All wealth comes from the Earth. There is no wealth of any kind that will not lead back to the earth if followed to its ultimate source. People who at labor remove what-ever from the soil receive modest compensation. Captains of industry deciding the fate of these resources receive maximum compensation. It seems natural that it should be so, and perhaps it is: but not for the seemingly obvious reasons.
A ship must have a captain. A ship must have seamen. The responsibility of stewardship that lies upon the captain deserves just compensation, but the fact remains that without a crew the ship goes nowhere, and without a ship they are all just beach bums; so it is with the ship of state. Compensation rises with proximity to the pool of wealth accumulated by value added to fruits of the earth: wealth is inversely proportional to closeness to the earth. Compensation amounting to millions and millions of dollars a year for chief executives cannot be considered value for value: it is profiteering.
The pools of wealth accumulated by successful industry could not exist without the complex social fabric of which any one industry is but a part. Profit as a motive is always an element of human endeavor even if it is planting a flower garden, but when does the legitimate right to profit become avarice?
How many millions of dollars ought one to be able to squeak by on? And what is the responsibility of those bathing in the pool of wealth to those who labor at the headwaters?
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