people. However, he acquired some knowledge
of the cotton trade, saved some money, borrowed some more on the
security of his reputation for getting the better of other people in
business, and, as he accurately told me afterwards, started FOR HIMSELF.
He bought a factory and some raw cotton. Now you must know that a man,
by laboring some time on a piece of raw cotton, can turn it into a piece
of manufactured cotton fit for making into sheets and shifts and the
like. The manufactured cotton is more valuable than the raw cotton,
because the manufacture costs wear and tear of machinery, wear and tear
of the factory, rent of the ground upon which the factory is built, and
human labor, or wear and tear of live men, which has to be made good by
food, shelter, and rest. Do you understand that?"

"We used to learn all about it at college. I don't see what it has to do
with us, since you are not in the cotton trade."

"You learned as much as it was thought safe to teach you, no doubt; but
not quite all, I should think. When my father started for himself, there
were many men in Manchester who were willing to labor in this way, but
they had no factory to work in, no machinery to work with, and no raw
cotton to work on, simply because all this indispensable plant, and the
materials for producing a fresh supply of it, had been appropriated by
earlier comers. So they found themselves with gaping stomachs, shivering
limbs, and hungry wives and children, in a place called their own
country, in which, nevertheless, every scrap of ground and possible
source of subsistence was tightly locked up in the hands of others and
guarded by armed soldiers and policemen. In this helpless condition, the
poor devils were ready to beg for access to a factory and to raw cotton
on any conditions compatible with life. My father offered them the
use of his factory, his machines, and his raw cotton on the following
conditions: They were to work long and hard, early and late, to add
fresh value to his raw cotton by manufacturing it. Out of the value thus
created by them, they were to recoup him for what he supplied them with:
rent, shelter, gas, water, machinery, raw cotton--everything, and to pay
him for his own services as superintendent, manager, and salesman. So
far he asked nothing but just remuneration. But after this had been
paid, a balance due solely to their own labor remained. 'Out of this,'
said my father, 'you shall keep just enough to save you