The Democratic advocate., 1878-12-07
employer had become the day laborer.

employer had become the day laDorer.
In Schuylkill county we once knew a
miner who had for years, daily carried his
lamp and pick into the dark damp coal
drifts of the mountain, and there, amidst
danger and toll, earned substance and
something more The only strike he ever
participated in, was the strike of the sharp
pick into the coal seams. Steady work
and economy in time brought capital to
his command, that in time of great de-
preston served to buy the mines that he
worked in. A few years of prosperous
mining made him a wealthy man. The
former owner in the meantime, broken
and disappointed in his ambition, died in
penury.
When such things are daily taking place
before our eyes, who can distinguish
difference between the capitalist and la
borer?
The second part of the question appears
equally plain: Money laying idle in the
hands of the capitalist will never grow of
itself. A million of dollars laid away int
bank safe, whether gold silver or bank
notes, at the end of the year will not be
found to have increased in weight or
amount. 1t will produce nothing until
put in motion. 1t then incites labor into
activity, and labor increases its value.
The farmer when he takes up piece of
ground, invests part of his capital in the
land, part in stock, another part in i'm
plements, and still another part in seeds.
He knows that without labor his capital
will not increase, he at once commences to
give it action by putting labor in force.
His seeds are planted, worked and culti-
vated, they grow and are gathered, and he
counts the increase as the result of his
capital and labor combined, and one that
never could have been reached without
such combination.
In the manufacture of iron into some of
its finer fabrics, the amount of labor put
upon it is often very great, having to pass
through numerous hands, and various pro-
cesses before being brought to perfection.
This requires time and frequently vast
expenditure of money. The iron as taken
from the ore bank is seldom worth more
than one or two dollars per ton. But
after passing through furnace and forge
that have cost the capitalist many thou
sands of dollars to erect, the value is in
creased several hundred per cent, and as
il continues to pass through the hands of
each workman, value is added on at every
turn by the labor put upon it. The labor
er can in no way consume it or use it for
food, still the laborer must eat, and so
he looks to the capitalist for the means Of
buying food until his work is ready to be
sold.
When perfected it is the result of the
efforts of capital and labor combined. |
Capital could not produce the article with
out labor, and labor could not produce it
without capital. The man who digs a
ditch, plows field, or feeds, however ig-
norant, is a useful citizen, and he who,
with skill and intelligence, builds good
wall or constructs any useful piece of
mechanism, is still more valued, and his
labor more highly appreciated. But the
man who can combine and use the labor
of many men, furnishing the skill and cap
ital necessary to carry on any great enter
prise, is public benefactor, and probably
Cne moSG uSeluI person III Ine coiHmuulUy
in which he lives.
Now, which is the most efficient or ac
tive cause in producing added wealth, cap
ital or labor? Who can say? When
capital is plenty and labor scarce labor
will claim and receive the larger reward,
but when labor is plenty and capital scarce
the case will be reversed, and capital will
claim and receive the higher recompence.
In no way can you entirely divorce capital
and labor without injury to both, each is
utterly helpless without the other. 1t is a
false idea, the whim of an ignorant COM
munity, that there is any contest between
labor and capital, They must go hand-in-
hand, each varying in their relative values
as the supply and demand for each may
increase or decline.