第4章

This’lettingtheengineaway’……hasledtothealmostuniversal’speeding’

ofengines，becauseitwasprovedthatnotonlywasthereavailablepowergainedfromtheidenticalengines，butalsoasthehighervelocityoftheengineyieldedagreatermomentuminthefly-wheelthemotionwasfoundtobemuchmoreregular……We……obtainmorepowerfromasteam-enginebysimplypermittingitspistontomoveatahighervelocity(pressureofsteamandvacuuminthecondenserremainingthesame)……Thus，forexample，supposeanygivenengineyields40horse-powerwhenitspistonistravellingat200feetperminute，ifbysuitablearrangementormodificationwecanpermitthissameenginetorunatsuchaspeedasthatitspistonwilltravelthroughspaceat400feetperminute(pressureofsteamandvacuum，asbeforesaid，remainingthesame)，weshallthenhavejustdoublethepower……andasthepressurebysteamandvacuumisthesameinbothcases，thestrainuponthepartsofthisenginewillbenogreaterat400

thanat200feetspeedofpiston，sothattheriskof’break-down’doesnotmateriallyincreasewiththeincreaseofspeed。Allthedifferenceis，thatweshallinsuchcaseconsumesteamatarateproportionaltothespeedofpiston，ornearlyso；andtherewillhesomesmallincreaseinthewearandtearof’thebrasses’orrubbing-parts，butsoslightastobescarcelyworthnotice……Butinordertoobtainincreaseofpowerfromthesameenginebypermittingitspistontotravelatahighervelocityitisrequisite……tobummorecoalperhourunderthesameboiler，oremployboilersofgreaterevaporatingcapabilities，i。e。，greatersteam-generatingpowers。Thisaccordinglywasdone，andboilersofgreatersteam-generatingorwater-evaporatingpowersweresuppliedtotheold’speeded’engines，andinmanycasesnear100percentmoreworkwasgotoutoftheidenticalenginesbymeansofsuchchangesasabovenamed。AbouttenyearsagotheextraordinaryeconomicalproductionofpowerasrealisedbytheenginesemployedintheminingoperationsofCornwallbegantoattractattention；

andascompetitioninthespinningtradeforcedmanufacturerstolookto’savings’asthechiefsourceofprofits，theremarkabledifferenceintheconsumptionofcoalperhorsepowerperhour，asindicatedbytheperformanceoftheCornishengines，asalsotheextraordinaryeconomicalperformanceofWoolf’sdouble-cylinderengines，begantoattractincreasedattentiontothesubjectofeconomyoffuelinthisdistrict，andastheCornishanddouble-cylinderenginesgaveahorse-powerforevery3&；frac12；

to4poundsofcoalperhour，whilethegeneralityofcotton-millengineswereconsuming8or12poundsperhorseperhour，soremarkableadifferenceinducedmill-ownersandengine-makersinthisdistricttoendeavourtorealise，bytheadoptionofsimilarmeans，suchextraordinaryeconomicalresultsaswereprovedtobecommoninCornwallandFrance，wherethehighpriceofcoalhadcompelledmanufacturerstolookmoresharplytosuchcostlydepartmentsoftheirestablishments。Theresultofthisincreasedattentiontoeconomyoffuelhasbeenmostimportantinmanyrespects。

Inthefirstplace，manyboilers，thehalfofwhosesurfacehadbeeninthegoodoldtimesofhighprofitsleftexposedquitenakedtothecoldair，begantogetcoveredwiththickblanketsoffelt，andbrickandplaster，andothermodesandmeanswherebytopreventtheescapeofthatheatfromtheirexposedsurfacewhichhadcostsomuchfueltomaintain。Steam-pipesbegantobe’protected’inthesamemanner，andtheoutsideofthecylinderoftheenginefeltedandcasedinwithwoodinlikemanner。Nextcametheuseof’highsteam’，namely，insteadofhavingthesafety-valveloadedsoastoblowoffat4，6，or8lbs。tothesquareinch，itwasfoundthatbyraisingthepressureto14or20lbs……averydecidedeconomyoffuelresulted；inotherwords，theworkofthemillwasperformedbyaverynotablereducedconsumptionofcoals，……andthosewhohadthemeansandtheboldnesscarriedtheincreasedpressureand’expansionsystem’

ofworkingtothefullextent，byemployingproperlyconstructedboilerstosupplysteamof30，40，50，60，and70lbs。tothesquareinch；pressureswhichwouldhavefrightenedanengineeroftheoldschooloutofhiswits。

