PRACTICAL PAPERS—LABOR AND CAPITAL. 
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what is capital ? and what conditions most favor the harmo¬ 
nious and profitable union of these two forces of industry: 
1. Labor is fitly defined to be “ the voluntary efforts of 
human beings to produce objects of desire.” Since the human 
being is made up of body and mind we must distinguish two 
kinds of labor, viz. : Physical labor in which muscular 
exertion is the chief thing, and mental labor which engages 
chiefly the faculties of the mind. I say chief and chiefly be¬ 
cause in reality all human exertion contains some physical and 
some mental effort. The dullest laborer must think some 
about the work of his hands; and the pofoundest thinker must 
task his muscles some to present to the world the products of 
his brain-work. 
Recognizing this distinction, let us note what each kind of 
labor achieves. Mere physical labor only puts things in mo¬ 
tion. The muscles of the body are made capable of contrac¬ 
tion. This creates a pressure which when applied to a piece 
of matter, tends to put it in motion, or if it be already mov¬ 
ing, to change or stop its motion. This is all that mere mus¬ 
cular exertion can do. But, through this power of putting 
things into contact and relations with each other, man is able 
to command the hidden forces of nature to an unlimited ex¬ 
tent. Man stirs the earth and drops a seed into it, then the 
forces of vegetation hid in the seed and in the soil multiply 
. the seed a hundred fold. Man brings coal, places it in a fur¬ 
nace, sets fire to it, and at once a force of nature in the process 
of combustion turns the carbon into heat. He may add to the 
pile ore taken from the earth, and another force of nature by 
the action of heat makes the iron flow. Mans muscles grasp 
and wield the hammer only to enable nature's forces, gravita¬ 
tion and density on the one hand, and tenacity and malleabil¬ 
ity on the other, to make the blow effective to shape the iron 
as he will. Man sets his poles and strings his wires and ad¬ 
justs the components of his battery and arranges 1 his machine, 
so that by touching a key he can command that subtle force 
of nature, electricity, and make it the bearer of his thoughts 
