Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-01-31

question secEss 90 proceed upon the as-
sumption that brains are Of no account; that
manual labor liz the only real work done in
the world Yet it ought TO be apparent that,
after all, it is Intelligence that makes any
work valuable, or brings it 20 any higher
result than mere brute force can accomplish
/ And in much eff tie loose talk respecting the
unequal distribution of wealth nc account
seems to be taken cf sie fact that the same
! inequality in kind, although perhaps not IN
degree. exists among the laborers themselves
Two workmen with the same pay Will not
make equally wise use Of their earnings, and
at the end of ten years one will have snug
home paid for, and all the comforts and
some Of the luxuries Ct life, while the other
will be ir &c better condition than when he
started. Good judgment, care, thrift
rigid denial perhaps of tobacco or beer, or
Of some wasteful appetite, have given
respectable competence to one, aud the opPo-
site qualities have kept the other poor. Is
there any Justice IN g complaint that the
good things Of this world are unequaily
divided between such persons? And what Is
such comparison but tolerably just stand
ard by which 10 measure the great majority
Of cases of inequality in fortune2 Who has
not seen two farmers whose lands Join, the
one growing rich year BY year, while the
other never gets ahead, and loses his farm at
last 10 some money lender on mortgage Z
The difference in the two men has been one
IF character. not Of hours Of work, and the
success Of one and the failure of the other
have come about by the working Of law az
much beyond the reach Of legislation as the
succession of the seasons or the movements
Of the planets
( Il bv no means follows, however, because
each man success or failure depends mainly
upon himself. that capital and labor may
not and ought net to work tremendously
together. and that intelligence and muscle
cannot be g mutual help in the struggles and
empl0yment- Of this busy world Legisla-
ton can DO something. and has done it II
this country By regulating the descent Of
property. and especially providing against
the entailment of land. A generation OF
two sees the largest fortunes if not scattered,
at least divided amongimany successors and
flowing in many separate channels, often
blessing voluntarily. and as often, perhaps
enriching involuntarily, many waste places.
But after all that legislation can properly
do.-and it is but little it can do except to
remove all restraints from the liberty of the
individual to pursue any honest work or
industry m an honest way-every man must
he chiefly the architect Of his own fortune,
and the maker Of his own future. Two
acorns planted in the same field will not
make oaks Of the same stature and a field
planted with every variety Of trees will Ger
tainIv never grow into forest of oaks if all
the legislatures and Congresses in the world
should pass laws that they should. Govern
ment Is bound. as far as general legislation
can accomplish it, to give every man and
woman and child an equal chance in life, and
for the rest we must each work out our own
success. and capital will ind in the long
run that itz success Is advanced by liberal
and generous treatment of labor, while labor
will see that il Will get no good 10 itself by
any war upon capital.