“Man’s right of seeing the future,” says Mr. Edward Denison, “which is conferred on him by reason, has attached to it the duty of providing for that future; and our language bears witness to this truth by using, as expressive of active precaution against future want, a word which in its radical meaning implies only a passive foreknowledge of the same.  Whenever we speak of the virtue of providence, we assume that forewarned is fore-armed, To know the future is no virtue, but it is the greatest of virtues to prepare for it."[1]

[Footnote 1:  Letters of the late Edward Denison. p. 240.]

But a large proportion of men do not provide for the future.  They do not remember the past.  They think only of the present.  They preserve nothing.  They spend all that they earn.  They do not provide for themselves:  they do not provide for their families.  They may make high wages, but eat and drink the whole of what they earn.  Such people are constantly poor, and hanging on the verge of destitution.

It is the same with nations.  The nations which consume all that they produce, without leaving a store for future production, have no capital.  Like thriftless individuals, they live from hand to mouth, and are always poor and miserable.  Nations that have no capital, have no commerce.  They have no accumulations to dispose of; hence they have no ships, no sailors, no docks, no harbours, no canals, and no railways.  Thrifty industry lies at the root of the civilization of the world.

Look at Spain.  There, the richest soil is the least productive.  Along the banks of the Guadalquiver, where once twelve thousand villages existed, there are now not eight hundred; and they are full of beggars.  A Spanish proverb says, “El cielo y suelo es bueno, el entresuelo malo”—­The sky is good, the earth is good; that only is bad which lies between the sky and the earth.  Continuous effort, or patient labour, is for the Spaniard an insupportable thing.  Half through indolence, half through pride, he cannot bend to work.  A Spaniard will blush to work; he will not blush to beg![2]

[Footnote 2:  EUGENE POITOU—­Spain and its People. pp. 184—­188.]

It is in this way that society mainly consists of two classes—­the savers and the wasters, the provident and the improvident, the thrifty and the thriftless, the Haves and the Have-nots.  The men who economize by means of labour become the owners of capital which sets other labour in motion.  Capital accumulates in their hands, and they employ other labourers to work for them.  Thus trade and commerce begin.

The thrifty build houses, warehouses, and mills.  They fit manufactories with tools and machines.  They build ships, and send them to various parts of the world.  They put their capital together, and build railroads, harbours, and docks.  They open up mines of coal, iron, and copper; and erect pumping engines to keep them clear of water.  They employ labourers to work the mines, and thus give rise to an immense amount of employment.