Butastheeconomicresultsofsoincreasingthepressureofsteam……soonappearedinmostunmistakable&；pound；s。d。forms，theuseofhigh-pressuresteam-boilersforworkingcondensingenginesbecamealmostgeneral。Andthosewhodesiredtogotothefullextent……soonadoptedtheemploymentoftheWoolfengineinitsfullintegrity，andmostofourmillslatelybuiltareworkedbytheWoolfengines，namely，thoseonwhichtherearetwocylinderstoeachengine，inoneofwhichthehigh-pressuresteamfromtheboilerexertsoryieldspowerbyitsexcessofpressureoverthatoftheatmosphere，which，insteadofthesaidhigh-pressuresteambeingletpassoffattheendofeachstrokefreeintotheatmosphere，iscausedtopassintoalow-pressurecylinderofaboutfourtimestheareaoftheformer，andafterdueexpansionpassestothecondenser，theeconomicresultobtainedfromenginesofthisclassissuchthattheconsumptionoffuelisattherateoffrom3&；frac12；to4lbs。ofcoalperhorseperhour；

whileintheenginesoftheoldsystemtheconsumptionusedtobeontheaveragefrom12to14lbs。perhorseperhour。Byaningeniousarrangement，theWoolfsystemofdoublecylinderorcombinedlow-andhigh-pressureenginehasbeenintroducedextensivelytoalreadyexistingengines，wherebytheirperformancehasbeenincreasedbothastopowerandeconomyoffuel。

Thesameresult……hasbeeninusetheseeightortenyears，byhavingahigh-pressureenginesoconnectedwithacondensingengineastoenablethewastesteamoftheformertopassontoandworkthelatter。Thissystemisinmanycasesveryconvenient。”Itwouldnotbeveryeasytogetanexactreturnastotheincreaseofperformanceorworkdonebytheidenticalenginestowhichsomeoralloftheseimprovementshavebeenapplied；Iamconfident，however，……thatfromthesameweightofsteam-enginemachinerywearenowobtainingatleast50percentmoredutyorworkperformedontheaverage，andthatinmanycases，theidenticalsteam-engineswhichinthedaysoftherestrictedspeedof220feetperminuteyielded50horse-power，arenowyieldingupwardsof100。Theveryeconomicalresultsderivedfromtheemploymentofhigh-pressuresteaminworkingcondensingsteam-engines，togetherwiththemuchhigherpowerrequiredbymillextensionsfromthesameengines，haswithinthelastthreeyearsledtotheadoptionoftubularboilers，yieldingamuchmoreeconomicalresultthanthoseformerlyemployedingeneratingsteamformillengines。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，October1852，pp。23-27。)

Whatappliestopowergenerationalsoappliestopowertransmissionandworkingmachinery。”Therapidstrideswithwhichimprovementinmachineryhasadvancedwithinthesefewyearshaveenabledmanufacturerstoincreaseproductionwithoutadditionalmovingpower。Themoreeconomicalapplicationoflabourhasbeenrenderednecessarybythediminishedlengthoftheworking-day，andinmostwell-regulatedmillsanintelligentmindisalwaysconsideringinwhatmannerproductioncanbeincreasedwithdecreasedexpenditure。

Ihavebeforemeastatement，kindlypreparedbyaveryintelligentgentlemaninmydistrict，showingthenumberofhandsemployed，theirages，themachinesatwork，andthewagespaidfrom1840tothepresenttime。InOctober1840，hisfirmemployed600hands，ofwhom200wereunder13yearsofage。InOctoberlast，350handswereemployed，ofwhom60onlywereunder13；thesamenumberofmachines，withinveryfew，wereatwork，andthesamesuminwageswaspaidatbothperiods。”(Redgrave’sReportinReportsofInsp。

ofFact。，Oct。1852，pp。58-59。)

