The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1903-12-05
CAPITAL AND LABOR.

with the Peasant Revolt" in 1877
when the mad priest, John Ball,
propounded the inquiry, "When
Adam deIved and Eve span, who
was then the gentleman" Without
much intermissiou the battle has
been raging ever since, growing in
intensity with the expansion of ed
ucation, the increase of population
and the progress of civilization.
Where it will end no man can say.
It must not be inferred, however,
that the condition of labor has been
growing worse, even in relative
degree, but education, with conse-
quent enlightenment, has given
Labor constantly increasing APP
probation of its own importance, a
keener sense of its wrongs, and a
stronger appetite for the higher
pleasures of life.
The theory is that education in
clines men to asceticism--to a sim.
pie, noble life of self.denial, freed
from the thralldom of fashion and
sensuality. But up to the present
time the theory has not been justi-
fed by the facts. The more men S
minds have been informed and de-
veloped, the more their stomachs
have craved, and the more intense
has become the pursuit of sensual
pleasure. To great extent, the &C.
quirement of education is regarded
as the accumulation of a commercial
asset to be realized on in the graft
fcation of carnal appetites. Take
away the belief that education may
be turned to account in the procure
ment of bodily ease and voluptuous
living, and you strike blow at its
popularity that will well-nigh para
lyze it.
Just now the conflict between
Labor and Capital is raging with
exceptional vigor, and seeing that
one prolific cause of it is material
selfshness intensified by education
we may calmly inquire into other
causes, and withhold judgment until
some of them have been examined,
The Capital of today is the Labor
Of yesterday, translated. It is
basking in the golden city of La
boris hope. 1t dwells in palaces
Tolls on velvet cushions, has car
riages and servants at beck, rail
roads and yachts at command, i:
clothed in, purple and sparkling
gems, wines and dimes without
stint, spends fortunes on womer
and dogs, houses horses in marble
stalls, breathes the very air of lux
ury, and voluptiousness, until sicl
and satiated. With every carna
lust glutted, it plunges into thu
i, qualification of other desires.
1t would rule the world, and t.
that end clothes itself with a sor
of divinity. Capital is sacred
Capital must not be, disturbed. I
may not even be threatened, 70
capital is preternaturally timid
Capital flies at breath and hide
from zephyr. Legislatures ant
courts. touched by its mystic wand
are overcome with superstition
awe, and fall down before KIM
Capital. Capital knows no senti
-ment-is touched by no human
emotion. 1t regards Labor as
mere mechanical device, operating
solely for the uses and purposes Q
Capital, to be set in motion or stop
ped at the convenience of Capital
The individual 1aborer is no NOR
than one cog in a wheel of mil
lion cogs, and what is brokel
cog that it should be considered
1t is the nature of Capital to b
cold, calculating, unfee1ing an
overbearing. It is moved by n
tender impulse, guided by no hu
name instinct or benevolent purpose
The soul of capital is the sedimen
of gross human nature left over il
the process of translation from toi
and want to ease and glut. Left
pursue its ends without check,
would in half generation reduc
fha yunr1d haCI RI that cnndifio