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made up and completed, of an endless variety of kinds, but which are still in the hands of the manufacturer and dealer, and not yet disposed of; such as the finished work found ready made in the shops of the draper, hatter, cabinet-maker, smith, goldsmith, china merchant, &c.

It may be thought that some of the finished goods now spoken of being, in one point of view, destined solely, and in their last end, for consumption, and not for reproduction, cannot be classed as capital. But it should be recollected that these goods, while in the hands of the producers and dealers, are not intended for consumption by themselves: they are the instruments by which distributive industry expects to earn its rewards. Like raw materials in the hands of the producers, these goods are the subjects on which distributive labour may be employed. Although completely fitted for use, the work of industry upon them is not finished, nor will be until they shall be conveyed to their proper consumers. In this respect, then, these finished goods are not yet devoted to consumption; they form part of the stock in trade of the owners, which are to be sold, and to be made the instruments of profit, whereby objects of consumption may be acquired; and therefore cannot properly be considered in any other light than as capital.

Hence our classification of stock having reference, not to the nature of the articles themselves, but to the use to which they are destined; an article which at one time, and in the hands of one person, forms an item of his capital, at another time and in the hands of another person, will not be capital, but an item of revenue, notwithstanding that all its properties remain the same. Or, without changing hands, it may be employed at one time in the function of capital, and at another in the function of revenue. The store of food and clothing laid in by a family for domestic use, and without reference to its subsistence while engaged in future labours, is not capital, but, while it remained in the hands of the farmer or clothier, the articles formed part of the stock or capital of his business. In the hands of the family this store is destined for consumption, without reference to further production in the hands of the farmer or clothier, the idea of consumption was excluded, the articles were intended for sale, and

to be made the instrument for gaining a profit. Again, a horse may at one time be employed as a beast of burthen; at another time to carry his master for recreation or amusement. In the one case, it serves in the function of capital; in the other, as

revenue.

All the articles of the description of capital now spoken of, consisting of materials and finished work, are taken out of this division immediately on their conveyance to their proper consumers; and are placed by the purchasers, either in the first description of capital, which consists of the instruments that man employs to aid in the prosecution of his future labours, or in the stock reserved for consumption as revenue; whence they are taken as the wants of the people call for them, and wholly disappear in a longer or shorter period through consumption. The first description of capital, too, or the tools which industry employs, become worn out, and sooner or later disappear; and therefore require continued supplies to replace the waste, without which the amount of capital could not be kept up.

To maintain and augment the stock that may be devoted to consumption, is the sole end of labour, and of both the descriptions of capital which labour employs. It is this stock that feeds, clothes, and lodges the people. Their riches or poverty depend on the abundant or sparing supplies that are acquired of these two descriptions of capital.

Many of the articles comprised in the different kinds of stock which have been now enumerated, were unknown in the early periods of the history of our country. They have been the acquisition of successive generations; each of which probably has contributed something new in increasing the number of sorts, their variety, and excellence. New kinds of tools and instruments have been invented, new powers and processes discovered, new fabrics and products supplied. Most of our garden fruits and vegetables have been introduced from foreign and distant countries; some at a remote, and others at a recent period. Some things which we now possess, though not altogether unknown to our ancestors, were unknown of that superior quality in which we now possess them. Our race of domestic animals has been in a high degree improved by care and the

choice of breeds, while almost every product of art has acquired such additional excellence, that, though perhaps old as regards its kind, it is new as regards its quality. The improvement of the old, and the fresh acquisition of new kinds of articles, have contributed in an almost inconceivable degree to the riches of our country, and to the enjoyment derivable from the comforts of life.