Theseimprovementsofthemachinerydonotshowtheirfulleffectuntiltheyareusedinnew，appropriatelyarrangedfactories。”Asregardstheimprovementmadeinmachinery，Imaysayinthefirstplacethatagreatadvancehasbeenmadeintheconstructionofmillsadaptedtoreceiveimprovedmachinery……InthebottomroomIdoubleallmyyarn，anduponthatsinglefloorIshallput29，000doublingspindles。Ieffectasavingoflabourintheroomandshedofatleast10percent，notsomuchfromanyimprovementintheprincipleofdoublingyarn，butfromaconcentrationofmachineryunderasinglemanagement；andIamenabledtodrivethesaidnumberofspindlesbyonesingleshaft，asavinginshafting，comparedwithwhatotherfirmshavetousetoworkthesamenumberofspindles，of60percent，insomecases80percent。Thereisalargesavinginoil，andshafting，andingrease……Withsuperiormillarrangementsandimprovedmachinery，atthelowestestimateIhaveeffectedasavinginlabourof10percent，agreatsavinginpower，coal，oil，tallow，shaftingandstrapping。”

(Evidenceofacottonspinner，ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863，pp。

109，110。)

IV。UTILISATIONOFTHEEXCRETIONSOFPRODUCTION

Thecapitalistmodeofproductionextendstheutilisationoftheexcretionsofproductionandconsumption。Bytheformerwemeanthewasteofindustryandagriculture，slidbythelatterpartlytheexcretionsproducedbythenaturalexchangeofmatterinthehumanbodyandpartlytheformofobjectsthatremainsaftertheirconsumption。Inthechemicalindustry，forinstance，excretionsofproductionaresuchby-productsasarewastedinproductiononasmallerscale；ironfilingsaccumulatinginthemanufactureofmachineryandreturningintotheproductionofironasrawmaterial，etc。Excretionsofconsumptionarethenaturalwastematterdischargedbythehumanbody，remainsofclothingintheformofrags，etc。Excretionsofconsumptionareofthegreatestimportanceforagriculture。Sofarastheirutilisationisconcerned，thereisanenormouswasteoftheminthecapitalisteconomy。

InLondon，forinstance，theyfindnobetterusefortheexcretionoffourandahalfmillionhumanbeingsthantocontaminatetheThameswithitatheavyexpense。

Risingpricesofrawmaterialsnaturallystimulatetheutilisationofwasteproducts。

Thegeneralrequirementsforthere-employmentoftheseexcretionsare:

largequantitiesofsuchwaste，suchasareavailableonlyinlarge-scaleproduction；improvedmachinerywherebymaterials，formerlyuselessintheirprevailingform，areputintoastatefitfornewproduction；scientificprogress，particularlyofchemistry，whichrevealstheusefulpropertiesofsuchwaste。Itistruethatgreatsavingsofthissortarealsoobservedinsmall-scaleagriculture，asprevailsin，say，Lombardy，southernChina，andJapan。Butonthewhole，theproductivityofagricultureunderthissystemobtainsfromtheprodigaluseofhumanlabour-power，whichiswithheldfromotherspheresofproduction。

Theso-calledwasteplaysanimportantroleinalmosteveryindustry。

Thus，theFactoryReportforDecember1863mentionsasoneoftheprincipalreasonswhytheEnglishandmanyoftheIrishfarmersdonotliketogrowflax，ordosobutrarely，”thegreatwaste……whichhastakenplaceatthelittlewaterscutchmills……thewasteincottoniscomparativelysmall，butinflaxverylarge。Theefficiencyofwatersteepingandofgoodmachinescotchingwillreducethisdisadvantageveryconsiderably……

Flax，scutchedinIrelandinamostshamefulway，andalargepercentageactuallylostbyit，equalto28or30percent”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Dec。1863，pp。139，142)，whereasallthismightbeavoidedthroughtheuseofbettermachinery。Somuchtowfellbythewaysidethatthefactoryinspectorreports:”IhavebeeninformedwithregardtosomeofthescutchmillsinIreland，thatthewastemadeatthemhasoftenbeenusedbythescutcherstoburnontheirfiresathome，andyetitisveryvaluable”

(p。140oftheabovereport)。Weshallspeakofcottonwastelater，whenwedealwiththepricefluctuationsofrawmaterials。

