The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-11-09
Real Capital Versus Bogus Capital.

EDITOR FREE TRADER-It Is I'M
fortunate that the nature of capital
should be so greatly and generally
misunderstood, and that on account of
the evil influence and power of false
capital, the working classes should
have been taught such a deep hatred
of capital and look upon it as their
mortal enemy.
Yet this is scarcely to be wondered
at; and desire to point out in these
lines that all the wrong and the OPP
preston OF the wage-worker comes not
from capital, but from the bogus
article, and that true capital is like a
good tool in the hands of the work
man, enabling him to do more and
better work than without 1t.
Labor, whenever it has free access
to nature, always produces more than
| it's simple maintenance, and II all
the surplus is that accumulation,
which we call capital, and its constant
production and accumulation should
constantly improve the condition OF
the worker.
1t follows that, being in excess of
maintenance, it can only be used in
aid of further production. This is
what stamps upon it the character
istic nature of capital in distinction
from wealth, which term includes all
productions whatsoever.
Now, bogus capital is that which
represents things that are not the pro-
duct of human labor; the earth and
lall of natures opportunities, forces
and raw materials, are neither prop
erty. wealth nor capital. Human
labor fashions and forms these mate
rails for mems use, and they are all
absolutely worthless to man until ne
applies his activities to them product
lively.
TO eat the fish which aboundS in
rivers and lakes, man must eaten IT;
to use the wind, which blows for al
alike, man must construct a windmill
or rig a sail: to enjoy even wild fruit
he must first gather 1T.
| 1t is this eXertion of his that alone
gives value to these materials; with
out it, in the very midst of plenty, ht
must Starve.
From this follows the necessity that
in order to be wholly free and indie
pendent. man must have free and un
restricted access to the opportunities
which nature provided for him; or, in
the absence of it, become the slave OF
him that control them.
| 1t follows also that, as man own,
his own labor so does he rightfully
own the entire product of his labor
and this is the only just conception OF
what is property and what is not.
1t is thus that bogus capital robs
and enslaves the wage worker: 1T is by
apprOpreating the raw materials OF
nature, the very opportunity OF freely
applying your labor to them, that you
have become a separateclasS, utterly
dependent on and at the mercy OF a
comparatively small number of your
fellow men, fashioned and endowed
by nature precisely as you are. The
surplus which your labor creates, day
by day, goes, not to you, but TO them
that own the earth.
Real capital is but a form of labor,
and in every case it is easy to distin-
guish it from the false.
Tht railroad, what is it but an en-
bankment thrown up by labor; the
ties upon it, what else but forest trees
cut down by labor: the irons, what but
the mineral dug from the earth,
smelted and rolled by labor; the cars
and rolling stock all made by labor;
the bridges and tunnels, the result OF
labor; the very operation requires con-
slant labor in all its departments.
This railroad, in process or completed,
| is capital; for it is designed for use in
new and increased production OF
wealth.
Even the bonds issued for the full
value Of these labor expenditures, rep
resent true capital.
When, however, the bonds are issued
for an amount of several times the
value of these expenditures, then al
over the cost is bogus and fictitious
capital.
it is here where robbery Of the pub
lie takes place, for the use of the CAPT
tai is charged to and paid for by
us, not on the real, but the doubled
trebled or quadrupled amount; it is a'
though one of you were to take out OF
the pile of coal, at the mouth OF tn,
shaft, which you and your fellows pro
duced jointly, four or five times the
amount of your just share.
Improved machinery and methods
Of production have made it pOssibl,
for one man to do the labor of many
and it has been argued, and is believed
by many of you, that labor saving ma
chimes are taking the bread out OF the
mouth Of the working men, as it were
by largely dispensing with human
labor.
If a way were discovered by which
each one of you could obtain The
things you need and want, and which
at present, you must labor so hard for
at half the present exertion or eX
pense, or if you could get them with
out performing any labor at all, none
of you would consider yourselves in
jured thereby, but, on the contrary
feel yourselves to be extremely for
tunate; and it must therefore be very
clear to you that if you had only free
access to the raw materials OF nature
these inventions and improvement:
would only enable you to make bet
ter and happier existence for you, anc
not injure you in the least.
1t is not the labor-saving machinery
and inventions which operate TO take
the bread from your mouths, my
friends, but the private ownership o.
land which contracts and shuts you
out from opportunities Of applying
i and nj iliyinn thnca inraptinpS ln(