Are all natural resources used fully?
No. In reality, in every known period of history, large areas of arable land are unused; held as game preserves, forests, or idle and uncultivated tracts by private owners; closed to possible exploitation by the thousands in need of food. Wherever these conditions prevail men cannot claim nature miserly; must realize instead that man-made laws restrict full production of food. 3. Are there other man-made handicaps to full production? Yes. Unjust laws restricting exchange and production, or forceful levying of heavy tolls on producers are evident in many countries. China’s endless history of robber bands seizing peasants’ crops each harvest is one instance; Ireland exporting food to pay absentee landlords during her famine is another. Destructive warfare, involving scorched earth policies and slaughtering of livestock, caused millions to starve in past wars. Crushing taxes keep laborers poor and prevent them from accumulating capital to aid in production. These reasons keep “backward” c
