There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth: the first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors– this is robbery; the second by commerce, which is generally cheating; the third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man received a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.
Benjamin Franklin
[As a farm boy I would like to agree with this but times change and Mr. Franklin did not have perfect foresight of those changes.–Joe]
Proof that we live as imperfect men. Commerce is “cheating”? So, when I invent and manufacture products that serve the wants and needs of my fellow man, living my “innocent life” practicing my “virtuous industry” and using the Earth’s minerals “wrought by the hand of God in [my] favor”, I am thereby “cheating”?
I think not. Besides, one cannot “acquire wealth” from agriculture or any other honest means without engaging in shrewd commerce. That was as true in 1770 as it is today.
“The hand of God” may have set the stage, but it is man’s creative mind that generates wealth out of otherwise valueless materials or nonproductive land.