IV CAPITAL THE MOTHER OF LABOUR 175 



family, in no way alters their nature as revenue, 

 or affects the fact that this revenue is merely 

 ^disposable capital. 



That (even apart from etymology) cattle are 

 typical examples of capital cannot be denied 

 (" Progress and Poverty," p. 25) ; and if we seek 

 for that particular quality of cattle which makes 

 them " capital," neither has the author of " Pro 

 gress and Poverty " supplied, nor is any one else 

 very likely to supply, a better account of the 

 matter than Adam Smith has done. Cattle are 

 " capital " because they are " stock which yields 

 revenue." That is to say, they afford to their 

 owner a supply of that which he desires to pos 

 sess. And, in this particular case, the " revenue " 

 is not only desirable, but of supreme importance, 

 inasmuch as it is capable of maintaining human 

 life. The herd yields a revenue of food-stuffs as 

 milk and meat ; a revenue of skins ; a revenue of 

 manure ; a revenue of labour ; a revenue of ex 

 changeable commodities in the shape of these 

 things, as well as in that of live cattle. In each 

 and all of these capacities cattle are capital ; and, 

 conversely, things which possess any or all of 

 these capacities are capital. 



Therefore what we find at page 25 of " Progress 

 and Poverty " must be regarded as a welcome 

 lapse into clearness of apprehension : 



A fertile field, a rich vein of ore, a falling stream which sup 

 plies power, may give the possessor advantages equivalent to the 



