EXHIBITION OF 1872—ANNUAL ADDRESSES. 155 
legislation, fixes the price of agricultural products and the val ue 
of labor everywhere. All wealth is not necessarily capital in the 
sense in which we use that term. But all capital is necessarily 
wealth. 
1 
CREDIT, A MORE DANGEROUS ENEMY TO LABOR. 
There rs, however, a substitute for capital, which is credit; and 
this is often so managed as to take the place and serve the pur¬ 
pose of capital; and, so far as it goes, its influence over labor is 
even greater and worse than that of capital proper. It is a more 
reckless and dangerous enemy to labor than capital; for in its op¬ 
erations it has everything to win and nothing to lose. Credit 
mainly produces “corners” in stocks and “corners” in grain. 
Some money is used, but real solid capital is too conservative and 
too sensible to risk such ventures. Sometimes these “ corners,” 
in grain especially, seem to work to the advantage of labor by 
raising the price of products. Such, indeed, is the first effect of 
it; but in the end, in most instances, labor is made to suffer and 
pay the losses. The recent wheat “ corner ” in Chicago will illus¬ 
trate this truth. At first, wheat brought a greater price, and a 
few who could get their wheat to market profited by it. But 
afterwards, when the “corner” was broken, wheat fell below what 
it was before, and below what it probably would have been but 
for the “corner,” and the great bulk of wheat subsequently being 
brought to market, had to be sold for a less price. Thus it is that 
labor is made to suffer by this infamous gambling operation. 
Gambling in stocks, gambling in wheat, gambling in gold, is none 
the less gambling because men of respectable standing engage in 
it. “ Corners ” in stocks and “ corners ” in grain are bold attempts 
to rob and steal, and they should be prohibited and punished like 
any other theft. If labor was mindful of its duty and true to its 
interests, it would be done at once. It could not, however, be 
done without a struggle, for capital would not passively submit to 
be deprived or abridged of its ancient right to rob and to steal. 
But, as time goes on, we may reasonably hope that great and sal¬ 
utary reforms will be effected in this respect. 
