, 1877-03-18
DESTROYING CAPITAL.

Two Sundays in succession there have
been meetings held in this city, at which
addresses were made to audiences supposed
to be worEngmen out Of employment. One
Of these meetings was called By the avowed
Communists, to consider the propziety o1
nominating candidates for city Offices to be
voted for by the oppressed at tho coming
caty election, and the other was called nom
inally by bricklayers and masons, the object
stated being to form a union to protect
themselves - against capital" The tenor Of
the speeches made at both these meetings
was the same, and the points urged were !:
l. That labor created all property and
wealth. 2. That tile men who performed
this labor possessed none Of it's products
3. That cnpital absorbed all the creation Of
labor: and kept the latter at the point of
starvation. 4. That capital was the great
enemy Of mankind, and ought to be de-
stroyed- The speakers argued that the con-
diton Of the workingmen was getting worse
every day; that the middle class was being
ruined and destroyed by excessive tax
alton; aud that these evils should be corrected.
It was also argued that the capitalists,
and not the people, controlled MI govern
meut; that the capitalist WAS the tenth man
in the community; lime were made paupers
that one should be rich. There is nothing
new in all this; but the fact that it is repeat
ed day after day to willing and believing
hearers shows how naturally demagogism
aud ignorance associate. These men insist
that it is the duty Of Government to furnish
employment for labor: aud pay therefor
such wages as the labor may demand, and
in several instances in Eastern cities notices
have been served on Municipal Govern
n1ents that, unless labor and wages are fur
nished to tie unemployed, the latter will
destroy capital by destroying public aud
private property. Our Communists have not,
go far, made such threats. but their argu-
ments all lead up to that point. That the
number of workingmen out Of employment
is great. is not 10 be denied; but the susper-
sion Of labor is but n part OF the general
depression and prostitution which apply to
every branch of industry. Manufacturers
whose capital is invested in buildings,
machinery, ulaterials, and wages~fund, can
find no sales for their goods, md have to
close their mills and their shops, and dis
charge their workmen. The capital invest !!
ed in the business is for the time rendered.
unproductive, and the capitalist suffers in FULL
proportion with the workman. Owing to
the same general prostration the loss in alll
branches Of business falls upon invested
capital Merchandise is deprecated, debts
are not paid, tenants arc uuoblo to nav
rents, landlords hare reduced incomes, mort
cages cannot be paid, property is sold for a
trlt1e, bankruptcies are widespread, and in
vested capital is lost aud destroyed. The
annihllation Of invested capital during the !
Last four years hos been immense. Is it'll
strange that men who have something left,-I
something rescued from the general wreck, II
should decline to engage in production
which is not profitable, which is certain to
be losing business? When men at even
the lowest price Of labor cannot produce
property except at q heavy loss, how
can they be expected to engage in
the business at higher rates of wages?
The panic and the general prostration have
been as severe on c,pital as on labor. The
earnings of years have been
swept away. We published few days ago
table showing the annihilation, during the
last four years, Of over 81, ,000, 600, 80 in
vested in railway debts alone. The hard
ships and suffering Of worlingmen are but all
part OF the general effect Of the collapse Of