The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-12-08

the meat, and the shoes, aud the clothes,
and all the rest of the things that are made.
That is your income, and. l repeat, that Is
because, as you see, the indlvldr
nal action Of each of you that is SO i'm
portant.
rup MOST IMPORTANT TEST OF CAPITAL
Now. gentlemen, in an ordinary state Of
things. when a nation is sound, more is
made than consumed There l really
almost left out the most important test OF
capital. What is the distinction, the test
for finding out whether thing is capital or
not. Capital is that which is destroyed
like everything else, hut is reproduced IN
goods made. A beautiful picture is not
capital. You have paid for it. You have
given your goods away for it, but it does
nothing for you in the way of making fur,
ther goods. You have lost YOU. goods ana
have got painting. The test OF capital Is
that it is always reproduced ii destroyed.
The workman eats the corn, wears his
clothes out, consumes the coal in every
oase il is reproduced in goods made. That
is human life. Well, say then in the or
binary state of things, when mep are sane
and sober and not wild, nations Will act
prudently and will increase their capital,
which means that they will increase the
machines for making consequently, an
increase of capital is only another WORD
EXPRESSING tine increase OF those things
which make goods, which make things thar laa
are, and is indispensable for human lie
and its enjoyments.
But God has not willed that man should
be exempt from temptation, and lie has
not willed that his existence should 60 on
smoothly without care, and without a sense
Of responsibility, aud without rejecting
upon the nature Of his acts, and consequently
there often is at times a serious misfortune
which befals nations They get a tempo
rary prosperity,a temporary-what shall
call it ?-so of universal good fortune
which good fortune conslts in eating VI
their capital: in diminishing it. When
your capital is gone then comes universal
ruin and possibly universal starvation. Jol
lily and eat up your capital in six months,
and the American people must die, abso
lutely die. One instance may mention
1t is war. This had great effect upon thu
fortunes of America. War consumes rap
idly 1t is also very often time OF great
business, fine orders for iron, clothing a'l
sorts of things great number Of generals,
officers we'll paid, great movements ana
great destruction. That is the fact. All
goes on swimmingly, but the process, though
not seen. is destruction. Therefore, war
brings on a great sense OF prosperity be-
cause you are eating your capital, 1t Is
just the same with railways. Nothing en-
riches like the railway; nothing does SC
much for the people as the railway; but
you may make too many railways. And il
you make too many. what happens? Al
ways again the old story-a diminution Of
capital You have fed the laborers, clothed
them, given them tools, and Il very mag
nifcent railway which, perhaps, ends half
finished, is the result When that is
opened you are astonished that the people
are so poor. Ifyou had given the proper
kind of thought to the subject you would
have said, I'VE have made too many rail
ways: We haze destroyed the power OF
making goods, and our people are poorer.
But YOU ask me, how are we t. learn how
many railways we can afford? Always the
,aato ra;i"arS r. The oxtnnt flat vnu make
naaro @aods Than Won consume If Won
ha"o 80 " snars r. instaaI If bnvinO
,'io,nr ."s" e ,ba I,ai;ans statues Of The
G 'r,"Lc baols frnn1 T"gIond and I.slv.
ynn ,nrn D ynnr surnlus iHtr railWav.. Won
ba"o inne circuit ,hinr Ear ,ho american
neanlo anl i Is n GREAT norer IF inrrensine
,Loir ,rn"l,b hnt i an ,he ron,rarv van
,m 'a ',,nro r,;l,rars ,han ,i,.t .mr, lns !,
!" Tio ' oar Van npst nna n >, VERY and
at last "Imos thenan;, peonle wonder a,
rho @root "nllansn wv Rerause the,
n.vGr think ia ask IS Aueri,.o r,uSuu,ina