children as they walk along the street on their way to church or the park.

Sam and his wife are both very careful in spending

money.

But they never try to save if they need to spend money in keeping themselves healthy and comfortable.

That does not mean that Sam and his wife do not save. They do save, but in a wise way.

WASTING TIME.

Some day they expect to buy a home of their own. Every pay day they put aside a little.

At the bank they have started a savings account. The bank keeps the money safe from thieves. Besides they give a small rate of interest. This is better than keeping the money at home or in the vest pocket.

Besides saving for a home, a savings account is very good for another reason. Sam may not always have steady work or he may fall sick. Then he and his family will have something to help them over the hard times.

LESSON 6

LABOR AND CAPITAL

Labor

Early in the morning the streets and street cars are crowded with people.

There are men and women, young and old.

They are going to work. But why are they going to work?

You will say that they are going to work to earn a living. But they do not labor as people did in olden times. Then each person worked for himself.

He went into the woods and hunted wild animals.

He had his own piece of land. He had his own tools with which to work. He raised his own food for himself and his family.

Then came a great change in the way people earned their living.

To-day most people do not work for themselves. They work for an employer in the shops, factories, mines, or on the railroads and steamships.

Those who work for an employer are called employees.

The laborer owns the power to labor.

The employer owns the tools, the machinery, and the factory buildings.

The employees do not own any machinery or factory buildings. All they own is their power to labor.

They can sell this labor power to the employer. Some people have one kind of labor power to sell, others have some other kind. For this they will get wages to buy food, clothing, and many other things.

All the laborers together make all the things that everybody in the world needs in order to live.

But who are the laborers? They are the people who do the world's work both with minds and hands. The laborers give labor to supply our needs.

In return they get wages.

The employer gives the use of his machinery and factory buildings.

In return he may get profit. How does he get this profit? He gets it in this way. The laborers produce goods for him. He sells these goods at a higher price than the cost.

After he has paid the wages to the laborers, and other expenses, he has saved something for himself. This is profit. Profit comes about through labor.

Of course you can easily see why there will be some trouble between the employer and the employees. The employer wants as high profits as he can get. Then he can build up a bigger and more profitable business.

The employees want as high wages and short hours as they can get. If the wages are high and the hours are short, the employees can live in a better

way.

In another lesson on unions, we shall read about how these troubles between the employers are many times straightened out.

Capital

What is capital? You have probably heard people talking a great deal about capital.

Sometimes you have seen that people get very angry when they talk about capital.

But they would not be so angry if they really understood what it means.