monetary reflection of this value, that is, embodied labor. At times price may be above or below the value of a product, depending upon the supply and the demand. But in the long run the price will revolve around a hard core—THE VALUE OF THE PRODUCT. AND LABOR CREATES ALL VALUES! Never be fooled or convinced otherwise on that score. Look again at the most useful thing in the world—water. It is practically free for the taking. Its value is nil. In the deserts it has value and market price—because it requires labor to acquire and bring it to that desert point where it is in demand—where it is needed and wanted. LET US LOOK NOW AT SOME OF OUR MOST VALUABLE COMMODITIES. Diamonds for example. A diamond cutter may spend days cutting just one diamond. It required quite an expenditure of labor in the first place to mine the diamond. A considerable amount of labor is expended in marketing the diamond. A diamond is tremendously valuable in the market place. Yet it is of less real use than a gallon of water. It is valuable because first it satisfies a human want and is, consequently, in demand as a prized possession. But its real value lies in the labor embodied in its manufacture and distribution. There are many stones that rival its beauty but few so valuable—BECAUSE THEY DO NOT REPRESENT ANYWHERE NEAR AS MUCH EMBODIED LABOR! AGAIN MAY I ASK YOU TO REMEMBER THIS. LABOR IS THE SOURCE OF ALL VALUES! All products are regarded as commodities, bought and sold on the market place at various prices, depending upon the supply and demand. Some are expensive, some are said to be cheap. BUT LABOR IS INVARIABLY CHEAP. IT'S THE BIGGEST BARGAIN UNDER THE SUN! IT CAN ALWAYS BE BOUGHT RIGHT! I have bought and sold the labor of hundreds of people in my day! The price I paid was a stipend known by the kindly name of wage—or salary. So I paid $2.50 per hour. Believe me, what I got for that $2.50 was marketable for two to five times that much. That's a markup few finished products will ever stand. THAT IS A MARKUP THAT LABOR WILL ALMOST ALWAYS STAND. The product labor creates usually markets for many times its price, that is, what is paid for it in the form of wages. Perhaps you saw in my
|
Last Updated: