labor. The first of these sayings was this: "Labor is prior to,
and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor,
and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.
Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher
consideration."

This statement, Roosevelt used to say, would have made him, if it
had been original with him, even more strongly denounced as a
communist agitator than he already was! Then he would turn from
this, which the capitalist ought to hear, to another saying of
Lincoln's which the workingman ought to hear: "Capital has its
rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights . .
. . Nor should this lead to a war upon the owners of property.
Property is the fruit of labor; . . . property is desirable; it
is a positive good in the world."

Then would come the final word from Lincoln, driven home by
Roosevelt with all his usual vigor and fire: "Let not him who is
houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work
diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring
that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

In these three sayings, Roosevelt declared, Lincoln "showed the
proper sense of proportion in his relative estimates of capital
and labor, of human rights and property rights." Roosevelt's own
most famous statement of the matter was made in an address which
he delivered before the Sorbonne in Paris, on his way back from
Africa: "In every civilized society property rights must be
carefully safeguarded. Ordinarily, and in the great majority of
cases, human rights and property rights are fundamentally and in