Thewoolindustrywasshrewderthantheflaxmanufacturers。”Itwasoncethecommonpracticetodecrythepreparationofwasteandwoollenragsforre-manufacture，buttheprejudicehasentirelysubsidedasregardstheshoddytrade，whichhasbecomeanimportantbranchofthewoollentradeofYorkshire，anddoubtlessthecottonwastetradewillberecognisedinthesamemannerassupplyinganadmittedwant。Thirtyyearssince，woollenrags，i。e。，piecesofcloth，oldclothes，etc。，ofnothingbutwool，wouldaverageabout&；pound；44s。pertoninprice:withinthelastfewyearstheyhavebecomeworth&；pound；44perton，andthedemandforthemhassoincreasedthatmeanshavebeenfoundforutilisingtheragsoffabricsofcottonandwoolmixedbydestroyingthecottonandleavingthewoolintact，andnowthousandsofoperativesareengagedinthemanufactureofshoddy，fromwhichtheconsumerhasgreatlybenefitedinbeingabletopurchaseclothofafairandaveragequalityataverymoderateprice。”

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863，p。107。)Bytheendof1862therejuvenatedshoddymadeupasmuchasone-thirdoftheentireconsumptionofwoolinEnglishindustry。(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，October1862，p。81。)The”bigbenefit”forthe”consumer”isthathisshoddyclotheswearoutinjustone-thirdoftheprevioustimeandturnthreadbareinone-sixthofthistime。

TheEnglishsilkindustrymovedalongthesamedownwardpath。Theconsumptionofgenuinerawsilkdecreasedsomewhatbetween1839and1862，whilethatofsilkwastedoubled。Improvedmachineryhelpedtomanufactureasilkusefulformanypurposesfromthisotherwiseratherworthlessstuff。

Themoststrikingexampleofutilisingwasteisfurnishedbythechemicalindustry。Itutilisesnotonlyitsownwaste，forwhichitfindsnewuses，butalsothatofmanyotherindustries。Forinstance，itconvertstheformerlyalmostuselessgas-tarintoanilinedyes，alizarin，and，morerecently，evenintodrugs。

Thiseconomyoftheexcretionsofproductionthroughtheirre-employmentistobedistinguishedfromeconomythroughthepreventionofwaste，thatistosay，thereductionofexcretionsofproductiontoaminimum，andtheimmediateutilisationtoamaximumofallrawandauxiliarymaterialsrequiredinproduction。

Reductionofwastedependsinpartonthequalityofthemachineryinuse。Economyinoil，soap，etc。，dependsonhowwellthemechanicalpartsaremachinedandpolished。Thisreferstotheauxiliarymaterials。Inpart，however，andthisismostimportant，itdependsonthequalityoftheemployedmachinesandtoolswhetheralargerorsmallerportionoftherawmaterialisturnedintowasteintheproductionprocess。Finally，thisdependsonthequalityoftherawmaterialitself。This，inturn，dependspartlyonthedevelopmentoftheextractiveindustryandagriculturewhichproducetherawmaterial(strictlyspeakingontheprogressofcivilisation)，andpartlyontheimprovementofprocessesthroughwhichrawmaterialspassbeforetheyenterintomanufacture。”ParmentierhasdemonstratedthattheartofgrindinggrainhasimprovedverymateriallyinFrancesinceanonetoodistantepoch，forinstancethetimeofLouisXIV，sothatthenewmills，comparedtotheold，canmakeuptohalfasmuchmorebreadfromthesameamountofgrain。TheannualconsumptionofaParisian，indeed，hasfirstbeenestimatedat4setiersofgrain，thenat3，finallyat2，whilenowadaysitisonly11/3setiers，orabout342lbs。percapita……InthePerche，whereIhavelivedforalongtime，thecrudemillsofgraniteandtraprockmillstoneshavebeenmostlyrebuiltaccordingtotherulesofmechanicswhichhasmadesuchrapidprogressinthelast30years。TheyhavebeenprovidedwithgoodmillstonesfromLaFerte，havegroundthegraintwice，themillingsackhasbeengivenacircularmotion，andtheoutputofflourfromthesameamountofgrainhasincreasedone-sixth。TheenormousdiscrepancybetweenthedailygrainconsumptionoftheRomansandourselvesisthereforeeasilyexplained。Itisduesimplytoimperfectmethodsofmillingandbread-making。

