214 ADAM SMITH. 



until we actually think there is such a thing as adding the 

 capital to land ; whereas the whole meaning of the expression 

 is, that capital of one kind or other is given in exchange for 

 land, or that our property has become land, instead of some 

 other valuable commodity or, according to what has just 

 now been defined, that one kind of capital has been ex- 

 changed for another. If it is said, that capital is that in which 

 labour has been fixed and realized, either by accumulation or 

 by change of form ; then, it is very obvious, that land, in the 

 most extensive sense of the word, must become capital in 

 order to be useful ; and that many things, usually reckoned 

 capital, as the wild produce which is raised by nature without 

 human assistance, belongs to the class of land, and not to that 

 of stock. But a difference is established by some, especially 

 by Dr. Smith, between capital and the other parts of stock ; 

 capital being, according to them, that part which brings in a 

 revenue. This idea clearly appears, by the whole of the illus- 

 trations given of it, to have arisen from the fundamental 

 error of considering nothing as productive which does not 

 yield a tangible return, and of confounding use with exchange. 

 For, may not a man live upon his stock, that is, enjoy his ca- 

 pital, without either diminishing or exchanging any part of it ? 

 In what does the value, and the real nature of stock reserved 

 for immediate consumption, differ from stock that yields what 

 Dr. Smith calls a revenue or profit ? Merely in this that 

 the former is wanted and used itself by the owner ; the latter 

 is not wanted by him, and therefore is exchanged for some- 

 thing which he does want. There is surely no other meaning 

 in the idea of profit or revenue, but this : and as the profit of 

 that part of stock which is exchanged, and which the ad- 

 herents of this opinion denominate capital, consists merely in 

 the use of those things obtained in return so, the profit of 

 the other part of stock, the portion reserved for consump- 

 tion, is the use to which it is immediately subservient. Ac- 

 cording to Dr. Smith, there is some difference between 

 revenue and enjoyment ; and that part of a man's property 

 yields him no profit, which is most useful and necessary to 

 him, by which he can support and enjoy life without the 

 necessity of any operation of barter. 



