PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 505 



Examples of property which, is apparently not the result of accu- 

 mulated or of any labor, and so militating against these conclusions, 

 will doubtless suggest themselves: such, for instance, as a diamond 

 found upon the seashore, land squatted upon and obtained by pre- 

 emption, bank stock, patent rights, copyrights, anuities obtained 

 by gift or purchase, franchises, monopolies, and debts; but an ex- 

 amination will soon prove that the objections embodied in them are 

 more specious than real. Thus, in the case of the diamond accident- 

 ally picked up, which is perhaps one of the most striking of all the 

 examples thai; can be adduced in favor of the position that property 

 can come into existence without the agency of labor, it may be said : 

 first, that an exceptional fact like this can not constitute an adequate 

 basis for the enunciation of a principle; and, next, that the value of 

 this accidental diamond is solely determined by and represents the 

 value of the labor which has been required to obtain all other exist- 

 ing diamonds. The moment the fact ceases to be exceptional, the 

 moment diamonds can be had in abundance by merely picking them 

 up, that moment their value will simply represent the cost of the 

 physical effort requisite to pick them up. Again, if land squatted 

 upon has any value as property whatever in the first instance, it is be- 

 cause it is the embodiment of the labor required to discover it, to 

 conquer it, to defend and protect it; to effect all of which, taxes, 

 which are the results of labor, may have been paid for centuries. If 

 it acquires any additional value beyond this, after it has been 



another, say the same thing. Accepting under such circumstances an entire misconception 

 of the true meaning of the word labor, the popular mind has been drawn to the conclusion 

 that hand labor or muscular exertion is the producer of all value ; and has added the corol- 

 lary that hand labor is therefore entitled to the entire value thus produced. But when 

 closely examined, the true meaning of the word labor will be found to be, all that a man can 

 do, either with his muscle or his brain. On this crude misconception of the meaning of 

 words, philanthropic systems have grown up, under which the weaker ones have lost heart, 

 and the stronger ones have grown desperate, because the hard sense of humanity does not 

 accept their theories. Also, through their influence, these ideas have reacted and are react- 

 ing on the laborers themselves, with rather lamentable results. Thus it is a very general 

 complaint of the present time that the ordinary workman, the person commonly understood 

 by the word " laborer," puts so little mind into his or her work that it is perfunctory to 

 the last degree ; concerns itself very little with results, but expends its efforts in a function 

 whose sole end is to escape blame or actual discharge, and to get along with the least pos- 

 sible exertion ; when the fact is, that the three functions of capital (which is accumulated 

 labor), labor (in the muscular sense), and management (or brain power) must as a rule act 

 conjointly, in order to insure the best results. " In more recent times, a truer appreciation 

 of this word has arisen, but even yet has not been so absorbed into the general fund of 

 knowledge as to bear practical fruits; and it needs to be constantly dwelt upon, set forth, 

 reiterated, and explained, until it shall become a common possession of those who think." 

 The reason why more attention has not been given to this subject by the earlier economists 

 has been assigned to the fact that they drew their illustrations from a very primitive life, 

 where the bow and spear figured prominently. Address, American Social Science Associa- 

 tion, 1893, by F. J. Kingsbury, LL. D. 



