The progressive farmer., 1902-11-04
EDUCATED MANHOOD A PEOPLES BEST
CAPITAL.

$3.50 Hand, He Has Started Him with Handsome
Capital, Securely Invested
We are too apt to regard capital as meaning
nothing but money. This is too restrictive an
application especially when applied to the indus
trial development of people. Money of itself
is not capable of production, and becomes so only
when associated with human skill and industry
The product represents usually more of the hu-
man than the financial element. It has been said
that nail contains more iron than a watch
spring, and that the greater value of the latter
represents the invested brains of the workman.
In other words, in a watch spring worth dollar,
one cent would probably represent the value of
the iron, and ninety-nine cents the value of the
labor. The difference in value between the spring
and the nail is the result of the difference in
value between the labor employed in their pro-
duction. This labor represents time and Skill and
the greater the skill, the greater the value of
the product and the less the time required to
accomplish given result. It is this power to
accomplish results that determines the value of
mans services. It may be the result of ex-
pensive education or long years of experience,
or BOTH In any event, it is not mere momentary
exhibition of power, but has become part of
his nature, and, with his industry and integrity,
forms his capital Take man earning SIS
enterprise at say six per cent and he would be
worth $4,000. Deducting one-third of this amount
for the average chances of death, he would still
be worth $4,000 to himself. His value to his
family would be further lessened by the cost of
his personal support. Take another earning $3.50
a month, and capitalize him in the same manner.
He would represent capital of $4,000, ten
times that of the other. This is not mere fnan-
cial conceit It is practically the rule of dam
ages followed by the courts in cases of death by
wrongful act, taking into consideration the life
expectancy of the deceased. It should be the
rule to be substantially followed in the education
of every child. If parent educate
from SIS hand to $3.50 hand, he has started
him with handsome capital most securely IN
vested. If the father is unable to do it, and the
State does 1t, is it not profitable Investment!
The State recognizes it as such in its system of
taxation, inasmuch as it taxes a man both upon
his head in the shape of poll tax and upon his
personal earnings in the shape of an income. By
education I do not mean exclusively scholastic
training. [ mean such training, mental and
manual will best fit a child for the fulfllment
of those duties in life which he will be called
on to perform. We of the South have long since
abandoned the idea that law, medicine and the
ology the only learned professions, and
beginning to realize that in some cases applied
information is better than mere abstract learn
ing. Of course the moral element must not
be lost sight Of as it is the foundation stone of
every permanent structure.
To my mind it is the realization of these facts
that is the basis of the prosperity of the South,
and that in the future will produce results i'm
measuraby greater than those of the past. Many
of the proud ancestral of State have
disappeared from the professions and are proml-
nent among our business men. This tendency is
increasing.
With increase of capital will come increase of
power; but whoever would rightly reckon with
the industrial forces of the South in the coming
wears TnuSt not overlook the human e0uation.