'MILXi WHISTLE
Copyright, 1950, Marshall Field & Company
Issued Every Two Weeks By and For
the Employees of Fieldcrest Mills, Divi
sion of Marshall Field & Company, Inc.,
Spray, North Carolina
OTIS MARLOWE Editor
No. 2 Monday, August 7, 1950 Vol IX
Employment-Two Kinds
An industrialist said recently that in
the thirty-odd years he has been in
business, he has been buying almost
every new machine that came along.
At the start, it was predicted by some
that the practice would result in fewer
jobs in his plant. He explained: “But
what was the actual result? I started
with 150 employees, and now I have
13,000.”
The new machines, buildings, tools
and processes which we call “capital,”
mean more productive jobs and more
goods. When we stop investing in this
capital equipment, progress stops.
Worse than that, we go backwards, be
cause machines wear out — but people
who need the jobs and goods the ma
chines turn out — continue to be born.
Full employment alone does not pro
vide prosperity and security. It must be
productive employment.
Unemployment is no serious problem
in backward countries which have no
modern industrial machines or farm
tools. It takes a good many people to
do things by hand. But what they get
from their employment in undevelop
ed countries, is something else again —
usually it is no more than a stark, pov
erty-stricken living.
Without capital equipment, employ
ment would not mean security. With
out tools, you could keep “employed”
every waking minute, and be lucky to
find or grow or catch enough food to
keep alive from day to day — much
less put anything by for tomorrow.
Unless we keep renewing, and add
ing to, our American capital plant and
equipment, there just won’t be enough
goods produced to provide security and
a comfortable life for our growing
population. No matter how many are
employed on unproductive jobs, or how
much money they are paid, the food
and clothing and other necessary goods
simply won’t be there, in sufficient
quantity, if we let our capital equip-
mnt slide toward the junkpile.
—Consolidated Textile News.
“There is no future in any job! The
future lies in the mgn who holds the
job.”—George W. Crane.
Money Does Not Mean Prosperity
The supply of money in a given nation does not measure the
material welfare of the people.
If dimes were used in place of dollars, there would be no change
in the quantity or quality of goods and services produced and ex
changed.-
The only change would be the price tags placed upon the produc
tion: a dime being the tenth part of a dollar, prices would be about
one-tenth their present level.
Similarly, if dollars were used in place of dimes, the price level
would be about ten times the present level.
However, any substantial increase or decrease in the supply of
money without a corresponding increase or decrease in the supply of
goods and services makes a tremendous difference.
If there is a decrease in the supply of money, the money that re
mains gains in purchasing power. However, if there is an increase
(which is usually the case) all money loses purchasing power.
For centuries demagogs have preyed upon the people’s supersti
tion that more money means more goods. The honest politician who
attempts to preserve the value of money is always at a great disadvant
age when competing with a “something-for-nothing” opponent.
The tendency, therefore, has been for all politicians to follow the
path of least resistance and this highly injurious practice will continue
as long as the people remain ignorant of the true nature of money.
U. S. MONEY SUPPLY PER PERSON
1915 1946
$1500
$150
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This Is the third In a series of 10 articles dealing with money and its uses in our economic system.
The articies are bas^ on the book "Money,” written by Fred G. Clark and Richard Stanton Riman-
oczy and puhiished by D. Van Nostrand Company. The American Economic Fotmdation (295 Madison
Avenue, New York City) has granted permission to publish the series.
FIELDCREST MILL WHISTLE