A few questions.
Whose tree was that? If it belonged to the man in the red shirt (as the first panel implies), then the stereotype in the tophat actually owes him money, for altering his property without his permission. If it belongs to the stereotype, what is red-shirt doing on his land?
And clearly, the red-shirted man appreciated the stereotype's labor, or else he wouldn't have paid him. Or are you implying that there was some sort of extortion going on?
I think the implication is that some sort of marketing was going on.
marketing != capitalism
...'owning trees'... lol
Fuck injuns, amirite? I has paper receipt of ownership now! bang bang!
The marketing happened when the price tag got slapped on there.
Edit: Just realized this comic is way off base, Moneybags would never have done the labor himself, he would have outsourced it to local Mexican daylaborers.