Modern production is usually called capitalistic because it involves
in its processes the use of a large amount of capital. In a primitive
stage of culture man appropriated directly from nature’s bounty the
food and shelter which he required. But today man has adopted long and
roundabout methods of producing goods, involving numerous steps
between his first efforts and the turning out of the finished
articles. He invents tools and machinery to assist him in his work,
and while he multiplies the processes of production he also enormously
increases the results. Capital has become absolutely indispensable in
modern production and is yearly playing a more important role. At the
same time various problems, born of the new conditions, have arisen,
such as the growth of large-scale production, the elimination of the
small producer and the independent artisan, the growth of trusts, the
rhythmic recurrence of speculative periods and industrial crises, the
relations of labor and capital, and others similar in character.
The most striking phenomenon of the nineteenth century was the great
industrial progress of the more developed nations; this is best shown
in a table taken from Mulhall’s “Industries and Wealth of Nations,”
which follows: