We cannot play fast and loose with
economic laws, because if we do they handle us in very hard ways.
The fact that a piece of work is now being done by nine men which used
to be done by ten men does not mean that the tenth man is unemployed. He
is merely not employed on that work, and the public is not carrying the
burden of his support by paying more than it ought on that work--for
after all, it is the public that pays!
An industrial concern which is wide enough awake to reorganize for
efficiency, and honest enough with the public to charge it necessary
costs and no more, is usually such an enterprising concern that it has
plenty of jobs at which to employ the tenth man. It is bound to grow,
and growth means jobs. A well-managed concern is always seeking to lower
the labour cost to the public; and it is certain to employ more men than
the concern which loafs along and makes the public pay the cost of its
mismanagement.
The tenth man was an unnecessary cost. The ultimate consumer was paying
him. But the fact that he was unnecessary on that particular job does
not mean that he is unnecessary in the work of the world, or even in the
work of his particular shop.
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