Page 2 Advertisements Column 6

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 516, 23 March 1920, Page 2

WHAT IS CAPITAL? All over the world the relati capital and labour aire being d ed with great heat, and more or intelligence; and there seems a * ous want of understanding of w is "capital" and what are the nal al and wholesome relations of cap and labour. The New York Oufl translates the whole theory of ci tal and labour into homely and pi tical terms with great effect, shoemaker is engaged in making < repairing shoes in a country villa What is necessary to enable him cany on his trade? First, he m live. And he must be able to supp his wife and children and to give children an education which will them for life as useful citizens. T is, he must secure for himself equivalent of a "living' wage." £ ond, he must own or hire a sh and the tools necessary for maki and mending shoes, and he must able out of the proceeds of his ba ness to keep his tools in good jrepi These are his capital, and this ca tal is absolutely necessary to ena! him to carry on his trade. When n chinery was inventaed and a shoe 1i tory took the place of a shoemaks shop, these functions continued to necessary. To carry on the facto there must be men to make t! shoes--that is workingmen, the must be machinery with which make the shoes and a building obh;h that machinery is houset 1 that is, capital; and when the sh are made there must be some men convey the shoes to the customer that is middlemen. To every indi try, whatever it is and however it carried on, these funcions are ini pensable; making the goods, housi and keeping in order the tools, a getting the goods, when made, tot would-be purchaser. These functio may be performed by the same Jjt son or by different persons. But nl must all be performed or the wo: cannot go on. Three farmers li side by side. All three gather thl hay in the summer, house and ca for their cows, and sell their mill All three are working men, and mu earn the equivalent of a living wai or they cannot permanently go 01 But one owns his farm and peddl his milk; he is a capitalist and mi dleman as well as working man. H second owns his farm, and sendshi milk to a creamery; he is a capita ist, but hires a man to distribute hi milk. The third hires his farm an sends his milk to a creamery; he i neither a capitalist, nor a middlemai but depends on one neighbour for hi capital and on another neighbour fo the distribution of his milk. "It i conceivable that a body of workini men might accumulate a fund suffi cient to buy the machinery necessarj for a successful shoe factory, ant j appoint some of their numbeM to sel the shoes which they make. In that case they would be capitalists atu the middlmen as well as the workingmen. It is conceivable that thr State might erect the factory, pro vide the machinery, and employ th workingmen to make the shoes am the middlemen to sell them. In thai case, the State would be the capitalist, and the middlemen would be .the employees of the State. But whether the industry is organised or individual, whether it is simple or complex, these three elements are essential: work, tools, distribution —that is, workers, capitalists, middlemen. And the labour problem, reduced to its simplest terms, is thus: How ought the products of organised in-1 dustry to be divided between these three groups, each of which is necessary to make it economically /profitable? It is contended, not wit.TOUt reason, that under the system which we have inherited from the past, the capitalists and the middlemen have had too large a share of the profits of their combined industry. If so then their share should be reduced and the share of the workingmen should be increased. But no light whaever is thrown on these u»obleroa by the proposals to abolish one of the groups. For it~~w... just as impossible for the worn to cany on the industry without someone to do the work of the workin gm in.

A Christchui.h retail diaryman recently came in conflict with the authorities for the third time, and was fined £SO for selling milk bolow the standard. Now the by-laws and finance committee of the Chrijtchurch City Council has cancelled his license to sell milk within the city.