“I see your point. It irks you to see anyone at all who is able to work permitted to live without working. But why do you consider work a virtue?”
“Well, these idle persons use up goods that the workers might otherwise enjoy.”
“Do you know of anyone who doesn’t have everything he wants of the good things of the world?”
“Well, no.”
“Then how can you say that the idle are consuming things that rightfully belong to workers?”
“Well, it seems obvious.”
“You mean that it seems logical to you. But if you can’t find a case in the real world, can your logic be correct? I’m afraid you’ve encountered a black swan.”
“Maybe so. But how can you justify able-bodied men living in idleness?”
Davis pursed his lips. “Ethics is more a matter of opinion than a science. Morals are customs rather than natural law. However if you want a moral argument to justify the situation, I’ll give it to you. Did anyone live without working in your day?”
“Oh, those on relief did.”
“I’m not speaking of them. They were presumed to be people who wanted to work but couldn’t get work, and we have proved mathematically that they couldn’t. I mean others who might have worked, but wouldn’t, yet lived well.”
“Why, no.”
“Positive? How about coupon clippers, land owners, owners of capital who were not in management? Idle sons and daughters of the rich? Were there none of those?”
“Oh yes, of course. A few thousand perhaps. But they were entitled to be idle if they chose. Either they or their fathers had earned the money. A man is certainly entitled to provide for his children.”
“All the idle today are the rich sons of hard working fathers.”
“Are you trying to kid me?”
“I didn’t jest, but I did use a figure of speech. Tell me, what are the factors that enter into production of real wealth?”
“Well, there is labor, of course—and raw materials and land.”
“What were the factors when we set up our game of production and consumption?”
“Oh yes—and capital, and enterprise or management, and invention or technique, government came in there too, but I am not sure that it is a factor in production.”
“It is, as you will see. Let’s examine these factors and attempt to make a rough estimate of their importance. Work is basic, certainly. In any but the most Elysian of South Sea islands, man must work to live. Marx made the mistake of thinking that because it came first, it was the only factor worthy of consideration, even though his writings implied the existence of others. Enterprise is more important than work. Without enterprise, management, directive ability, and imagination, our present highly productive culture would be impossible. It is a form of creative work, more difficult than the imitative work of the laboring men, and absolutely necessary to a high rate of production. Capital or rather capitalization is essentially the willingness of the owner of accumulated wealth to risk it in the hope of acquiring more. Its return is interest. We don’t think very highly of it anymore. Capital is plentiful and by direct competition through the Bank of the United States we have driven interest down to a point where the return is commensurate with the risk. Franklin Roosevelt taught us that lesson with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration.
“I said that government is a factor. It is, if for no other reason than through its police powers it makes the environment safe to work in. Without it no one could accumulate wealth and the creation of wealth on a large scale would not be feasible. Which is another way of saying that individuals acquire wealth only at the sufferance of the community and the community may require any tribute necessary to promote the general welfare. The government performs many other useful services too numerous to mention, but you see my point.
“Land and raw materials are obvious factors in the production of wealth. In the simplest economy labor must have something to fabricate and some place to stand on in order to produce wealth.
“The last factor is invention or technique. I mean not only new inventions now held by patent, but also all useful accumulation of knowledge from the stone age to date. Although wealth can be created without, or with very little of it, it is the greatest factor of all. You need only consider any common article to be convinced of it. Take a pair of shoes. In a modern shoe factory the production is around six hundred pairs of shoes per man per day. By figuring in raw material and capital costs it drops only to about four hundred pairs per laborer per day. Does one man make four hundred shoes per day? Put him at a cobbler’s bench and assume him to be an experienced cobbler, yet he will do well to turn out one pair. Is it management? Management is important, for a poor manager will reduce production by perhaps 50%, yet the factory still turns out enormously more than a number of hand cobblers equal to its employees could do. Obviously the factor which produces this enormous multiplication of wealth is technical knowledge, the contribution of the creative inventor and creative artist. That is why we reward them so highly today. There is one outstanding characteristic of the creator-discoverer. His work lives after him and is cumulative in its effect. We owe more to the unknown genius who invented the wheel and axle than we do to all the workers now on earth. Furthermore, inventors stand on the shoulders of all their predecessors. No modern invention would be possible without the work done by Bacon, Da Vinci, Watt, Faraday, Edison, et cetera without number.”