WHAT SHOULD THE NATION PRODUCE? 69 



this year is patriotism " has at times been interpreted in a way 

 which suggests that some leaders in the promotion of agricul- 

 ture would make quantity of product the goal in view. If 

 quantity of product in pounds or bushels were the goal in pro- 

 duction, the agriculture of this country would be very different. 

 We would produce more potatoes and other bulky crops, only 

 to find the demands of the consumers too small for the supply 

 of these articles, and a part of the supply wasted. 



Human desire is the starting point in economic considerations, 

 and human welfare is the end in view in economic legislation. 

 To the extent that human desires are wholesome, values may 

 be made the basis of determining what a nation should produce, 

 for human desires reflect themselves in values. The highest 

 value of the productions of a country has, therefore, been set forth 

 as a practical economic ideal for the statesman. It has been said 

 that " the prosperity of a nation is in proportion to the value 

 of its productions." l This is the economic ideal which was 

 set forth by their leaders as the aim and the end of the Patrons 

 of Husbandry in their efforts to promote the interests of agri- 

 culture. 



To this principle, as an economic ideal, it may be objected 

 that legislation may be of such a character as to increase the 

 value of the farm products of a country and at the same time 

 not improve the economic well-being of the people of the coun- 

 try as a whole. It is quite conceivable, for example, that duties 

 on imports may be so levied as to increase the total value of the 

 farm products of a country without increasing the prosperity 

 of the nation. 



It is necessary, in order that this national ideal shall be at- 

 tained, that the labor and capital of a country be properly 

 distributed among the various lines of economic activity. The 

 labor and the capital of a nation should be so distributed among 

 the various industries that the portion of these factors which 

 is employed under the most unfavorable circumstances shall 

 be equally productive, socially considered, in all industries. 

 The necessity of this proper adjustment of the productive 



1 See the preamble of the Constitution of the Patrons of Husbandry. 