Dr. Smith accounts the acquired and useful abilities of the members of a society as a portion of its capital. "The acquisition of such talents," he says, "by the maintenance of the acquirer during his education, study, or apprenticeship, always costs an expense, which is a capital fixed and realized, as it were, in his person. These talents, as they make a part of his fortune, so do they likewise that of the society to which he belongs. The improved dexterity of a workman may be considered in the same light as a machine or instrument of trade which facilitates and abridges labour, and which, though it costs a certain expense, repays that expense with a profit.' But though the effects of the application of acquired knowledge and skill to industry, and the expense of their acquisition, are similar to those of capital, they are of a different character. They afford the means of employing labour and capital with success, but are not themselves capital. The ordinary idea which we form of capital is of material articles; but knowledge and skill are wholly immaterial; and it seems too great an extension of the common signification of the term capital, to make it comprise things of an immaterial nature.

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Returning from this digression on the classification of the various objects of property, we proceed to observe on the effects which the employment of capital, as now explained, has on industry, in facilitating and shortening labour; thus, both contributing to the ease and leisure of the people, and to multiply and vary the products of industry, as well as to improve their quality.

* Wealth of Nations.

CHAPTER VII.

ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF CAPITAL AND MACHINERY.

It has been truly remarked, that the employment of capital is peculiar to the human race, and forms one of the distinguishing features of its character. The formation of man is especially adapted to such employment, and demands it as indispensable to his state and condition. Without it, the means of supplying his wants which he could acquire, would be far below that of the inferior animals. These are furnished by nature with members admirably constructed for defence, for procuring food, and for performing whatever labour is necessary to their wellbeing. But man is sent forth into the world not only naked but almost defenceless. He is not armed like them in any efficient manner; his hand has not the claws of the predaceous quadrupeds, he has nothing like the beak of the bird, nor are his mouth and teeth adapted for seizing and overcoming his prey; but he is under the necessity of resorting to some implement to supply what would otherwise have been a defect in his formation.

The first portions of capital of which man became possessed, must have been acquired from the land by unassisted labour. But the succeeding portions are obtained from the same source by labour in most cases assisted by previously acquired capital. The difficulties which must have attended the early acquisitions of capital, by unaided labour, must have been greater than is perhaps usually conceived: as capital increases, however, further acquisitions of it become more easy.

The various descriptions of capital, of which we have before spoken, must conjoin for the successful prosecution of labour in its various departments. It is evident, that capital of the first description-the tools which man employs to aid his labour, is absolutely necessary. What could the husbandman effect without his spade or his plough? or the weaver without his loom? Equally necessary with the proper tools of industry, are the articles of capital of the second description-the mate

rials on which that labour is bestowed. These must necessarily be provided in order that we may fabricate from them the articles our wants demand. The mere unaided powers of the hand could never enable us to surmount the difficulties to be overcome in procuring even the necessaries, much less the luxuries, of life. Without tools and materials, we should be destitute of clothing, and of habitations also, save such as natural caverns in the earth or hollows of trees might present. However abundantly the gifts of nature might be spread around us, and with whatever energy and perseverance we might labour to procure them, our supply would be confined to herbs, roots, and fruits of the forest, with a few of the more helpless animals which we might be able to outrun and overcome. Without seed to sow the land, how could a future harvest be procured? Without a store of food previously accumulated to sustain us during the performance of our work, and until the seasons return, or the operations of nature have been completed which give effect to labour, and its produce brought to that state in which it is fit for use, or admits of sale, the cultivation of the soil could not be carried on; tillage must be abandoned, from the necessity of our immediately resorting to some kind of appropriative industry to afford us present food; and no separate direction of industry or division of employment could subsist. Without storehouses wherein to lodge the fruits of the earth, they could not be preserved to supply our necessities when the season of production should be past. To fell the forest, to pierce the mine, or traverse the waters, without the aid of capital, were impossible; and the tenants of the deep, the treasures of the mine, and the luxuries of foreign climes, without such aid, would for ever remain inaccessible.

The uses of capital are not confined solely to assisting labour in the direct production or manipulation of commodities, as the tools, the plants and utensils, the workshops and materials, used in the different branches of industry; of similar use is the floating capital employed and expended in procuring the raw or partly wrought materials for the workmen to manufacture, in the advance of their wages, conveying goods to market, collecting an assortment of them, and furnishing them in suitable

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