SECTION II.

INDUSTRY WILL BE APPLIED TO CAPITAL, AS EVERY MAN ENJOYS THE ADVANTAGES OF HIS LABOR AND HIS CAPITAL.

Although God has designed men to labor, yet he has not designed them to labor without reward. Hence, when men devise some form of labor, even for exercise, they always connect with it some result, as the game of the huntsman, or the watering place of the traveler or tourist. Thus, also, as it is unnatural to labor without receiving benefit from labor, men will not labor continuously nor productively, unless they receive such benefit. And, hence, the greater this benefit, the more active and spontaneous will be their exertion.

In order that every man may enjoy, in the greatest degree, the advantages of his labor, it is necessary, provided always he do not violate the rights of his neighbor, 1st, That he be allowed to gain all that he can; and, 2d. That, having gained all that he can, he be allowed to use it as he will.

1. It is necessary that every man be allowed to gain all that he can; that is, that the arrangements of society be so constructed, that every man be able to render his labor, in the highest degree, available to himself. This will require,

2. That property be divided. When property is held in common, every individual of the society to which it belongs, has an equal, but an undivided and indetermined right to his portion of the revenue. Hence, every one is at liberty to take what he will, and as much as he will, and to labor as much or as little as he pleases. There is, therefore, under such an arrangement, no connection between labor and the rewards of labor. There is rather a premium for indolence than for industry. In such a case, there

will be no regular labor, if indeed there be any labor at all; and, what is still worse, even the scanty and spontaneous productions of the earth will frequently be gathered before they are ripe, since every one fears, that, if he do not seize them now, he will never enjoy them at all. The forest of an Indian tribe is held in common, and a few hundred families barely subsist upon a territory which, were it divided and tilled, would support a million of civilized men. The little that it produces to him, is the result of division of property. His bow and arrows, his wigwam, and his clothing are acknowledged to be, in the fullest sense, his own. these to be held, like his land, in common, the whole race would very soon perish, from want of the necessaries of life.

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On the contrary, as soon as land with all other property is divided, a motive exists for regular and voluntary labor, inasmuch as the individual knows that he, and not his indolent neighbor, will reap the fruit of his toil. Henceforth he begins to create a regular supply of annual product. With increased skill, this annual product increases, and he begins to convert it into fixed capital, a form of wealth which could scarcely exist without division of property. Every accession to his fixed capital renders his labor more productive, and hence it creates a stronger stimulus to increased exertion. With increased exertion, his annual capital is increased, and a greater surplus remains to be changed into fixed capital. Thus, increased production stimulates industry, and increased industry results in more abundant production. Thus, division of property, or the appropriation, to each, of his particular portion of that which God has given to all, lays at the foundation of all accumulation of wealth, and of all progress in civilization.

It is for this reason that property held in common, is so generally prejudicial to the best interests of a society. A common, where every one, at will,

may pasture his cattle, and a forest, from which every inhabitant may procure his fuel, are encouragements to indolence, and serve to keep a community poor. Thus, also, funds left at large for the support of the poor, on which every one is supposed to have an equal right to draw, have generally been found to foster indolence. Poor laws, in so far as they are to be considered a fund for this purpose, have the same sort of injurious tendency.

2. But the division of property would be of no avail unless the right of property were enforced; that is, unless every one be protected in the undisturbed possession of whatever he has rightfully acquired. As no one will labor, unless he knows that he shall reap the fruit of his toil, so no one will take the pains to reap the fruit of his toil, unless he also know that he will be able to hold it, and appropriate it to the purposes of his own gratification. And, hence, we see that human labor is exerted in different countries, very much in proportion as the right of property is both understood and enforced.

The right of property may be violated by the individual or by society. It is violated by the indivi- . dual, by cheating, stealing, robbery, and violation of contracts. And, universally, just as these crimes prevail, production languishes, industry diminishes, and the richest soil fails to support its few and impoverished inhabitants. Such was the case in Europe, during the feudal oppression. There was then no encouragement to labor, because no one knew whether he, or a baronial tyrant, would reap the fruit of his industry.

Hence, we see the economical importance of all means which shall prevent the individual violation of the right of property. These means are two.

The first is, the inculcation of those moral and religious principles, which teach men to respect the rights of others as their own, that is, to obey the law of reciprocity; and which present the strongest conceivable reasons for so doing. This is the most cer

tain method of preventing the violation of the right of property, inasmuch as it aims to eradicate those dispositions of mind, from which all violation proceeds. It is also the cheapest, as it aims at prevention, which is always more economical than cure. It is also necessary, inasmuch as good laws will never be enacted, or if enacted, will never be obeyed, only in so far as there exists a moral character in the community sufficiently pure to sustain them. In proportion as these are efficacious, all other means are needless. Hence, we see the reason why moral and religious nations grow wealthy so much more rapidly than vicious and irreligious nations. The feeling of perfect tranquility and security, which a high social morality diffuses over a whole community, is one of the most beneficial, as well as one of the strongest stimulants to universal industry. This is one of the temporal rewards which God bestows upon social virtue. And, inasmuch as no one can enjoy this reward, simply by being virtuous himself, but only as his fellow citizens also are virtuous, we see the indication in our constitution, that it is the duty, as well as the interest, of every man, to labor to render other men more virtuous.

2. But inasmuch as all men are not influenced in their conduct by moral and religious principles, it is necessary that aggression be somehow prevented, and violations of property, in so far as possible, redressed. Hence, the importance of wholesome and equitable laws, of an independent and firm judiciary, and an executive, which shall carry the decisions of law faithfully into effect. Hence the expense, necessary for the most perfect administration of justice, is among the most productive of all the expenditures of society. Good law, and the faithful administration of it, are always the cheapest law, and the cheapest administration of it. The interests of man require that law should be invariably executed, and that its sovereignty should, under all its circumstances, be inviolably maintained.

But the right of property may be violated by society. It sometimes happens, that society or government, which is its agent, though it may prevent the infliction of wrong by individuals upon each other, is by no means averse to inflicting wrong or violating the right of individuals itself. This is done, where governments seize upon the property of individuals by mere arbitrary act, a form of tyranny, with which all the nations of Europe were, of old, too well acquainted. It is also done, by unjust legislation; that is, when legislators, how well soever chosen, enact unjust laws, by which the property of a part, or of the whole, is unjustly taken away, or what is the same thing subjected to oppressi taxation.

Of all the destructive agencies which can be brought to bear upon production, by far the most fatal, is public oppression. It drinks up the spirit of a people, by inflicting wrong through means of an agency which was created for the sole purpose of preventing wrong; and which was intended to be the ultimate and faithful refuge of the friendless. When the antidote to evil, becomes the source of evil, what hope for man is left? When society itself sets the example of peculation, what shall prevent the individuals of the society from imitating that example? Hence, public injustice is always the prolific parent of private violence. The result is, that capital emigrates, production ceases, and a nation either sinks down in hopeless despondence; or else the people, harassed beyond endurance, and believing that their condition cannot be made worse by any change, rush into all the horrors of civil war; the social elements are dissolved; the sword enters every house; the holiest ties which bind men together are severed; and no prophet can predict, at the beginning, what will be the end.

Hence we see the importance to the industry of a country, of a constitution which guarantees, to the individual, immunity not only from private, but