The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-10-22
THE MONEY POWER.
Capitai and Labor and Their Rela-
ton 20 the r resi- d entiai QuestfOn-
Letter from A. III. ii. stuart, of Viz.


gInia.
Alex. H. H. Stuart. Of Virginia, the
distinguished publicist, has written q
letter upon the political issues Of the
present campaign, which appears in
the Staunton. (Va) Spectator. Upon
the relation of capital and labor to the
Presidential question Mr.. Stuart
writes:
NV friend r M. T. Hunter, in bis
admirable speech, recently delivered in
New York, has clearly exposed the
tendency of General Grants administers
ton to Capitalization. He has also d.
rected public attention to the influences
and agencies which are at work in
ga piping the foundations Of our Republi
can institutions. / concur in all that
he has so well presented to the thought
ful consideration OF the American peo-
ole. Il he bad chosen he might have
gone a step further and disclosed the
hidden power which underlies and
stimulates into action the dangerous
elements to which he referred. That
hidden power ia the money.power Of
the North A lew words Of explanation
will unfold my meaning. The two great
interests OF every civilized community
are labor and capital, represented by
persons and properly; The laborer
seeks employment and the capitalist
furnishes it. The one is the hirer and
the other the hires. The interest OF
the laborer is to get the highest wages
he can Tor his labor, while, on the
other hand, it is the interest OF the cap
italist to get the largest amount OF ser
vice for his money. 1t is obvious,
therefore, that between these two inter.
ests there is q natural antagonism.
One has labor to sell for money; the
other has money to sell for labor. Each
wishes to get the best price for his COM
modify, and their interests are as oppo-
site az the poles. This antagouism is
not necessarily one Of hostility, though
by injudicious, regulation it may be
made to assume that character. Prop
erly understood the relation is one OF mu
tual benefit and harmony. These great
interests naturally impress themselves
on the Institutions and policy OF every
country. Labor is the interest which is
mcst widely diffused, for, by the fat Of
Heaven itself, every man is required to
eat bis bread in the sweat OF his face
Capital is the accumulated product Of
labor, and 10 in the hands Of the for
tunate few. The normal tendency Of
labor is to democracy or the dominion
OF numbers-of capital. to the concen-
tration OF power in the hands OF the few.
The reason is obvious. Labor is the
interest Of the msny-capital Of the
few. Where labor predominates, num-
bers will govern. and the institutions
win be free. Where capital'is the con.
trolling interest, power will be in the
hands OF q small minority. 1t is one
OF the highest offices Of craftsmanship
to harmonize and preserve the proper
balance between these great interests.
By wise regulation the antagonism may
be made like that Of the opposing sides
of an arch, an element OF strength
rather than of weakness. But il either
be allowed to gain undue preponderance,
mischief and danger must ensue. Be-
tore the war, capital and labor worked
together in harmony. The proper
equilibrium existed. Capital paid
fair wages to labor, and labor
rendered q Just equivalent of service to
capital. Not the least disastrous OF the
consequences which have followed in
the train OF the late war wa the dis
turbance of the balance between labor
and capital in the Northern States.
The mushroom accumulation Of capital
growing out Of government contracts,
speculations in bonds and stocks, fiuc-
tuations ip the currency, and the crea-
ton of thousands of national banks,
founded on national promises to pay"
have caused an enormous development
of capital, and given to it's possessors an
undue aseendency over lsbsr. This as
tendency it has naturally sought to pre-
serve, consolidate and perpetuate. The
money power has obtained the control
OF the Executive and Of Congress- The
means employed to accomplish these
results are too we'll known to require
special enumeration Splendid gifts
have been made to men in Office. Rings
have been formed in Congress for pur-
poses OF plunder-a gigantic system Of
United States banks has been incorpo-
rated. by which houdbolders have been
enabled to receive not only interest
on their bonds, but duplicsted interest
on bank notes, iesued on the faith Of
these bonds The rates of'ioterest have
been greatly increased, and oil State
banks have been crushed out OF exist
sncs, % thst the boodheldsrs may esvs