CHAPTER VIII 
INCOME ACCOUNTS 
§1 
TaE income of our capital, then, is simply that which 
it does for us. Whether it brings us money or other return 
does not matter; the flow of its services is its income. 
These services of wealth, as was previously explained, con- 
sist of any desirable events which occur by means of that 
wealth or any undesirable events prevented. 
Services exist in infinite variety. All work done by 
human beings, all the operations of industry, all the trans- 
actions of commerce, are services, and enter into income 
accounts. A bird's-eye view of this busy planet would reveal 
wealth — real estate, commodities, and human beings, — 
ceaselessly at work performing services. Land, men, and 
implements are changing land, seed, and live stock into 
grain, beef, lumber, and steel. Manufacturing plants are 
converting raw materials into flour, furniture, cloth, and 
implements. In domestic establishments we find the serv- 
ices of cooking, warming, cleaning, and sheltering. Agri- 
culture, mining, transportation, and commerce are simply 
names that we give to the group of services performed by 
farm, mine, railroad, and business capital. 
A disservice is a negative service. It is an undesirable 
event occasioned, or a desirable one prevented, by means of 
an article of wealth. A flow of disservices or negative in- 
come is called outgo. It does not matter whether the outgo 
occasioned by an article consists in depriving the owner 
of money or in some other evil. If the outgo is in mone- 
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