The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1892-07-29
A CASE IN POINT.
What Equity has LABOR in the Profits
OF Perspicactty-

OF Perspicactty.
From the oregonien.l
Perhaps those who think labor has
equity rights in the profits of capital
will be able to tell us what equity it has
in the profits A. NJ. Cannon will pro-
badly make in his speculation ON the
cargo of the Abercorn. This vessel was
wrecked on the beach outside Gray's
harbor, having on. board q cargo of
9, 300 tons of steel rails. The owners in
vestigated the question of raising the
wreck, but decided that it would not
pay, and finally sold the cargo to Mr..
Cannon, who is now reclaiming the
property. He has built q pier from the
beach to the wreck, distance of 1850
feet, and is employing divers and other
men to the number of 35. The divers
receive $40 per day for four hours, and
the other men, who are chiefly ranchers
living in the neighborhood, receive good
| wages, The cost of taking out the rails
and shipping to Portland is about IS per
| ton, and Mr.. Cannon's profits will pro-
| badly exceed $50, 1000.
4hO AOS5SAOit ~, 1o>o Ss@iiiiO2 CssA IL
ed this money, and if not, who has? But
for his perspicacity, resolution and readi-
ness TO undertake novel and somewhat
hazardous enterprise, the rails would
still be reposing at the bottom of the sea,
and the original owners would not have
received the amount he paid them for
the property. Whatever equity interest
may be claimed for the labor that pro-
duced the rails-assuming that the
wages paid were inequitable-was lost
/ in the wreck, and attaches now only to
the money paid the owners by Mr.. Can
non. But such equity does not exist,
since the rails were loss instead of a
profit. If there is any equity whatever,
\ it is on the side of the owner, who
should look 20 the labor. that produced
| the rails to share with him the loss. It
is evident that any property interest or
equity now in the rails must begin with
them at the bottom of the sea.
The labor that is employed in the
work of taking them out and shipping
them is well paid. The divers are re-
ceiving large wages for a few hours
work. The other men are only too glad
| to get this work to do, as it helps them
to and their slender income while MAX
ing themselves q home in the forest.
Mr.. Cannon has conferred q special
favor on them all by giving them an
unusual and unexpected opportunity to
earn money. These men all have an
opportunity to work, and this property
is rescued from q position where it is
valueless and placed where i. possesses
great value. all through the brains,
energy, executive ability, daring and
capital of one man. He does no more
mental labor than the man who super
intended the building of the pier, and
does not expend SO much physical force
as any of his employees, yet it is fact
that he earns all the profit that comes
Ito him as fully as they earn their wages.
His ability to do this is difference be-
tween him and them that the world
recognizes and pays for. Each is paid
the full measure of value set upon his
labor by the only authority the world
recognizes, an authority that must con.
tinue, else property would lose its value
and exertion its stimulus.