Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the SouthFortune, Timothy Thomas
History
Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South
Fortune, Timothy Thomas
African Americans -- Southern States; Southern States -- Economic conditions; United States -- Race relations
The South must spend less money on penitentiaries and more money on
schools; she must use less powder and buckshot and more law and
equity; she must pay less attention to politics and more attention to
the development of her magnificent resources; she must get off the
"race line" hobby and pay more attention to the common man; she must
wake up to the fact that--
_Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow,_
and that it is to her best interest to place all men upon the same
footing before the law; mete out the same punishment to the white
scamp that is inexorably meted out to the black scamp, for a scamp is
a scamp any way you twist it; a social pest that should be put where
he will be unable to harm any one. In an honest acceptance of the new
conditions and responsibilities God has placed upon them, and in
mutual forebearance, toleration and assistance, the South will find
that panacea for which she has sought in vain down to this time.
CHAPTER XI
Land and Labor
There is more prose than poetry in the desperate conflict now
waging in every part of the civilized world between labor and
capital,--between the dog and his tail, again, for, when the question
is reduced to a comprehensive statement of fact, it will be readily
seen that capital is the offspring of labor, not labor the offspring
of capital. Capital can produce nothing. Left to itself, it is as
valueless as the countless millions of gold, silver, copper, lead and
iron that lie buried in the unexplored womb of Nature. This storied
wealth counts for nothing in its crude, undeveloped state. As it is
to-day, so it was a thousand years ago. Years may add to the bulk,
and, therefore, the richness of its value; but until man, by his labor
of muscle and brain, has brought it forth, it has no value whatever.
To have value, it must become an object of barter, of circulation, in
short, of exchange. As its value depends upon its utility, so when it
can no longer be used it again becomes a useless mass of perishable
wealth. It is the product of labor, pure and simple. Speaking on
"Management of the Banks" (footnote p. 223), in his work on _Labor and
Capital_, Edward Kellogg says:--
All who become rich by speculations in bank, state and other
stocks, gain their wealth at the expense of the producing
classes; for no increased production is made by the changing
market value of these stocks. It is clear, that when the
rate of interest is increased, the gains of money-lenders
are augmented, and the money gained will buy a greater
quantity of property and labor. The increased gains of the
lender must be paid by the borrowers, by the productions of
their own or of others' labor.
So Adam Smith, speaking of "the Origin and Use of Money" (_Wealth of
Nations_, p. 33), says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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