Page:The fallacy of danger from great wealth.djvu/37

 Society or government might do much to increase wealth and wages by working with natural economic laws and not against them. Everything that prevents waste preserves wealth and benefits wages. Thus, if there were no necessity for war or army or navy, all such expenditures saved and added to the wealth of the country would be of immense benefit, increasing the funds for wages. So far as these expenditures are useless, the result is the same in destroying wealth or preventing its increase as if those engaged in such works were employed and paid for dumping sand into the sea and the product which such works add to wealth is nil. This is not saying that army and navy are not necessary, in the present state of the world; but it is a pity they are. We in America are not thankful enough that we do not need to waste so much valuable time of our young men in the army as they do in Europe. There young men are destroying wealth, while our young men are producing it. The different effects on wages are hardly appreciated as they should be.

Think of the war bonds in the world, and one begins to realize the awful waste of wealth in war, to say nothing of the waste of