GOODS AND PSYCHIC INCOME § 1. Inherent physical nature of things. § 2. Free goods and economic goods. I 3. Harmful objects. 14. Value and true welfare. I 5. Gratifi cation of desire. I 6. The idea of income. I 7. Psychic income. § 8. Motivating force of psychic income. § 9. The personal equation in psychic income. § 10. Desire streams and income streams. § 11. Goods of direct use. I 12. Directness of use defined.
§ 1. Inherent physical nature of things Man has to take the physical nature of things as he finds it. He can, to be sure, make certain changes in the relative positions of parti cles or masses of matter. He can decompose a chemical com pound into its elements; he can change iron into steel, and with this construct elaborate machinery; he can make clothing of vegetable fiber; he can cut a canal through an isthmus that united two continents. He can, in short, make many changes in his physical environment and, within limits, he can adjust it to his liking. But the physical and chemical forces of the world, acting in ways which we express as natural laws, are beyond the power of man to change. He may rise above the earth in a balloon, or even travel through the air in a heavier than-air machine. But the force of gravitation is acting upon him during every moment of his flight. Material things differ in their specific gravity, in their power to reflect rays of light, or to absorb or transmit heat. They differ also in their chem ical qualities. Niter, charcoal, and saltpeter, combined in cer tain proportions, form an explosive. Other proportions give other results. Solids combine to form gases and liquids unite to form solids, and these qualities and reactions of material things are for men ultimate truths of chemistry. Sunshine 22 acts on living bodies, whether plant, animal, or man, in certain ways. Some plants are nourishing food for animals, others are poisonous. If man were not living on the earth, things would, so far as we can conclude, have the same physical and chemical qualities, and mechanical laws would be the same as at present. They are not governed by the will of man. Man
can, however—and does—slowly learn the nature of things, and as he does so he makes choices among them, uses them for his purposes, combines, separates, and adapts them so that he may better bring about the results he desires. The fitness of things for accomplishing man's desires is what makes them objects of choice.
§ 2. Free goods and economic goods. We have already seen that some things, even such as are indispensable to exist ence, may yet, because of their abundance, fail to be objects of desire and of choice. Such things are called free goods. They have no value in the sense in which the economist uses that term. Free goods are things which exist in superfluity; that is, in quantities sufficient not only to gratify but also to satisfy all the desires which may depend upon them. The air about us is ordinarily a good of this kind. Water, too, tho in certain places and at certain times where it is scarce it takes on a value, is in many places so abundant that it falls in the category of free goods. The same is true at certain times and places of firewood, fruits, and other things, when there chances to be a surplus, relativd to the desires of men. In such cases both the portions which are used and the other portions are without value—are free goods.
There is always something puzzling about this as one begins to think about it. It seems unreasonable to say that diamonds, laces, cigarettes, have value, and air and water have not. But the explanation is simple. Tho we must have air to live, and tho every breath we draw is to supply this need, our attention need not ordinarily be given to the matter of the supply of air at all. So long as it is present in abundance, the desire for it has no chance to rise to noticeable intensity, and remains constantly at the zero point. Men do not con cern themselves about that which they have in superfluity— unless indeed the excess causes them some discomfort. It is well that they do not, for a wise direction of effort can take place only when men think mainly of the things that are lack ing and direct their efforts toward securing them.