One of the results of industry and thrift is the accumulation of Capital.  Capital represents the self-denial, the providence, and the enterprise of the past.  The most successful accumulators of capital have in all times risen from the ranks of labour itself; they are working men who have shot ahead of their fellows, and who now give employment instead of receiving it.  These persons,—­who are not the less working men because they have ceased to be manual labourers,—­by creating and extending the sphere of productive industry, must be regarded as amongst the most effective benefactors of the people, as they unquestionably are among the principal sources of the power and wealth of any nation.  Without the capital accumulated by their thrift during many generations, the lot of the artizan would be most precarious.

There is not a mechanic but has the use of the money of the master who employs him.  When the unskilled labourer lays down his spade, he leaves idle a capital worth eighteen-pence; but when a skilled artizan or mechanic leaves his mill or his workshop, he leaves idle a capital of from a hundred to two hundred pounds per man.  Nor does the skilled workman run any risk whatever as regards the sums invested, though he virtually shares the profits in the shape of the wages paid for his labour.  The profit which remains is the master’s return for his management and his risks.  It is well known, however, that the risks are not always covered, as the Gazette in bad times abundantly demonstrates.

The workman in good employment is not liable to losses by bad debts; he has no obsolete machinery from time to time left useless on his hands; and he has no anxiety about finding a market for his goods, nor fears respecting fluctuations in the price of the raw material.  These are important advantages in his favour, which he does not usually take into account.  It is true he suffers if trade is bad, but he earns high wages if it be good:  he can then save money if he chooses to do so.  He may be said to participate in the adversity or prosperity of his firm, but without incurring any of the liabilities of partnership.

Mr. Carlyle has given a curious account of the great English manufacturer.  “Plugson, of St. Dolly Undershot, buccaneer-like, says to his men, ’Noble spinners, this is the hundred thousand we have gained, wherein I mean to dwell and plant my vineyards.  The hundred thousand is mine, the three-and-sixpence daily was yours.  Adieu, noble spinners! drink my health with this groat each, which I give you over and above!’”

This account of the manufacturing buccaneer is a picture drawn by a man of genius from his imagination.  There are probably many readers who believe the picture to be drawn from fact.  There may, of course, be masters who are buccaneers; but there are also masters who are not buccaneers.  There are dishonest manufacturers, as there are dishonest literary men, dishonest publicans, dishonest tradesmen.  But we must believe that in all occupations honesty is the rule, and dishonesty the exception.  At all events, it is better that we should know what the manufacturers really are,—­from fact rather than from fiction.