Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-12-01
LABOR AND CAPITAL.

cannot be wrought without 'ie a."
heavy capital. In the earlier days 0' "a"
;sorn;a mining, the miner needed no more
machinery than he. could pack upon his
b,ct and if he was ingenious he could
construct it with his own hands. There
never was a class of men IN the world who
were so independent of capital as were
the miners of California. Vast fortunes
have been made by men in those mines
with no more costly or intricate machinery
than the pick, shovel and rocker, and in
some instances even with the pan and
crevicing knife. Here the case is vastly
different. Mining here cannot be prose-
cuted without the aid of capital, and la
Dor and capital must go hand in hand in
the development of the rich mineral re-
sources which lie hidden beneath our feet.
AS they must operate jointly for mutual
profit, it is well that their relations should
be harmonious and not antagonistic. An
excellent article upon the subject appears
in the San Francisco Flag, from which we
make the following extract:
1t seems to have been the aim of certain
class for the last few years to create bitter
antagonism and deadly nate between the rep
resentatiyes of capital and labor-and, If
possible, to blind the masses to the fact that
on the life of the one depends the very exist
ence of the other. In order to effect this, the
basest passions have been awakened-the
lowest preiudices have been pandered to-the
most fearful clements have been banded to-
vether-and foul tends have been conjured
up which all their arts have at times been
unable TO allav.
The course of this class OF unprincipled
demagogues has always been to represent
capital as the enemy Of labor, and labor as
the slave of capital-oapital as arbitrary and
cruel, and labor as suffering and oppressed,
completely ignoring the fact that here in the
United States labor is ntelligent-eminently
able to take care of itself-that the majority
Of our mechanics and laborers read and
write, and are themselves, to a certain eN-
tent, the representatives Of the capital they
decry. Here the divisional line between la
Dor and capital is narrower than It is in any
nation on the face OF the earth.
Why should capital and labor ever be con-
sidered, or spoken Of separately, when they
are but different elements of the one grand
SYSTEM and il would be more difficult for
either to exist without the other, than it
would be to get verdure without moisture, or
solar heat without the sun. Consider labor
toiling on unreQuited, and how wretched
would be its existence, for it receives every
reouital for its toll, it then becomes the rep
resentative of capital, and as a consequence
must at once dissolve partnership with all its
former associates. At what nice point does
a man cease to be laborer and begin to be a
capitalist: Is it when his thrift and his in
dustry have accumulated enough to buy
shelter for his children, or when he is able to
make little provision for the storms Of old
age: Is it when he has a hundred, or
thousand, or ten thousand dollars that he be.
comes the representative Of capital: and
only when he has nothing that he is wor-
thy representative OF labor:
Capital is not necessarily aggressive, nor
is labor to be looked on as slayishly passive.
The gifts of God are manifold to one is CIV
en- the spirit Of accumulation, to another the
FIRE OF genius; TO one the desire of eXplora-
ton, and to another the inventive power TO
create all of those delicate and wonderful iu-
struments which render exploration easy and
the passage Of the trackless waves as secure
as walk on the broad highway,
Fearful lis the crime Of those who have
sought to SOW dissension between labor and
capital. When the great account is made
up, who will have to answer for the innocent
blood spilled in the streets Of New York =
the Woods and the Seymours, who told the
plant and ignorant rutians that capital was
the enemy of labor, and that the rich were
irving TO seize the last crust that would save
their children from starvation-or the passive
tools of rapine and murder The black
hearted Williams who marshaled this ignorant
crew have kept harping on the same string
which has made music for all the low mobs
Of the world in every country, and in every
age. Next to religious 'fanaticism, the ferc-
est Of all human passions, come the supposed
adverse interests that exist between capital
and labor. Yet no more wretched existence
could be imagined, than that where all were
abSolyed from the necessity Of toll. Deprive
US of those united interests and we sink at
once into the rudest barbarism, where each
man contributes to his own wants, but
creates nothing for the benefit Of his neigh
Dor. Every beautiful creation and useful in
yention is mainly owing to mans necessity.
The noble structures with which our city is
filled, the wonderful displays Of art, its paved
highway, every product for sustaining life,
every comfort and convenience which man
enjoys, are the result Of the grand combina-
ton that exists between capital and labor.
II, for the disobedience Of man, the Almighty
should let loose another destroying curse-no
deluge could bring any greater misery-the
opening Of the Seventh Vial, could infict no
greater evil on the human race, as it now
exists, than to destroy this holy alliance.
Let not the laborer repine, because he is
daily fulfilling his allotted part in the Al
mighty's unscrutable work. Nor let capital
forget that the rudest toiler, who delyes in
the soil, helps to make valuable his possess
sions, and gold without muscle and brain is
the most useless of all sublunary things.
There are no adverse interests between
labor and capital. 1t does not follow that
because a man is worth million Of dollars
that he is necessarily Shylock and scoun-
drel, nor because another has not cent in
his pocket that he is therefore, an epitome Of
every human virtue. In our land, thank
God, there are no inextinguishable lines be-
tween the two-the laborer Of to-day may be
the capitalist of tomorrow.
Let labor walk on with head erect, and be
Justly proud when it looks around and sees
the world filled with all the bright and beau
tiful things which its genius and its power
created. And let capital be proud that it has
been able to assist labor in developing all
those grand ideas to which the world is in
debted for its present advancement and its
power.
Quartz Geld Mining In Australia.