The Relations of Labor and Capital. 47 



and reiterated. No -labor reform movement can avail anything 

 wliicli does not start with the proposition that labor and capi- 

 tal are partners, not rivals, and write upon its banners, "What 

 God hath joined together let not man put asunder." 



For a better apprehension of the principle in all its bearings, 

 let us linger a little on the questions — what is labor? what is 

 capital? and what conditions most favor the harmonious and 

 profitable union of these two forces of industry ? 



1. Labor is fitly defined to be "the voluntary effort of hu- 

 man beings to produce objects of desire." Since the human 

 being is made up of body and mind, we must distinguish two 

 kinds of labor, viz : physical labor, in which muscular exertion 

 is the chief thing, and mental labor, which engages chiefly the 

 faculties of the mind. I say chief smd chiefly because in reality 

 all human exertion combines some phj^sical and some mental 

 effort. The dullest laborer must think some about the work 

 of his hands ; and the profoundest thinlcer must task his mus- 

 cles some to present to the world the products of his brain-work. 



Recognizing this distinction, let us note what each kind of 

 labor achieves. Mere physical labor only puts things in mo- 

 tion. The muscles of the body are made capable of contrac- 

 tion. This creates a pressure which when applied to a piece 

 of matter, tends to put it in motion, or if it be already mov- 

 ing, to change or stop its motion. This is all that mere mus- 

 cular exertion can do. But through this power of putting 

 things into contact and relation with each other, man is able 

 to command the hidden forces of nature to an unlimited extent. 

 Man stirs the earth and drops a seed into it, then the forces of 

 vegetation hid in the seed and in the soil multiply the seed a 

 hundred fold. Man brings coal, places it in a furnace, sets 

 fire to it, and at once a force of nature in the process of com- 

 bustion turns the carbon into heat. He may add to the pile 

 ore taken from the earth, and another force of nature by the 

 action of heat makes the iron flow. Man's muscles grasp and 

 wield the hammer only to enable nature's forces, gravitation 



