Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/212

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the approval or disapproval of those whom they affect? The economic test of our work's value, like the social test of our other actions, is weakened by the bad taste and judgment of public opinion; but can we find a better, without setting up an economic and moral tyranny, which, incidentally, is also quite likely to make bad mistakes?

The second mark of degraded status is the fact that the wages are paid to the wage-worker only when it is profitable to the capitalist to employ his labour. This degradation is also shared by the labourer with all other workers, including even the capitalist who lends for present production the products of work done in the past. The doctor and lawyer who work directly for their consuming patients and clients, can only do so if they can find patients and clients to employ them. The capitalist can only get interest on his money when it is invested in profitable enterprises or in the obligations and loans of communities, Governments and municipalities, which are enabled, by the production of taxpayers and ratepayers, to raise the money necessary to pay the capitalist his wage.

The third mark of degraded status lies in the fact that the wage-worker has no control over