The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-23
CAPITAL AND ITS USE
IT'S ONE PROPER PURPOSE THE
BENEFIT OF THE
WORLD
GOVERNOR LIND DEFINES
Before Large Audience the Dis
tinetiOns and Differences Be
tween Capital and Hoards
of Money.

Over 200 people attended the labor meet
ing at the state capitol yesterday after
noon. The meeting 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 factor in produc-
ton. but it is not the only factor. Now
as a result of these views, to my mind,
nothing is capital but what is employed
in the future subsistence of man.
Those magnificent buildings that /
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 distinctively,s may be divides
into public and private capital Some peo-
pie think Athat. 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 1t is used
as q medium of exchange. Capital is al
ways good, never bad In itself it is the
most useful thing there is. 1t can never
be menace, of itself Monopoly may
make it a menace. but capital itself is a
necessity and blessing. We can never
have too much capital, and it would make
no difference to us as to who owns this
capital, provided 1t is rightly used By
public capital, l mean such as this build,
Ing and other public property. It is a
necessary function that this building per.
forms and it is a necessary function that
1 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 nagnate in California or a
magnate in this city, but nevertheless
they are public capital.
II was very much amused at what
speech In the senate the other day on the
Philippine question. He said: We have
the islands and they are to us as a trust
from God After thinking over the ut
terances of the Indiana senator and re-
fecting that Mr.. Hanna and our worthy
president were concerned in the obliga-
ton. 1 arrived at the conclusion that
would be better pleased with another
trustee Laughter.)
II am a 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 tris5
for the people. What IS 1t that makes
capital menace? 1t Is the monopol site
employment of it.
I'VE 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 a thousand
fold. Now, what L 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
IucttSI1SiI anu IudCtt1ueEy are Tic Cdptldl
on one side. and labor Is the capital on
the other side. Each should have its fair
proportion, and no one, that is, if he is
patriotic, wants either capital or labor
to have more than it's share. Capital in
itself is organized, and as single Unit
a laboring man cannot cope with capital.
Capital in large masses is not menace,
if it is not abused. The difficulty IS that
1t is not divided right IF the affairs of
the trusts were administered in behalf CT
society they would not be menace.
1T isn't capital that is doing us an in
jury, it is the abuse Of 1t. Take, for m
stance. the oil trust. TIE work of the
corporation in itself is a 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 little over year ago,
urged upon them the necessity 10 pass
law so that whenever a deed was made
for state land, the mineral rights should
be reserved, but you all know the fulfil
ity Of my recommendation, as it was