Money, without brains, always is dangerous. Properly used, it is the most important
essential of civilization. The simple breakfast here described could not have been
delivered to the New York family at a dime each, or at any other price, if organized
capital had not provided the machinery, the ships, the railroads, and the huge armies of
trained men to operate them.
Some slight idea of the importance of ORGANIZED CAPITAL may be had by trying to
imagine yourself burdened with the responsibility of collecting, without the aid of
capital, and delivering to the New York City family, the simple breakfast described.
To supply the tea, you would have to make a trip to China or India, both a very long way
from America. Unless you are an excellent swimmer, you would become rather tired
before making the round trip. Then, too, another problem would confront you. What
would you use for money, even if you had the physical endurance to swim the ocean?
To supply the sugar, you would have to take another long swim to Cuba, or a long walk
to the sugar beet section of Utah. But even then, you might come back without the sugar,
because organized effort and money are necessary to produce sugar, to say nothing of
what is required to refine, transport, and deliver it to the breakfast table anywhere in
the United States.
The eggs, you could deliver easily enough from the barn yards near New York City, but
you would have a very long walk to Florida and return, before you could serve the two
glasses of grapefruit juice.
You would have another long walk, to Kansas, or one of the other wheat growing states,
when you went after the four slices of wheat bread.
The Rippled Wheat Biscuits would have to be omitted from the menu, because they
would not be available except through the labor of a trained organization of men and
suitable machinery, ALL OF WHICH CALL FOR CAPITAL.
While resting, you could take off for another little swim down to South America, where
you would pick up a couple of bananas, and on your return, you could take a short walk
to the nearest farm having a dairy and pick up some butter and cream. Then your New
York City family would be ready to sit down and enjoy breakfast, and you could collect
your two dimes for your labor!
Seems absurd, doesn't it? Well, the procedure described would be the only possible way
these simple items of food could be delivered to the heart of New York City, if we had no
capitalistic system.
The sum of money required for the building and maintenance of the railroads and steam
ships used in the delivery of that simple breakfast is so huge that it staggers one's
imagination. It runs into hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention the armies of
trained employees required to man the ships and trains. But, transportation is only a
part of the requirements of modern civilization in capitalistic America. Before there can
be anything to haul, something must be grown from the ground, or manufactured and
prepared for market. This calls for more millions of dollars for equipment, machinery,
boxing, marketing, and for the wages of millions of men and women.
Steam ships and railroads do not spring up from the earth and function automatically.
They come in response to the call of civilization, through the labor and ingenuity and
organizing ability of men who have IMAGINATION, FAITH, ENTHUSIASM, DECISION,
PERSISTENCE! These men are known as capitalists. They are motivated by the desire to