ThisisthewayIfeelImustexplainaremarkableobservationmadebyPliny，XVIII，Ch。20，2:……，’TheflourwassoldinRome，dependingonitsquality，at40，48or96aspermodius。Theseprices，sohighinproportiontothecontemporaneousgrainprices，areduetotheimperfectstateofthemillsofthatperiod，whichwerestillintheirinfancy，andtheresultantheavycostofmilling。”’(DureaudelaMalle，EconomiePolitiquedesRomains，Paris，1840，I，pp。280-81。)

V。ECONOMYTHROUGHINVENTIONS

Thesesavingsintheapplicationoffixedcapitalare，werepeat，duetotheemploymentoftheconditionsoflabouronalargescale；inshort，areduetothefactthattheseserveasconditionsofdirectlysocial，orsocialisedlabourordirectco-operationwithintheprocessofproduction。

Ontheonehand，thisistheindispensablerequirementfortheutilisationofmechanicalandchemicalinventionswithoutincreasingthepriceofthecommodity，andthisisalwaystheconditiosinequanon。Ontheotherhand，onlyproductiononalargescalepermitsthesavingsderivedfromco-operativeproductiveconsumption。Finally，itisonlytheexperienceofthecombinedlabourerwhichdiscoversandrevealsthewhereandhowofsaving，thesimplestmethodsofapplyingthediscoveries，andthewaystoovercomethepracticalfrictionsarisingfromcarryingoutthetheory-initsapplicationtotheproductionprocess-etc。

Incidentally，adistinctionshouldbemadebetweenuniversallabourandco-operativelabour。Bothkindsplaytheirroleintheprocessofproduction，bothflowoneintotheother，butbotharealsodifferentiated。Universallabourisallscientificlabour，alldiscoveryandallinvention。Thislabourdependspartlyontheco-operationoftheliving，andpartlyontheutilisationofthelaboursofthosewhohavegonebefore。Co-operativelabour，ontheotherhand，isthedirectco-operationofindividuals。

Theforegoingiscorroboratedbyfrequentobservation，towit:

1)Thegreatdifferenceinthecostofthefirstmodelofanewmachineandthatofitsreproduction(regardingwhich，seeUre[ThePhilosophyofManufactures，Secondedition，London，1855-Ed。]andBabbage[OntheEconomyofMachineryandManufactures，London，1832，pp。

280-81-Ed。])。

2)Thefargreatercostofoperatinganestablishmentbasedonanewinventionascomparedtolaterestablishmentsarisingexsuisossibus。

Thisissoverytruethatthetrail-blazersgenerallygobankrupt，andonlythosewholaterbuythebuildings，machinery，etc。，atacheaperprice，makemoneyoutofit。Itis，therefore，generallythemostworthlessandmiserablesortofmoney-capitalistswhodrawthegreatestprofitoutofallnewdevelopmentsoftheuniversallabourofthehumanspiritandtheirsocialapplicationthroughcombinedlabour。

FOOTNOTES[11]”Sinceinallfactoriesthereisaverylargeamountoffixedcapitalinbuildingsandmachinery，thegreaterthenumberofhoursthatmachinerycanbekeptatworkthegreaterwillbethereturn。”(ReportsofInsp。

ofFact。，31stOctober，1858，p。8。)

[12]Cf。Ureontheprogressinfactoryconstruction。

Capital，Vol。3，Chapter6KarlMarxCAPITALVol。III

THEPROCESSOF

CAPITALISTPRODUCTIONASAWHOLEPartI

THECONVERSIONOFSURPLUS-VALUEINTOPROFITANDOFTHERATEOFSURPLUS-VALUE

INTOTHERATEOFPROFITCHAPTER6

TheEffectofPriceFluctuationI。FLUCTUATIONSINTHEPRICEOFRAWMATERIALS，ANDTHEIRDIRECTEFFECTS

