PAPERS 



OF THE 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA 



1918 



OBSERVATIONS REGARDING 

 ACCUMULATED CAPITAL WEALTH. 



By R. M. Johnston, I.S.O., F.S.S. 

 [Received 18th February, 1918. Read 11th March, 1918.] 



Improper Exclusion of Man (The Wage-earner) as a Value- 

 earning Instrument of Production, in Estimates, 

 Usually Made, of Accumulated Capital 

 Wealth. 



By the greater number of writers on economic subjects, 

 the terms "Capital" and "Accumulated Capital Wealth" 

 are usually restricted to man's auxiliary forces and in- 

 struments of production. This unreasonable restriction 

 involve's the introduction of serious difficulties and incon- 

 sistencies when questioins arise bearing upon the produc- 

 tion, distribution, and appropriation of the annual supply 

 of coinsumable wealth necessary to sustain the life, com- 

 fort, and well-being of the people generally. 



The improper restriction of the elements, which should 

 be eimbraced under the term "Wealth" of a country, is 

 well illustrated by Mr. J. A. Jobson, M.A., in his recent 

 treatise, "The Science of Wealth." In describing the 

 meaning attached by him to the term "Wealth," he ob- 

 serves: — "When we think of 'a wealthy man,' we reduce 

 to terms of money all his saleable possessions, including 

 not only the lands, buildings, machinery, materials, cash, 

 he owns and employs for business purposes together with 

 the share certificates, and other paper documents, which 

 give him claim upon tlie products of the future, but also 

 his house-furniture, pictures, books, and other private pos- 

 sessions which he has no intention of selling. All have 

 their market value, and his 'wealth' is the sum of these 

 values." 



It seems, however, by this restriction bhat — excepting 

 man as a slavei — man, himself the most important of all 

 wealth-earning instruments of production, has been ignor- 

 ed entirely. -^ 



