The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-11
URGES UNITY BETWEEN
 CAPITAL AND LABOR
Taft Takes Up Capital and Invest ments, Declaring That Comblna- tons Are Necessary and
 Beneficial.


 time since he became a recognized can- dfdate for the republican presidential nomination Secretary of War William H. Taft tonight faced a New York audience set forth in detail his stand on the perti- nent question of the relative interests and rights of labor and capital and in turn submitted to rapid fire attack from the audience which quizzed him keenly and in a somewhat controversial spirit ac- eording to the practice of the peoples institute, whose guest he was. The secre- tary proved equally effective in attack and defense.
 Not less than 2000 persons, it's capacity, had crowded into Cooper Union, when po- lice reserves were summoned to clear the walk in front of the building, where a thousand or more had congregated.
 As the Secretary of War made his way through the throng a shout of three / ..eers for the next President was the signal for a noisy ovation which contin- ued until MT. Taft bowed his acknowl- edgements from the platform.
 Many Women Present.
 Peoples institute audiences usually bring together intellectual leaders in all walks of life and tonight was a special one. At least third of the auditors were women. When Charles Sprague Smith, who presided, suggested that three cheers be given for the speaker, the dem onstration continued for three or four minutes. After referring in most compli- mentary terms to his record as a cabinet officer and the good influence exerted by his trip abroad. MT. Smith said that he nisls proud to introduce the "Secre- tary of the Navy" When the laughter, begun by the secretary himself, and Joined in by the audience, had died away, Mir. Taft said playfully that he wished it understood that he was at the head of what he, at least, considered the more important department.
 He was reminded, he added, of story told by the President. MT. Roosevelt once attended public meeting in the west at which the chairman spoke flatteringly of the speaker he presented. This chair man said: 'I take pleasure in introduc- ing to you a man known from California to Maine; from Canada to Mexico, who has known what it is to be on the firing line; he has smelled gunpowder-the Hon orabIe Mn" here the chairman hesi- tated, embarrassed for a moment then turning to the guest asked: What is your name, please"
 Labor Problems.
 Opening his speech with this statement that he would ask the audience to give their attention to "the subject of labor and capital, their common interests, tEeir necessary controversies, their lawful acts and the legal remedies for their abuses Secretary Taft traced the "origin of the institution of property and the interde- pendence of property and capital and la- bor from tie earliest days and the prin- y ciples that lead to the accumulation or capital in the world.
 Labor needs capital to secure the best production" said MT. Taft, while capital needs labor in producing anything. The share of each laborer in the joint product, is effected, not exactly, but in general way by the amount of capital in use as compared with the number of those who labor.
 'erhe more capital in use, the more work there is to do and the more la borers are needed. Manifestly it is in the direct interest of labor that capital shall increase faster than the number of those who work. Nothing is so likely to make wealth idle as insecurity of in- vested capital and property. It follows as a necessary conclusion that to destroy the guaranties of property is a direct blow at the interest of the workingman.
 United By Stringency.
 "It only requires the effects of a panic through which we are passing or through which we passed in 1893 or 1873 to show how closely united in a common interest we all are in modern society. We are in the same boat, and financial and business storms which affect one, are certain to affect all others.
 Ut was not so much so before when " each family supplied almost all of it's own wants, and depended but little on what it sold, and bought practically noth- ing. Now, we live in a society that is strictly cooperative. As the population increases, as the cost of production for our necessities and comforts is reduced by having them made in great quantities ard at a low price, we become dependent upon the working of this cooperative mechanism to such a point that clos ing in of any of the wheels which run it, causes consternation and disaster.
 ."Therefore, to come back to my original proposition, the laboring man should be the last to object to the rapid accumula- tion of capital in the hands of those who use 1t for the reproduction of capital. The thoughtful and the intelligent laborer therefore has no hostility toward combi- nations engaged in lawful business meth Dds.
 Duty of Capitalist.
 4"The capitalist, however wealthy, who Is willing to devote his nights and days to the investment of his capital in profit able lawful business or manufacture and eho studies methods of reducing the cost of production and economizing therein, should be regarded with favor by the workingmen, because while his motive is merely one of accumulation, he is work ing not only for himself but for labor and for society at large. The inventors on the one hand and the men of judg- ment and courage, who have conceived md executed the great lawful enterprises pn the other have princely profits which he world may accord to them for the general good they have done The wealth lccummulated is not wrested from labor but 1t is only a part of that which has
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