The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1905-03-30
Let Labor Have What It Produces


Every worker should have all he pro-
duces. No honest man denies that.
The question is how much is the prod
uct of the unaided bare hands. 1t is
a very small part of all that is pro-
duced. There was never greater
fallacy uttered than that labor pro-
duces all wealth. The truth is that
while no wealth could be produced
without labor, any more than it could
be produced without land and sun.
light, it does not produce all wealth.
One might as well say that sunlight,
or land, or rain produces all wealth as
that labor does. Labor is one factor
in the production of wealth. There
are many more. Starting out with
that false premise leads to continu-
GUS series of errors.
II think that for a producer to get
all the wealth he could or would pro-
duce would stimulate production rath-
err than destroy ambition
Under the collective ownership OF
all the means of production and dis
tribution, the producer of wealth
would get nothing. What he produced
would belong, not to him, but to the
COLLECTIVELY. That being the case the
motive to produce, inspired by the nat
ural instinct of ownership, would be
destroyed, and ambition would disap-
pear.
ITO be compelled to give up four
fifths, etc..
Here the same error enters. What
a worker produces, even if he owns
the machines and the land, is not the
sole result of his labor. 1t is the re-
suit of the scholar in his study, the
chemist in his laboratory, the school
teacher, the instructor in morals, the
statesman and a thousand other
things. The fruits, the corn, the
wheat, the cattle, theivegetables in the
garden, come forth not alone from the
labor required in planting, cultivat-
ing and harvesting, bat from the
thought and study of all the ages past.
The apple was once a crab, bitter and
astringent, the Poland China, Berk-
shire or Duroc Jersey hog, not long
ago was a raw-boned, long-legged, big
shouted creature, entirely different
from what we see in the pens now
and which brings to Nebraska so much
wealth. There is something else that
enters into that hog besides labor It
seems very strange that any intelligent
man should assert that labor produced
that hog. Without labor it could not
have been produced, but there are
ten thousand other things without
which it could not have been produced,
Of anyone Of which it could be said
that it produced that hog as truly as to
say that labor produced it. OF the
labor that enters into the production
of that hog, but very small part is
the labor of this, generation 1t is the
labor of the, ages since man existed
that makes much more Of the value,
than that of the man who raised it. If
the man who raised the hog appropri-
ated it all, he would be taking much
that he did not produce. The world
at large takes that part that he did
not produce and leaves the hog raiser
only the portion that he did produce.
At least, that is what it pretends to
do, but it takes more, and it does it
by means of monopolies, trusts, tariffs,
extortionate freight rates, and excess
sive taxation. That man should have
what his labor produced. Under So
cialism and the common ownership of
everything, he would only be a conf
mon owner along with 100000 9TH
ers, many of whom do not produce.
Tho moro ono ,roAnofc ,,nnn tbis