IV CAPITAL THE MOTHER OF LABOUR 177 



Nevertheless, those who have followed what has 

 been said in the first part of this essay surely 

 neither will, nor can, have any hesitation about 

 substantially adopting the challenged contention, 

 though they may possibly have qualms as to the 

 propriety of the use of the term " wages." 1 They 

 will have no difficulty in apprehending the fact 

 that birds' eggs and berries are stores of food 

 stuffs, or vital capital ; that the man who devotes 

 his labour to getting them does so at the expense 

 of his personal vital capital ; and that, if the eggs 

 and the berries are " wages" for his work, they are so 

 because they enable him to restore to his organism 

 the vital capital which he has consumed in doing 

 the work of collection. So that there is really a 

 great deal of " capital in the case." 

 Our author proceeds : 



An absolutely naked man, thrown on an island where no 

 human being has before trod, may gather birds' eggs or pick 

 berries (p. 34). 



No doubt. But those who have followed my 

 argument thus far will be aware that a man's 

 vital capital does not reside in his clothes ; and, 

 therefore, they will probably fail, as completely as 

 I do, to discover the relevancy of the statement. 



1 Not merely on the grounds stated below, but on th 

 strength of Mr. George's own definition. Does the gatherer of 

 eggs, or berries, produce them by his labour ? If so, what do 

 the hens and the bushes do ? 



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