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Show Till: PROFITS OF IiUSLVESS The financial .statements of 2-31)0 leading corporations corpora-tions for 1010 showed net profits of 7.4 per cent on the net worth of these companies. There are probably many corporations which made no profit at all. Government Govern-ment statistics for l'J:J8 showed that 64 percent of the corporations, which handled 33 percent of the total volume of business, operated that year at a loss. There are innumebamle small business concerns where if a fair salary is allowed to the owner or manager, mana-ger, there would be no profit at all. So it seems doubtful doubt-ful of business as a whole made more than four or five percent on the money invested. Some people think business should be satisfied with less profit. If the profit were any less, there would be little incentive to engage in business or employ em-ploy labor. The hope of making a profit, more than can be earned by putting money in a bank or buying buy-ing bonds or stocks, is the hope of earning a profit somewhat larger than ordinary investments give. When profits are small, millions of people are out of work. When profits are large, there is usually work for nearly everybody. Profits are the mainspring that makes business go. The idea that business can run without profit is a good deal like the story of the man who said his watch had too many wheels. So he took one out, and he claimed it ran better than before, If that wheel was the mainspring, it would not probably have run very long. If people don't want to go in for Communism, they have to rely on business profits to provide work for thee people. When profits stop, wages are likely to stop also. |