Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/72

 tion of wealth to the furtherance of industry. But when there is a failure in production owing to some mishap by which the product has not turned out right, or does not suit the view of the consumers, the capital is lost and its owner receives no reward in the form of interest or profit.

Nowadays, though a certain amount of capital is invested by its owners in businesses which they themselves conduct, the more usual channels in which capital is placed are investments in land or in the securities of Governments and Municipalities or of Joint Stock Companies formed to carry on some enterprise. The income received by the capitalist consists of rent when the capital is placed in land, and of interest and dividends when it is placed in securities of Public Bodies or of Companies. The question then which we have to consider is this: Is the rent and interest received by capitalists from their investment in land and securities a form of robbery by which they plunder the community?

Let us take the question of rent first, though I hope to show that the difference between rent and interest is one of degree and not of essence—they are merely different forms of payment to the owners of property for the use