ning any. Suppose him naked, without tool or weapon of any kind,
his one sole possession being a bag containing ten thousand dollars in
gold and banknotes to the value of as many millions. With that money,
in New York, or any other city in the world, he would be counted a
rich man, and he would have no difficulty in getting food and
clothing.

But alone upon that desert island, what could he do with the money? He
could not eat it, he could not keep himself warm with it? He would be
poorer than the poorest savage in Africa whose only possessions were a
bow and arrow and an assegai, or spear, wouldn't he? The poor kaffir
who never heard of money, but who had the simple weapons with which to
hunt for food, would be the richer man of the two, wouldn't he?

I think you will find it useful, Jonathan, to read a little book by
John Ruskin, called _Unto This Last_. It is a very small book, written
in very simple and beautiful language. Mr. Ruskin was a somewhat
whimsical writer, and there are some things in the book which I do not
wholly agree with, but upon the whole it is sane, strong and eternally
true. He shows very clearly, according to my notion, that the mere
possession of things, or of money, is not wealth, but that _wealth
consists in the possession of things useful to us_. That is why the
possession of heaps of gold by a man living alone upon a desert island
does not make him wealthy, and why Robinson Crusoe, with weapons,
tools and an abundant food supply, was really a wealthy man, though he
had not a dollar.

In a primitive state of society, then, he is poor who has not enough
of the things useful to him, and he who has them in abundance is rich,
or wealthy.

Note that I say this of "A primitive state of society," Jonathan, for
that is most important. _It is not true of our present capitalist
state of society._ This may seem a strange proposition to you at
first, but a little careful thought will convince you that it is true.

Consider a moment: Mr. Carnegie is a wealthy man and Mr. Rockefeller
is a wealthy man. They are, each of them, richer than most of the
princes and kings whose wealth astonished the ancient world. Mr.
Carnegie owns shares in many companies, steelmaking companies, railway
companies, and so on. Mr. Rockefeller, owns shares in the Standard Oil
Company, in railways, coal mines, and so on. But Mr. Carnegie does not
personally use any of the steel ingots made in the works in which he
owns shares