Milford chronicle., 1921-06-10
CAPITAL PLUS LABOR

In one of his public addresses
many years ago Colonel Robert G. In
gersoll, in his day a noted public
speaker, emphasized the Importance
of labor by pointing out the fact that
a ton of iron in the ground was worth
about twenty-five cents, while in the
form of steel rails it was worth thir-
ty dollars. Prices and values have
changed somewhat since then but the
relation of raw material and it's fin
ished product remains about the same
Labor transforms a raw material
worth only few cents into finished
product worth as many dollars.
1t would be a mistake to assert OF
] assume, however, that labor alone
has transformed the relatively unim-
pOrtant raw material into the highly
valued finished product. No labOrer
no group of labOrers, could go out
with the implements at hand and dig
out a ton of iron from the hillside and
transform it into steel rail which
could be sold at a profit at the price
at which, steel rails sell today. AT
every stage of the process there is a
necessary organization, an accumula-
ton of tools and equipment, means
for Transporting and handling the ma
terials in an extensive way, so that
the unit cost of production may be rel
atively small. There must be tunnels
and shafts and tracks and motor
equipment for moving the ore in the
mines. There must be smelters and
steel mills. There must be the organ
izatiOn for transacting the business,
employing men, paying wages and
finding markets for the output. All
this can not be done by labor alone.
1t must be done by men who have
heretofore labOred and saved their
money, investing the savings in enter
prises which, by means of improved
processes and more efficient methods,
are able to make larger profits which
can be again invested until there has
been built up an establishment such
as the steel mills as we know them to-
day.
The laborer who has been content
to merely dig ore out of the ground,
or transport that ore to a smelter, or
feed fuel into the furnace, or tend a
gigantic machine in the steel mill,
has performed an essential part in
transforming the raw material into
the finished product. But if this is
all he has done he has been, rela-
lively unimportant factor in making
possible the immense production
which is the marvel of the twentieth
century. The man who has really
been effective in bringing about the
highly efficient system that now ex-
ie4e ie Tnyhn hnc
than his own routine wOrk-the man
who has discovered better methods,
who has devised new processes, who
has invented better appliances by
means of which production can be in
creased and cost of production de-
creased.
Moreover, men engaged either in
the steel industry or any other indus
try who have been content to earn
and spend daily wage have contri-
buted relatively little to the gigantic
enterprises which make the United
States the greatest producing nation
in the world. The men who have real
ly counted have been those who saw
ed something from their earnings and
have made those savings the means
for the employment of Others-risk-
ing their savings on their knowledge
and judgment concerning production
and sale of commodities.
Under primitive conditions individ-
uals may possibly live by their per-
sonal effort alone, but in the compli-
Gated system of our present social or
ganizatiOnr the capitalist-the man
who has saved part of his earnings
is no less important than the labOrer. |
1t is capital as well as labor that |
twenty-five cents worth of |
raw material into thirty dollars worth
Of finished product.