The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-04-26
THE RIGHTS OF CAPITAL.

1t Is favorite remark with many of
those who take exceptions t. the demands
Of the working classes for political action
that Capital has rights as well as Labor,
it of those rights, and array one class Of
the community against the other We
propose to show in the following article
that it is not the rights of Capital which
are to be infringed on, but rather the
rights Of Labor which are sought to be
] secured.
l Labor increases the wealth Of the United
I States At yearly rate out little IN excess
\ IF three per cent. as official statistics amply
attest whereas capital employed IN bank
ing and manufacturing enterprises, ia rail
road bonds, or invested IN mortgages,
accumulates at a rate many times greater
than the accumulation If wealth by the
production VI labor Hence the proprie-
tor 81 house must receive By way If rent
not only the interest which the money ex
pended in the purchase Of the lot and the
building Of the house would yield If IN
vested in bank stocks. railroad bonds, or
LAID out in mortgages, but enough IN add
ton to maintain repairs and pay lnsur-
ances.
Unless capital invested IN houses will
do tins, It's owner has No. object IN thus
employing III Hence the high rents which
consume 80 much Of the Nottingham
wages hence he is necessltated t. live III
mean, cheaply constructed buildings. III
the suburbs Of our large cities, miles away
from his shop or place of work And the
same thing is true Of the manufacturer
His capital must not only yield him these
profitable rates of interest but must also
De enough to pay for the wear and
breakage Of machinery, and the risks Of
trade And in order to secure these eNces-
slve profits he demands the protection Of
his government il the shape Of imports ana
duties
The extraordinary power Of accumula-
ton which the Law gives u money, renders
everything the worklngman wears ana
eats, and the rents II the houses which
shelter him very dear, and as this accumu-
lative power Of money Is many times in
excess Of the accumulations Of wealth by
labor, the prices of these articles are neces-
sarily largely out Of proportion to the price
Of his wages. Let him toll ever - hard
and continuously. let his habits rs ever 50
economical, his life presents a weary blank,
and at the end nf the year he dnds his
inevitable expenses have consumed all his
wages
He has no remedy for this but t. com
bIne his earnings with. his neIghbors, and
build his own house, manufacture ms own
goods, and furnish himself with his own
provisions. Under a Justly organized
monetary and labor system, the natural
cooperation is between capital and labor
but the alarmingly and unjust rapid sccu-
mutation Of capital through the agency If
our vicious financial system. makes il not
only Independent but oppressive Of labor,
because the earnings II the latter % t.
the former, by the effect IF our lneXorable
Law Aud until capital and labor become
organized INTO a system Of mutual co-ope-
ration there is no truth more certain then
than wOrklngmen must project themselves
in cooperative efforts against the encroach-
ing powers Of capital
These efforts, in giving to working men
the part IF their labor that is now lost 10
them that goes into other hands, will Sc
cure them in due time, the independence
and means Of study, which will enable
them to comprehend the Just relations Of
capital and labor, and the means of or
AanIzing their relations into law.
This, reader, is the outrage (D sought to
be perpetrated BY the Labor Reform Party.
Can you endure IT, or should capital object
to its operations