134 Materials and Their Handling 



wealthy, because he could exchange those pigs for 

 more clothing and for more of other things. 



Money is only the means by which we put this 

 wealth in convenient form, so that it can be moved 

 nbout in order to be easily invested in more pro- 

 duction. A dollar is like the ticket on a railroad. 

 If the railroad doesn't run, the ticket won't take 

 you where you want to go. 



Valueless Labor. The dollar is worth so much 

 meat, provided there is any meat. If there is no 

 meat, the money is not worth anything. The only 

 things which are of value to us are the things 

 which we can use, whether they are ornaments 

 or clothing or food or money. Everything useful 

 is the result of labor; so, unless we make the 

 things, we cannot use them. Our wealth is pro- 

 portionate, not to the amount of labor, but to the 

 amount of usefulness which comes out of the 

 labor. That is why the Great War left us nothing 

 but a lot of debts. It required an enormous 

 amount of labor to prosecute the war, but it was 

 not useful labor. That money was spent, not to 

 produce things, but to destroy things. It did not 

 add to our wealth ; it destroyed wealth. 



Nothing is of value without the expenditure 

 of mental and physical labor on it, and its 

 value is in proportion to its usefulness in 

 supplying the needs of humanity. 



Labor and Wealth. This complex organiza- 

 tion of industry, which we have developed 

 through the use of machinery and specialized 

 occupations, has become possible because the de- 



