Because in that case we should merely, in consideration of such
labor, bind the Association to the yearly payment of the interest
aforesaid according to the terms of our joint stock compact.
"This is, as we are persuaded, the only way whereby labor can receive
justice. If a hundred dollars in money is invested in our stock, we
issue certificates for that amount, and why must we not do the same
with an investment of a hundred dollars' worth of labor? The claim in
the latter case seems to us even more imperative than in the former.
The dividend of each year ought, as we are convinced, to be made with
reference solely to the difference between its gains on the one hand,
and its expenditures and losses on the other.
"The earlier losses of the establishment must be regarded as the price
of much valuable experience, and as inevitable in starting such an
institution. Almost every business fails to pay its expenses at the
commencement--it always costs something to set the wheels in operation;
this is not, however, to be regarded as absolute loss. This is the view
which is to be taken of the condition of the Association at the
beginning of the present year.
"The true value of any property is precisely the sum on which, in the
use for which it was designed or which it may be put to, it pays the
requisite interest.
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