I put forward this proposal, not a very extravagant one, _as a beginning_." (My italics.)[50] In order to do away with the economic waste of profitable "human material" and the still more serious exhaustion of the supply, the propertyless wage earner or salaried man for the first time obtains a definite status in the official political economy; he becomes the property of the nation viewed "as a business firm," a part of "our" capital.

His position was much like a peasant or a laborer during the formation of the feudal system.

To obtain any status at all, to become half free he had to become somebody's "man." Now he is the "man," the industrial asset, of the government.

This paternal attitude towards the individual, however, is not at all similar to the paternalist attitude towards capital.

While the individual capitalist often does not object to having his capital reckoned as a part of the resources of a government which capitalists as a class control,--roughly speaking in proportion to their wealth,--we can picture his protests if either _his_ personal activity or ability or _his_ private income were similarly viewed as dependent for their free use and development on the benevolent patronage of the State.