The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-10-26
Labor Is Lord Bountiful-Wages are not
Advanced by Capital.


The passive factor of production is
land; the active factor is labor.
Wealth consists exclusively OF those
things which labor produces.
Land is not product of labor and is
neither wealth nor capital. The coal
in the earth is not wealth, but when
brought to the surface by human labor,
it is wealth.
CAPITAL is only that part of wealth
which is held for use for further pro-
duction.
The coal housed for the winters fuel
is wealth, but not capital. The coal
fed to the furnace Of factory is CAPT
tai, and as such is being consumed
productivity and transferred into new
labor products. Capital can only be
used at all by being consumed in pro-
ductiOn.
Wages are the net returns for the
exertion of all labor.
Until Henry George pointed out the
fallacy, it was held, and it is still so
held by capitalists and economic teach
ers, that wages and the maintenance
of labor during production are ad-
vanced by capital. 1t is a singular
reflection that labor, which first Great
ed and accumulated capital, should
now have become so utterly dependent
on it's creature for pay and support.
The argument runs like this: Capital
is limited in amount, and this must
necessarily also limit the amount OF
work that can be paid for with it, and
the division of this limited capital
among the great thrOng of workers re-
suits in low wages.
| Now, the fact is, as | have recently
endeavored to show, that capital in nc
wise limits industry and that the only
thing which is capable of doing this is
difficulty of access for labor to natural
opportunities; in fact, instead of being
limited by capital, labor is constantly
and with every stroke not only Great
ing it's own wages but is manufacture
ing increased capital and advancing it
to the employer. Nor is it true that
wages and the maintenance of labor
are advanced by capital at any time or
even temporarily; quite the contrary!
Labor Arrays preCedeS ,cdgeS and as labor
is the production of wealth and CAPT
tai, the employer is constantly receiv-
ing advances from labor up to the hour
of payment Of wages, and even then,
as the employer makes a profit, the
labOrer does not receive the full
amount or equivalent of the product he
he advanced to the employer.
| Even in such cases where the Oper-
alton involves the element Of time, as
in shipbuilding, canal or railroad con-
structiOn, does this hold good; the
labOrer completes every day a certain
amount of ship, canal or railway, which
is a real addition of wealth, be it any
of these forms, and the employer has
all this advanced to him up to pay day
and then returns only portion of
what he received. AS far as he is con-
cerned he is only Transforming his cap
ital from money into ships, etc, etc.
accommodating capital in these forms,
and at no time does he advance any of
his capital as wages; nor does manu-
facturer ever need capital as an EN-
plOyer of labor but only as an accumu-
lator dealer in labor.products.
| The claim that labor is maintained
by capital during production, that is
to say. that labor could not be eXerted
without the existence of accumulated
capital, is hardy worth noticing after
what has been said before on the sub
ject. 1t is but necessary that in the
vast circle of exchange there should be
a sufficient number employed in the
production of food and willing to ex,
change it for other labor products.
In fact, all maintenance whatsoever
is drawn from cOntemp0raneous pro-
duction and not from accumulatiOns
of the past: even rich men with inner
tied wealth are compelled to seek in
present production the means Of sus-
tanning life.
1t isla'bor, then, that is the true Lord
BOuntiful from whom all benefits flow,
for the payment of labor Arrays implies
the preriOus rendering Of labor.
To realize the full dignity Of labor
these points should be clearly appre-
hended; and this too will dispel. the
idea that labor is so mean and weak a
thing as to need protection. 1t is free
dom it needs and nothing else.
GEO. G.. GUENTHER.
Galloway, Ill.
TaEa oil tho osrca parillsa olyaratiyac bif