They did. And so does anyone else that converts the sweat of their brow into something of value. (wealth)
The entity in the above graph that does NOT create any wealth, is in fact...government.
That's true, and neither does religion and this is the way we want it because we need all three --commerce, government, and religion-- respectively, for creating wealth, for maintaining sovereign order, and for a giving us standard of good to leading our lives. We sure don't want the best police force money can buy, we don't want the church to pass laws for the entire population, and only a fool says he's found inner meaning is willing to live his life for either his bank accounts or his party chairman.