Principles of economics. The satisfaction of human wants .. by Osborne Grover Pease

Author:Osborne, Grover Pease. [from old catalog]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Economics
Publisher: Cincinnati, R. Clarke and company
Published: 1893-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

ECONOMICAL USE OF NATURAL WEALTH. 231

yond the point of diminishing returns, because the reward of labor is so much less. A dense population in an agricultural country is compelled to work land far beyond this point, unless food is imported from abroad.

Something analogous to this occurs in the erection of a building. There is economy in building a business block of several stories ; but a height is soon reached where every additional story costs more in proportion, either in the cost of building or in the cutting off of light and air from other buildings. Tall buildings are erected only because of the great value of the land on which they stand. If an adjoining lot could be had for nothing, the buildings would be lower. It is an advantage to have population dense enough to require buildings of as great height as can be economically erected, but when we go beyond this, the cost of room is increased.

Part II.— The Use of the Consumable Resources of Nature.

1. These should he used without waste, since they are destroyed in the using, and are limited in quantity. Of the minerals, such as coal and iron, it is certain that there is enough for the next hundred years, but a hundred years is a very short period in the world's history ; the coal was produced by the growth of forests for thousands of years; and the interests of the people five hundred years hence should be considered as well as our own. To be sure, some substitute for coal may

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