The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-02-28
Eursher EXTRACTS from LII. Aasx1nson's
- Iacf11rA. - 81. 80

/ FfT. =
lis there no call for an attempt to establish
q science when bad ls#s, under which it Is
tattempted to regulate the production and
distribution of wealth, nre making sinners
faster than the preachers can convert them
into saints? Some Of these laws may cause
q greater apparent accumulation of property
commonly called wealth--the census may
show that we count more dollars--it may be
said that we are richer-but Ia that the end
Surely not. The accumulation of capital
fairly earned Is necessary, just, and right,
| but il is only means. In common esttma-
ton great exhibit Of capital is considered
some evidence Of prosperity; this Is far from
| true. Every great invention destroys capi-
tai previously accumulated at great cost.
When we learn how to burn water, only
think how much wealth will be destroyed in
mines and railroads. Isuppose the true end
Of oil the work we do, as diggers and del
yers, as merchants and manufacturers-the
true object Of all this production and dis
! tribution of wealth-is the accumulation,
not of capital, but of manhood; and when
men shall have obtained such sure con-
troll over the forces Of nature as shall
make each years subsistence certain and am
pie even the two or three years product
saved, which now constitutes all our accu-
mulated capital, will not be needed. Then
there may be neither rich nor poor. Inven-
ton takes the place of capital and reduces its
proportion to reduction; invention implies
Intelligence ard the substitution of brain for
muscle; intelligence implies manhood. The
| limit to the power of the tyrant capital,
which the communist and the labor-reformer
| so blindly seek to compass by force OF law,
shall surely come; but it shall come through
| ~ int nv
constantly forcing out of existence the costly
processes for the use of which men pay the
capitalist. 1t seems to be the ordinance Of
the creator and controller that the will, the
spirit, or by whatsoever imperfect name
we attempt to define that immaterial
essence which we know to be the
man, shall arrive at consciousness
of itself and of its powers mainly through an
effort to supply material wants and appe-
titles. So far as can comprehend the object
Of life in this world this is its one purpose
the development of the individual and all
the customs and ordinances of society, all the
rules and all the provisions for the accumll-
lation and protection of property, fail in SO
| far as they are not framed with view to this
end. In so far MS statute provisions provide
for the support of men by other means than
their own skill and labor, they do harm to
those whom they seem to aid. Protected In
FAINT manufacturers always remain infants.
The possession of property fails most igno-
bly, unless it becomes the opportunity for
broader and more effective work; and
partly fails even when made the means
of alms-giving more than the means OF
removing causes Of want. The accumula-
ton of capital is necessary to community
exactly in SO far as its owners use it in such
manner as to increase the general abundance;
and as it can only secure an income by rem
dering some service to those who pay for its
use, it is as important to those who have not
rs to those who have that capital should exist.
But as the prime motive for such accumula-
ton is the self-intercst of an individual, the
pursuit of wealth has become invested with
a selfish aspect, as if what one gained and
saved another must necessarily lose. This
view of the subject has been the controlling
one. especially in regard to the accumulation
of wealth by different nations having deal
ings with each other. Hence there has been
d prejudice against the study of political
economy as being aseltish pursuit, question
of mere accumulation, unworthy of the at
tention of men capable of higher thought
But it seems to me that since
POLITICAL ECONOMY
claims to prove that the free and unrestrict-
ed pursuit of wealth, governed only by laws,
for the maintenance of justice and equity IN
OFF dealings, inureS to the benefit of even the
poorest in the land, such claim should chal-
lcnre the attention of those whose sole pur-
nose is to promote moral welfare. Until a
recent period it has been held by most of the
legislators of what are called civilized coun-
tries, that the material prosperity of one ma
ton is inconsistent with that Of another, and,
next to religious dogmas, this error has been
the greatest cause of war and misery on
earth. TO you who are here it may seem a
work of utter surplusage to make this state
ment at this time, and you may say it Is also
a mere commonplace truism. But let me
tell YOU there are more statutes upon our
national law hooks to-day for the
regulation of trade based upon this PERM
cious error than Of any other land, and public
opinion is more controlled by it than by any
other view of the matter if the acts of our
, members of Congress are to be taken as the
exponents of the opinions of the people.
Can il be said that we have made much pro-
gress in intelligence, or that our common
School is a great success, when we tolerate
: unon our statute book navigation acts mod
, ellcd after the acts passed in CromwelPs time
that commerce between England and her
, colonies should be conducted only in English
ships? With what effect: To say nothing
, of the malien effect upon the very commerce
f they are intended to foster, the existence OF
, these acts and of others of like character con-
stitute the barrier to the ratification by Canada
of the late treaty between this country and
. Great Britain. And the existence of that act
r and of tariff on coal, fish, and potatoes, are
: to-day possible reasons for preventing leSis.
| lation to carry the provisions OF that treaty
into effect. The ratification OF that treaty Is
one of the most essential measures for The
: moral welfare of the world, for 1t marks the
3 first step in the substitution OF arbitration
: for war. At the same time the existence OF
f these acts gives opportunity for unscrupu!olls
2 dcmagogrles in our own country 10 trade
upon prejudices and ignorance in order te
maintain themselves in place and power
When q few earnest men endeaTor 10 call at
tcntion to these bad acts that mark our at
tachment to the semi-bnrbarous ignorance o
orr proeenitors we are denounced as the
emissaries of our "natulal enemy" Grea
, Britain. What sort of Christianity is Thu
that proclaims aloud Oh Sabbath day tha
God has made of one blood all the nations O.
the earth, and Oh the Exchange maintains
cause of war by denouncing our nearest kif
f as our natural enemy? Is it anything but :
sham that thus divorces religion and life, ant
> fails to seek in the daily relations of men thu
} great law Of
NEUTRALITY OF SERVICE
t which is the divine harmony of God an(
2 the fundamental truth of political economy
. When we affirm that the present status il
: not right we referred to the evidence o
S great accumulated property that lie all AROUND
t us, as if this was complete justification.
: do not intend to attempt to prove that there
: /. any nveryyhelminp amount of n0Ynrt,