rm of rent, interest, dividends and
profits. The present economic system is, however, built upon the
principle that those who own the lands and the productive machinery
should be recompensed for their mere ownership. It follows, of course,
that the more land and machinery there is to own the greater will be the
amount of surplus which will go to the owners. Since surplus breeds
surplus the owners find that it pays them not to use all of their income
in the form of consumption, but rather to invest all that they can,
thereby increasing the share of surplus that is due them. The worker, on
the other hand, finds that he must produce a constantly larger amount of
wealth which he never gets, but which is destined for the payment of
rent, interest, dividends and profits. Increased incomes yield increased
investments. Increased investments necessitate the creation and payment
of increased surplus. The payment of increased surplus means increased
incomes. Thus the circle is continued--with the returns heaping up in
the coffers of the plutocracy.

Originally the surplus was utilized to free the members of the owning
class from the grinding drudgery of daily toil, by permitting them to
enjoy the fruits of the labor of others. Then it was employed in the
exercise of power over the economic and social machinery. But that was
not the end--instead it proved only the beginning. As property titles
were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, and the amount of property
owned by single individuals or groups of individuals becomes greater,
their incomes (chiefly in the form of rent, interest, dividends and
profits) rose until by 1917 there were 19,103 persons in the United
States who declared incomes of $50,000 or more per year, which is the
equivalent of $1,000 per week. Among these persons 141 declared annual
incomes of over $1,000,000. Besides these personal incomes, each
industry which paid these dividends and profits, through its
depreciation, amortization, replacement, new construction, and surplus
funds was reinvesting in the industries billions of wealth that would be
used in the creation of more wealth. The normal processes of the growth
of the modern economic system has forced upon the masters of life the
problem of disposing of an ever increasing amount of surplus.

During prosperous periods, the investment funds of a community like
England and the United States grow very rapidly. The more prosperous the
nation, the greater is