154 CAPITAL THE MOTHER OF LABOUR. iv 



and the superadded labour of the shepherd would 

 have little more effect upon their production than 

 upon that of the blackberries on the bushes about 

 the pastures. For the most part the increment 

 would be thoroughly unearned; and, if it is a rule 

 of absolute political ethics that owners have no 

 claim upon "betterment" brought about inde- 

 pendently of their own labour, then the shepherd 

 would have no claim to at least nine-tenths of 

 the increase of the flock. 



But if the shepherd has no real claim to the 

 title of " producer," who has? Are the rams and 

 ewes the true " producers " ? Certainly their title 

 is better if, borrowing from the old terminology 

 of chemistry, they only claim to be regarded as the 

 " proximate principles " of production. And yet, 

 if strict justice is to be dispensed, even they are to 

 be regarded rather as collectors and distributors 

 than as " producers." For all that they really do is 

 to collect, slightly modify, and render easily acces- 

 sible, the vital capital which already exists in the 

 green herbs on which they feed, but in such a form 

 as to be practically out of the reach of man. 



Thus, from an economic point of view, the 

 sheep are more comparable to confectioners than 

 to producers. The usefulness of biscuit lies in 

 the raw flour of which it is made; but raw flour 

 does not answer as an article of human diet, and 

 biscuit does. So the usefulness of mutton lies 

 mainly in certain chemical compounds which it 



