There is something
sacred about wages--they represent homes and families
and domestic destinies. People
ought to tread very carefully when
approaching wages. On the cost
sheet, wages are mere figures; out in the
world, wages are bread boxes
and coal bins, babies' cradles and
children's education--family
comforts and contentment.
On the other
hand, there is something just
as sacred about capital which is used to
provide the means by which
work can be made productive. Nobody is helped
if our industries are sucked
dry of their life-blood. There is something
just as sacred about a shop
that employs thousands of men as there is
about a home. The shop is the
mainstay of all the finer things which the
home represents. If we want
the home to be happy, we must contrive to
keep the shop busy. The whole
justification of the profits made by the
shop is that they are used to
make doubly secure the homes dependent on
that shop, and to create more
jobs for other men. If profits go to swell
a personal fortune, that is
one thing; if they go to provide a sounder
basis for business, better
working conditions, better wages, more
extended employment--that is
quite another thing. Capital thus employed
should not be carelessly
tampered with. It is for the service of all,
though it may be under the
direction of one.
Profits belong in three
places: they belong to the business--to keep it
steady, progressive, and
sound. They belong to the men who helped
produce them. And they belong
also, in part, to the public. A successful
business is profitable to all
three of these interests--planner,
producer, and purchaser.