Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 2Roscher, Wilhelm
General
Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 2
Roscher, Wilhelm
Economics
UNDERTAKER'S PROFIT.--CIRCUMSTANCES ON WHICH IT DEPENDS.
As the wages or reward of labor, in all instances, depends on the
circumstances mentioned in § 167 ff., so, also does the reward of
enterprise; in other words, the undertaker's profit or wages. It
depends, therefore:
A. On the rarity of the personal qualities required in a business, which
qualities may be divided into technical and ethical qualities. Among the
latter are, especially, the capacity to inspire capitalists with
confidence and workmen with love for their task; the administrative
talent to systematize a great whole made up of men and to order it
properly, to keep it together by sternness of discipline in which
pedantry has no part, and by economy with no admixture of avarice; and
frequently endurance and even presence of mind. These ethical,
statesmanlike qualities are, take them all in all, a more indispensable
condition of high undertaker's profit than the technical are.[196-1]
B. On the risk of the undertaking in which not only one's property, but
one's reputation, may be lost.[196-2]
C. As to the disagreeableness of the undertaking or enterprise, we must
take into especial consideration the disinclination of capitalists in
general to assume the care and trouble of concerning themselves directly
with the employment of their capital. (§ 183.) The undertaker's profit
is, besides, lower in proportion as he needs to care less for the
profitable application of the different sources of production, and for
their preservation. Hence it is, in general, higher for the direction of
circulating than of fixed capital; in speculative trade and in wholesale
trade which extends to the whole world, than in retail trade and merely
local business.[196-3]
It has, indeed, been remarked, that the undertaker's profit is, as a
rule, proportioned to the capital employed.[196-4] This may be true in
most cases, but only as the accidental compromise between opposing
forces. It is evident that the greater the enterprise is, the greater
may be the surplus over and above the compensation stipulated for in
advance of all the coöperating productive forces, and not only
absolutely but also relatively. We need only call to mind the successful
results attending the greater division of labor (§ 66) and the greater
division of use (_Gebrauchstheilung_) (§ 207); the greater facility of
using remains in production on a large scale, and the fact that all
purchases, and all obtaining of capital are made, when the items are
large, at cheaper rates, because of the more convenient conducting of
the business.
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