Show THE PRIORITY OF LABOR by abraham lincoln from a mes sage to congress in 1861 1261 I 1 see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me tj tremble for the safety ot of my country As a I 1 result of wa war I 1 corporations have been enthis en thred ned and in an era of corruption it in high places will follow and the tc in anney ney power ot of the country will endeavor fin bo panl an its reign by working upun the prejudices ot of the people until all the wealth is I 1 aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed I 1 feel nt at this moment more anxiety for tile lie safety ot of abir ur country than ever before even in the midst of war god od kraut grant that my forebodings may be groundless itself Is sometimes hanl ed at as a refuge from the power ot of the people in my present position I 1 could scarcely be justified were 1 I ty omit to raise a barnin warning voice against tile the approach 0 of returning re t anin despotism it Is not needed nor fi fitting till here that a general tn should lie he made in fit favor of popular institutions hut but there is one point with lo 10 it connections not so hackneyed as most others to which I 1 ask inlet brief in let attention it is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital that nobody labors unless somebody else owning capital some dinv by tle tile use ilse of it it induces him to labor labor Is prior to and independent in d of capital capital is ony only the fruit of labor and could not have existed it if labor had not first existed labor is the superior of capital and deserves much tile the higher con slid ahn I 1 bid the laborn people lie waro of surrendering tile the power they possess and N which it if surrendered will surely lie used to shut the he doar of advancement tor for such as they anil fix new dell disabilities and burdens upon the them until nil all of liberty shall lie lost in the eary lays days of the race tile the almighty sald said to the first of mankind in the sweat of thy face shail eat bread and slave since then it we except the if ht and air iff t heaven no gaud tiling thing has been or fir can lie elli joyed by us without first hill aning ing ost cost labor and is as most enst go al 01 id things have been produced toy by labor it follows that all such things briona 1 of right to thise whose labor lias has produced them bilut it has so bapp happened ened in nil all ages of tile the world that some have labored antl ami others bale without alor en unloved loved a n large jarge portion of the he fruits this is wrong and should not continue 1 secure to ench each laborer the whole hole product ot of his its lalor labar as nearly its as lios possible sible Is a worthy object of any government it seems strange that any man should dare to t ask a just gods assist ance in wringing bread from the sweat of other mens faces this country y with its institutions belongs to tile the people who inhabit it |