The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-04-09
Thu Maohanic's canital,


At this season of the year bust
ness men are accustomed to take
account of stock" that is review
their assets in detail and sum up
the value of their stock in trade, to
discover exactly how they stand,
and what courses may be beat
for their future success in business.
Such is not the general custom
of men depending for support sole
ly or mainly on their power to earn
wages. They are more apt to let
things go IS they have gone, uncon
sciously assuming that they have
no assets, no stock in trade,
al "a that it does 7 OF lie within their
power to materially alter the condi-
ton of their daily life and income,
unless it may be to strike when
their mates do for higher wages.
Yet the poorest laborer has capital,
! the amount and value of which he !
can usually increase, sometimes
greatly increase, with comparative
ly little care and effort; capital
whichotrom the nature OF things
must inevitably vanish as the
years roll on, may be slowly, may
be suddenly and utterly any day.
Failing to recognize the existence
and Importance Of such working
capital, too many working men
squsnder it thoughtlessly, while
more allow it to waste away to
nothing, with scarcely an effort to
arrest, or lessen, or prevent its
wasting or destruction, and without
much effort to acquire other capital
to fill its place.
Take, for example, the case Of a
young man beginning life as la
borer, and able to earn no more
than a dollar a day. What capi-
tai has he to take account of.
OF visible stock in trade he may
seem to have nothing, not even
shovel to dig with. Nevertheless,
he has an actual capital equivalent,
if rightly used, to a safe investment
Of from $4,000 to $I0,000-capital
that he may increase or diminish,
throw away or multiply indefinitely
just as he chooses, just as readily
and as surely as the average bust
ness man can squander or increase
an equal sum invested in trade.
Ten Thousand dollars in u. S. 3
per cents (now quoted above par,
and accordingly reckoned by inves-
tors as desirable as we'll as safe)
yield $500 a year, or emitting Sun
days and holidays, ST. a day. This
is the amount earned by our young
Iaborer. 1t is fair therefore to
reckon his rude streng tn, and intel
ligencc sufficient for simple labor,
as worth as much to him as
$4,000 in government per cent.
bonds; and it is actually worth
more to him than that amount of
invested money would be if coup
led with inability to earn his living
by the use ofhis hands.
What young laborer, not fool,
would sell his two hands for $40
900? Or would, for that relative
Iy small sum, exchange his Wig
orous bodily frame for the body of
paralytic?
Youth, health and a capacity to
do are elements Of working CAPT
, tai that many a millionaire would
be glad to swap his millions for,
But these are not al the produc-
tive elements of a yOung work
mans capital, though they are ele-
mentS of yeung workman's eapi-
tai, though they are elements which
too many squander without ever
estimating their value until they
are gone. Wages so small as 81
day presupPeses very little intelli-
gence, very little skill, and no great
responsibility. These, for wage
earning purposes, are factors of
higher value; and the worker who
adds them to his capital will soon
find its productive value doubled,
tripled, possibly multiplied many
fold. And it is always possible for
the young worker thus to increa Sc
his capital by adding to his knowl-
edge and skill, and still more by
proving his fitness for positions OF
trust and responsibility.
A larger knowledge of mechanics,
finer workmanship, the ability to
handle new tools, or the acquisi
ten OF new art, which any young
mechanic may gain by the improve
ment of a winters evenings, may
easily add a daily wages, and &C
cerdingly may be counted as ad-
ding another ten thousand to his
invested capital.
Since wages measure the worth
rather than the severity of ones
labors, and nothing adds so much
to the worth of one labers as intel
ligence, skill and trustworthiness,
it usually happens that the best
paid labor ia not the severest or
most exhausting. Indeed, it often
happens that q mans trusty char
acter is by far the most valuable,
because the most produc tive, part
of his working capital, earning him
two, FIVE or ten dollars, where his
brute capacity to toll would not
bring more than one dollar.
In view of these obvious facts, it
may not be impairment in Us, at
this season, to suggest to our read
ers-tAose especially who are be-
ginning life as mechanies-that it
is a good time to look to their in
vested capital, to see what it
amounts to, how it is invested, and
how it can best be protected and |
increased.