PRACTICAL PAPERS. 
2 93 
Consumption for the most part is for the purpose of reproducing. 
The farmer consumes seed, tools, machinery, labor, food for its 
sustenance, etc., but expects remuneration in the new crop. The 
comforts of life are kept in store not by saving, but by perpetual 
reproduction. To save in the scientific sense is to consume less 
than is produced, not to consume less absolutely. There are 
two ways of increasing wealth—by consuming less or producing 
more. All men are consumers, and must be such. It is a condi¬ 
tion of our existence. Most men are producers to some extent. 
Few live entirely upon public charity. Ho man in a civilized 
community produces all that he consumes. By choice, he engages 
in a particular industry, without choice, he consumes the products 
of a thousand. The practical question then is, not who are pro¬ 
ducers, and who are consumers, for all are each. The real diffi¬ 
culty seems to lie in securing a proper distribution of the rewards 
of industrv. 
•s 
Distribution, like exchange, grows out of the division of labor, 
and division of labor grows out of the desire of gain. The latter 
began with the race, and grows with civilization. Even Adam 
delved while Eve spun. The savage husband hunts the muskrat 
and the beaver, theMeer and the buffalo, while the wife dresses 
the food and prepares the skins for clothing. Both render ser¬ 
vices which they exchange with each other. Division of labor 
and exchange of services began in the family, but have come to 
know neither clan or kinship. 
But the question of distribution brings us face to face with the 
subject of value. Error at this point is absolutely fatal. A mis¬ 
apprehension of the nature of value will vitiate all reasoning upon 
questions of economy and finance. The term, value, is a relative 
one—the thing is a mere relation. Herein lies a difficulty. That 
which is absolute, we can seize and hold, but a relation, if we 
watch not, will slip our grasp at every turn. Value implies a 
comparison. It is the relation which one service or commodity 
bears to others in exchange—it is in two words, purchasing power. 
Value must not be confounded with utility. The latter is ca¬ 
pacity to satisfy desire—the abstract quality whereby a thing 
serves our purposes. Utility may be great and value little—the 
reverse implies an absurdity. Indeed, objects may have utility 
