Economy of nature

“ Alluding to the supposed economy of nature, in the adaptation of each species to its own place and its special use, the reviewer remarks: “To this universal law of the greatest economy, the law of natural selection stands in direct antagonism as the law of ‘greatest possible waste’ of time and of creative power. ”

“ Nor is there much satisfaction in contemplating the world with nothing left to the spontaneous activity of nature; with every rood of land brought into cultivation, which is capable of growing food for human beings; every flowery waste or natural pasture ploughed up, all quadrupeds or birds which are not domesticated for man's use exterminated as his rivals for food, every hedgerow or superfluous tree rooted out, and scarcely a place left where a wild shrub or flower could grow without being eradicated as a weed in the name of improved agriculture. ”

“ But the last method of supporting animal bodies by the destruction of other living animals, as lions preying upon lambs, these upon living vegetables, and mankind upon them all, would appear to be a less perfect part of the economy of nature than those before mentioned, as contributing less to the sum of general happiness. ”

“ When we reflect on the very small number of species of plants, compared with the multitude that are known to exist, which have hitherto been cultivated, and rendered useful to man; and when we apply the same observation to the animal world, and even to the mineral kingdom, the field that natural science opens to our view seems to be indeed unlimited. These productions of nature, varied and innumerable as they are, may each, in some future day, become the basis of extensive manufactures, and give life, employment, and wealth, to millions of human beings. ”

“ The competition of races and species, observes Mr. Darwin, is always most severe between those which, are most closely allied and which fill nearly the same place in the economy of nature. Hence, when the conditions of existence are modified, the original stock runs great risk of being superseded by some one of its modified offshoots. ”

“ These evidences are strengthened by observation of the natural economy of our time; for, whenever a tract of country once inhabited and cultivated by man, is abandoned by him and by domestic animals, and surrendered to the undisturbed influences of spontaneous nature, its soil sooner of later clothes itself with herbaceous and arborescent plants, and, at no long interval, with a dense forest growth. ”

“ Natural Agents include not only "Nature's sun and showers," but also all the forces and fertilities and materials of free Nature, that men may and do avail themselves of in preparing commodities to exchange with the commodities of other men. Of higher rank in Production than these natural agencies are the Efforts of men in molding them so as to answer other men's Desires, of which efforts the "toiling hands" of the poet are a symbol. ”

“ Forges, slitting mills, and other great works are erected where nature has furnished no running water, and future times may boast that this grand and useful engine was invented and perfected in our own country. ”

“ As though three or four vigorous brothers and sisters, with the best will, were not enough to crush any child, everyone else conspired towards an education which he hated. From cradle to grave this problem of running order through chaos, direction through space, discipline through freedom, unity through multiplicity, has always been, and must always be, the task of education, as it is the moral of religion, philosophy, science, art, politics and economy; but a boy's will is his life, and he dies when it is broken, as the colt dies in harness, taking a new nature in becoming tame. ”

“ Without Land, Labor would be powerless to produce Artificial Objects. But Land is abundant in all varieties. Trees grow in forests, minerals repose in the earth, the soil offers itself to the farmer, the sea to the sailor, solid ground to the builder, flowing streams to all. Together with the winds, the lightning,52 the snow, the rain and all the other subtle and mysterious forces of Nature, those Natural Resources respond freely to the multifarious energies, the broadening knowledge of natural law, and the intensifying skill of Labor. ”

“ NATURE A FIRST FACTOR IN PRODUCTION.—Nature is defined by the economist as inclusive of all of the materials and forces furnished in the form of land and its products, oceans, lakes, rivers, rain, humidity, and climate. ”

“ Here, where physical resources are the most powerful, where vegetation and animals are most abundant, where the soil is watered by the noblest rivers and the coast studded by the finest harbors, the profusion of nature has hindered social progress and opposed that accumulation of wealth without which progress is impossible. ”

“ An Artificial Object is a product of human invention and construction. For every purpose of Economic classification, wild animals, like wild trees and wild bushes and wild Nature in all its varieties, belong in the category of Natural Resources. When the wild trees or the wild bushes are cultivated, or the wild animals are domesticated, they pass into the category—as manifestly as buildings and farm produce do—of Artificial Objects drawn forth from and upon Natural Resources by Man. ”

“ Natural environment which consisted of the fertility of the soil, climatic conditions, abundance of fruits, nuts, game and fish was all-important in the early stage of man's development. With the progress of civilization this nature-made environment loses its supreme importance and the man-made economic environment becomes equally important. ”

“ It is government that assures to labor, capital, and organization their rightful shares in the joint production and thus affords them the incentive to do their best.
Land and its resources. Nature’s Contributions to Production.—Nature contributes to the production of economic goods such things as land, timber, waterways for transportation, minerals, coal and oil, the motive power of steam,—in a word nature provides all the materials and the environment of production. Hence it is fundamentally the most important of all the factors. ”

“ Shall we not now seek to learn which of the natural resources of our land will never be replaced if we squander them? Let us also learn which may be made good again by Nature, if we are willing to wait long enough, as well as to assist her in her slow work. ”

“ Perhaps the actual variety of species will be greater than in many parts of the abounding tropics, and to the careful observer the luxuriance will be as great, although not so big; but as I look abroad I am impressed with the economy of the prospect. ”

