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, consist
 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 transactions
 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 services
 of cooking, warming, cleaning, and sheltering. Agriculture,
 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 income
 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-119