ed for the welfare of all concerned. But special reference is made
to the sources of wealth as a means of welfare in rural life, and to the
bearing of definite economic principles upon farming, especially in these
United States of America. Farming is, and must always remain, a chief
factor in both wealth and welfare, and its relations to the industry of
the world grow more important to every farmer as the world comes nearer to
him. We cannot now live in such isolation as our fathers loved. The
markets of the world and the methods of other farmers all over the world
affect the daily life of every tiller of the soil today. Commerce in the
products of farm and household reaches every interest, when the ordinary
mail sack goes round the world in less time than it took our immediate
ancestors to go as pioneers from Massachusetts to Ohio. It seems possible
to show from the experiences of farm life the essential principles of
wealth-making and wealth-handling, including the tendencies under a
world-wide commerce. These every farmer and laborer needs for his
business, for his home, and for his country.

Nature Of Wealth

_Wealth defined._--If we look at the objects which men number in speaking
of their wealth, we shall soon find the list differing in important
particulars from the list of things which they enjoy. All enjoyable things
contribute to welfare, but not all are wealth. Some, like the air and the
sunshine, if never lacking, cannot be counted, _because no storing against
future need is practicable_; but the fan that cools the air and the coal
that gives heat are counted when they are stored as means of meeting
future wants. If we could not foresee wants of ourselves or of those
dependent upon us, we could not gather means of supply for those wants. If
we had all wants supplied at a wish or a prayer, we should have no
incentive to store. The pampered child whose every wish is met has no
clear conception of wealth or its uses. Let him be without a meal, and he
seeks provision for the future by an effort to save what is left over from
his last meal and by exertion to add to his store in anticipation of want.
Thus wants, to be met only by exertion, are the foundation of the
universal ideas of wealth, and whatever we have stored as a provision
against wants becomes our wealth. If hunger were our only desire, our
wealth would include only stores of food, conveniences for storing, means
of increasing the store, and means of u