Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/104

 plus the reward of his further past labour at a time when he built the boat, and of the risk that he took of failure in making the axe and boat, and of not being able to catch any more fish when his boat was built. Let us then suppose that a fresh inhabitant, Friday, arrives on the island, and also thinks that it would be nice to eat some of the fish that are easily to be caught a little distance from the shore. Friday naturally asks Crusoe for the loan of his boat, and Crusoe makes a bargain with him under which Friday is allowed the use of the boat for a day, promising to give Crusoe a share of any fish that he may catch.

Here we have an example of a labourer apparently being robbed of part of the produce of his labour. Crusoe can sit in the sun at the door of his hut and do no work all day, on the expectation that Friday will bring him home enough fish for supper when he comes in from his day's sport, but does Crusoe really rob Friday? Friday surely is enabled by the results of Crusoe's past efforts, in making the axe and the boat, to fish much more easily than he would have been able to do if he had sat on the rock and not gone out to sea. A large part of his catch is in fact the result of Crusoe's past labour, and Friday, with this help, is able,