7. Intangible have been considering thus far only the producers of tangible goods, that is, economic goods. How about the producers of intan gible utility? Is there such a thing as an intangible utility, one not embodied in a material commodity? If not, we certainly carmot call lawyers, doctors, teachers, preachers, actors and artists producers un less we can show that their services are somehow helpful in the production of material goods. This can easily be done, as the reader will see later in this volume, in the case of bankers, teachers and physi cians, and a pretty strong argument could be made in the preachers' favor, but we will not stop now to dis cuss this phase of the question.
From the economic point of view all these classes of men are producers of utility, for their services give positive satisfaction to the persons from whom they get their income. When you are sick the services of a physician possess greater utility to you than almost any material good. When you are well and have the means and necessary leisure, you may wish to hear Caruso sing or see Sarah Bernhardt on the stage. One artist thru the ear, the other thru the eye as well, appeals to your msthetic sense and gives you greater satisfaction than you could possibly get from a farmer's potatoes and cabbages. To many devout people the services of the clergyman possess greater utility than the services of any other single class of workers; they would gladly turn farmers and produce their own food and clothino. rather than see the church disappear.
We may sum up, then, as follows: In an economic sense every man or woman is a producer whose labor tends to the gratification of human wants or to the increase of utilities, whether thru a service which increases the supply of economic goods or thru a service which in itself gives pleasure to the consumer.
8. The consume a utility when we get pleasure or gratification from it. In many cases the consumption of a utility means the destruction of the commodity in which it is embodied. This is true of all kinds of food and beverages, as is illustrated in the old adage, "We cannot eat our cake and have it too." In the case of clothing the period of consump tion is much longer, depending upon the habits and occupation of the wearer. Many people consume a straw hat in one summer, yet a certain city editor in Chicago was distinguished, among other things, be cause of his attachment to an old straw hat, which he wore for twenty summers and constantly in the office during the winter months.
A period of consumption is popularly known as the "life" of the commodity. In New York City, for instance, the life of a house is commonly estimated at twenty years, it being assumed that its utility in its existing form will disappear at the end of that period and that a new house will be wanted on the site. The life of a steel rail depends upon the amount of traffic hauled over it. The life of a book depends upon the care given _it and the charm of its content. We con sume an oil painting when we get pleasure from con templating it. The life of the canvas depends upon the care given it. Marbles and bronzes, humanly speaking, last forever. They may be daily consumed but never destroyed.
9. exposition is necessary to make the reader understand the necessity for the exchange of economic goods. Nothing in business is more obvious than the fact that few people produce the goods which they consume. At the present time nearly every man is a specialist. In the production of some articles the labor of thouSands of men is em ployed; each receives his compensation in the form of money and then buys the articles which he desires to consume. Thus exchange has become the most con spicuous feature of our modern civilization. Nearly all producers expect to market their product.
10. is fair to assume that in prehistoric times, as is the case today in some savage tribes, there was little division of labor, each family being able to produce enough to satisfy its own needs. The first exchange was doubtless in the form of barter, a fortu nate fisherman being perhaps glad to give up part of his catch in return for berries and goat's milk. This exchange of goods for goods is known as barter and is obviously awkward and inconvenient.
until money appeared was it pos sible for men to specialize in their labor and to begin the development of an exchange civilization, each man devoting himself to the task which gave him the great est pleasure or in which he was most proficient. Money is the medium which made this advance pos sible. It is a thing wanted not for itself but because with it one can .buy -what one wants. In a sense it may be called a. third commodity, standing between the thing we have and wish to sell and the thing we wish to get in exchange.