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第13节

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

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