iv CAPITAL THE MOTHER OP LABOUR. 183 



bourers by receiving wages " cannot lessen " even 

 temporarily " the " capital of the employer/' while 

 at page 44 it is admitted that in certain cases the 

 capitalist " pays out capital in wages/' One would 

 think that the " paying out " of capital is hardly 

 possible without at least a " temporary " diminu- 

 tion of the capital from which payment is made. 

 But " Progress and Poverty " changes all that by 

 a little verbal legerdemain: 



For where wages are paid before the object of the la- 

 bour is obtained, or is finished as in agriculture, where 

 ploughing and sowing must precede by several months 

 the harvesting of the crop; as in the erection of build- 

 ings, the construction of ships, railroads, canals, &c. 

 it is clear that the owners of the capital paid in wages 

 cannot expect an immediate return, but, as the phrase is, 

 must " outlay it " or " lie out of it " for a time which 

 sometimes amounts to many years. And hence, if first 

 principles are not kept in mind, it is easy to jump to the 

 conclusion that wages are advanced by capital (p. 44). 



Those who have paid attention to the argu- 

 ment of former parts of this paper may not be able 

 to understand how, if sound " first principles are 

 kept in mind," any other conclusion can be 

 reached, whether by jumping, or by any other 

 mode of logical progression. But the first prin- 

 ciple which our author " keeps in mind " possesses 

 just that amount of ambiguity which enables him 

 to play hocus-pocus with it. It is this; that " the 

 creation of value does not depend upon the fin- 

 ishing of the product " (p. 44). 



