Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/60

Rh set aside to sustain the labourer whilst labouring. The third requisite of production, therefore, is a fund reserved from consumption, and devoted to sustain those engaged in future production. This fund is termed capital.

The early steps of a student in almost every science are met by certain obstacles; if he succeeds in surmounting these obstacles, his future progress seems to be insured.The young mathematician who obtains a firm grasp of the physical conceptions involved in the laws of motion, will comprehend with facility problems of apparently great mathematical complexity. The questions involved in considering the functions of capital, will test a man's capacity to master the principles of political economy. Success in the study of this science may be regarded as guaranteed to all who obtain a clear insight into the nature of capital.

There are certain fundamental propositions concerning capital which should be kept steadily and constantly in view. One of these is as follows:—Capital is the result of saving. This saving may not be primarily prompted with a view of assisting future production. The results of labour, however, are not rendered immediately available for consumption: the ploughman who ploughs the soil must wait for months before the wheat which his labour contributes to produce will be ready for human food; but the ploughman must be fed, and he is fed with food previously accumulated. The labourers, too, who have constructed his plough, must be fed on food which has been saved from previous consumption; for a considerable time must elapse before the harvest can be gathered from the soil which the plough has assisted in tilling. Capital, therefore, represents all that has been set aside from the results of past labour to assist present or future production. It will now be perceived that capital is as indispensable a requisite of production as either labour or appropriate natural agents.