Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-01-18
CAPITAL AND LABOR
ARE IN SANE BOAT
Both Should be United IL Com
mon Interest
Some Honest and Thoughtful State
ments Made by Hon. w. A. Taft
in New York Speech.

In his speech before the big gath
ering of labor organizations 10. New
York, few evenings ago, Secretary
Taft said, in part:
Labor needs capital to secure the
best productions, while capital needs
LABOR IN producing anything. The
share Of each laborer in the joint
product is affected not exactly, but
in a general way by the amount OF
capital IN use, as compared with the
number of those who labor. The
more capital in use, the more work
there is to do; and the more there is
to do. the more laborers are needed,
Manifestly, it is in the direct inter
est of the laborer that capital shall
increase faster than the number OF
those who work. Nothing is so
likely to make wealth idle as in
security of invested capital and
property. 1t follows as necessary
conclusion that TO destroy the guar
antics of property is direct blow
at the interest of the working man.
THE last two generations have
witnessed marvellous development.
Tt has been effected by the assembl-
ing and enforced cooperation OF
simple elements that previously
had been separately used. The or
ganization of powerful machines, or
of delicate devices by which the
producing power of one man was in
creased fifty or 100 fold, was, how
ever, not the only step in this great
progress. Within the limits OF eff
hcient administration, the larger
the amount TO be produced at one
time and under the management,
the less the expenses per unit.
1T only requires the effects OF
panic through which we are pass
ing, or through which we passed In
1893 or 1878, to show how closely
united in a common interest we all
are In modern society. We are In
the same Loaf, and financial and
business storms which affect one
are certain to affect all others. AS
the population increases, as the cost
of production for our necessities and
comforts is reduced by having them
made in great quantities and at
low price, we become dependent on
the working of this cooperative
mechanism to such a point that
closing in any of the wheels which
stops them causes stagnation and
disaster
Therefore, to come back TO my
original proposition, the laboring
man should be the last to object 60
the rapid accumulation of capital
in the hands of those who use it for
the reproduction of capital. The
thoughtful and intelligent laborer
has therefore no feeling of hostility
toward combinations of capital en-
gagged In lawful business methods.
1.-The capitalist, however wealthy,
who is willing to devote his nights
and days to the investment of his
capital in profitable, lawful business
or manufacture, and who studies
production and economizing ex-
penses therein, should be regarded
with favor by the working man,
because while his motive is merely
one of accumulation, he is working
not only for himself, but for labor
and for society at large.
1.-THE inventors on the one hand,
and the men of Judgment, courage
and executive ability, who have
conceived and executed the great
lawful enterprises, on the other,
have reaped princely profits which
the world may we'll accord them for
the general good they have done.
The wealth they accumulated is not
wrested from labor, but 1t is only a
part of that which has been added
to the general stock by the ingenuity,
industry, Judgment and ability OF
those who enjoy 1t. If, with the
growth in the population, the con-
dition of man is to improve, new
plans for the use of capital to better
advantage must be devised, which
shall at the same time increase
capital more rapidly than the
population ami reduce the cost of
living.
The men who have, by economic
organization of capital, at the same
time increased the amount of the
country's capital, increased the de-
mand and price for labor, and re-
duced the cost of necessities, are not
Dbilantbropists. Their sole motive
has been one of gam, and with the
destruction of private property that
,ootiva will disappear and so would