The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-23
CAPITAL and ITS USE
IT'S ONE PROPER PURPOSE THE
BENEFIT OF THR
WORLD
GOVERNOR LIND DEFINE
Before IL Large Audience the Dis
tinctiOns and Differences Be-
tween Capital and HOards
of Money.

Over 200 people attended the labor meet
ing at the, state capitol yesterday after
noon- Thewmeeting was held under the
auspices of the cooperative committee of
the Trades and, Labor assembly and the
Ministers association, of this city. Rev.
David Morgan. officiated as chairman of
the meeting and introduced Gov. Lind,
the speaker of the occasion. Gov. Lind
spoke upon the subject, Capital; It's
Uses and Abuses" and said, in part:
Years, ago when this country&was fill
ed with Indians, they were practically
without capital. A buck may have had
a rifle, or something else. but that was
all. Labor is always a factor in produc-
ton, but it is not the only factor Now,
as result Of these views, to my mind,
nothing is capital but what is employed
in the future subsistence Of man.
Those magnificent buildings that I
passed on Summit avenue as I came
down are, not capital, because only that
which can be used for the use, comfort or
improvement Of man is capital Capital.
considered distinctfvely, may be divides
into public and private capital. Some peo-
pie think that money alone Is capital,
but such is not the case Now, accord
ing TO my views, money is not capital,
but money. commands capital.
IF every dollar should disappear from
circulation, the world would not be with
out capital. When we speak Of money as
capital. 1t simply means that it is used
as medium of exchange Capital is al
ways good, never bad. In itself 1t is the
ft,lf jS
be a menace of itself Monopoly may
make 1t a menace, but capital Itself is a
necessity and blessing We can never
have too much capital, and 1t would make
no difference to us as to who owns this
capital. provided it is rightly used. By
public capital, I mean such as this build,
ing and other public property 1t is a
necessary function that this building per.
forms and it is a necessary function that
/ perform.
ANY property that is useful to you is
public capital Our railroads, they are
public capital. 1t Is true, they may be
owned by a Inagnate in California or a
magnate in this city. but nevertheless
they are public capital.
81 was very. much amused at what
OSlAetIOI bSNSIiGSep OI 1HuidIld SeiIQ III d
speech in the senate the other day on the
Philippine question. He said: We have
the islands and they are to US as trust
from God After thinking over the ut
terances of the Indiana senator, and re-
feeting that Mr. Hanna and our worthy
president were concerned in the obliga-
ton. I arrived at the conclusion that l
would be better pleased with another
trustee. (Laughter.)
81 am trustee in sense at the present
time In all of my functions, SO also are
the owners and directors of the great
corporations, particularly the railroads.
These facts teach us that the property
owner is becoming more and more a
trustee of that property for the people.
Public capital is a necessity held In trust
for the people. What is it that makes
capital a menace? It is the monopol site
employment Of 1t.
1--WE should avoid becoming hostile
against an individual We should avoid
personal abuse. Now this is what con-
fronts US today. BY the production OF
modern machinery, the productive power
of man has been Increased thousand
fold. Now, what 1 suspect is the trouble.
and what you know is the trouble, and
needs remedying, Is that the machine
takes too big a share of the profit. Raw
material ana machinery are Inc SeDtlell
on one side, and labor Is the capital on
the other side. Each should have it's fair
proportion, and no one, that Is. If he is
patriotic, wants either capital or labor
to have more than its share. Capital in
itself is organized, and as a single unit
a laboring man cannot cope with capital.
Capital in large masses is not n menace,
if it is not abused. The difficulty is that
it is not divided right. If the affairs of
the trusts were administered in behalf Of
society they would not be menace.
cit isn't capital that is doing us an in
jury, it Is the abuse of It, Take, for m
stance, the oil trust. The work of the
corporation In itself is wonderful and
creditable work, but the evil to the pubic
at large is that it is not controlled by
legislation. Such is also the ease Of the
steel trust. which Is composed Of eleven
different companies.
when I spoke to the legislature from
this platform a little over a year ago,
urged upon them the necessity to pass
@ law so that whenever deed was made
for state land, the mineral rights should
be reserved, but you all know the fulfil
ity of my recommendation, as 1t was