Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric
generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of
unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to
you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food
by means of nothing but physical motions—and you’ll learn that man’s mind is
the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed
on earth.
But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What
strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the
product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a
motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the
intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the
incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is
made—before it can be looted or mooched—made by the effort of every honest
man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he
can’t consume more than he has produced.