362 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



self with comforts, that he would and could have no amount of 

 comforts without a division of labor, under which each man should 

 give his attention mainly to one thing, and that thing the one best 

 suited to his faculty. Necessity, therefore, compels an exchange of 

 labor, and thus labor becomes a commodity, and a thing of barter, 

 transfer, and price. 



The next important item in regard to the matter is that, to 

 effect the exchange of labor, capital becomes a necessity also. A 

 man chooses to be a farmer. He can do nothing at farming with- 

 out a plow, a hoe, a shovel, and other tools, and these are capital. 

 If he did not have the capital to buy them, he would have to make 

 them, and have to learn how to make them, and have to dig the 

 iron-ore, learn to smelt and prepare it, and work it, and learn to 

 make the anvils and hammers, and nails, and screws, and all else 

 used in the construction of a plow. But capital standing at the 

 door with a plow ready made, the farmer can commence business 

 the very day he gets title to his land. 



These observations are elementary, it is true, but they are 

 necessary as an introduction. They establish two points : First, 

 that labor must be exchanged to be of any avail ; and, second, it 

 must be assisted by capital. It will be seen that the laborer must 

 work along the line of diversity and development. Men instinct- 

 ively do this generally in the beginnings of a community. One 

 man becomes a blacksmith, one a carpenter, one a mason, one a 

 shoemaker, and so on, in submission to the laws governing labor 

 — the laws of diversity and development. They know, Avithout 

 argument, that two shoemakers and no blacksmith would be a 

 foolish and unprofitable arrangement, and hence employments are 

 divided spontaneously. As society advances, the occupations mul- 

 tiply ; that is, they divide more and more, and by doing so each 

 person has a chance to select the one which best suits his taste 

 and capacity. And in this way the highest power of the commu- 

 nity is developed. The best blacksmith takes the place of the 

 bungler, the good workman in all branches finds employment, and 

 the inexpert retires to some other calling, or perfects himself so as 

 not to be driven to the wall. Society demands the best, and, as it 

 advances, secures it more and more. The best tailor, and the best 

 lecturer, and the best lawyer, are never idle ; and they are pro- 

 duced by the law of diversity and development. 



It is equally certain that capital is produced by labor, and is 

 the natural result of labor husbanded and taken care of. The ex- 

 istence of capital is due to the previous existence of labor, but its 

 existence in large quantity is due to the joint effort of labor and 

 capital. The existence of the plow/ which is capital, has kept the 

 farmer from starving, and, as all other people depend upon the 

 farmer for food, the plow has kept us all from starving. In the 



