state Convention—labor. 
2 53 
and industry, possesses all the chief elements of riches. To the 
young man or the young woman who possesses these essential ele¬ 
ments, wealth stands ready at your bidding, provided you. will in¬ 
telligently apply your powers. 
Again, labor is said to be the power used to appropriate matter, 
and convert it into some peculiar shape, or convey it from one 
place to another, aud make it administer to our necessity, comfort 
or luxury. The coal and wood used in our fires is buried deep in 
the bowels of the earth, or lies in the forest, and are absolutely 
worthless, until by labor they are brought forth and converted to 
our use. The stone, brick and mortar in our dwellings, and the 
lumber in our barns lie in shapeless masses in the earth or stands 
in the interminable forest, until by labor they are brought togeth¬ 
er, and by labor and skill fashioned into tenements of comfort. 
And the same is true of all our agricultural productions, our 
•domestic animals, our mechanical devices,—these would all be as 
nothing without labor. By labor the earth is plowed and sowed 
with grain, by labor harvested and threshed, by labor conveyed 
to market or to mill, by labor converted into flour, and by labor 
of fair hands converted into bread for the sustenance of man. 
Labor is the purchase price, the only valuable consideration we 
pay for every article possessed by man, whether of comfort, nec¬ 
essity, ease, luxury or elegance. 
Technically, money is not wealth, but the mere representative 
of wealth. Adam Smith says, “ it is not by gold or by silver, 
but by labor that all the wealth of the world is purchased.” 
Just then in proportion as a people are industrious and frugal, 
and just in proportion as a nation is intelligent in the use of 
means to appropriate matter and convert it to its use, will it in¬ 
crease in wealth and prosperity. 
The first step by man to appropriate matter to his use was to 
hunt wild animals, and feed himself with their flesh and clothe 
himself with their skins. The next step was to tame and domes¬ 
ticate these animals, so as to have them ready in times of neces¬ 
sity for his use. The next advance in the progress of civilization 
was when man learned to produce the necessaries of life by the 
cultivation of the soil, and manufacture of the comforts and con¬ 
veniences of life. 
