IV CAPITAL— THE MOTHER OF LABOUR. 179 



iron; further, the shoemaker has been enabled to 

 do his work not only by the vital capital expended 

 during the time occupied in making the pair of 

 shoes, but by that expended from the time of his 

 birth, up to the time that he earned wages that 

 would keep him alive. 



" Progress and Poverty " continues : — 



As my labour goes on, value is steadily added until, 

 when my labour results in the finished shoes, I have my 

 capital plus the difference in value between the material 

 and the shoes. In obtaining this additional value — my 

 wages — how is capital, at any time, drawn upon? (p. 34), 



In return we may inquire, how can any one 

 propound such a question? Capital is drawn upon 

 all the time. Not only when the shoes are com- 

 menced, but while they are being made, and until 

 they are either used by the shoemaker himself 

 or are purchased by somebody else; that is, ex- 

 changed for a portion of another man's capital. 

 In fact (supposing that the shoemaker does not 

 want shoes himself), it is the existence of vital 

 capital in the possession of another person and the 

 willingness of that person to part with more or 

 less of it in exchange for the shoes — it is these 

 two conditions, alone, which prevent the shoe- 

 maker from having consumed his capital unpro- 

 ductively, just as much as if he had spent his 

 time in chopping up the leather into minute frag- 

 ments. 



Thus, the examination of the very case selected 



