Thus far we have been considering the independent business man and business firm, not the joint stock company or corporation. In the latter form of organisation, the labour of direction is remunerated by fixed salaries to the executive officers, while the risks of enterprise and capital are covered by the regular dividends received by the whole body of stockholders. Consequently the only revenues comparable to profits are the surplus gains that remain after wages, salaries, interest, dividends, rent, and all other expenses and charges have been met. These are apportioned through one process or another among the stockholders. On what ethical principle can they be thus distributed? The general principle of productivity, or superior productivity, is the only one available. If a corporation which uses fair methods of competition can obtain surplus gains, while the majority of its competitors fail to do so, the cause must be sought in its superior business management. This superiority must be credited to the whole body of stockholders, even though the great majority of them are responsible for it only in a very remote way, through their selection of the executive officers. The stockholders surely have a better claim to these surplus gains than any other group in the community. At the same time, they are, like the independent business man, bound by the principle of equity to share the surplus with the labourers and consumers. _The Question of Minimum Profits_ Has the business man a strict right to a minimum living profit? In other words, have all business men a right to a sufficient volume of sales at sufficiently high prices to provide them with living profits or a decent livelihood? Such a right would imply a corresponding obligation upon the consumers, or upon society, to furnish the requisite amount of demand at the required prices. Is there such a right, and such an obligation?