ct of
leading men to believe that the present must forever reappear in the
future.

3.--The first factor, "the volume of the flow of wealth in the country
of the worker," was never more under discussion than to-day, when from
all sides demands are heard for the material means necessary to the
realization of desires. As the matter is ordinarily put, the greater the
product of industry is, the more there is for distribution among all.
The truth of this statement seems obvious. Yet in interpreting it into
policy more than usual care must be taken lest it be forgotten that
other things may make a larger contribution to satisfactory living than
an increase in these possessions which make up the flow of wealth.
Instances are by no means lacking of increases of production obtained at
the sacrifice of something more important to human life than the
additional product secured. There is a "mean" here also between labor
and leisure.

All this, however, reads like a lawyer's brief about a simple matter.
The greater the volume of goods and services resulting from the labor of
society, the more there is to share out; and the greater in amount will
the share of the wage earners be, even if their relative share is not
increased.[13]

The volume of production depends upon the quantity and quality of each
and every agent that assists in production, and upon the organization of
the separate powers, and above all upon the progress of invention and of
the industrial arts. It depends directly upon: first, the natural
resources of the country--which are ordinarily summarized in economic
discussion under the term "land"--"by land is meant the material and the
forces which nature gives freely for man's aid, in land and water, in
air and light and heat;"[14] second, the "accumulated provision for the
production of material goods"--capital--which was discussed in the
preceding chapter; thirdly, on the labor of men and women--on the degree
of spirit, skill, energy and intelligence which characterizes that
labor; fourthly, on the quality of leadership which manifests itself in
industrial affairs, and the success with which the elements of
production are brought into well directed cooperation; fifthly, on the
progress of invention and the industrial arts.

The relationship between the volume of production and wages is indirect.
Though it is true that the larger the product, the higher wages will be,
all other forces remaining the same, the co