ividual
producers. Every one knows that as applied to them it has not even the
semblance of plausibility; that the wealth of a producer does in a great
measure depend upon the number of his customers, and that in general
every additional purchaser does really add to his profits. If the
reasoning, which would be so absurd if applied to individuals, be
applicable to nations, the principle on which it rests must require much
explanation and elucidation.

Let us endeavour to analyse with precision the real nature of the
advantage which a producer derives from an addition to the number of his
customers.

For this purpose, it is necessary that we should premise a single
observation on the meaning of the word capital. It is usually defined,
the food, clothing, and other articles set aside for the consumption of
the labourer, together with the materials and instruments of production.
This definition appears to us peculiarly liable to misapprehension; and
much vagueness and some narrow views have, we conceive, occasionally
resulted from its being interpreted with too mechanical an adherence to
the literal meaning of the words.

The capital, whether of an individual or of a nation, consists, we
apprehend, of all matters possessing exchangeable value, which the
individual or the nation has in his or in its possession for the purpose
of reproduction, and not for the purpose of the owner's unproductive
enjoyment. All unsold goods, therefore, constitute a part of the
national capital, and of the capital of the producer or dealer to whom
they belong. It is true that tools, materials, and the articles on which
the labourer is supported, are the only articles which are directly
subservient to production: and if I have a capital consisting of money,
or of goods in a warehouse, I can only employ them as means of
production in so far as they are capable of being exchanged for the
articles which conduce directly to that end. But the food, machinery,
&c, which will ultimately be purchased with the goods in my warehouse,
may at this moment not be in the country, may not be even in existence.
If, after having sold the goods, I hire labourers with the money, and
set them to work, I am surely employing capital, though the corn, which
in the form of bread those labourers may buy with the money, may be now
in warehouse at Dantzic, or perhaps not yet above ground.

Whatever, therefore, is destined to be employed reproductively, either
in its e