the vested interests and the common man-第13节
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case of land and similar natural resources; by the fluctuation of
rental values。 Land and other resources will be more valuable the
more suitable they are for present and prospective use。 The like
is true for the mechanical equipment; perhaps in a more
pronounced degree。 Industrial plant; e。g。; is always liable to
depreciation by obsolescence in case the state of the industrial
arts changes in such a way that the method of work embodied in
the particular article of equipment is displaced by new and more
suitable methods; more suitable under the altered circumstances。
In such a case; which is of very frequent occurrence under the
new order of industry; any given plant; machine; or similar
contrivance may lose all its value as a means of production。 And
so also; on the other hand; a given plant; as; for instance; a
given railway system or dock; may acquire additional productive
value through changes in the industrial system which make it more
suitable for present use。
Evidently the chief; or at least the indispensable; element
of productive efficiency in any item of industrial equipment or
resources is the use which it makes of the available
technological knowledge; and evidently; too; its earning…capacity
as a productive factor depends strictly on the same fact; the
usufruct of the state of the industrial arts。 And all the while
the state of the industrial arts; which the industrial equipment
so turns to account for the benefit of its owner; continues to be
a joint stock of industrial knowledge and proficiency
accumulated; held; exercised; increased and transmitted by the
community at large; and all the while the owner of the equipment
is some person who has contributed no more than his per…capita
quota to this state of the industrial arts out of which his
earnings arise。 Indeed the chances are that the owner has
contributed less than his per…capita quota; if anything; to that
common fund of knowledge on the product of which he draws by
virtue of his ownership; because he is likely to be fully
occupied with other things; such things as lucrative business
transactions; e。g。; or the decent consumption of superfluities。
And at this point the difference between tangible assets and
intangible comes in sight; or at least the ground of the habitual
distinction between the two。 Tangible assets; it appears; are
such assets as represent the earning…capacity of any mechanically
productive property; whereas intangible assets represent assured
income which can not be assigned to any specific material factor
as its productive source。 Intangible assets are the capitalised
value of income not otherwise accounted for。 Such income arises
out of business relations rather than out of industry; it is
derived from advantages of salesmanship; rather than from
productive work; it represents no contribution to the output of
goods and services; but only an effectual claim to a share in the
〃annual dividend;〃 on grounds which appear to be legally
honest; but which can not be stated in terms of mechanical cause
and effect; or of productive efficiency; or indeed in any terms
that involve notions of physical dimensions or of mechanical
action。
When the theoreticians explain and justify these returns that
go to adroit salesmanship; or 〃managerial ability;〃 as it is also
called; it invariably turns but that the grounds assigned for it
are of the nature of figures of speech metaphor or analogy。
Not that these standard theoretical explanations are to be set
aside as faulty; inadequate or incomplete; their great volume and
sincerity forbids that。 It is rather that they are to be accepted
as a faithful account of an insubstantial fact in insubstantial
terms。 And they are probably as good an account of the equitable
distribution of free income as the principles of the modern point
of view will tolerate。
But while intangible assets represent income which accrues
out of certain immaterial relations between their owners and the
industrial system; and while this income is accordingly not a
return for mechanically productive work done; it still remains
true; of course; that such income is drawn from the annual
product of industry; and that its productive source is therefore
the same as that of the returns on tangible assets。 The material
source of both is the same; and it is only that the basis on
which the income is claimed is not the same for both。 It is not a
difference in respect of the ways and means by which they are
created; but only in respect of the ways and means by which these
two classes of income are intercepted and secured by the
beneficiaries to whom they accrue。 The returns on tangible assets
are assumed to be a return for the productive use of the plant;
returns on intangible assets are a return for the exercise of
certain immaterial relations involved in the ownership and
control of industry and trade。
Best known by name among intangible assets is the ancient
rubric of 〃good…will;〃 technically so called; which has stood
over from before the coming of the new order in business
enterprise。 This has long been considered the original type…form
of intangible assets as a class。 By ancient usage the term
denotes a customary preferential advantage in trade; it is not
designed to describe a body of benevolent sentiments。 Good…will
has long been known; discussed and allowed for as a legitimate;
ordinary and valuable immaterial possession of men engaged in
mercantile enterprise of all kinds。 It has been held to be a
product of exemplary courtesy and fair dealing with customers;
due to turning out goods or services of an invariably sound
quality and honest measure; and indeed due to the conspicuous
practice of the ordinary Christian virtues; but chiefly to common
honesty。 Similarly valuable; and of a similarly immaterial
nature; is the possession of a trade…secret; a trade…mark; a
patent…right; a franchise; any statutory monopoly; or a monopoly
secured by effectually cornering the supply or the market for any
given line of goods or services。 From any one of these a
profitable advantage may be derived; and they have therefore a
market value。 They afford their possessor a preferential gain; as
against his competitors or as against the general body of
customers which the state of the industrial arts and the
organisation of business throws in his way。 After the analogy of
good…will; it has been usual to trace any such special run of
free income to the profitable use of a special advantage in the
market; which is then appraised as a valuable means of gain and
comes to figure as an asset of its possessor。 But all this goes
to explain how these benefits go to these beneficiaries; it does
not account for the fact that there is produced a net output of
product available for free distribution to these persons。
These supernumerary and preferential gains; 〃excess profits;〃
or whatever words may best describe this class of free income;
may be well deserved by these beneficiaries; or they may not。 The
income in question is; in any case; not created by the good
deserts of the beneficiaries; however meritorious their conduct
may be。 Honesty may conceivably be the best policy in mercantile
pursuits; and it may also greatly serve the convenience of any
community in which an honest merchant is found; yet honest
dealing; strictly speaking; is an agency of conservation rather
than of creation。 A trade…secret may also be profitable to the
concern which has the use of it; and the special process which it
covers may be especially productive; but the same article of
technological knowledge would doubtless contribute more to the
total productivity of industry if it were shared freely by the
industrial community at large。 Such technological knowledge is an
agency of production; but it is the monopoly of it that is
profitable to its possessor as a special source of gain。 The like
applies to patent…rights; of course。 Whereas monopolies of the
usual kind; which control any given line of industry by charter;
conspiracy; or combination of ownership; derive their special
gains from their ability to restrain trade; limit the output of
goods or services; and so 〃maintain prices。〃
Intangible assets of this familiar kind are very common among
the business concerns of the new order; particularly among the
larger and more prosperous of them; and they afford a rough
measure of the ability of these concerns profitably to restrict
production。 The very large aggregate value of such assets
indicates how imperative it is for the conduct of industrial
business under the new order to restrict output within reasonable
limits; and at the same time how profitable it is to be able to
prevent the excessively high productive capacity of modern
industry from outrunning the needs of profitable business。 For
the prosperity of business it is necessary to keep the output
within reasonable limits; that is to say; within such limits as
will serve to maintain reasonably profitable prices; that is to
say; such pric