136 Materials and Their Handling 



words, it was surplus. All the new buildings, all 

 the machinery, all the equipment everything 

 which is being constructed at the present time for 

 the purpose of enlarging useful production or dis- 

 tribution is being built and being paid for out of 

 wealth, which we call capital. None of this ex- 

 tensive consumption of time and labor in preparing 

 for future production would be possible if it were 

 not for the fact that part of the labor in the past 

 had gone to make products for the future, and 

 that surplus represented stored-up usefulness ami 

 became our capital. 



Labor and Production. The job of all labor, 

 whether brain work or hand work, is to produce 

 something which is useful to people. The labor 

 of the novelist, in writing a story, provides me 

 with useful entertainment. The labor of the musi- 

 cian, in becoming skillful with his instrument, pro- 

 vides me with useful relaxation. The labor of the 

 architect who plans the house is just as valuable 

 as that of the mason or carpenter who builds it, 

 because the house must be planned properly before 

 it can be built properly. Both these elements are 

 useful efforts of labor. 



When we began to build machinery and to use 

 engines to drive it, we were able to make more 

 goods and make them more cheaply, because we 

 used less time and labor. We were able to buy 

 more, because our own time and labor were more 

 valuable; and we had enough surplus over our 

 necessities to devote some of the results of our 

 labor to buying conveniences and comforts. 



