DEPARTMENT OF THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES. 



THE KELATIONS OF LABOR AND CAPITAL. 



BY KKV. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., LL. D., 

 President of Beloit College. 



The problems respecting the relation of Labor and Capital 

 which are now engaging the attention of all sorts of people in 

 all parts of the civilized world, may be greatly simplified by 

 a clear apprehension of a few elementary facts and principles. 

 The presentation of these facts and principles is the object of 

 this paj)er. I attempt nothing more than a brief digest of 

 some matters familiar to all who are acquainted with the 

 science of political economy. In this I follow mainly Mr. 

 Mill's line of thought, and adopt often his own forms of 

 exjDression, claiming no merit for the paper excejDt for the 

 putting of things together with a bearing. 



We start with the simple fact that all icealih is produced hy 

 the application of lahor to natural objects. In the case even of 

 those objects which nature brings forth spontaneoiisly in a 

 form to gratify desii'C, some labor is necessary to find and ap- 

 propriate them. In most cases some further labor is requisite 

 to bring natural objects into a condition fit for use. Fig-leaves 

 must be sewed together before they can serve for clothing. 

 The fish and the deer, after being caught, must be divided, 

 cleansed and cooked before they are fit for food. The dirty 

 ore, taken from the bog or mountain, must pass through a suc- 

 cession of varied jDrocesses of labor before it takes the fomi of 

 a knife, convenient for a thousand purposes. So it is with 



