THE GOLDEN RULEBut the benefits of capital are not limited to supplying
present wants and comforts. It opens new avenues for labor.
It diversifies it and gives a wider field to everyone to do the
kind of work for which he is best fitted by natural taste
and genius. The number of employments created by railways,
steamships, telegraph, and manufactories by machinery can
hardly be estimated. Capital is also largely invested in supply-
ing the means of intellectual and spiritual culture. Books are
multiplied at constantly diminishing prices, and the best
thought of the world, by the means of our great publishing
houses, is made accessible to the humblest workman.
There is no better example of the benefits the common
laborer derives from capital than the daily newspaper. For two
or three cents the history of the world for twenty-four hours
is brought to every door. The laborer, while riding to or from
his work in a comfortable car, can visit all parts of the known
world and get a truer idea of the events of the day than he
could if he were bodily present. A battle in China or Africa, an
earthquake in Spain, a dynamite explosion in London, a debate
in Congress, the movements of men in public and private life
for the suppression of vice, for enlightening the ignorant,
helping the needy, and improving the people generally, are
spread before him in a small compass, and bring him into
contact and on equality, in regard to the world's history, with
kings and queens, with saints and sages, and people in every
condition in life. Do you ever think, while reading the morning
paper, how many men have been running on your errands, col-
lecting intelligence for you from all parts of the earth, and
putting it into a form convenient for your use? It required
the investment of millions of dollars and the employment of
thousands of men to produce that paper and leave it at your
door. And what did all this service cost you? A few cents.
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