The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-08-22
Labor and Capital.

country has resOnnded from centre to cir
conference with the warnings of self-con-
stituted prophets, who saw in every cloud
of discomfort, limited though it might have
been to single small community, the ad-
vancing legion of communists, threaten
ing sudden and complete humiliation of all
who ventured to interpose to impede their
progress. A street fight was magnified into
certain preliminary to an immense COM
bat that would convulse the nation, a FAM
lily brawl was heralded as the commence
ment of a reign of terror, and the assem-
blage of a few workingmen to discuss mat
tiers pertaining to the interests of their
particular calling, was branded as the nur-
sery OF anarchy. From all sides resounded
the cry of Labor against Capital,'' and
predictions of a contest, speedy and conclu-
sive, were freely INDUCED. 1t would be I'M
true to say that there was not some founda-
ton for apprehension, but it would be folly
to assert that the men who felt themselves
aggrieved contemplated redress of their
wrongs by asresort to violence, when means
of more pacific character were within
their grasp, by which the desired end could
be more surely attained. No one can re-
view the history Of Lee islation for the last
decade and fail to perceive how inadequate
to the wants of the people it has been; and
no one can calmly contemplate the pres
ent condition OF the country and not be inn
pressed with the anomaly it presents. On
the one hand are millions crying for bread !;
on the other, graneries bursting with their
fullness. Strong, brawny workmen begging
for employment, that soul and body may be
kept together thousands of fertile acres,
waiting the touch of industry to reap their
talus chained, parched and furnishing, to
the rock, while the waters of life are surg
ing just beyond. .I....
1t is a well established historical precedent
ured by the degree of misgovernment which
has produced that revolution, and a thought
full study of the recent past may well have
aroused misgiyings as to the result OF the
change which all must see is inevitable
There must of necessity and will be a
change, in which the power welded. by cap
1tal to the oppression of labor will loose
something of its potency, and the balance
between the two great factors of society be-
come more evenly established. In any 9TH
er country under the sun, the change would
scarcely be accomplished without violence,
but here, where the line OF demarkation be-
tween the classes is too indistinct to be
perceptible, it will be brought about by the
silent, but none the less effective, instru-
mentality of the ballot box.
To assume that there will ever be direct
conflict between the workingman and cap
italist is to reason in the face of fact and
logic. In land where every man is allowed
to reap the fruit of his labor, a large major
i.y acquire some little property. By them,
that possession, however small it may be, is
held as tenaciously as though it were ten
times its value, and they will protect it to
the last extremity. Were this nation of
Bohemians, with no fixed abode and no am
bition beyond the desires Of the now, then
might the graYest apprehensions be enter
tanned, but in community where capital
and labor are the warp and wool of society,
where their blending is so intimate that itIis
impossible to separate them. it is sheer folly
to maintain that there can be clearly de-
fined conflict between them. The one is
necessary to the existence Of the other, for
without labor capital is worthless, and with
out capital labor is useless. Labor is the
foundation, capital the superstructure and
by their harmonious combination alone, can
either be made to subserve its purposes and
perform its functions.
For the very reason that the one is so de-
pendent upon the other, must the impor-
lance and essentially of each be recognized,
and it is the business of government to so
adjust these forces that an equilibrium may
be preserved. If at times the beam tips to
one side there must come leveling up. and
the effort to recover balance will OF neces-
sity be accompanied with more or less vi
bration. 1t is the motion thus produced that
is now agitating the country. Too long has
capital been allowed to accumulate weight,
and it must now yield some of its leverage,
The equality must and will be restored land
not until then may we expect cessation OF
the restlessness which is now so apparent in
every section of the Union.
The quarantine regulations IN the South
have stopped the mails, and complaints
come up from the stricken cities that they
cannot hear from the outside world. OF
course the Post-office Department has no