Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/709

 THE NEW THEORY OF INTEREST 687 tive position of the two classes emerges the importance of time in production. Those processes, where the human brain most dis- tinctively sets nature to work, are .processes that require time. The net result is: the mere physical labourer does less, the brain labourer does more; but both now work through natural powers that require time. This time is given by capital. But as lengthy processes are characterised by immense productiveness, interest is no burden on labour. Thus the merchant in present goods--the goods which enable labour and nature to embody themselves in products that mature after long periods--occupies a necessary place in production. In the present state of society the capitalist is this merchant, and in- terest is what he takes as part price. In a society arranged on socialist principles the State would be the merchant in present goods. But what is clear is that interest, as thus defined and limited, is not an exploitation of the workers, but a phenomenon that must appear under any organisation of society. WILLIAM SMART