Yes, that is the way it was written, as a future discovery of the past.
London wrote it in 1907 and thought we would have figured all this out years ago.

The main thing I take away is the math of chapter 9.
According to that 1/2 goes to the owner in profit and everything else is paid from the other half.
So, a 10m dollar bridge is really a less than 5m dollar bridge, IF you take out the crapitalust's profits.

If you make it through that list, you will have a good grasp of economic alternatives that are available as options.