Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/71

 what ought we to do? Let us look into this question.

Capital is usually described by economists as wealth devoted to production, that is to say, it consists of goods which are used not for immediate consumption, but in order to increase the productive power of the community and to earn interest or profit for those who own the capital. If a man earning £1,000 a year puts the whole of it into providing himself with comforts and luxuries which his income enables him to enjoy, he does not increase his own capital, or the productive power of the community. If he puts aside £200 or £4300 a year and invests it in industry, it means to say that his wealth, instead of being immediately consumed in the form of the pleasures of foreign travel, or the possession of a motor-car, or a billiard-room, or a lawn tennis court, contributes to the erection of a factory, or the opening up of a piece of land, or of the building of a railway or of a ship, so that the productive power of mankind is increased, or transport facilities are made cheaper and better. The production to which this saved wealth is thus applied is expected to yield a revenue to those who employ it, and usually does so. If it did not, people would obviously leave off this applica-