born,
But simply to consume the corn.”
Vast quantities of wealth are consumed in riotous living, in greedy
and vulgar extravagance, and unmeaning magnificence. There is also
much consumption designed to be productive, but failing of its
end through misdirection. Large amounts of property are sometimes
invested in enterprises which prove failures. This occurs partly from
miscalculation or negligence, and partly from a disposition to trust
to chances—the gambler’s calculation. In these ways much wealth is
consumed with no consequent product.
4. It is not easy to draw the line between the ordinary conveniences of
life and its luxuries; nor can it be stated to what extent the latter
in any sense of the term are economically allowable. What to one class
of persons may be a luxury to another class may be almost a necessity.
So what might in one age have been a rare and expensive indulgence,
is in a more advanced period among the cheaper and more ordinary
commodities. I call special attention to three kinds of consumption:
(1) There is the consumption necessary to life and the performance of
productive labor. The word _necessary_ here is used in its liberal
rather than its restricted sense. The absolute necessities of human
life are very few. It does not even require much to keep a man in
working condition. But to keep him where there is a larger kind of
living, and where his energies of both body and mind, together with the
moral qualities which render him most efficient, are at their best, the
consumption must be more generous.
Besides subsistence there must be materials, tools, machines, and
a variety of conditions involving the destruction of value. It is
desirable to sustain man not as a mere savage, but to give him the
largest volume of human life; and the civilized man, it will be
admitted, lives a broader life than the savage. We are not to forget
that Political Economy aims at the increase of the value of man, more
than at the multiplication of material wealth, or the increase of
commerce, except as the latter are conditions of the former.
(2) A second kind of consumption is of such articles as minister
to bodily enjoyment and meet certain mental appetencies of a lower
order. They are not necessary to sustain life, nor to render it more
efficient. On the contrary, they often impair the vigor and competence
of the person. At the best they simply gratify certain desires without
adding anything to the value of the man. To this category belong mere
dainty food, gold and jewels, and other ornaments, valued solely
because of their showiness and not for any artistic excellence; gay and
costly apparel, in which the gayety and the costliness are the main
features. These constitute a class of luxuries that are in nearly every
sense non-productive. They favorably affect neither the individual nor
society, and are for the most part hurtful to both.
(3) But not all consumption, the object of which is to gratify desire,
is to be reckoned in this category. There are certain pleasures which
ennoble and really enrich those who participate in them. There are
desires the gratification of which enlarges the volume of one’s being.
They are related not so much to man’s productive capability as to that
which is the final cause of all production, and to which all wealth
is only a means. The labor, material, implements, and whatever else
is consumed in the production of the works or effects of genuine art,
result in the most _real wealth_ that exists. By this is meant not
merely pictures, statues, books, carved work, tasteful tapestries,
and similar objects which can be bought and sold, but also oratorios
which you may hear but once; magnificent parks to which you may be
admitted, but may never own; great actors and singers whose genius may
be exhibited to others, but not possessed by them. It is true that much
which properly belongs here may be so consumed as to deserve only a
place in the second class; but it may also have those higher and nobler
uses which imply production in the best sense.
5. _Public consumption_ is the expenditure of means for society in its
aggregate capacity. It has reference principally to the support of
those agencies which are implied in the term _government_. The reasons
for the necessity of such expenditures have already been given. The
purposes to which such consumption is properly applied may be grouped
as follows:
(_a_) The support and administration of government. This embraces
compensation to executive, legislative and judicial officers,
and expenditure for public buildings. (_b_) For works of public
convenience. Here are included the paving and lighting of streets,
water-works and sewerage. (_c_) For advancing science and promoting
intelligence, by means of exploring expeditions, geological surveys,
meteorological and astronomical observations, etc. (_d_) For the
promotion of popular education. (_e_) For the support of the poor and
the relief of the afflicted. (_f_) For national defense.
6. The general law of economical consumption, both individual and
public, is that only so much and such a quality should be consumed as
is necessary to effect the purpose designed, whether that be further
production or individual gratification. It is nearly the same in the
case of labor. In relation to the work to be done, the character,
ability and skill of the laborer should be considered.