Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-08-30
aow CAPITAL RoBs LABOR.

lacious, and, therefore, injurious, tnan
most Of the fustian and hall truth,
which, under the guise Of political econ.
omy, 10 taught BY eate-money and
many Greenback orators and agitators
to people who are addressed as work
ingmen." The generaltheory that isas-
serted and accepted by this Shole class
OF teachers, as for instance by the late
Radical evangelist, DR.. RANDALL, Green
hacker so called, who recently delivered
several harranyues in this city, is that
the capitalists-those who are ranked rs
wealthy or rich--are men holding mon
ey (which belongs to the workingnien,
who have been robbed, plundered,
and dispoiled OF the fruits OF their labor;
that they are and, OF necessity, the ene'
mics OF the laboring class; that this en-
mity is so deep.rooted as to be irrepres-
sible; and that nothing but revolution
can ever enable the outraged to recover
what belongs to them, and protect
themselves against future oppression"
This is the general substance OF the
speeches made at conventions and at
Sunday meetings in the whole range OF
labor organizations, from the Eight
Hour League and trades unions up to
the most advanced communism.
To rightly understand this assumed
antagonism between capital and labor,
it is but proper to understand what is
capital, and what constitutes man
capitalist. Discarding the technical dis
tinction between capital and property,
and taking capital in its popular and
broadcast sense, capital or property is
the savings of labor. When man out
of his months wages is able to save the
earnings OF fifteen days, he is a capital
list to an extent equal to the labor OF ff-
teen men for one day each. The aggre-
gate of the savings of labor makes up
the aggregate OF capital. The man who
has saved the wages OF fifteen days Ia
Dor is in condition to hire the labor OF
fifteen men one day each, and the pro-
duct of that labor is his own. Ii is
common for individuals from small be.
ginnings like this to 20 on accommodating
until in time they have so much
that they can, as employers OF other
men and in the sale OF products, greatly
enlarge the scale OF their savings, until
they find themselves in time "rich, and
put down on the blacklist as robbers oil
the workman, cheats, and swindle-s, re-
yelling on the "blood" OF the laborer.
Calmly considered, it will be difficult
for rational man to comprehend how
the man who saves one-half his wages
thereby ro5s his fellow-workman, who
does not save, bat spends all he earns
as fast as he receives it. Wherein is the
saving OF one man an injustice to an
other?
Riches in the sense they are gener-
aliv understood and accepted, being the
accumulations OF the savings OF labor,
are exchangeable. \ man in an ordi-
nary life time, by the investment OF his
savings, by the exchange OF one form Oi
investment INTO another, by
the purchase OF one kind OF
OF property and its sale at an advance,
becomes the owner OF an immense
amount OF property. II is all his own
the result OF thrift, economy and skill
iul management. Why should the man
whose savings are represented by prop
erty be regarded as robber by those
who have no savings and who do not
want to save?
4 special antagonism is preached as
existing between the mechanics OF
city and the bloated capitalists who live
in "princely mansions" while the men
who created those mansions by the
sweat OF their brows are living in COM
psrative poverty.
Let US examine a case OF this kind
and find wherein is the robbery, and
how and ia what manner it Is perpetra-
ted. Let us take the case OF man
whose saving originally was few dol,
lars, which increased by small gains en-.
abled the owner to invest and reinyest
his money in real estate, or otherwise.
until ut last, after years OF economy aud
skill, he finds himself the possessor OF
500, 900 in cash. Then, seeking per-
manent home for his family, he ex-
ponds $40, 900 of his accumulated saw
ings in an eligible building lot, and
other amounts for the different mate
rails out OF which to construct the
house and also to employ the various
classes OF workingmen. Does he rob
the former owner OF the lot, or is he the
robber OF these workingmen in pay
ing them, say $4,000 in money
instead OF giving them the house which,
according to the gate-money orators,
they created" out OF nothing by their
labor?
How many houses would be built in
Wheeling ii those engaged in building
them, instead OF receiving their current
wages, had to take the building erected?
In what way has he robbed the stone.
mason, bricklayer, carpenter, painter,
plasterer, gIazier, or the plumber, by ex-
changing his savings in the form OF
money for their labor and skill1 In
which respect can these persons de-
nouuce him as an enemy" for having
distributed his hundred thousand dol
lars among workmen for labor
that would have otherwise been unpro-
duct We? Yet, in the vernacular Of the
H. .raotar tho axnanfifurp