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Brook Farm by John Thomas Codman
page 41 of 325 (12%)
changes, emancipated himself from physical surroundings until he stands
forth free and independent, but without, however, any positive relation
or duty binding him to maintain the independence of all the human
brotherhood. His independence is for himself alone, and in that
relation he is forced by _conditions of his surroundings_ to
neglect and trespass on the rights of his fellow-man to keep his
individual supremacy, and to develop various promptings of his soul,
which are ofttimes good, great and noble.

In the early days of civilization, free competition develops the
resources of man. The prospect of wealth, and the power it brings with
it, encourages trade to seek the ends of the earth, and from its
products vast enterprises are built up. As every fruit has in it that
which causes its final dissolution, and within it also the germs of a
future and higher life, so civilized society carries in it the germs of
its decay and dissolution, society being a natural product, as fruit
is, of God's providence. _Free competition_ is the destructive
agent, or one of the most important agents in its dissolution. Observe
that the power which ripens a natural fruit causes, in the end, its
destruction. Observe also that free competition, which in the early
stages of civilization glorifies and typifies it, by continuing at its
work will finally destroy it.

There is another element which is called capital. In savage life there
is hardly anything which can be called capital. The amount of capital
depends on the wealth of the community. As society advances, wealth
increases; from savagism to civilization, from early civilization to
the present time. This wealth, this capital comes from the reserved
products of labor; "dried labor," it has been called, for labor is its
only source of production. This wealth belongs to the community that
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