TEN MINUTE TALKS WITH WORKERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1919, Page 11

TEN MINUTE TALKS WITH WORKERS.

, y.-THE FOUR FACTORS. Until Adam Smith published his "Wealth of Nations" in 1776, even wise men and prudent statesmen were the victims of dangerous fallacies when reasoning about national wealth and the means to secure it. Since money measures wealth, it came tq. be identified with it, which was much the aame as confusing yard-sticks with suits of clothes.

Again, the countries whete the precious metals abounded wer supposed t be thei'wealthiest countries. "They shall be my>East and West Indies," says old Jack Falstaff, "and I will trade to them both" You will remember that he got nothing but shame and confusion of face out of his trading, for he had wrongly estimated the Merry Wives of Windsor. Men made a similar mistake in dealing with the real Indies. They showered on their kings barbaric pearls and gold, but for all that were very poor countries because they were ill-supplied with the four factors of wealth production. i

Two of these factors must be there .before, any start can be made in the production of wealth. These original factors are: (1) The gifts of nature, land in particular, and (2) labor. The other two, (3) capital and (4) organisation, are the result of social life and growth. They were present, of course, in rudimentary forms soon after a start was made, but their decisive importance in relation to the other two came later. The land we live in is in all essentials the same England which bred the famous sea-dogs of Elizabeth's day. In size .and climate, in soil and rocks and minerals, it is unaltered and unalterable. If we were to plot out a piece of the Sahara of the same size and shape as our own country, how many of us would it support in comfort? Obviously not more than a few score, settled in the rare oases. So that the first requisite of wealth production is one which man does not create and cannot do much to control. In some lands "You tickle nature with a hoe and she smiles with a harvest" In others the severest toil only wrings a miserable pittance out ot i her niggardliness. The return in wealth which is given by the fixed and unalterable dowry of nature depends on the number and character of the people who use ov "exploit' this dowry.

Before white men went to what is now the United States, that country, though endowed perhaps more bountifully than any other, was poor indeed. The Red Indians had their virtues, but they were not the industrial virtues. When Britons emigrated to America, their training in industry enabled them ■to lay the foundations of the great America of to-day. , This is so clear as not to be disputable when taking a historical survey of the growth of industry in a modern country like our own. What is not so clear is that it still remains true. We can form a picture in our mind's eye of the Pilgrim Fathers winning their way by hard wrestling. Their task was no harder" than ours of to-day, when we have the colossal waste of the war to make good, and nothing but hard, conscientious, and intelligent work will do it.

CAPITAL AND ORGANISATION. Let us now consider the two original factors as fixed. We then have a given number of people exploiting a given extent of country. Their success in doing it will depend upon the two factors which have come into importance as society has developed. The first of these is capital, which is always spoken of as so much money. Even with respect to a given individual, this is only a sort of shorthand definition, and a Nation's money is one of the smallest and least important items in its capital. Our national capital is that stock of tools, machines, engines, buildings and transport agencies which we have got together to assist labor to turn nature's endowment to the best account. It rests entirely with ourselves to what extent this stock of capi- I tal shall grow. Until comparatively recent times the owner of capital was generally the person who applied it to industrial uses. As capital became more and more important, its successful application to industry came to require more and more skill, and consequently men who could organise businesses came to be of great account. The capitalist tends more and more to become a mer# shareholder, and the success of the company depends on how it is "run." All of us have opportunities of watching the factor of organisation at work, for of two "mills." with equally good workers and equal amounts of capital, one thrives while the other fails.

Because of certain special forms ] (trusts and kaTtels), organisation has attracted more attention a3 a factor of wealth-production in other countries than in our own. But it is here that, its greatest triumph has been won. for forty-five millions of us live in these little islands; and, taking us as a body, we do very well indeed, thanks to _ a good store of natural resources, exploited by skilful and industrious workers, using large accumulatfcns of canital, and directed by fine organising ability.