THE “MIRACLE” THAT HAS PROVIDED THESE BLESSINGS
[…] let us recount some of the blessings which our widespread freedom has placed within our hands. Take the average […] family for example (meaning, the family of average income) and sum up the benefits available to every member of the family, in this land of OPPORTUNITY and plenty!
a. FOOD. Next to freedom of thought and deed comes FOOD, CLOTHING, and SHELTER, the three basic necessities of life. Because of our universal freedom the average […] family has available, at its very door, the choicest selection of food to be found anywhere in the world, and at prices within its financial range.
A family of two, living […] far
removed from the source of production of foods, took careful inventory of the cost
of a simple breakfast, with this astonishing result:
Articles of food;
Cost at the breakfast table:
Grape Fruit Juice, (From [remote location])
Rippled Wheat Breakfast food ([…] Farm).
Tea (From China)
Bananas (From South America)
Toasted Bread (From […] Farm)
Fresh Country Eggs (From [remote location])
Sugar (From Cuba)
Butter and Cream (From New England)
Grand total … 20$
It is not very difficult to obtain FOOD in a country where two people can have
breakfast consisting of all they want or need for a dime apiece! Observe that this
simple breakfast was gathered, by some strange form of magic (?) from China,
South America, [and the USA] States, and delivered on the breakfast table, ready for consumption, in the very heart of the most crowded city […], at a cost well within the means of the most humble laborer.
The cost included all federal, state and city taxes! (Here is a fact the politicians did not mention when they were crying out to the voters to throw their opponents out of office because the people were being taxed to death).
b. SHELTER. This family lives in a comfortable apartment, heated by steam,
lighted with electricity, with gas for cooking, all for $65.00 a month. In a smaller
city, or a more sparsely settled part of [the] city, the same apartment could
be had for as low as $20.00 a month.
The toast they had for breakfast in the food estimate was toasted on an electric toaster, which cost but a few dollars, the apartment is cleaned with a vacuum sweeper that is run by electricity. Hot and cold water is available, at all times, in the kitchen and the bathroom. The food is kept cool in a refrigerator that is run
by electricity. The wife curls her hair, washes her clothes and irons them with easily operated electrical equipment, on power obtained by sticking a plug in the wall. The husband shaves with an electric shaver, and they receive entertainment from all over the world, twenty four hours a day, if they want it, without cost, by merely turning the dial of their radio. There are other conveniences in this apartment, but the foregoing list will give a fair idea of some of the concrete evidences of the freedom we […], enjoy. (And this is neither political nor economic propaganda).
c. CLOTHING. Anywhere in the United States, the woman of average clothing requirements can dress very comfortably and neatly for less than $200.00 a year, and the average man can dress for the same, or less.
Only the three basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter have been mentioned. The average […] citizen has other privileges and advantages available in return for modest effort, not exceeding eight hours per day of labor. Among these is the privilege of automobile transportation, with which one can go and come at will, at very small cost.
The average [person] has security of property rights […] He can place his surplus money in a bank with the assurance that his government will protect it, and make good to him if the bank fails. If an […] citizen wants to travel from one state to another he needs no passport,
no one’s permission. He may go when he pleases, and return at will. Moreover, he
may travel by train, private automobile, bus, airplane, or ship, as his pocketbook
permits. […]
THE “MIRACLE” THAT HAS PROVIDED THESE BLESSINGS
We often hear politicians proclaiming the freedom […], when they solicit
votes, but seldom do they take the time or devote sufficient effort to the analysis of the source or nature of this “freedom.” Having no axe to grind, no grudge to express, no ulterior motives to be carried out, I have the privilege of going into a frank analysis of that mysterious, abstract, greatly misunderstood “SOMETHING” which gives to every citizen […] more blessings, more opportunities to accumulate wealth, more freedom of every nature […]
I have the right to analyze the source and nature of this UNSEEN POWER, because I know, and have known for more than a quarter of a century, many of the men who organized that power, and many who are now responsible for its maintenance. The name of this mysterious benefactor of mankind is CAPITAL!
