ly reason for their
importance; so much so that the first shall not deserve even the name
of labor, and that the last work pre-eminently, shall alone be worthy
of the favors of protection!"

The RAW-MATERIALIST: "Yes, we begin to see that wheat no more
than wool is entirely devoid of human labor; but, at least, the
agriculturist has not, like the manufacturer, done all by himself and
his workmen; Nature aids him, and if there is labor, it is not all
labor in the wheat."

The PROTECTIONIST: "But all its _value_ is in the labor it
has cost. I admit that Nature has assisted in the material formation
of wheat. I admit even that it may be exclusively her work; but
confess that I have controlled it by my labor; and when I sell you
some wheat, observe this well: that it is not the work of _Nature_ for
which I make you pay, but _my own_; and, on your supposition,
manufactured articles would be no more the product of labor than
agricultural ones. Does not the manufacturer, too, rely upon Nature to
second him? Does he not avail himself of the weight of the atmosphere
in aid of the steam-engine, as I avail myself of its humidity in aid
of the plough? Did he create the laws of gravitation, of correlation
of forces, of affinities?"

The RAW-MATERIALIST: "Come, let the wool go too. But coal is
assuredly the work, and the exclusive work, of Nature, _unaided by any
human labor_."

The PROTECTIONIST: "Yes, Nature made coal, but _labor_ makes
its value. Coal had no _value_ during the thousands of years during
which it was hidden, unknown, a hundred feet below the soil. It was
necessary to look for it there--that is a _labor_: it was necessary to
transport it to market; that is another _labor_: and once more, the
price which you pay for it in the market is nothing else than the
remuneration for these labors of digging and transportation."

We see that thus far the protectionist has all the advantage on his
side; that the value of raw material, as well as that of manufactured
material, represents the expense of production, that is to say, of
_labor_; that it is impossible to conceive of a material possessed of
value while totally unindebted to human labor; that the distinction
which the raw-materialists make is wholly futile, in theory; that, as
a basis for an unequal division of _favors_, it would be iniquitous in
practice; because the result would be that one-third of the people,
engaged in manufactures, would obtain the sweets of