Elements of Economics

me refined. Food and drink must be clean and attractively served. Clothing and shelter must be pleasing to the eye. Cultural Wants.?Every advance in civilization has brought new wants. An ability to read develops into a desire to read and appreciate the best literature, not only in one language but in several. A love of music, once satisfied by the beating of tom-toms or a jazz band, becomes a love for symphony concerts, or other forms of music which are really music to a cultured taste. A multitude of wants arise, such as travel, study, art, and social service. Fortunately these wants can in many cases be supplied even to those whose wealth is very limited, and culture does not always vary directly with a person's increase in wealth. It is a well-known fact that in the great opera-houses, the poor man in the gallery often more keenly enjoys the performance of a grand opera than does the occupant of an orchestra seat. The want of religious consolation, present in an elementary way in a savage, becomes to many persons of refinement, a most importantwant, and for its satisfaction vast sums of money are expended. As old wants are satisfied, new ones appear. Were this not the case, life would hardly be worth the living. We no sooner, for example, learn the use of a rowboat, than we want a sailboat, then a motor-boat. Seeing others receiving pleasure incites us to desire to imitate them. It was a brave man who ate the first raw oyster, but he gave indications of en...