CAPITAL consists not alone of money, but more particularly of highly organized,
intelligent groups of men who plan ways and means of using money efficiently for
the good of the public, and profitably to themselves. These groups consist of sci-
entists, educators, chemists, inventors, business analysts, publicity men, trans-
portation experts, accountants, lawyers, doctors, and both men and women who
have highly specialized knowledge in all fields of industry and business.
They pioneer, experiment, and blaze trails in new fields of endeavor. They support colleges, hospitals, public schools, build good roads, publish newspapers, pay most of the cost of government, and take care of the multitudinous detail essential to human progress.
Stated briefly, the capitalists are the brains of civilization, because they supply the entire fabric of which all education, enlightenment and human progress consists.
Money, without brains, always is dangerous. Properly used, it is the most important essential of civilization. The simple breakfast here described could not have been delivered to the […] family at a dime each, or at any other price, if organized capital had not provided the machinery, the ships, the railroads, and the huge armies of trained men to operate them.
Some slight idea of the importance of ORGANIZED CAPITAL may be had by trying to imagine yourself burdened with the responsibility of collecting, without the
aid of capital, and delivering to the […] family, the simple breakfast described.
To supply the tea, you would have to make a trip to China or India, both a very long way […]. Unless you are an excellent swimmer, you would become rather tired before making the round trip. Then, too, another problem would confront you.
What would you use for money, even if you had the physical endurance to swim the ocean?
To supply the sugar, you would have to take another long swim to Cuba, or a long walk to the sugar beet section of Utah. But even then, you might come back without the sugar, because organized effort and money are necessary to produce sugar, to say nothing of what is required to refine, transport, and deliver it to the breakfast table anywhere in the [World].
The eggs, you could deliver easily enough from the barn yards near [the city], but you would have a very long walk to [remote city] and return, before you could serve the two glasses of grapefruit juice. You would have another long walk, to [another city], or one of the other wheat growing states, when you went after the four slices of wheat bread.
The Rippled Wheat Biscuits would have to be omitted from the menu, because they would not be available except through the labor of a trained organization of men and suitable machinery, ALL OF WHICH CALL FOR CAPITAL.
While resting, you could take off for another little swim down to South America, where you would pick up a couple of bananas, and on your return, you could take a short walk to the nearest farm having a dairy and pick up some butter and cream. Then your […] family would be ready to sit down and enjoy breakfast, and you could collect your two dimes for your labor!
Seems absurd, doesn’t it? Well, the procedure described would be the only possible way these simple items of food could be delivered to the heart of [a city], if we had no capitalistic system.
The sum of money required for the building and maintenance of the railroads and
steam ships used in the delivery of that simple breakfast is so huge that it staggers
one’s imagination. It runs into hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention the armies of trained employees required to man the ships and trains. But, transportation is only a part of the requirements of modern civilization in capitalistic [world]. Before there can be anything to haul, something must be grown from the ground, or manufactured and prepared for market. This calls for more millions of dollars for equipment, machinery, boxing, marketing, and for the wages
of millions of men and women.
Steam ships and railroads do not spring up from the earth and function automatically. They come in response to the call of civilization, through the labor and ingenuity and organizing ability of men who have IMAGINATION, FAITH, ENTHUSIASM, DECISION, PERSISTENCE! These men are known as capitalists. They are motivated by the desire to build, construct, achieve, render useful service, earn profits and accumulate riches. And, because they RENDER SERVICE
WITHOUT WHICH THERE WOULD BE NO CIVILIZATION, they put themselves in the way of great riches.
Just to keep the record simple and understandable, I will add that these capitalists are the self-same men of whom most of us have heard soap-box orators
speak. They are the same men to whom radicals, racketeers, dishonest politicians
and grafting labor leaders refer as “the predatory interests,” or “Wall Street.”
I am not attempting to present a brief for or against any group of men or any system of economics. I am not attempting to condemn collective bargaining when I refer to “grafting labor leaders,” nor do I aim to give a clean bill of health to all individuals known as capitalists.
The purpose of this. […] A purpose to which I have faithfully devoted over a quarter of a century — is to present to all who want the knowledge […]
Based upon [1] Hill, Think and Grow Rich, 1937, The Ralston Society