ONTHERATEOFPROFIT

Theassumptioninthiscase，asinpreviousones，isthatnochangetakesplaceintherateofsurplus-value。Itisnecessarytoanalysethecaseinitspureform。However，itmightbepossibleforaspecificcapital，whoserateofsurplus-valueremainsunchanged，toemployanincreasingordecreasingnumberoflabourers，inconsequenceofcontractionorexpansioncausedbysuchfluctuationsinthepriceofrawmaterialsaswearetoanalysehere。Inthatcasethequantityofsurplus-valuemightvary，whiletherateofsurplus-valueremainsthesame。Yetthisshouldalsobedisregardedhereasaside-issue。Ifimprovementsofmachineryandchangesinthepriceofrawmaterialssimultaneouslyinfluenceeitherthenumberoflabourersemployedbyadefinitecapital，orthelevelofwages，onehasbuttoputtogether1)theeffectcausedbythevariationsofconstantcapitalontherateofprofit，and2)theeffectcausedbyvariationsinwagesontherateofprofit。Theresultisthenobtainedofitself。

Butingeneral，itshouldbenotedhere，asinthepreviouscase，thatifvariationstakeplace，eitherduetosavingsinconstantcapital，orduetofluctuationsinthepriceofrawmaterials，theyalwaysaffecttherateofprofit，eveniftheyleavethewage，hencetherateandamountofsurplus-value，untouched。TheychangethemagnitudeofCins’(v/C)，andthusthevalueofthewholefraction。Itisthereforeimmaterial，inthiscaseaswell——incontrasttowhatwefoundinouranalysisofsurplus-value-inwhichsphereofproductionthesevariationsoccur；whetherornottheproductionbranchesaffectedbythemproducenecessitiesforlabourers，orconstantcapitalfortheproductionofsuchnecessities。Thedeductionsmadehereareequallyvalidforvariationsoccurringintheproductionofluxuryarticles，andbyluxuryarticlesweheremeanallproductionthatdoesnotservethereproductionoflabour-power。

Therawmaterialshereincludeauxiliarymaterialsaswell，suchasindigo，coal，gas，etc。Furthermore，sofarasmachineryisconcernedunderthishead，itsownrawmaterialconsistsofiron，wood，leather，etc。Itsownpriceisthereforeaffectedbyfluctuationsinthepriceofrawmaterialsusedinitsconstruction。Totheextentthatitspriceisraisedthroughfluctuations，eitherinthepriceoftherawmaterialsofwhichitconsists，oroftheauxiliarymaterialsconsumedinitsoperation，therateofprofitfallsprotanto。Andviceversa。

Inthefollowinganalysisweshallconfineourselvestofluctuationsinthepriceofrawmaterials，notsofarastheygotomakeuptherawmaterialsofmachineryservingasmeansoflabourorasauxiliarymaterialsappliedinitsoperation，butinsofarastheyentertheprocessinwhichcommoditiesareproduced。Thereisjustonethingtobenotedhere:thenaturalwealthiniron，coal，wood，etc。，whicharetheprincipalelementsusedintheconstructionandoperationofmachinery，presentsitselfhereasanaturalfertilityofcapitalandisafactordeterminingtherateofprofitirrespectiveofthehighorlowlevelofwages。

Sincetherateofprofitiss/C，ors/(c+v)，itisevidentthateverythingcausingavariationinthemagnitudeofc，andtherebyofC，mustalsobringaboutavariationintherateofprofit，evenifsandv，andtheirmutualrelation，remainunaltered。Now，rawmaterialsareoneoftheprincipalcomponentsofconstantcapital。Eveninindustrieswhichconsumenoactualrawmaterials，theseenterthepictureasauxiliarymaterialsorcomponentsofmachinery，etc。，andtheirpricefluctuationsthusaccordinglyinfluencetherateofprofit。Shouldthepriceofrawmaterialfallbyanamount=d，thens/C，ors/(c+v)becomess/(C-d)，ors/((c-d)+v)。Thus，therateofprofitrises。Conversely，ifthepriceofrawmaterialrises，thens/C，ors/(c+v)，becomess/(C+d)，ors/((c+d)+v)，andtherateofprofitfalls。Otherconditionsbeingequal，therateofprofit，therefore，fallsandrisesinverselytothepriceofrawmaterial。Thisshows，amongotherthings，howimportantthelowpriceofrawmaterialisforindustrialcountries，eveniffluctuationsinthepriceofrawmaterialsarenotaccompaniedbyvariationsinthesalessphereoftheproduct，andthusquiteasidefromtherelationofdemandtosupply。Itfollowsfurthermorethatforeigntradeinfluencestherateofprofit，regardlessofitsinfluenceonwagesthroughthecheapeningofthenecessitiesoflife。Thepointisthatitaffectsthepricesofraworauxiliarymaterialsconsumedinindustryandagriculture。Itisduetoanasyetimperfectunderstandingofthenatureoftherateofprofitandofitsspecificdifferencefromtherateofsurplus-valuethat，ontheonehand，economists(likeTorrens[R。Torrens，AnEssayontheProductionofWealth，London，1821，p。28etseq——

