Nevertheless it would be wrong to infer that the volume of profits is governed by no law whatever, or that they show no tendency toward uniformity in any part of the industrial field. There is a calculated or preconceived minimum. No man will embark in business for himself unless he has reason to expect that it will yield him, in addition to protection against risks, an income as large as he could obtain by hiring his services to some one else. In other words, contemplated profits must be at least equal to the income of the salaried business manager. No tendency toward uniformity of profits exists among very large enterprises nor among industries which are constantly adopting new methods and new inventions. In businesses of small and moderate size, and in those whose methods have become standardised, such as a retail grocery store, or a factory that turns out staple kinds of shoes, profits tend to be about the same in the great majority of establishments. In such industries the profits of the business man do not often exceed the salary that he could command as general manager for some one else in the same kind of business. Professor King estimates the total volume of profits in the United States in 1910 as almost eight and one-half billion dollars. This was 27.5 per cent. of the national product, as against 24.6 per cent. in 1890 and 30 per cent. in 1900.[160] He interprets the fall in the wage earners' share which has taken place since 1890 (53.5 to 46.9 per cent.) as indicating a considerable increase in the share of those business men who control the very large industries. "The promoters and manipulators of these concerns have received, as their share of the spoils, permanent income claims, in the shape of securities, large enough to make Croesus appear like a pauper."[161] Moreover, even outside this monopoly field, the more able and successful business men seem to have obtained in recent years what might be termed a relatively large share of the product of industry. The exceptionally efficient undertakers, those possessing the imagination, foresight, judgment, and courage to take full advantage of the recent improvements in the industrial arts, and in the methods of production generally, seem to have advanced in wealth and income more rapidly than any other class that has been subject to the operation of competition. _Profits in the Joint-Stock Company_ Up to this point we have been considering the independent business man, the undertaker who manages his enterprise either alone or as a member of a partnership. In all such concerns it is easy to identify the business man. Who or where is the business man in a joint stock company? Where are the profits, and who gets them?