176 LAND AND LABOR. 



of the earth the coal and the ore that was wrought 

 into iron. It huilt furnaces, mills, shops, and dwell- 

 ings ; it wrought in wood and metal ; it cultivated 

 the soil ; it furnished food and clothing, pleasure and 

 instruction ; it built highways, opened up vast extents 

 of country to settlement and development, and in every 

 way ministered to the wants of man, and then returned, 

 every dollar of it, not one cent lost, again to the capi- 

 talist. It might not have been to the same individ- 

 ual ; at most it had but changed hands ; but none 

 of it remained in the pockets of the working people ; 

 it all returned to the capitalist. 



A portion, only, of the interest which it has paid 

 are the additional roads that have been built, the fur- 

 naces, mills, dwellings, stores, and everything which 

 remain unconsumed. The capital that was used in 

 the building of these roads is still in the hands of the 

 capitalist, and in addition all these evidences of in- 

 creased material wealth. 



Capital in activity assisted in doing this ; capital 

 brought into activity labor, and, being divided and 

 distributed, moved and excited the industries of the 

 people, and gave to the masses the means to enter 

 into the market and make use and consume of all of 

 the products of industry. In this way capital was an 

 agent by which all this was accomplished. Nothing 

 was destroyed, nothing lost, nothing wiped out of ex- 

 istence, as is charged on the war, but very much was 

 added to the means which should contribute to 

 man's welfare, and solely by the application of man's 

 industry. 



That which entered into and was consumed in the 



