158 CAPITAL THE MOTHER OF LABOUR iv 



Thus, when we find set forth as an " absolute " 

 truth the statement that the essential factors in 

 economic production are land, capital and labour 

 when this is offered as an axiom whence all 

 sorts of other important truths may be deduced 

 it is needful to remember that the assertion is 

 true only with a qualification. Undoubtedly " vital 

 capital" is essential; for, as we have seen, no 

 human work can be done unless it exists, not even 

 that internal work of the body which is necessary 

 to passive life. But, with respect to labour (that 

 is, human labour) I hope to have left no doubt on 

 the reader's mind that, in regard to production, the 

 importance of human labour may be so small as to 

 be almost a vanishing quantity. Moreover, it is 

 certain that there is no approximation to a fixed 

 ratio between the expenditure of labour and the 

 production of that vital capital which is the 

 foundation of all wealth. For, suppose that we 

 introduce into our suppositious pastoral paradise 

 beasts of prey and rival shepherds, the amount of 

 labour thrown upon the sheep-owner may increase 

 almost indefinitely, and its importance as a con- 

 dition of production may be enormously aug- 

 mented, while the quantity of produce remains 

 stationary. Compare for a moment the unim- 



by water-culture. One might indulge in dreams of cultivating 

 and improving diatoms, until the domesticated bore the same 

 relation to the wild forms, as cauliflowers to the primitive 

 Brassica oleracca, without passing beyond the limits of fair 

 scientific speculation. 



