LABOR AND CAPITAL 463 



complaint by the lower grades of workers against the reward paid to 

 those in the higher grades is as absurd as would be a complaint by raw 

 Muscovado sugar because refined sugar brings a higher price. 



The asserted power of capital is little better than a nightmare. 

 There can be no federation of capital comparable with the existing 

 federation of labor. The acquirement of capital, that is the saving of 

 a part of one's income or wages, demands much personal independence 

 and self-control, an individuality which makes impossible such slave- 

 like obedience as prevails in labor unions. A monopoly, except through 

 ownership of patents, can not exist in this land. The field for capital is 

 wide open and if any man or corporation prove that a business is prof- 

 itable, competitors appear quickly, demanding a share. The dwindling 

 proportion of trade controlled by the United States Steel Company, by 

 the American Sugar Eefining Company as well as the bitter competition 

 between manufacturers of tobacco amply confirm this statement. 

 Capital constantly combines against capital. The fruit raisers of Cali- 

 fornia unite against the transportation companies to secure unremunera- 

 tive freight rates, as though the railroads are to blame because the 

 orange and lemon groves are 4,000 miles from the Atlantic seaboard. 

 The tobacco farmers of Kentucky combine against the manufacturers to 

 increase the price of raw materials and enforce their mandates after the 

 most approved trade-union methods; makers of heavy, bulky goods, in 

 order to secure space cheaply, put their factories in out of the way 

 places, but they denounce the transportation companies as robbers because 

 these desire a fair remuneration for special construction and service. 

 The sluggish capitalist, as shopkeeper or manufacturer, rails against his 

 energetic competitor and finds prompt encouragement from politicians, 

 who would tax the efficient man out of business and would leave the 

 community at the mercy of inefficient managers, wedded to antique and 

 expensive methods of production. 



On the other hand, combination of labor is no mere possibility ; it is 

 an accomplished fact. Labor unions, though controlling only a small 

 proportion of the hand-workers, have succeeded by compact organization 

 in terrorizing office seekers and office lovers, so that legislative bodies 

 grant their demands with little apparent reluctance — and this in spite 

 of the fact that, in some portions of the country, the membership of 

 great unions is largely alien. Compensation laws are enacted freely and 

 are wholly against the " capitalist," who pays the wages to workingmen 

 and the construction placed upon these laws almost invariably favors the 

 employee. Such laws, unquestionably, have solid foundation in justice. 

 An employer must have care for his servants who, too often, are helpless 

 against careless fellow-workers. The employer should enforce discipline 

 and should discharge at once the negligent, incompetent or disobedient 

 employee as a source of danger to persons as well as to property. If he 

 retain such employees, he is himself negligent and should pay the full 



