44 THE EMPLOYMENT OF CAPITAL 



destroyed, but a new capital appears in the 

 shops, houses, farmsteads, and other buildings 

 required by the community. 



In this account many intermediate steps have, 

 for the sake of simplicity, been omitted. Only 

 three capitals are here shown as destroyed, and 

 only three new capitals as created. If we took 

 account of all the labour that is expended in 

 the various processes, and of all the food and 

 other articles consumed by that labour, the 

 number of capitals destroyed and created would 

 appear to be much greater than actually 

 indicated. 



In order to see clearly what happens when 

 work is done, let us suppose the case of a British 

 artisan working in a factory. He attends to his 

 work, we may imagine, almost continuously from 

 morning till evening ; and at the end of the day 

 he is tired and unable to work any longer : he 

 has for the time expended all his expendible 

 capital. His skill, which is a part of his capital, 

 is not expended in the same sense ; but he cannot, 

 owing to the weariness of his limbs, his eyes, and 

 his faculties, any longer apply it. It is therefore, 

 in a particular sense, destroyed for the time, as 

 anything may be held for the time destroyed 

 which is no longer available for the one use to 

 which it can be put. Therefore, in the useful, 

 operative sense, the capital of the artisan has 

 now been destroyed. Until he has had food and 

 rest for his body, and change of occupation for 

 his mind, he can do no more. But the food con- 

 sumed by the artisan is itself capital, and this also 



