ops it. Marx further developed this principle, and all criticisms
of the labor-value theory in Marxian economic theory which are based
upon the assumption that quantity of labor means the simple, direct
labor embodied in commodities fall of their own weight.

Thus, if we take any commodity, we shall find that it is possible to
ascertain with tolerable certainty the amount of direct labor embodied
in it, but that it is equally as impossible to ascertain the amount of
the indirect expenditure of labor power which entered into its making.
In the case of a table, for example, it may be possible to trace with
some approximation to accuracy the labor involved in felling the tree
and preparing the lumber out of which the table was made; the labor
directly spent in bringing the lumber to the factory, and the direct
labor expended in making out of the lumber a finished table; allowance
may also be made for the labor embodied in the nails, glue, stain, and
other articles used in making the table. So we have a fairly accurate
statement of the direct labor embodied in the table. But what of the
labor used to make the tools of the men who felled the trees and
prepared the lumber? What of the coal miner and the iron miner and the
tool maker? And what of the numerous and incalculable expenditures of
labor to make the railroads, the railway engines, and to provide these
with steam-power? What, also, of the machinery in the factory, and of
the factory buildings themselves, and, back of them, again, the tool
makers and the providers of raw materials? It is obvious that no human
intellect could ever unravel the tangled skein of human labor, and that
in actual exchange there can be no calculation of the respective labor
content of commodities. If the law of value holds good, it must operate
mechanically, automatically. And this it does, through the incidence of
bargaining and the law of supply and demand.

We have noted elsewhere the variations in human capacity and
productiveness. Superficial critics still frequently charge Marx with
having overlooked this very obvious fact, whereas it has not only been
fully treated by him, but was actually covered by Smith and Ricardo
before Marx! With these writers and their followers it is the law of
averages which solves the difficulties arising from variations in
individual capacity and productivity. It is the _average_ amount of
labor expended in killing the beaver which counts, not the actual
ind