Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/78

 Of Capital. 29

progress of civilization must appear delusive to that great majority of the human race who toil for hire, and who have found that the hours of their toil have only been slightly lessened. Generations after generations pass away whose minds remain undeveloped, and whose bodies have had to work with the constancy and the regularity of a machine. Political economy will assist us in understanding the means by which the labourer's toil is to be lightened. Let it not then be called a harsh or degrading science, for no study can fill our minds with brighter anticipations for the future than one which will enable us to comprehend some of the requisites which will afford, to a greater number, "that only true and most supreme happiness—the development of the human faculties to a harmonious and consistent whole."

Since capital is the result of saving, it is often erroneously considered that capital is wealth which is set aside with the object of not being spent; but this is a fundamental misconception, for capital cannot fulfil any of its functions except by being wholly or partially consumed. Thus, capital provides the fund from which the wages of labour are paid, and these wages are, of course, consumed in ministering to the wants of the labourer, and in supplying him with all the various necessaries of life. If a man has so much wheat, it is wealth which may at any moment be employed as capital; but this wheat is not made capital by being hoarded; it becomes capital when it feeds the labourers, and it cannot feed the labourers unless it is consumed. These considerations apply to capital existing even in a more permanent form, such as machinery. All machines must in time gradually wear out; a steam-engine, durable as it may appear, is only capable of performing so much work; but a steam-engine is capital, because it assists the production of wealth, and therefore it only fulfils the functions of capital when it is in motion; but every hour that it is kept in motion contributes somewhat to its ultimate wearing out. It is therefore manifest that all the wealth of the country, in whatever form it may be, can only perform the functions of capital by being wholly or partially consumed. The capital of a country is constantly being consumed in order to produce more

BOOK I. CH. IV. Capital must be consumed in order to fulfil its functions.