fforts. Meanwhile, he must live, and in order that he may live he
must consume. If he employs laborers he must pay them wages, that they
too may consume and live. For both purposes he requires purchasing
power, which represents of course command over real things; and if he
has not sufficient purchasing power of his own, he must borrow from
someone else who has. In either case it is not enough that the farmer
and his laborers should work; no less essential is it that someone
should _wait_. The farmer must wait till he has sold his crops, both
for the reward of his own labor and for the repayment of the wages he
advances in the meantime to his laborers. Or, if he cannot afford to
wait, and borrows in anticipation of the harvest, then the lender must
wait, until the farmer, having sold his crop, is able to repay
him. Thus the period of time involved in all production gives rise to
a demand for _waiting_, which someone or other must supply, if the
production is to take place. It is this waiting which is the essential
reality underlying the phenomena of capital and interest. It is really
this which constitutes an independent factor of production, distinct
from labor and nature, and equally necessary.

Sec.3. _Waiting for Consumption_. But let us carry the argument a step
further. After the farmer has sold his crops, there are many stages
through which they must pass, at each of which more waiting is
required, before they reach the ultimate consumer. But then the
waiting is at an end.

This, however, is by no means the case with a great number of
commodities. Let us take the case of a speculative builder. While he
is building a house he, like the farmer, must wait (or find someone to
wait on his behalf), for his own reward, and for the repayment of his
expenditure on wages and materials. But, after the house is built, if
he lets it to a tenant for an annual rent, his waiting is far from
over. Not until many years have passed will the rent payments add up
to a sum which equals or exceeds his outlay. He may, of course, sell
the house, and thus bring his waiting to an end. But then the
purchaser must wait, no matter whether or not he is the occupier. For
no one would consider the use of a house for a day, a month, or a year
as an adequate return for the price it cost to buy. The occupier-owner
pays for the prospect of its use for a long and perhaps indefinite
number of years ahead, and he must wait to enjoy the benefits for