Ed。])wronglyexplainthemarkedinfluenceofthepricesofrawmaterialontherateofprofit，whichtheynotethroughpracticalexperience，andthat，ontheother，economistslikeRicardo[D。Ricardo，OnthePrinciplesofPoliticalEconomy，andTaxation，Thirdedition，London，1821，pp。131-138——Ed。]，whoclingtogeneralprinciples，donotrecognisetheinfluenceof，say，worldtradeontherateofprofit。

Thismakesclearthegreatimportancetoindustryofthiseliminationorreductionofcustomsdutiesonrawmaterials。Therationaldevelopmentoftheprotectivetariffsystemmadetheutmostreductionofimportdutiesonrawmaterialsoneofitscardinalprinciples。This，andtheabolitionofthedutyoncorn，wasthemainobjectoftheEnglishfree-traders，whowereprimarilyconcernedwithhavingthedutyoncottonliftedaswell。

Theuseofflourinthecottonindustrymayserveasanillustrationoftheimportanceofapricereductionforanarticlewhichisnotstrictlyarawmaterialbutanauxiliaryandatthesametimeoneoftheprincipalelementsofnourishment。Asfarbackas1837，R。H。Greg[13]calculatedthatthe100，000power-loomsand250，000hand-loomsthenoperatinginthecotton-millsofGreatBritainannuallyconsumed41millionlbs。

offlourtosmooththewarp。Headdedathirdofthisquantityforbleachingandotherprocesses，andestimatedthetotalannualvalueofthefloursoconsumedat£；342，000fortheprecedingtenyears。Acomparisonwithflourpricesonthecontinentshowedthatthehigherflourpriceforceduponmanufacturersbycorntariffsaloneamountedto£；170，000peryear。Gregestimatedthesumataminimumof£；200，000for1837andcitedafirmforwhichtheflourpricedifferenceamountedto£；1，000

annually。Asaresult，”greatmanufacturers，thoughtful，calculatingmenofbusiness，havesaidthattenhours’labourwouldbequitesufficient，iftheCornLawswererepealed”。(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1848，p。98。)TheCornLawswererepealed。Sowerethedutiesoncottonandotherrawmaterials。ButnosoonerhadthisbeenaccomplishedthantheoppositionofthemanufacturerstotheTenHours’Billbecamemoreviolentthanever。Andwhentheten-hourfactorydayneverthelessbecamealawsoonafter，thefirstresultwas，ageneralattempttoreducewages。

Thevalueofrawandauxiliarymaterialspassesentirelyandallatonetimeintothevalueoftheproductinthemanufactureofwhichtheyareconsumed，whiletheelementsoffixedcapitaltransfertheirvaluetotheproductonlygraduallyinproportiontotheirwearandtear。Itfollowsthatthepriceoftheproductisinfluencedfarmorebythepriceofrawmaterialsthanbythatoffixedcapital，althoughtherateofprofitisdeterminedbythetotalvalueofthecapitalappliednomatterhowmuchofitisconsumedinthemakingoftheproduct。Butitisevident——althoughwemerelymentionitinpassing，sinceweherestillassumethatcommoditiesaresoldattheirvalues，sothatpricefluctuationscausedbycompetitiondonotasyetconcernus——thattheexpansionorcontractionofthemarketdependsonthepriceoftheindividualcommodityandisinverselyproportionaltotheriseorfallofthisprice。Itactuallydevelops，therefore，thatthepriceoftheproductdoesnotriseinproportiontothatoftherawmaterial，andthatitdoesnotfallinproportiontothatofrawmaterial。

Consequently，therateofprofitfallslowerinoneinstance，andriseshigherintheotherthanwouldhavebeenthecaseifproductsweresoldattheirvalue。

