along.

67. NATURE OF MODERN PRODUCTION.--In the study of modern production
two fundamental facts confront us. The first is that the economist
does not define production as merely the making of material objects.
We desire material objects only if they will satisfy our wants. Since,
also, the satisfaction of wants is the important thing, it is clear
that the performance of a service, such as teaching or painting, may
be more important than the manufacture of a material object which no
one wants. Production may thus be defined as the satisfaction of human
wants. The manufacturer of a material object is productive only if
that object is wanted by someone; he who supplies personal or
professional service is productive if that service satisfies the wants
of someone.

The second fundamental fact which confronts the student of modern
production is the complexity of our industrial system. Three hundred
years ago most of the commodities in daily use were made, either in
the home and by the family members, or by small groups of artisans
working together under relatively simple conditions. To-day production
is a vast and complicated process. To the eye of the untrained
observer a great mass of factories, farms, railroads, mills, machines,
ships, and busy laborers appears without order and, often, without
purpose. The task immediately before us is to analyze this mass, and
to point out the nature of the various factors which contribute to the
productive power of a community.

68. NATURE A FIRST FACTOR IN PRODUCTION.--Nature is defined by the
economist as inclusive of all of the materials and forces furnished in
the form of land and its products, oceans, lakes, rivers, rain,