IV CAPITAL THE MOTHER OF LABOUR 175 



family, in no way alters their nature as revenue, 

 or affects the fact that this revenue is merely 

 disposable capital. 



That (even apart from etymology) cattle are 

 typical examples of capital cannot be denied 

 (" Progress and Poverty," p. 25) ; and if we seek 

 for that particular quality of cattle which makes 

 them " capital," neither has the author of " Pro- 

 gress and Poverty" supplied, nor is any one else 

 very likely to supply, a better account of the 

 matter than Adam Smith has done. Cattle are 

 " capital " because they are " stock which yields 

 revenue." That is to say, they afford to their 

 owner a supply of that which he desires to pos- 

 sess. And, in this particular case, the " revenue " 

 is not only desirable, but of supreme importance, 

 inasmuch as it is capable of maintaining human 

 life. The herd yields a revenue of food-stuffs as 

 milk and meat ; a revenue of skins ; a revenue of 

 manure ; a revenue of labour ; a revenue of ex- 

 changeable commodities in the shape of these 

 things, as well as in that of live cattle. In each 

 and all of these capacities cattle are capital ; and, 

 conversely, things which possess any or all of 

 these capacities are capital. 



Therefore what we find at page 25 of " Progress 

 and Poverty " must be regarded as a welcome 

 lapse into clearness of apprehension : 



A fertile field, a rich vein of ore, a falling stream which sup- 

 plies power, may give the possessor advantages equivalent to the 



