WEALTH 



WEASEL 



right wing at Germantown in 1777. At midnight 

 on July 15, 1779, he led the attack on Stony 

 Point which made him a popular idol and 

 gained him his nickname. Later he rescued 

 Lafayette, led an attack against the whole Brit- 

 ish army at 

 Green Spring, and 

 worsted the Brit- 

 ish and Indians 

 in Georgia. 

 When Charleston 

 w a s surrendered 

 Wayne occupied 

 the town. He 

 was made brevet 

 major-general in 

 1783, retired a 

 year later, and in 

 1791 represented 

 Georgia in Con- 

 gress. He was A ANTHONY WAYNE 



A dashing leader of the 

 made com- American Revolutionary pe- 



mander - in - chief riod * 



of the American army in 1792, and the next 



year fought the Indians in Ohio. He died in 



Erie, Pa., while concluding the Treaty of 



Greenville, which secured to the United States 



from the Indians a great tract of land in that 



vicinity. 



WEALTH. It is believed that everything 

 in the universe has use or utility. The use to 

 which the things are put is not always good 

 (for instance, burglars' tools and intoxicants), 

 but the mere fact that somebody thinks an 

 article is of use to him gives it value. Wealth, 

 then, includes all material goods that have 

 value. It should be noticed that from the 

 standpoint of most economists only material 

 goods are considered as wealth. Love and sym- 

 pathy have moral or ethical value, but these 

 are not material goods, and do not come under 

 the heading of wealth. On the other hand, good 

 will in a business is an asset, and is wealth. 



Three elements enter into any estimate of 

 wealth: the article must be useful, the supply 

 must be limited, and the thing must be trans- 

 ferable. There is a tendency among students 

 of economics to include more and more of the 

 helpful things of life under wealth. As an il- 

 lustration, it may be cited that a few years 

 ago no writer on the subject thought of regard- 

 ing sunlight and fresh air as wealth, but in this 

 day, when the erection of immense city build- 

 ings has proved that light and air may be 

 taken by one man from another, many stu- 

 dents include such items under wealth, because 



lack of them decreases desirability; they are 

 elements of convenience and health. 



Wealth should be considered in its four 

 phases of production, exchange, distribution 

 and consumption. Under the first of these the 

 investigator examines the amount of labor and 

 sacrifice necessary to put an article into the 

 form desired and to place it where it is most 

 desired. This latter effort or activity gives 

 what is called place value. Under the heading 

 of exchange the relative values of products are 

 investigated, and here it will be found that 

 values are not always based upon utility or 

 labor but upon the buyer's personal tastes and 

 inclinations. The third item, the distribution 

 of wealth, is one of the most important and 

 disturbing questions before the world of to-day. 

 For many thousands of years distribution was 

 always connected with exchange ; that is, goods 

 were not distributed unless the one needing 

 them paid in exchange a price which gave the 

 seller a profit. Now, however, writers in favor 

 of Socialism hold that distribution of wealth 

 should go on without exchange for profit, but 

 simply according to the needs of all members 

 of society. The last phase considered under 

 wealth, its consumption, is exceedingly impor- 

 tant, because the question arises as to what 

 usefulness to the world results from the use of 

 its products. See CONSUMPTION. W.F.R. 



Consult Mill's Principles of Political Economy ; 

 Laughlin's Political Economy. 



Related Subjects. In this connection the 

 reader may consult the following articles in these 

 volumes : 



Capital 

 Credit 

 Economics 

 Money 



Profit 



Supply and Demand 



Value 



Wages 



WEASEL, we'z'l, a slim, swift, bloodthirsty 

 animal, the winter coat of certain species , of 

 which produces valuable fur called ermine. 

 The creature has a disagreeable odor, most 

 noticeable in hot weather and when it is fright- 

 ened or irritated. Weasels, with their keen 

 sense of sight and scent, are excellent hunters; 

 they pursue rats, mice, rabbits and birds untir- 

 ingly, often apparently killing them only for 

 sport, since the dead bodies are frequently left 

 untouched. Although it sometimes kills farm 

 poultry, it also destroys troublesome vermin, 

 and thus is useful to man. The mother animal 

 makes a cosy straw nest for her babies in hol- 

 low trees or in holes in the ground. 



In North America, the long-tailed weasel is 

 the best-known species. It is white below and 

 dark-brown above, with a black-tipped tail, the 



