Too abundant for man's welfare (Nuisances, or illth)

TANGIBLE OBJECTS

Useless but not harmful to man

Particular attention is called to certain resemblances between objects which are positively harmful and those which, though in themselves useful, become, at certain times and places, harmful through their too great abundance. Man's attitude is likely to be hostile to both alike. There is also a certain resemblance between those which are useless but not harmful and those which are useful but sufficient. Man's attitude toward both is likely to be that of indifference.

them the power to induce men to work. Another characteristic is that they all have value, or power in exchange. The power to command other desirable things in peaceful and voluntary exchange that is, value-is very much the same as the power to induce men to work. That is to say, the thing which possesses one kind of power will always possess the other, if indeed it be not incorrect to speak of them as different kinds of power. The object which possesses this power to appeal to human motives in such a way as to induce men either to give up some desirable object in exchange for it or to labor in order to produce it, is always said to be valuable. This power depends in all cases upon the scarcity or insufficiency of the existing supply of the object in question. This simply amounts to the truism that a thing would not possess this power unless someone could be found who wanted more of it than he had. If a person or a considerable number of persons can be found who want more than they have, there will be someone who will give up something in order to get more or who will work in order to produce more. These things, again, are economic goods, or wealth. Since, as we have just shown, they all possess value, it amounts to the same thing to say that wealth consists of things that have value. In short, such words as wealth, value, economic goods, and economy all center around the one great fact of scarcity, that is, the insufficiency of certain things at certain times and places to satisfy desires. Out of this great fact grow also such ideas as property, industry, and foresight. No one wants to secure property rights, for example, in anything of which everybody has enough. But when anyone fears that there may not be enough of a certain thing to go around, and that he may, therefore, be left. out, he naturally wants to guard against that calamity by getting possession of a supply. He will try to get possession of a supply either by producing it himself or by buying it of someone else, and he will try to guard his treasure carefully. When the State steps in and undertakes to protect him in his

possession, he has then secured a property right in the thing in question. Again, productive industry, as already shown, is directed toward alleviating scarcity or increasing the supply of something whose supply would otherwise be insufficient. Frugality and foresight are exercised to provide against further scarcity.

Meaning of scarcity. Now scarcity means nothing except insufficiency in a given time and place to satisfy the desires which exist in that time and place. It does not mean rarity, because, no matter how rare a thing may be, if there is as much as is wanted, it is not scarce; and no matter how great the total quantity, if there is less than is wanted, it is insufficient, or scarce. And it is always well to bear in mind that a thing is scarce, if at all, because the available quantity in a given time and place is insufficient. No matter how much water there may be in the Mississippi River, it does not alter the fact that water is scarce a few hundred miles to the westward; no matter how much copper there may be in the bowels of the earth, it does not alter the fact that there is less copper in available form than is needed on the surface. It is this fact which induces men to labor to move things from one place to another.

Before proceeding farther it is necessary to make one important qualification. Men do not always know upon what their weal, or well-being, depends. If they are mistaken on any phase of this question, they will be placing a high value upon some things that are not good for them, and a low value or no value at all upon some things that are good for them. They are poor economizers who do this, but there are many poor economizers in the world. This is the same as saying that they will sometimes desire more of a thing than they have, when they really have too much already, or less than they have, when they really have too little already. With this qualification in view, all we can say is that men will regard as wealth everything upon which they think their well-being

depends in the practical economic sense described above. That is, if they think they need more than they have, they will strive to get more, either by offering something for it, thus giving it a market value, or by trying to produce it, thus creating an industry. This explains why it is that the student of economics is sometimes compelled to include among economic goods, or wealth, articles which he himself would not use or which he regards as deleterious, such as opium, alcoholic drinks, or tobacco.

Importance of desiring the right things. Teaching or persuading people to want the right things has commonly been regarded as the work of the educator and the preacher rather than the economist. The latter has not generally undertaken to pass judgment on the wants of the people. He has assumed, rather, that his work was done when he had shown how such wants as the people happen to have are satisfied and may be satisfied more and more fully. But no one who really has at heart the welfare of the people can be indifferent to the quality of their wants or desires. What men want most they will try hardest to get; the character of their wants or desires, rather than their real needs, will therefore determine the character of their industries and their government. But, more important than that, if their desires are opposed to their needs (that is, if they desire things that are harmful to them), then the more efficient their system of production becomes the more harm they will do themselves. In that case an efficient industrial system promotes national deterioration rather than national well-being. If one were to make a study of the wreckage of nations, one would probably find that more had decayed because their wants were wrong than because they were not able to supply their wants. That is one reason why, as stated earlier in this chapter, the subject of consumption is of such tremendous importance.

Necessity of economizing means of production. Thus far in discussing the necessity for economy we have been considering the direct satisfaction of wants and the means thereto. But the

necessity for economy extends much farther than this. In the effort to overcome scarcity, that is, in the production of goods, it is necessary to make use of various factors of production, such as labor, tools, raw materials, etc. These also are scarce and have to be economized. To be sure, many things that are essential to production are not scarce. These are not considered as factors of production; that is, they are not economic factors of production at all. Carbon dioxide is just as essential to the growing of plants as nitrogen, phosphorus, or potash; but there is plenty of carbon dioxide in the air, whereas in most soils nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash are scarce or tending to become scarce. Therefore these three substances are considered as factors (that is, economic factors) in plant growth. Applying the same formula here as we did to other things earlier in this discussion, we can say, and say truly, "More nitrogen, more plant growth; less nitrogen, less plant growth." Therefore agricultural production is increased by increasing the nitrogen in the soil. The same may be said of phosphorus and potash, but the formula does not seem to apply to carbon dioxide. This is a principle of the very greatest importance, as will be seen later. Some of the greatest problems in economics and social justice depend upon this principle and are incapable of solution without it.

Why a thing has value. The fact that desirability and scarcity, and these alone, give value to a thing is perhaps clearly enough established by this time. Few will care to question the statement that not only must a thing be desired, but more must be desired than there is to be had, before men will strive to get more either by purchase or by production. Moreover, this is as true of a factor used in production, such as tools, as of an article of direct consumption, such as bread. It may not be quite so obvious, but it is none the less true, that this is also one of the great sources of that conflict of human interests which gives rise to most of our problems of justice and equity. This will be discussed in the next chapter.