“ Now, it is true that labor does not create land, for land primarily comes from the hand of Nature, but then it is equally true that labor does not create gold, or silver, or coal, or timber, or grain, or wool, or any other of the primary gifts of Nature, commonly accounted in the market as wealth. Labor discovers, transports, cultivates, fashions, blends, makes useful in some way the free gifts of Nature, and they become wealth; labor also clears the land, drains it, fences it, fertilizes it, plants it, builds roads and bridges that make it accessible, and it becomes wealth. ”

“ All such exactions are phenomena of natural Economic law. Land exists in quantities to which Nature assigns impassable limits, and this limited supply of Land varies in fertility and in desirability of location. ”

“ What would our forests be worth without vigorous and intelligent men to make use of them? Why should we conserve our natural resources, unless we can by the magic of industry transmute them into the wealth of the world? ”

“ CHAPTER XXXII THE TREND OF CIVILIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES
The Economic Outlook.—The natural resources of forest, mines, and agriculture are gradually being depleted. The rapidity of movement in the economic world, the creation of wealth by vast machinery, and the organization of labor and industry are drawing more and more from the wealth stored by nature in her treasure-houses. ”

“ With every desire that the natural resources of our country should be properly developed, we do hope that he will not be entirely successful in his efforts, and that a few of the woods and wastes of Nature's own planting may be left for the recreation of the simple folk who have not yet taken to appraising the value of everything by the price it will fetch in the market. ”

“ 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. ”

“ With science-based planning and research, we have sought to achieve a balance between strengthening protections for wildlife and water quality and providing a steady, sustainable supply of the building materials, paper products, and other commodities we need to meet the challenges of our growing economy. ”

“ The currents of economic life, like most other phases of human activity, have swept beyond the local forests, the grass lands, the tilled fields, the oven and the carpenter's bench, and gaining momentum in their ever-widening course, they have circled the world. ”

“ Second sort.—The second sort of rude produce, of which the price rises in the progress of improvement, is that which human industry can multiply in proportion to the demand. It consists in those useful plants and animals, which, in uncultivated countries, nature produces with such profuse abundance, that they are of little or no value, and which, as cultivation advances, are therefore forced to give place to some more profitable produce. ”

“ Hunting, fishing, and stock raising should be classed with agriculture, since they use the resources of animate nature to secure for mankind new raw products on which labor will confer further useful qualities. This utility has to be created by men in every stage of industrial development, from that of a tropical savage to that of men in the most advanced civilization. [4]
Form Utility.—A form utility is created when a raw material is fashioned into a new shape, subdivided, or combined with other materials, as is done in manufacturing and, in a certain way, in commerce. ”

“ Of the other requisite—appropriate natural objects—it is to be remarked that some objects exist or grow up spontaneously, of a kind suited to the supply of human wants. There are caves and hollow trees capable of affording shelter; fruits, roots, wild honey, and other natural products, on which human life can be supported; but even here a considerable quantity of labor is generally required, not for the purpose of creating, but of finding and appropriating them. ”

“ It may be urged that, in order to form wealth, the land should be fertile, the soil should be good, the rivers and lakes abounding in fish, and the forests full of good timber. Under the ground there should be plenty of coal, iron, copper, reefs of gold, &c. ”

“ It may be prudent, however, to premise that when the physical constitution requires substantially gross materials to keep up and maintain the corporealities of our nature, we must look to the productions of the farm and the fruitage of the forest, and also to animal food, which are always in quality and degree in exact correspondence to our status or state of progression. ”

“ The first Basic Fact—not first in order of creation, but first in our perceptions of Economic necessity—is Man. Without Man, Economics could have neither incentive nor power, neither cause nor effect.
The second Basic Fact is Natural Resources, without which Man could not exist. Natural Resources comprise the surface of our globe, together with all natural objects external to Man and in their natural condition, upon the surface, under the surface, and above the surface, including the air surrounding the surface. ”

“ Nature, with unsurpassed lavishness, presented the raw material; it rested with man to stamp it with value. Thus the stimulus to industrial and commercial activities was second to none other in the history of nations. ”

“ Thus, in agriculture, for instance, a knowledge of the different kinds of soil, of the tillage of land, of the different plants and animals etc., belongs to the domain of natural science; while all that relates to the cost of production, the employment of capital, the wages of labor, the exchange of products, net product and the price of land, are purely politico-economical. The political economists also require a knowledge of the natural side of the cameralistic sciences. ”

“ I mean land and sea culture;—dominion over both the fixed and the flowing fields;—perfect acquaintance with the laws of climate, and of vegetable and animal growth in the given tracts of earth or ocean, and of their relations regulating especially the production of those articles of food which, being in each particular spot producible in the highest perfection, will bring the best price in commercial exchanges. ”

“ Forests play a vital role in maintaining a healthy economy-more than 3 million Americans are employed in wood-dependent occupations, and their combined production is valued at about $100 billion each year. Moreover, our forests provide us with a wealth of other treasures that can carry no price tags-water, wildlife, outdoor recreation, and wilderness. ”

“ And what a richness and diversity of productions in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral worlds, compared with the poor produce of the temperate regions! What untold wealth still hidden in the soil, and awaiting the skill and energy of the nineteenth century! ”

“ Animals however could not eternally supply food for the growing generations of men. Nature had to be controlled and directed to produce provisions for human beings. Men learnt to utilise nature’s power for raising food products for themselves. The agricultural stage was reached. Gradually the idea of private property developed and a system of some division of labour was also noticed. ”