Page:The fallacy of danger from great wealth.djvu/33

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FROM GREAT WEALTH
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any other cause. In the thirties and forties in the United States there was a lament that so many horses and stage-coaches and country taverns were to be thrown out of business by the incoming railroads. What was the result? More people have been employed and more wages paid than would ever have been possible if railroads had not come. So all kinds of machinery and labor-saving devices in the United States have made our labor the most efficient in the world, and with our great natural resources and good climate have made the product immense out of which savings can take place. If the product goes largely to the workman, as it does, and is shown by the immense amounts paid out in wages as compared with what is paid in dividends or interest, then the workman gets the high wages directly in that way. Look over the annual report of any great railroad company, and see what amount is paid out directly as wages. Add to this what is paid out for materials and supplies, which in turn are produced by labor and the cost of which also represents amounts paid out in wages. Compare with these figures the small amount paid out as interest and dividends. Consider, too, that