The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1861-12-12

cd that lator is available only in connec-
ton with capital; thst nobody labors unless
somebody else, owning capital, somehow,
by the use Of it induces him to labor.
This assumed, it is next considered
whether II is best tina. capital shall hire
laborcrs, and thus induce them to work by
ths;r own consent, or buy them and drive
thsm to it without their consent. Having
proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded
that oil laborcrs are either hired laborers
q what We call slaves, and, further, it is
assumed that whoever is once hired Ia
borcr is fixed in that condition for life
Now, there is no such relation between
capital and labor as assumed, nor is there
any such thing as freeman being fixed for
life for life in the condition of a hired Ia
torer. Both of these assumptions are
false, and all infcrcnces from them are
groundless. Labor is prior to aid indie
pendent Of capital.
Capital is only the fruit Of labor, and
never could have existed if labor had not
first existed. Labor is the superior Of
capital, and desers IS much the higher con
sideration. Captgs! has its rights, which
are as worthy Of protection az any other
rights; nor is it denied that there is, and
probably always will be, relation be-
tween labor ard capital, producing mutual
benefits.
The error is in assuming that the whole
labor of a community exists within that
relation. A few men have capital, and
that few avoid labor, and with that capital
hire or buy few to labor for them. A
large majority belong to neither class
neither work for others nor have others
work for them. In most of the Southern
States, majority OF the people of all col
ors are neither slaves or masters, while in
the North . large majority are neither
hirers nor hired. Men with their families,
sons and daughters, work for themselves,
on tksir farms, in their houses, and in their
shops, taking the whole product to them
selves, and asking no iavors of capital on
the one hand, and of hired laborers, or
slaves, on the other. 1t is not forgotten
that considerable number Of persons
mingle their own labor with capital; that
is, they labor with their own hands, and
also bny or hire others to labor for them,
but this is only a mixed, and not distinct
class. No principle stated is disturbed by
the existence If This mixed cll@s.
Again, as has already been said, there is
not, OF necessity, any sutf thing as the
free hired laborcr hy.ng fixed for that con-
dltion for life. Many independent men,
everywhere in the States, a few years
back in their lives were hired iaborers.-
The most prudent, penniless beggar in the
world labors for wages awhile, aud saves
surplus, with which to buy tools or land
for himself. He then la.ors, on his own
account, and at length hires another new
beginner to he p him. This is the iust,ard
generous, and prosperous system which
opens the way to all, aud consequent ener-
gy, progress and improvement Of the con
ditlon to all. No men living are more !
worthy to be trusted than those who toll
up, or on, from poverty, and none are less
inclined to take or topCil aught which they
have not earned Let them beware of
surrcnderlng "A political power which they
already possess, and which. if surrendered,
will surely be used To close the door Of
advancement against such as they and to
Tx new disabilities and burdens upon them,
till all Of liberty shall be lost.
From the first taking of our national
census to the last are 20 years, and We find
our population at the end OF the period
eight times as great as it was at the begin.
ming. The increase Of the other things
which men deem desirable has even been
greater. We thus have at one view what
the popular principle applied to the gov
eminent through the machinery Of the
States and the Union has produced in
given time, and also what, if being main
tanned, it promises for the future. There
are already among us, those who, if the
Union be preserved, will live to see it
contain 25O,o00,O0O. The struggle to-
day is not altogether for ,o-day-it is for
q vast future, also
With firm reliance on Providence, all
the more firm and earnest. let us proceed
in the great task which events have de-
volved upon US.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 81, 1861.