Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., Confusion, December 12, 1920

              Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://bit.ly/scripps_mss117 12-12-20
QONJlUSIOlf •
Hiram Maxim prophesied during the first year of the great war. tba.t
the belligerent nations would all of them oome out: of the war riC11il.er aat·~·
populous than they were when the war began.
I was so very much impressed with Maxim's arguments in su,pport ':&I his
theory that I believed what Jlaxim sa.id.
~
liar eV'&a at this time am I prepared to a.dmit that Kaxim was entirely
wrong'll provided that the common idea of wealth be the oorreot one.
If wea.l th be oonsidered a thing, or a number of things, that have a
purely material aspeot, such as manuf'acturElQ goads, agricultural produots t
houses, la:nds, or natural resouroes suoh as coal and iron, or as semi-natural
it might be said that the belligerent nations are, with some few exceptions, as
rich today, or rioher, than they Were before August first'll 1914.
But, if real wealth consists of a.ll of these thi~ and like things
mentioned above plus or~nizad aotivities correlated and so adjusted as to oause
a condition of equilibrium and approxi!lJate equality of sUP91y and demand, then
not only are all of the belli[;erent nations much poorer tha:n th.ey were before tm
war but the oivilized world as a whole in nearly all of its parts is muoh poorer.
A farm that has been cultivated by men in a condition of" regular
prOductivity is an element of '.vearth. It is part of the capital of the world.
:But if this sa.>ne farm for any reason ceases to be employed by man per~tly
U oeases to be an element of" wealth.
This farm,being owned by a man who is a trained agr'iculturist and
/qed a:nd managed by him and producing largely, .has a market value based upon the
~1t of its owner, which prOfits are the difference between the value of the
.~4ets of the farm and the value or cost of labor and tools em.I)loyed.