354 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



of the few, as has been the case in this country for the last twenty 

 years, the exercise of ordinary prudence should induce them to pre 

 pare to receive the punishment which must come sooner or later. 



I have said, the forces which make the punishment inevitable, are 

 always at work. In order that we may see more clearly how they 

 work, it will be necessary for us to take into consideration the varied 

 relations of the occupations and interests of the people. These are 

 all represented and comprehended in two great classes, which we 

 shall denominate productive and non-productive. And as we Amer 

 icans estimate every thing in dollars and cents, we will, for the pur 

 poses of this work, call them investments. 



The productive investments are those which create and increase the 

 aggregate wealth of the country. The non-productive investments 

 are those which are devoted to the manipulation of industrial 

 products. 



These two classes of investment, when properly balanced, are alike 

 essential to the constitution of a healthy and vigorous political soci 

 ety. But when this healthy balance is lost, the result can only be 

 detrimental. To illustrate more fully the relation of these two classes 

 of investments, and how one may affect the other, we will, figuratively, 

 establish a new community, so small in numbers as to make our esti 

 mates and illustrations easy of comprehension by all. Twenty fam 

 ilies go into a country where they engage in all the pursuits of 

 civilized society. Ten of them, with a capital of $100,000, engage in 

 non-producing enterprises. They lend money, establish banks, build 

 telegraphs, railroads, establish insurance companies, etc. The other 

 ten, with a like capital, engage in the productive industries. They 

 improve farms, raise wheat, corn, and cattle. They manufacture 

 all kinds of machinery, etc. They dig the ore from the ground, 

 and convert it first into iron, then into steel, and then again into 

 implements of industry. At the end of each year, it is found that 

 with their utmost industry and economy they have been able to in 

 crease the aggregate wealth of the entire community three per cent, 

 on both kinds of investments. This income was derived from indus 

 try and fair dealing under laws that bore equally upon all. 



But it is a long lane that has no turning. In the course of years, 

 the non-producers, having more leisure time, get into mischief, as idle 

 hands are sure to do. They so influence the government as to get 

 laws made which give them an advantage. They raise the rates of 

 interest, and expand and innate all their sources of income, Not 



