Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/58

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adventurer or shareholder has to make this gap good besides losing all his profit. The providers of Nos. 2, 3 and 4 shade into one another, and are often Jumped together as capitalists. It may sometimes happen that they are all provided by the same person, who puts capital into a business by owning the factory, machinery and tools required for producing the necessary article, organizes and manages the industry, sees to the selling of the product, advances the money out of which the wage-earners are paid during the process of production, and takes upon himself the risk of the whole loss, in case of mistake or miscalculation, claiming in return for this risk the whole profit, if any, that is left over, after paying for the raw material, providing for the depreciation of tools and machinery, and paying the wages of those who work for him. Nevertheless though these things may all be done by one individual, the earnings that he finally puts into his pocket, if any, are still derived from three different sources, that is to say, interest on capital, salary for his work as organiser, and profit as reward for the risk which he has run.

It is very necessary to get these distinctions clear, because a great deal of fallacious theory