The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1913-06-12
AS He Knows Better Than
othersHow Many Are the
Ties of Interest.

banker as a man ofipeace and the In
terdependence OF capital and labor,
were the themes of George Roberts,
director of the United States mint.
in an address delivered today at the.
convention OF the New York State
Bankers Association. cit seems to
me" said Mr.. Roberts, "that Of all
people the bankers should be fore
most in a celebration of peace, The
banker knows better than any one
else how many are the ties of inter-
est that bind the modern nations toe
gether. He knows better than any
one else that war is not only barbar-
GUS in its cruelties but barbarons in
It's ignorance of common interests. :
mo nation liveth to itself alone in
the twentieth century The wealth
OF the world is now a common. fund.-
There is reservoir in London, am
other in New York, another in Mon
treaI, and others elsewhere, but they
are all connected. You can't draw
Idown the supply of capital in one.
without affecting the supply in ALI
You cannot burn up, confiscate or der
stroy capital anywhere that every
nation in the civilized world does not
! suffer loss There is not remote
district in Canada today. where money
is not tight and enterprise in check
because of the war in the Balkan
states.
A. Wars Out of Date.
Il WARS are out of date when Good
will has become commercial asset.
why. out in the western orchards, and
/ believe in Ontario, they won't allow
man to pack his own apples for
/ shipment to foreign ports, SO anxious
are they that the distant stranger
! shall have square deal. If a sale OF
| American securities is made to a
friendly people with disappointing re-
! suits the loss to America far exceeds
any possible gain. We. simply cannot
afford to in5ure another people, by
; hook or crook.
| and the United States hold up an in
spring example to the world. Four
\ thousand miles of common frontier
/ without fortress or gun, 100 years
of peace, with every disagreement
settled by diplomacy or arbitration,
and without. dollar expended In
preparation for war with each other.
| 1t is worthy of celebration. We ought
Il to begin year in advance and make
h it memorable year for our children
and for all the burdened children of
men.
THE bankers know. because the
facts are daily under their eyes, that
the interests. of all classes are SO in
terwoven that there Is. aud can be
mo such thing as class struggle In
the sense in which that term is used
There are conflicting interests, but
theyg are within classes. as much as
Ii between classes. In the nature oil
things, capital completes with capita
rather than with labor. New capital
is always waging war of extermina-
ton upon old capital. and outside oil
i land values nearly all of the capital
that existed in the United States fifty
years ago has been thrown on the
/ scrap heap since.
Capital Grows Faster.
Take a look over the so-cal1ed
struggle between capital and labor
for a moment In all progressive
countries the supply of capital in
creases faster than population, The
population of the United States in
1880 was $4,000 900; in 1910 1t was
10000, 600, or doubling In about thirty
! i've years. The wealth of the United
States doubled between 1880 and 1890.
| twenty years.
4 Capital and labor must be used
! together, and with the supply OF cap
itaI increasing faster than the supply
of labor 1t is inevitable that labor
shall steadily gain stronger posi-
ton Every little while we have the
suggestion. and from wise men too,
that before things arc settled labor
! will have to be liquidated.
4 Gentlemen, labor will never be
.,'liquidated' as long as capital grows
/ faster than population. But is cap
! ital Accommodations fall off; if our
earnings fall or or our savings fall
on; If we become inefficient in pro-
J duction or wasteful in expenditure
then there will be danger that every
body will be 'liquidated.'
And there is stiil another phase OF
this subject. It Is said that capital
substitutes machinery for labor. So
It does, but what becomes of the pro-
ducts OF machinery? Does it come
home to you that practically all of the
vast expenditures we see going on
about us FOR construction and equip
! ,,+ ara FOR the nurnosa of serving