IV CAPITAL — THE MOTHER OF LABOUR 185 



of value does not depend on the finishing of the 

 product" may be strictly true under certain cir- 

 cumstances, it need not be and is not always true. 

 And, if it is meant to imply or suggest that the 

 creation of value in a manufactured article does 

 not depend upon the finishing of that article, a 

 more serious error could hardly be propounded. 



Is there not a prodigious difference in the value 

 of an uncaulked and in that of a finished ship ; 

 between the value of a house in which only the 

 tiles of the roof are wanting and a finished house ; 

 between that of a clock which only lacks the 

 escapement and a finished clock ? 



As ships, house, and clock, the unfinished 

 articles have no value whatever — that is to say, 

 no person who wanted to purchase one of these 

 things, for immediate use, would give a farthing 

 for either. The only value they can have, apart 

 from that of the materials they contain, is 

 that which they possess for some one who can 

 finish them, or for some one who can make use 

 of parts of them for the construction of other 

 things. A man might buy an unfinished house 

 for the sake of the bricks ; or he might buy an 

 incomplete clock to use the works for some other 

 piece of machinery. 



Thus, though every stage of the labour bestowed 

 on raw material, for the purpose of giving rise to a 

 certain product, confers some additional value on 

 that material in the estimation of those who are 



