174: CAPITAL— THE MOTHER OF LABOUR, iv 



course of exchange " must be that it is " wealth 

 capable of being exchanged" against labour or 

 anything else. That, in fact, is the equivalent of 

 the second definition, that capital is " that part of 

 wealth which is devoted to the aid of production." 

 Obviously, if you possess that for which men will 

 give labour, you can aid production by means of 

 that labour. And, again, it agrees with the first 

 definition (borrowed from Adam Smith) that capi- 

 tal is " that part of a man's stock which he ex- 

 pects to yield him a revenue." For a revenue is 

 both etymologically and in sense a " return." A 

 man gives his labour in sowing grain, or in tend- 

 ing cattle, because he expects a "return" — a 

 " revenue " — ^in the shape of the increase of the 

 grain or of the herd; and also, in the latter case, 

 in the shape of their labour and manure which 

 " aid the production " of such increase. The grain 

 and cattle of which he is possessed immediately 

 after harvest is his capital; and his revenue for 

 the twelvemonth, until the next harvest, is the 

 surplus of grain and cattle over and above the 

 amount with which he started. This is disposable 

 for any purpose for which he may desire to use it, 

 leaving him just as well off as he was at the be- 

 ginning of the year. Whether the man keeps 

 the surplus grain for sowing more land, and the 

 surplus cattle for occupying more pasture; whether 

 he exchanges them for other commodities, such 

 as the use of the land (as rent); or labour (as 



