THE COLONIST. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1919. THE ORIGIN OF WEALTH.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15238, 27 November 1919, Page 4

THE COLONIST. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1919. THE ORIGIN OF WEALTH.

"The Times" recently devoted a portion of its space in a long series of issues to a succession of "ten minute talks with workers," in which able writers discussed political and eco>nomio problems in an interesting and instructive fashion. One of the series was a disquisition on the origin of wealth, a subject.; that is closely allied to the fundamental causes of the present unrest throughout the world. It is, says the writer, one of the most difficult tasks of the economist to measure the wealth of a nation. For very important reasons it is now necessary to have the most exact estimate of the wealth of Germany, but it is obvious to anyone that thero aro very great differences of opinion on the matter. It can be seen clearly enough

that national wealth is subject to variation. No one would deny, for example, that England to-day is. wealthier than Spain, whereas in Queen Elizabeth's time Spain was wealthier than England. Similarly, it is quite clear that England is to-day very much wealthier than she was in 1600, or in 1700, or in 1800. In 1889 Sir Robert Gif Fen, a great authority, estimated the wealth of the United Kingdom at £10,000,OGt),----0- or £270 per head. He quoted from earlier writers an estimate of the wealtli of England in 1600 as £100,000,000, or £22 per head. We can in our mind's eye trace it back into misty times before history begins, and the further 'back, we go the smaller we find man's accumulated stock of wealth was, and the feebler was his hold on life itself. It is the growth of wealth that has made civilisation first possible and then enduring. The growth of wealth is due to two causes. One is individual, and springs from man himself. The other is social, and depends on the relation of men to ono another. All through history you can se© these two causes operating with ever increasing strength, with the result that wealth has accumulated with increasing rapidity. The beginning of wealth is any surplus over present needs. But when the Eskimo has such a surplus he gorges and sleeps, and has to begin again at the old level when his surplus is exhausted. Something more than a surplus is wanted, and that is the will to use the time during which it lasts in turning cut new goods to supply new needs. When a primitivo man had sown his seed-corn and yet had enough food-corn by him to last till harvest, his wife could sit and spin while he built a better house or made utensils. In this way wealth ac>- ( cumulated. And when money and trade develop, these multiply a hun-dred-fold ways of using surplus to the best advantage. There is no other method of "ncreasing wealth than this old way of working for a surplus. The intricate machinery of modern society may hide but cannot alter the fact, for it is -a. law of nature, and there is no appeal against her ruling. The war has compelled us as a nation to coisume faster than wo produce, to suffer j| deficits instead of making surpluses. IWe did it for high and noble purposes, knowing that, with a nation as with :i < man, life consisteth not in the abund- . ance of things possessed. Now these greater aims are accomplished we.'rnisi: get back to the making of a surplus il the community is to enjoy its former prosperity permanently. In the v.nl: ' est times it was. seen clearly enough that no man could create, a surplus ] unless he was secured in the possession 5 and enjoyment of it when made. The

oldest codes of law provide for this. "Thou shalt not steal," is not only sound morals but practical economics. The mark of Western civilisation' is that it has, century by century, improved the relations of men to ozio another in society. The aim of true social reform is to bring to greater perfection thoßO two world-old causes of the growth of wealth j that is (1) to make it easier for all who will to make a surplus;

and (2) to secure them in the undisturbed enjoyment of it. Plans which ignore the need for a surplus and the need f^or security are doomed by the nature of things to fee disastrous.