32 ON CAPITAL 



immaterial who owns those forms of capital, a 

 private individual, a family, a small company, a 

 great company, or the State. In practice this 

 is not exactly so, ownership by the State very 

 seldom giving results equal to other ownerships. 



The capital of the employer is perceived to be 

 also national capital, with the exception of his 

 invested capital, which may be partly national 

 capital or wholly so, or may not be national 

 capital at all. 



It is to be observed before closing this detailed 

 examination of the nature of capital, that how- 

 ever little skill a working man may have, he 

 must have capability in some direction, for he 

 has otherwise nothing to sell. Farm labourers, 

 navvies, hodmen, all have some skill, differing in 

 kind and in degree. To some workmen their 

 strength is chiefly of importance : draymen, coal- 

 heavers, porters would have little to exchange 

 for wages if they were physically weak. Clerks, 

 on the other hand, depend on their skill, as in 

 speaking or writing foreign languages, or in 

 making out business letters from notes, or in 

 keeping books of accounts ; and in many instances 

 they add to these another valuable qualification, 

 that of trustworthiness. 



Other workers, besides these, are lawyers, 

 doctors, government officials, actors, musicians, 

 and many more, whose capital it is not necessary 

 to consider separately. Briefly, in the case of 

 all workers, capital is of one kind or another : 

 it is either health, strength, and skill, or it con- 

 sists of invested savings or acquirings. In some 



