he working people of every country would be
rich, for they have abstained from nearly everything that is worth
while.

There is one thing the rich have abstained from, however, which the
poor have indulged in freely--and that is _work_. I never heard of a
man getting rich through his own labor.

Even the inventor does not get rich by means of his own labor. To
begin with, there is no invention which is purely an individual
undertaking. I was talking the other day with one of the world's great
inventors upon this subject. He was explaining to me how he came to
invent a certain machine which has made his name famous. He explained
that for many years men had been facing a great difficulty and other
inventors had been trying to devise some means of meeting it. He had,
therefore, to begin with, the experience of thousands of men during
many years to give him a clear idea of what was required. And that was
a great thing to start with, Jonathan.

Secondly, he had the experiments of all the numerous other inventors
to guide him: he could profit by their failures. Not only did he know
what to avoid, because that great fund of others' experience, but he
also got many useful ideas from the work of some of the men who were
on the right line without knowing it. "I could not have invented it
if it were not for the men who went before me," he said.

Another point, Jonathan: In the wonderful machine the inventor was
discussing there are wheels and levers and springs. Somebody had to
invent the wheel, the lever and the spring before there could be a
machine at all. Who was it, I wonder! Do you know who made the first
wheel, or the first lever? Of course you don't! Nobody does. These
things were invented thousands of years ago, when the race still lived
in barbarism. Each age has simply extended their usefulness and
efficiency. So it is wrong to speak of any invention as the work of
one man. Into every great invention go the experience and experiments
of countless others.

So much for that side of the question. Now, let us look at another
side of the question which is sometimes lost sight of. A man invents a
machine: as I have shown you, it is as much the product of other men's
brains as of his own. It is really a social product. He gets a patent
upon the machine for a certain number of years, and that patent gives
him the right to say to the world "No one can use this machine unless
he pays me a royalty." He does not use the machi