privileges of a man's neighbors. Capital and labor are the two great
elements upon which the prosperity and happiness of our people rest, and
when, therefore, aggregations of the one are met by combinations of the
other, it should be the aim of all to prevent the clashing of these
great interests. The products of toil are worthless unless there be some
means by which they can be substituted or transferred for that which
labor requires. The concrete form in which these transactions are
conducted is the money power or the capital of the land. Without work
all of these fertile fields, these teeming towns, would have been
impossible, and without a desire to benefit and elevate humanity, its
onward progress would have been useless. To work, to labor, is man's
bounden duty, and in the performance of the tasks which have been placed
upon him, he should be encouraged, and his greatest incentive should be
the knowledge that he may transmit to his children and his children's
children a higher civilization and greater advantages than he himself
possessed. Trade conditions which would permit to the toiler but a bare
sustenance, the bare means of a livelihood, would be a hindrance to
human progress, a hindrance not to be removed by all of the maxims of
the philosopher or the theories of the doctrinaire. Promise without
fulfillment is barren, but when you can place before the mechanic the
assured fact that the performance of his duty means success in life, and
that his non-performance means failure; when you can show him that this
law is immutable, you have made of him a useful citizen and have
instilled into his mind a firm belief that the freedom and liberty of
which we boast is not an inchoate substance to be dreamed of and not
enjoyed. But this desired result cannot be secured if combinations of
capital, which produce the necessaries of life cheaper and better, are
assailed as the enemies of mankind. There is always a mean between those
who seek only a fair recompense and return for that which they produce,
and those who seek undue advantages for the few at the expense of the