It was the all-wise, all-seeing God who gave man his start in the beginning. God endowed him with capital, and gave him directions how to proceed. Whatever arrangement was made then was unquestionably "very good."
Man's capital was the ground, the earth, the soil, and he was to cultivate it himself. Had he remained obedient to his Creator and Adviser, his work never would have been otherwise than a delight. Everything would have grown with the planting, and nothing would have existed that was not good for food or pleasant to the eye. Under the original arrangement all the man had to do was to care for that which grew. In the garden which God planted as a sample, the man had only "to dress it and to keep it."
After the man transgressed the commandment of God, conditions were very much changed, but the principle remained the same. A curse came upon the ground, so that noxious plants grew spontaneously and persistently, and the soil had to be cultivated sedulously in order to induce it to bring forth the products that were necessary for food. The man's capital was still the God-given ground, and the labor was within himself; only he was obliged to put forth much greater effort in his labor than under former conditions. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," was the divine decree, indicating the increased amount of physical labor that would be required in procuring a livelihood. This was to continue as long as the man should live. There was no intimation that in course of time others should do his work for him, and he should appropriate the fruits of their labor to himself.
It was a wise provision that man was to labor hard enough to cause perspiration; for, because of sin, the products of the earth would be naturally of an inferior quality. There would be more or less of unhealthful effects from their use, which, in a measure, would be carried off by copious perspiration. Physical work, in the absence of the tree of life from which man was debarred, would prove a partial antidote for the ills that would come as a result of sin. Therefore physical work would be a life-long necessity, and an accumulation of goods would not be essential. Men would provide for their children, and if children should honor their parents according to the commandment, they would reciprocate in the care of old age.
Then the divine ideal was every man in a home of his own, with sufficient ground to produce the necessaries of life with his own labor. Thus capital and labor always would have been combined in the individual, under one proprietorship. Under such an arrangement all would be equally independent, for every family would produce its own requirements from the earth. Even in our own comparatively new country, as late as the first half of the past century, such manner of life was not uncommon. And the industrious, frugal, and therefore thrifty people, under those conditions, were better provided for, were more honest, contented, and happy than are the masses of to-day, most of whom are dependent on others for the privilege of working for whatever their masters choose to give them.
And this dependent condition obtains while vast areas of land are lying idle.
If men could be induced to return to the plan devised by their Creator in the beginning, much of the prevalent crime and human suffering would be averted. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is calling men to conversion, that they may have a part in the inheritance of the new earth, "wherein dwelleth righteousness," and wherein will be a restoration of Edenic conditions. Then capital and labor will once more be combined in the individual, and the selfish oppressions of sinful conditions will be unknown forever.