The Washington times., 1934-12-12

buildings. Capital is, Cney SNOW,
necessary for production. We
consider capitalists to be all those
who provide such capital. Of any
are inhuman, they should be pun
ished, not because they are capt.
talists, but because they are bad
men,
When a government takes their
plant and equipment away from
capitalists, the government itself
becomes a capitalist. We cant
get along without capital, and
somebody must be capitalist"
~ when the workers have
built houses, are they not en-
titled to the full product Of
their labor?"
The answer is that workers can.
not build houses without capital,
and the house is the joint prod
uct of labor and capital. The
1aborers are entitled to the full
part which is the product of their
labor, and that should be their
wages.
When the Government, acting
as capitalist, orders laborers to
build a house, it furnishes them
with subsistence while they are
working, with materials, and with
the machinery and heavy tools
they need. So the building is not
the full product of labor.
The capital used, results from
saving. Unless someone saved the
money that pays for making the
materials and equipment, these
things could not exist.
And who would do this saving,
unless he received some compen.
Sation for it?
The Government is now taking
away peoples past savings
Through taxes and loans), but
that uses up our capital. It can't
60 on forever.
(3) Must the Government
not supply people with decent
living regardless of sound
money? Isn't money merely
medium of exchange?"
Money is much more than
medium of current exchanges. For
example, when man saves, he
usually saves money. Unless this
money has a stable value, he will
not save it, for he cannot know
what he is saving.
This is what economists mean
by saying that money should be
fit to serve as standard of de-
ferred payments Money must
bridge exchanges between the pres
ent and the future, which are
part of saving.
So sound money means money
which has a definite value which
borrowers and lenders can figure
out. and which is as stable as pos
sible. This requires convertibility
into a suitable standard, such as
gold.
No government can long afford
to supply citizens with a living if
it goes in for initiation. People are
entitled to as decent living as
they can earn by producing. If
they can't produce, they are en-
titled to as decent a subsistence
as other people can afford to pro-
vide for them. But if a govern
ment has to borrow and go into
debt, its ability to give is limited.
4. Would a government
building program not increase
the national wealth in proper.
ton to the number of new
hcuSeS?"
The answer is, no. Neither
houses nor any other things are
additions to our national wealth,
unless they afford an income in
excess of their cost. And there IS
no likelihood that housing pro-
grams would do this.
If we now have so much houS-
ing that it can't all be rented or
sold. there are two alternatives:
Cd Houses can be given away, and
owners or builders will lose as
much as others gain, or CD
houses (old or new will be empty
and afford no income.
Governments as we'll as individu'
ais have to count the cost. Things
which don't pay, do not add 10
wealth.
For the correct time telephone
the office of THE WASHING.