234 LAND AND LABOR. 



ciple is now being fully illustrated in the late strikes 

 and stagnation in trade. 



A correct understanding of these principles will 

 fully explain the maxim of Adam Smith's that " a 

 man grows rich by employing a multitude of manu- 

 facturers/' A man does not grow rich upon the pro- 

 ducts of the few, but of the many ; and the trader, 

 also, finds his profits in the trade of the multitude, 

 and not in the occasional visitor. 



And those other maxims of the great political econ- 

 omists should be noted, that " though the manufac- 

 turer has his wages advanced to him by his master, 

 he, in reality, costs him no expense, the whole value 

 of those wages being generally restored, together with 

 a profit, in the improved value of the subject upon 

 which his labor is bestowed ; " and, " it was not by 

 gold or by silver, but by labor, that all the wealth of 

 the world was originally purchased." Here Adam 

 Smith enforces the idea that it is labor only that en- 

 ters into and remains fixed in any and all products. 

 The money, or capital, which is used, is but an agent 

 to facilitate the operations in the production, and for 

 purposes of distribution. It never remains there fixed, 

 nor is it destroyed nor consumed, but is always re- 

 turned with a portion of the fruits of the labor which 

 it lias facilitated, and the distribution which it has 

 made. Capital may very properly be deemed a fertil- 

 izer, which, judiciously used, makes labor more pro- 

 ductive of the wealth which enriches the whole of so- 

 ciety ; but without the labor upon which to work it 

 loses its value. This principle is most remarkably 

 illustrated in the present condition of things ; labor 



