ive power. Wages do not contribute, along with
labour, to the production of commodities, no more than the price of
tools contributes along with the tools themselves. If labour could be
had without purchase, wages might be dispensed with. That portion of
capital which is expended in the wages of labour, is only the means by
which the capitalist procures to himself, in the way of purchase, the
use of that labour in which the power of production really resides.

The proper view of capital is, that anything whatever, which a person
possesses, constitutes his capital, provided he is able, and intends,
to employ it, not in consumption for the purpose of enjoyment, but in
possessing himself of the means of production, with the intention of
employing those means productively. Now the means of production are
labour, implements, and materials. The only productive power which
anywhere exists, is the productive power of labour, implements, and
materials.

We need not, on this account, altogether proscribe the expression,
"productive power of capital;" but we should carefully note, that it can
only mean the quantity of real productive power which the capitalist,
by means of his capital, can command. This may change, though the
productive power of labour remains the same. Wages, for example, may
rise; and then, although all the circumstances of production remain
exactly as they were before, the same capital will yield a less return,
because it will set in motion a less quantity of productive labour.

We may, therefore, consider the capital of a producer as measured by the
means which he has of possessing himself of the different essentials of
production: namely, labour, and the various articles which labour
requires as materials, or of which it avails itself as aids.

The ratio between the price which he has to pay for these means of
production, and the produce which they enable him to raise, is the
_rate_ of his _profit_. If he must give for labour and tools four-fifths
of what they will produce, the remaining fifth will constitute his
profit, and will give him a rate of one in four, or twenty-five per
cent, on his outlay.

It is necessary here to remark, what cannot indeed by any possibility be
misunderstood, but might possibly be overlooked in cases where attention
to it is indispensable, viz., that we are speaking now of the _rate_ of
profit, not the gross profit. If the capital of the country is very
great, a profit of only