Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/213

CAPITAL. 17 ownership of the tools of production, so much as ii concentration of the management of these tools. Tlirough the stock company the ownership may be, and frequently is, widely diffused. The ad- vantages of controlling large capital are: First, the cheapening of production by preventing the multiplication of machines and other facilities for industry; second, the extension of the divi- sion of labor, the large business being able to organize its forces and find a place for its work- men each according to his abilities more effective- ly than the small business: third, the prevention of wasteful competition through diminution in the number of the controllers of capital. On the other hand, it tends to reduce the conductor of a small business to the position of a subordinate ■in a large establishment, thus depriving him of that personal interest in management which may lead to the practice of economy at the same time that it encourages a spirit of independence. Again, the possessor of a large capital is often able to crush out weak competitors, and there is danger lest, after ridding himself of his rivals, he will secure a monopoly price for his product. Looking at these obvious tendencies of the capi- talistic system, the Socialists propose that all capital should be socialized, that is to say, ad- ministered for the benefit of the community as a whole. They point to this concentration in the control of capital as rendering the change from individual to social ownership an easy step to take, for, the number of owners tending con- stantly to diminish, there are fewer individuals to be sacrificed through the introduction of a socialistic system. Of the different socialistic theories of capital the most important is that of Carl Marx, the author of the exhaustive work Das Kapil/il. ilarx finds no other source of value than labor, and holds that it is through the unscrupulous exploitation of labor that the capitalist employer reaps his so-called profits. The force of unrestricted competition obliges the laborer to accept what terms he can obtain from the employer, who through combination with his fellows seeks always to depress wages to the limit at which they will barely maintain the requisite labor-power. If six hours' work will produce enough to maintain this labor-power and the capitalist can oblige the laborer to work for ten, the four hours' work constitutes what JIarx calls surplus labor value which is stolen or 'ex- propriated' by the capitalist. Arguing in this way. JIarx concludes with the advice, "Expropri- ate the expropriators." Modem economists differ wholly from this view of the origin of value, maintaining that labor is not the sole source, but that value arises in a subjective sense from utility, and in an objective sense through the law of supply and demand. Thus denying Marx's premise, they can not admit the conclusion that remuneration for the use of capital is so much stolen from the product of labor. For further discussion bearing on this sub- ject, see Interest ; W.ges ; Pkofits ; and PoiiT- KAL KCONOMY. CAPITAL ACCOUNT. A general term em- ployee to designate the amount invested in busi- ness enterprises. In bookkeeping practice in the case of a business owned by one person the term is frequently replaced by 'stock,' or by the name of the owner. In the case of firms the capital account is split up into parts, representing the respective investments of the partners. In cor- .-, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. poration accounting the capital account may be represented by the capital stock and bonded in- debtedness, which are kept as distinct accounts. Popular parlance designates the aggregate capi- tal, whether obtained by subscription to shares, or by borrowing, as the capital account. In rail- way management, for example, the capital ac- count thus understood stands in contrast to the operating account. See Railways. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Punishment by death. It is generally considered to be the severest penalty which the courts may prescribe, and the number of offenses for which it is in- flicted is everj'where diminishing. Indeed, this extreme penalty, notwithstanding the practice of the world from the remotest times down to the present day, has frequently been opposed b}' phi- losophers and philanthropists upon religious and ethical grounds, as well as upon those of ex- pediency. Mr. Bentham points out that the death penalty naturally suggests itself in the infancy of a State as the best method of pre- venting crime, inasmuch as it extirpates the criminals. Such Scripture passages as the words, "Whoso sheddeth a man's blood, by man shall his blood he shed" (Gen. ix. 6), are urged in justification of the death penalty for murder. Beccaria, probably the first modern author of eminence to combat capital punishment, denies the right of government to take himian life under any circumstances and maintains that it is a less eflicacious method of deterring others than the continued example of a living culprit condemned to repair, by laboring as a slave, the injury he has done to society. The principles of punish- ment in general have been thus clearly stated by Plato (Gorgias, § 525) : "Every one who under- goes punishment, if that punishment be rightly inflicted, ought either to be made better thereby and profit by it, or serve as an example to the rest of mankind, that others, seeing the sufferings he endures, may be brought by fear to amend- ment of life." The question arises, then, does capital punishment deter men from committing those crimes for which it is inflicted? This question can be answered only relatively; for statistics seem to show that the same answer will not be always and everysvhere the true one. Death was in former times, in England, the ordi- nary punishment for all felonies. Blackstone re- fers to 160 offenses as punishable with death, some of them of a nature which appears to us almost trivial, e.g. cutting down a tree or personating a Greenwich pensioner. Thanks to the exertions of Sir Samuel Romilly, this severe criminal code gave way toward the end of the reign of George III. to more humane conceptions. Since the statute of 1801 there remain in Eng- land only four crimes punishable by death — set- ting fire to the royal dockyards or arsenals, piracy with violence, treason, and murder. In William Penn's code of laws for Pennsyl- vania, murder and treason were the only crimes punishable by death, while in the Colony of Massachusetts there were twelve capital of- fenses. Under the present government, each State has jurisdiction over its own territory, and the laws punishing crime differ in several re- spects. Capital punishment may be inflicted for treason, murder, arson, rape, piracy, robbery of the mails with jeopardy to the lives of persons in charge, rescue of a convict going to execution, burning a vessel of war, and corruptly destroy-