by Beta.
Originally published in Howitt's Journal (William & Mary Howitt) vol.2 #29 (17 Jul 1847).
Labour is the source of all wealth. But a truth of equal significance and importance is this, that most of the wealthy men of England who now wield immense masses of capital, more or less efficiently, in the employment of labour and in the production and distribution of wealth, have risen from the working classes during the last fifty or sixty years. No one can doubt the truth of this statement who knows anything of the personal history of our principal merchants and manufacturers. Now, amongst capitalists, as amongst all great numbers of individuals, there exists the greatest variety of character and conduct. For the sake of 1llustration, let us consider two extreme cases. Take first the case of a man in the annual receipt of forty thousand pounds, which he annually expends in the manner following:—he has two or three establishments in different parts of the country, in each of which there is a large retinue of servants; he is continually enlarging and embellishing his mansions, purchasing costly paintings, precious gems, and other costly works of art, and adding to a library of which no rational use is ever made; he keeps twenty or thirty race-horses, with the necessary attendants—a hunting stud, with hounds and huntsmen; he travels, he plays deeply, he is a patron of theatricals and music; in a word, the sum of forty thousand pounds is annually spent in providing luxuries for one man, that he may be made conspicuous above his fellow-creatures. Now, although such a course of expenditure must necessarily be attended in some respects with great advantages to all those interested in it, it is evident that it does not contribute in the greatest possible degree to the happiness of the community. For there are numbers of individuals destitute of the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of life; while there are great sources of wealth as yet undeveloped, it being possible to invest capital in many ways with a reasonable prospect of realizing a profit; and at the same time an amount of wealth represented by forty thousand pounds has been consumed, and not replaced by the labour of the consumers by an equivalent value of articles most generally desired.
Take next the case of a man who possesses four hundred thousand pounds, which sum he employs with enterprise, skill, and prudence, in manufactures, in the construction of railroads, in agriculture, or in any other way, by which he realises a profit of forty thousand pounds a year. Suppose that he set apart from this annual income four thousand pounds for his own and family's expenses, and that the rest is partly added to the original stock—the whole to be again profitably employed—and partly expended, as follows, in attempting to raise the condition of the lowest class with which he may be connected. He builds cottages for his workmen, on a plan best calculated to promote the health of the inmates, by securing good drainage, ventilation, and a plentiful supply of water; he encourages clubs instituted for the purpose of supporting the sick, the aged, and the infirm; he originates schools for the children and for the adults; news-rooms, reading-rooms, and societies for discussion and conversation on scientific, literary, and moral subjects. Thus disease and poverty will be immediately diminished, and the diffusion of knowledge, and the cultivation of the feelings and tastes, will ultimately lead to the formation of an army of labourers similar to himself. Surely this capitalist is one of the most useful of men. Property, it is said, has its duties as well as its rights, and in this instance they are nobly performed.
Moreover, the case is not imaginary. But how great and beneficent would be the changes effected on the condition of man, were it the rule and not the exception. However, the investigations of philosophers, as well as the results of experience, have clearly shown the injustice and inexpediency of attempting to control by force the use of capital. To interfere directly with the conduct of the rich, luxurious spendthrift, would be no less absurd than to interfere with that of the artisan who spends half his weekly earnings in riotous debauchery. No! the empire of force is tottering to its basis, and nothing must be done to retard its fall. How, then, can a class of capitalists be created, capable of acting from the highest motives—unwilling to glorify themselves at the expense of the community—satisfied with a decent competency, if by their exertions and by the instrumentality of their honestly-acquired wealth the condition of the most degraded classes can be ameliorated? Such a class will necessarily be formed in the onward course of civilization;—the process, indeed, has already commenced. Everything can be accomplished by the mild influence of persuasion, by the gradual and universal diffusion of knowledge, and by the development of the best emotions. Is not the highest welfare of the individual coincident with that of his fellow creatures! Is it not true that man can pity, sympathize with, and love his fellow creatures? Is he not capable of enjoying the luxury of doing good with as great a zest as the luxuries of wealth? Can he not be taught to despise the baubles of antiquity, and to estimate the value of everything by its tendency to promote the general welfare? Yes! there are truths and principles latent in the bosom of every rude and untutored man, and there needs but opportunity and circumstance to rouse them into activity. Of what paramount importance, therefore, is the education of the people! Labourers and artisans are continually becoming employers, tradesmen, manufacturers, and merchants.
Oh! that every child in our beloved country could be enlightened, that its moral feelings and sentiments could be elicited; so that, when arrived at manhood, it might be able to appreciate the true nature of happiness, to estimate correctly the value of the pleasures and duties of life, and to comprehend the increased responsibility indissolubly connected with increased power for good or evil.