THE GOLDEN RULE APPLIED TO CAPITAL AND LABOR

I BELIEVE IN THE DIGNITY OF LABOR, WHETHER WITH HEAD OR HAND; THAT THE WORLD OWES NO MAN A LIVING BUT THAT IT OWES EVERY MAN AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A LIVING.

 -John D. Rockefeller

There is great need of wisdom to guide the new force coming into action. Every man is under the most solemn obligation to do his part in forming a correct public opinion and giving wise direction to popular will.

The solution for the problems of labor, of want, of abundance, of suffering and sorrow can only be found by regarding them from a moral and spiritual point of view. They must be seen and examined in a light that is not of themselves.The true relations of labor and capital can never be discovered by human selfishness.They must be viewed from a higher purpose than wages or the accumulation of wealth.They must be regarded from their bearing upon the purposes for which man was created.

Capital and labor are essential to each other. Their interests are so bound together that they cannot be separated.

If there is any difference, capital is more dependent upon labor than labor upon capital. Life can be sustained without capital.

Capital can do nothing without labor, and its only value consists in its power to purchase labor or its results. It is itself the product of labor. It has no occasion, therefore, to assume an importance that does not belong to it. Absolutely dependent, however, as it is upon labor for its value, it is an essential factor in human progress.

The moment man begins to rise from a savage and comparatively independent state to a civilized and dependent one,capital becomes necessary.

I PITY THE MAN WHO WANTS A COAT SO CHEAP THAT THE MAN OR WOMAN WHO PRODUCES THE CLOTH WILL STARVE IN THE PROCESS. 

-Benjamin Harrison  

Capital is a friend of labor and essential to its economical exercise and just reward. It can be, and often is, a terrible enemy, when employed for selfish purposes alone; but the great mass of it is more friendly to human happiness than is generally supposed. It cannot be employed without in some way, either directly or indirectly, helping the laborer. We think of the evils we suffer, but allow the good we enjoy to pass unnoticed. We think of the evils that larger means would relieve and the comforts they would provide, but overlook the blessings we enjoy that would have been impossible without large accumulations of capital. It is the part of wisdom to form a just estimate of the good we receive as well as the evils we suffer.

HUMAN HISTORY IS WORK HISTORY. THE HEROES OF THE PEOPLE ARE WORK HEROES. 

-Meridel Ie Sueur

Capital is also largely invested in supplying the means of intellectual and spiritual culture. Books are multiplied at constantly diminishing prices, and the best thought of the world, by the means of our great publishing houses, is made accessible to the humblest workman.

LABOR IS PRIOR TO, AND INDEPENDENT OF, CAPITAL. CAPITAL IS ONLY THE FRUIT OF LABOR, AND COULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED IF LABOR HAD NOT FIRST EXISTED. LABOR IS THE SUPERIOR OF CAPITAL, AND DESERVES MUCH THE HIGHER CONSIDERATION. CAPITAL HAS ITS RIGHTS, WHICH ARE AS WORTHY OF PROTECTION AS ANY OTHER RIGHTS. 

-Abraham Lincoln  

Capital cannot be invested in any useful production without blessing a multitude of people. It sets the machinery of life in motion, it multiplies employment; it places the product of all climes at every door, it draws the people of all nations together; brings mind in contact with mind, and gives to every man and woman a large and valuable share of the product. These are facts which it would be well for everyone, however poor he may be, to consider.

If capital is such a blessing to labor; if it can only be brought into use by labor and derives all its value from it, how can there be any conflict between them? There could be none if both the capitalist and laborer acted from humane and Christian principles. But they do not. They are governed by inhuman and unchristian principles. Each party seeks to get the largest returns for the least service. Capital desires larger profits, labor higher wages. The interests of the capitalist and the laborer come into direct collision. In this warfare capital has great advantages, and has been prompt to take them. It has demanded and taken the lion's share of the profits. It has despised the servant that enriched it. It has regarded the laborer as menial, a slave, whose rights and happiness it was not bound to respect. It influences legislators to enact laws in its favor, subsidizes governments and wields its power for its own advantage. Capital has been a lord and labor a servant. While the servant remained docile and obedient, content with such compensation as its lord chose to give, there was no conflict. But labor is rising from a servile, submissive, and hopeless condition. It has acquired strength and intelligence; has gained the idea that it has rights that ought to be respected, and begins to assert and combine to support them.

Each party in this warfare regards the subject from its own selfish interests. The capitalist supposes that gain to labor is loss to him, and that he must look to his own interests first; that the cheaper the labor the larger his gains. Consequently it is for his interest to keep the price as low as possible. On the contrary, the laborer thinks that he loses what the capitalist gains, and, consequently, that it is for his interest to get as large wages as possible. From these opposite points of view their interests appear to be directly hostile. What one party gains the other loses; hence the conflict. Both are acting from selfish motives, and, consequently, must be wrong. Both parties see only half of the truth, and, mistaking that for the whole of it, fall into a mistake ruinous to both. Each one stands on his own ground, and regards the subject wholly from his point of view and in the misleading light of his own selfishness. 

Passion inflames the mind and blinds the understanding; and when passion is aroused men will sacrifice their own interests to injure others, and both will suffer loss.

Capital tries to starve the laborer into submission like a beleaguered city; and hunger and want are most powerful weapons. Labor sullenly resists, and tries to destroy the value of capital by rendering it unproductive. 

Thus laborers and capitalists confront each other like two armed hosts, ready at any time to renew the conflict. It will be renewed, without doubt, and continued with varying success until both parties discover that they are mistaken, that their interests are mutual, and can only be secured to the fullest extent by cooperation and giving to each the reward it deserves. The capitalist and the laborer must clasp hands across the bottomless pit into which so much wealth and work has been cast. 

How this reconciliation is to be effected is a question that is occupying the minds of many wise and good men on both sides at the present time. Wise and impartial legislation will, no doubt, be an important agent in restraining blind passion and protecting all classes from insatiable greed; and it is the duty of every man to use his best endeavors to secure such legislation both in state and national governments. Organizations of laborers for protecting their own rights and securing a better reward for their labor, will have a great influence. That influence will continue to increase as their temper becomes normal and firm, and their demands are based on justice and humanity.

Violence and threats will effect no good. Dynamite, whether in the form of explosives or the more destructive force of fierce and reckless passion, will heal no wounds nor subdue any hostile feeling. Arbitration is, doubtless, the wisest and most practicable means now available to bring about amicable relations between these hostile parties and secure justice to both. Giving the laborer a share in the profits of the business has worked well in some cases, but it is attended with great practical difficulties which require more wisdom, self control, and genuine regard for the common interests of both parties than often can be found. Many devices may have a partial and temporary effect. But no permanent progress can be made in settling this conflict without restraining and finally removing its cause.  

IN GIVING RIGHTS TO OTHERS WHICH BELONG TO THEM, WE GIVE RIGHTS TO OURSELVES AND TO OUR COUNTRY.

 -John Fitzgerald Kennedy