The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-03-18
EvEN'G, MARCH IS. 1873.
Labor tho Creator of wealth.


A novice in reflection would very natu-
rally consider the possession Of inexhausti-
BILE sums of money, or of gold and silver,
as the greatest evidence of wealth, national
or individual. And he will be led to this
conclusion from the false position which
money has been permitted to assume as
the supplier of the necessities and luxu-
rious tastes of society. 1t is this that has
begotten the impression that money is the
chief wealth. But, truly considered. how
far is this conclusion from the fact. Gold and
silver bears, at best, but a mean relation to
those wants OF man upon which life de-.
ponds. Intrinsically they are, in their APP
plication to his temporal necessities, less
valuable than the acorns that fall by the
wayside. He can neither eat, drink, nor
wear the metallic splendor, and they will
form less desirable roof over his head
than the bark he may strip, with little Ia
Dor, from the trees. 1t is purely ficti-
tous value which attaches to these metals
and but for this value, giving them rela-
tive power of purchase and exchange, they
would be as worthless as the trinkets Of
savage life.
The wealth of nation, then, or of an
individual, does not lie in the possession
of these metals, how many times soever
they may undergo coming in the worlds
national mints but the greatest wealth is
that temporal association and estate
which provide from the elements the COM
plete necessities of human life, or those
necessities which satisfy the greatest num-
Der of human wants. To the wanderer
furnishing in the desert, the greatest
of all treasures is food and drink.
All things else-gold, pearls, and rarest
jewels-wll be cast aside for them. And
so it is with men and nations everywhere;
the great temporal wants are food, raj
ment, and shelter. The capacity of peo-
pie to supply these wants, in spite of any
and all exigencies, is the true wealth and
power of people; not the gold, silver, or
diamonds they may dig out of the earth.
1eCdi Sdpltdl liCo III o6li-ducCtcu iaUOTs
brought in contact with the earth in its va
rious capacities, and bringing out those re-
suits which fall within the range of our
desires or minister to our essential wants.
Thus directed, labor is the creator of
wealth, and is of more value to the
state than thousand Eldorados from
which the glittering dust may be dug in the
poverty and wretchedness of labor. The
iron in our mountains is of infinitely great
er value to our people; for, when worked,
it ministers thousand times more to our
wants and necessities. When we hear peo-
pie say. therefore, that what Virginia wants
is men of capital. not active and intelligent
laborers, we can only pity their ignorance.
and wonder at their stupidity. All the
gold and silver Of the world may be poured
into the lap of Virginia, and It will not add a
dollar to our capital beyond the labor it may
command to create what alone constitutes
the wealth and grandeur of people. All
gold-producing countries have been wretch
eddy poor. California would be decided
ly the poorest state in the Union
to-day were it not for the splendid
industries she has developed in other than
mere gold-hunting directions. 1t is her
diversified labor and industry that has
placed her in the front rank of commercial
and industrial states. And so it must be
with Virginia. Borrowed capital will not
help her, except as it may command intel
ligent labor, and enable her to direct it
tothe development of her material resources.
The true policy Of our legislation should be,
therefore, to secure labor, intelligent labor,
and the more we get Of it the greater will
be our advancement in wealth, prosperity,
and power. One intelligent laborer, attach.
ing himself to our soil and striking at the
possibilities that underlie it, is worth
dozen bags of gold and silver flung at the
feet of idleness and unthrift among us.
The value given to farms, or that which
shows itself in the improved buildings,
stock, and superior cultivation of land, is
what Virginia wants to enable her to rank
as great agricultural and industrial state.
The development Of her mineral wealth is
also necessary, but it does not compare with
that grander industrial development which
will alone attach her people to the soil,
and inspire them with the love of liberty,
country, family, homemade them, in
TACT, people as great and glorious as those
of her past history.