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the vested interests and the common man-第14节

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within reasonable limits; that is to say; within such limits as 
will serve to maintain reasonably profitable prices; that is to 
say; such prices as will yield the largest obtainable net return 
to the concerns engaged in the business。 In this connection; and 
under the existing conditions of investment and credit; 
〃reasonable returns〃 means the same thing as 〃the largest 
practicable net returns。〃 It all foots up to an application of 
the familiar principle of 〃charging what the traffic will bear〃; 
for in the matter of profitable business there is no reasonable 
limit short of the maximum。 In business; the best price is always 
good enough; but; so also; nothing short of the best price is 
good enough。 Buy cheap and sell dear。 
    Intangibles of this kind; which represent a 〃conscientious 
withdrawal of efficiency;〃 an effectual control of the rate or 
volume of output; are altogether the most common of immaterial 
assets; and they make up altogether the largest class of 
intangibles and the most considerable body of immaterial wealth 
owned。 Land values are of much the same nature as these corporate 
assets which represent capitalised restriction of output; in that 
the land values; too; rest mostly on the owner's ability to 
withhold his property from productive use; and so to drive a 
profitable bargain。 Rent is also a case of charging what the 
traffic will bear; and rental values should properly be classed 
with these intangible assets of the larger corporations; which 
are due to their effectual control of the rate and volume of 
production。 And apart from the rental values of land; which are 
also in the nature of monopoly values; it is doubtful if the 
total material wealth in any of the civilised countries will 
nearly equal the total amount of this immaterial wealth that is 
owned by the country's business men and the investors for whom 
they do business。 Which evidently comes to much the same as 
saying that something more than one…half of the net product of 
the country's industry goes to those persons in whom the existing 
state of law and custom vests a plenary power to hinder 
production。 
    It is doubtful if the total of this immaterial wealth exceeds 
the total material wealth in the advanced industrial countries; 
although it is at least highly probable that such is the case; 
particularly in the richer and more enlightened of these 
countries; as; e。 g。; in America or the United Kingdom; where the 
principles of self…help and free bargain have consistently had 
the benefit of a liberal  that is a broad  construction and 
an unbending application。 The evidence in the case is not to be 
had in such unambiguous shape as to carry conviction; for the 
distinction between tangible assets and intangible is not 
consistently maintained or made a matter of record。 So; e。g。; it 
is not unusual to find that corporation bonds  railroad or 
industrial  which secure their owner a free income and are 
carried as an overhead charge by the corporation; are at the same 
time a lien on the corporation's real property; which in turn is 
likely to be of less value than the corporation's total 
liabilities。 Evidently the case is sufficiently confusing; 
considered as a problem in the economic theory of capital; but it 
offers no particular difficulty when considered as a proposition 
in corporation finance。 
    There is another curious question that will also have to be 
left as a moot question; in the absence of more specific 
information than that which is yet available; more a question of 
idle curiosity; perhaps; than of substantial consequence。 How 
nearly is it likely that the total gains which accrue to these 
prosperous business concerns and their investors from their 
conscientious withdrawal of efficiency will equal the total loss 
suffered by the community as a whole from the incidental 
reduction of the output? Net production is kept down in order to 
get a profitable price for the output; but it is not certain 
whether the net production has to be lowered by as much or more 
than the resulting increased gain which this businesslike 
strategy brings to the businesslike strategists。 The strategic 
curtailment of net production below productive capacity is net 
loss to the community as a whole; including both the business men 
and their customers; the gains which go to these business 
concerns in this way are net loss to the community as a whole; 
exclusive of the business concerns and their investors。 The 
resulting question is; therefore; not whether the rest of the 
community loses as much as the business men gain;  that goes 
without saying; since the gains of the business men in the case 
are paid over to them by the rest of the community in the 
enhanced (or maintained) price of the products; but rather it is 
a question whether the rest of the community; the common man; 
loses twice as much as the business concerns and their investors 
gain。 
    The whole case has some analogy with the phenomena of 
blackmail; ransom; and any similar enterprise that aims to get 
something for nothing; although it is carefully to be noted that 
its analogy with these illegitimate forms of gainful enterprise 
must; of course; not be taken to cast any shadow of suspicion on 
the legitimacy of all the businesslike sabotage that underlies 
this immaterial corporate capital and its earning…capacity。 In 
the case of blackmail; ransom; and such like illegal traffic in 
extortion; it is known that the net loss suffered by the loser 
and the gainer together exceeds the net gain which accrues to the 
beneficiary; by as much as the cost of enforcement plus the 
incidental inconvenience to both parties to the transaction。 At 
the same time; the beneficiary's subsequent employment and 
consumption of his 〃ill…gotten gains;〃 as they are sometimes 
called; whether he consumes them in riotous living or in the 
further pursuit of the same profitable line of traffic;  all 
this; it is believed; does not in any degree benefit the rest of 
the community。 As seen in the perspective of the common good; 
such enterprise in extortion is believed to be quite wastefully 
disserviceable。 
    Now; this analogy may be taken for what it is worth; 
〃Analogies do not run on all…fours。〃 But when seen in the same 
perspective; the question of loss and gain involved in the case 
of these intangible assets and their earning…capacity falls into 
something like this shape: Does the total net loss suffered by 
the community at large; exclusive of the owners of these 
intangibles; exceed two…hundred percent of the returns which go 
to these owners? or; Do these intangibles cost the community more 
than twice what they are worth to the owners?  the loss to the 
community being represented by the sum of the overhead burden 
carried on account of these intangibles plus the necessary 
curtailment of production involved in maintaining profitable 
prices。 The overhead burden is paid out of the net annual 
production; after the net annual production has been reduced by 
so much as may be necessary to 〃maintain prices at a reasonably 
profitable figure。〃 
    A few years ago any ordinarily observant person would 
doubtless have answered this question in the negative; probably 
without hesitation。 So also; any ordinarily intelligent votary of 
the established order; as; e。g。; a corporation lawyer; a 
commercial trade journal; or a trade…union official; would 
doubtless; at that period; have talked down such a question out 
of hand; as being fantastically preposterous。 That would have 
been before the war experience began to throw light into the dark 
places of business enterprise as conducted under the new order of 
industry。 Today (October; 1918)  it is to be admitted with such 
emotion as may come to hand  this question is one which can be 
entertained quite seriously; in the light of experience。 In the 
recent past; as matters have stood up to the outbreak of the war; 
the ordinary rate of production in the essential industries under 
businesslike management has habitually and by deliberate 
contrivance fallen greatly short of productive capacity。 This is 
an article of information which the experience of the war has 
shifted from the rubric of 〃Interesting if True〃 to that of 
〃Common Notoriety。〃 
    The question as to how much this 〃incapacity by advisement〃 
has commonly amounted to may be attempted somewhat after this 
fashion。 Today; under compulsion of patriotic devotion; fear; 
shame and bitter need; and under the unprecedentedly shrewd 
surveillance of public officers bent on maximum production; the 
great essential industries controlled by the vested interests 
may; one with another; be considered to approach  perhaps even 
conceivably to exceed  a fifty…percent efficiency; as counted 
on the basis of what should ordinarily be accomplished by use of 
an equally costly equipment having the disposal of an equally 
large and efficient labor force and equally good natural 
resources; in case the organisation were designed and managed 
with an eye single to turning out a serviceable product; instead 
of; as usual; being manage

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