The Placer herald., 1867-03-09

bOrOughs each OF which returned memoer
to the British House of Commons. The
voters in each borough being the town cri
er, the town beadle, the town constable, and
the town parson and his clerk. But the
Reformers taught the noble Duke new
lesson in political economy. They abolished
bis right to the political power he claimed;
and although that right was sold in the po'
litical market for money, ready money-for
ten thousands of pounds-it was taken away
from the duke, and whys Because ii was
detrimental to the public welfare. So Of
those capitalists Of the Pacific coast. Ii they
desire any privilege detrimental 10 the we'll
fare Of the people they must give way. They
cannot and shall not "do as they like with
their own"
And here wish TO say few words re.
specting capital and capitalists. What is
capital, and who are capitalists? Climate
and soil are capital; rivers and harbors are
capital; mines and forests are capital; men
and women are capital, These are the ele
mepts of all capital, and wilhou. these we
can have no capital. Now, to work these
elements up into exchangeabie coin, or com
modties that will be taken by other nations
as coin, requires labor and skill. Without
the application of labor and skill there can
be little or no capital Skilled labor, then.
is the master element in the formation of
capital 1t is the matrix Of capital. The
gaslight that burns before US tonight comes
TO US from the sun. 1t is sunlight that was
absorbed by plants ages upon ages ago
turned by slow combustion and great
pressure into coal, from Which, by means Of
certain maoi pu!alions, we get it here from
the gasometer in smoke, and il kindles into
flame al our touch. So of the fat of all iv.
ing things; all fat and oil and forest trees is
sunlight slowed away among US for convent
snt use. Now, our capitalists are in like
manner the absorbents Of the labor Of other
men; they gather it for public uses and for
public service. They all came t, California
some years ago, with little more than small
carpet-bag apiece, and few shirt collars
They were as poor and helpless as many of
you here to.night-glad to get any emy 10y.
meut Some of these ground wheat into
-four, and became rich; others sold vegeta-
bles and fruit, and are now capitalists; others
sold whisky, and are now capitalists; others
carried packs OF calico around and became
rich, and are now capitalists; others drove
ox-teams, took up city lots for nothing, and
are now Capitalists" others did smaller
things still, and absorbing tue earnings Of
white men, became rich capitalists. But all
of them dealt with the white laborers, and The
white mechanics, selling TO those laborers
they became and now stand out as "The
Capitalists of Californian" who, forsoolb,
must have Chinese slaves! Just as the early
settlers Of Virginia and Mary land encouraged
the slave trade in their day to cheaper and
humble labor, which, as you all know, has
brought about the boodiest murders that
the pen of human history records. To cheap
en- labor, to humble labor, to degrade labor
did the planters Of Virginia and the ship
owners of New England conspire and COZ
operate to bring over cargoes of poor Afri
cans-dragged them by force from their ma
tive bills, and sold them into perpetual
bondage. That vile, inhuman practice con
,inued for a century and half before the
great thinkers of the Union, slung by the
reproaches Of monarchial Europe, accepted
the conviction that it was atrocious. And
to stop it, to suppress aud abolish it, cosI
the lives of million of the finest men that
ever trod upon the earth, and made widows
and orphans and mendcanls of many mil
lions Of be pless creatures. Look at the
South to-day; are they not starving from
one end Of it 10 the other. Whites and
blacks, all in one common mass Of mendi
cancy. What has reduced them to this con
dition9 What else than the original avrice
the original pride of the early Virgins
planters, and Of the New England ship owner
We meet with the same avariee and pride
and vanity here to day. What interest de-
mands the lowering Of wages and the degra
da,on Of the laboreI? l am, myself in The
position Of capitalist. l have the charge
of eight hundred thousand dollars in gold
have done my best TO assist industry anc
the local manufactures and shipping of The
city. have done my best to extend The
city itself on every hand by drawing capita
carefully to the aid Of house'buiding aud
other improvements, and have lost nothing
by it. l., for one, don't see any necessity tc
lower wages, or to humble labor, or TO in
troduce Chinese laborels. The money en-
trusted to me is the earnings Of white labor
ers; many Of them, to my knowledge con
template the purchase ofIots and the erec
ton Of houses for themselves and families iu
the healthy suburbs Of the city. Every per
son who thus improves, gives good employ
ment and full! wages to dozen other per
sons; and thus if we are not interfered with
by the threatened Tartar invasion, we vii
60 on extending business and employment
on every hand, sustaining labor and augment
ing capital; but admit the Chinese to take
possession Of your vocations, labors and bust
ness and those who are now welded to Cali
foruia, will soon change their mind, finding
they must 60. Instead Of buying town lott
aud building new houses, they will begin tc
think Of packing up and leaving the State
Of course they will carry of their gathering
Of money and vauables, and so diminish tb,
amount which, as banker, l shall b.
able 10 offer those ttat remain. Otbe