Further，thequantityandvalueoftheemployedmachinerygrowswiththedevelopmentoflabourproductivitybutnotinthesameproportionasthisproductivity，i。e。，notintheproportioninwhichthismachineryincreasesitsoutput。Inthosebranchesofindustry，therefore，whichdoconsumerawmaterials，i。e。，inwhichthesubjectoflabourisitselfaproductofpreviouslabour，thegrowingproductivityoflabourisexpressedpreciselyintheproportioninwhichalargerquantityofrawmaterialabsorbsadefinitequantityoflabour，henceintheincreasingamountofrawmaterialconvertedin，say，onehourintoproducts，or-processedintocommodities。Thevalueofrawmaterial，therefore，formsanever-growingcomponentofthevalueofthecommodity-productinproportiontothedevelopmentoftheproductivityoflabour，notonlybecauseitpasseswhollyintothislattervalue，butalsobecauseineveryaliquotpartoftheaggregateproducttheportionrepresentingdepreciationofmachineryandtheportionformedbythenewlyaddedlabour——bothcontinuallydecrease。Owingtothisfallingtendency，theotherportionofthevaluerepresentingrawmaterialincreasesproportionally，unlessthisincreaseiscounterbalancedbyaproportionatedecreaseinthevalueoftherawmaterialarisingfromthegrowingproductivityofthelabouremployedinitsownproduction。

Further，rawandauxiliarymaterials，justlikewages，formpartsofthecirculatingcapitalandmust，therefore，becontinuallyreplacedintheirentiretythroughthesaleoftheproduct，whileonlythedepreciationistoberenewedinthecaseofmachinery，andfirstofallintheformofareservefund。Itis，moreover，innowayessentialforeachindividualsaletocontributeitssharetothisreservefund，solongasthetotalannualsalescontributetheirannualshare。Thisshowsagainhowariseinthepriceofrawmaterialcancurtailorarresttheentireprocessofreproductionifthepricerealisedbythesaleofthecommoditiesshouldnotsufficetoreplacealltheelementsofthesecommodities。Or，itmaymakeitimpossibletocontinuetheprocessonthescalerequiredbyitstechnicalbasis，sothatonlyapartofthemachinerywillremaininoperation，orallthemachinerywillworkforonlyafractionoftheusualtime。

Finally，theexpenseincurredthroughwastevariesindirectproportiontothepricefluctuationsoftherawmaterial，rising，whentheyriseandfallingwhentheyfall。Butthereisalimithereaswell。TheFactoryReportforApril1850maintained:”Onesourceofconsiderablelossarisingfromanadvanceinthepriceoftherawmaterialwouldhardlyoccurtoanyonebutapracticalspinner，viz。，thatfromwaste。Iaminformedthatwhencottonadvances，thecosttothespinner，ofthelowerqualitiesespecially，isincreasedinaratiobeyondtheadvanceactuallypaid，becausethewastemadeinspinningcoarseyarnsisfully15percent；andthisrate，whileitcausesalossof1/2d。perlb。oncottonat31/2d。

perlb。，bringsupthelossto1d。perlb。whencottonadvancesto7d。”

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1850，p。17。)Butwhen，asaresultoftheAmericanCivilWar，thepriceofcottonrosetoalevelunequalledinalmost100years，thereportreaddifferently:”Thepricenowgivenforwaste，anditsre-introductioninthefactoryintheshapeofcottonwaste，gosomewaytocompensateforthedifferenceinthelossbywaste，betweenSuratcottonandAmericancotton，about121/2percent。”ThewasteinworkingSuratcottonbeing25percent，thecostofthecottontothespinnerisenhancedone-fourthbeforehehasmanufacturedit。ThelossbywasteusednottobeofmuchmomentwhenAmericancottonwas5d。or6d。perlb。，foritdidnotexceed3/4d。perlb。，butitisnowofgreatimportancewhenuponeverylb。ofcottonwhichcosts2s。thereisalossbywasteequalto6d。”[14](ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863，p。106。)

II。APPRECIATION，DEPRECIATION，RELEASEANDTIE-UP

OFCAPITAL

Thephenomenaanalysedinthischapterrequirefortheirfulldevelopmentthecreditsystemandcompetitionontheworld-market，thelatterbeingthebasisandthevitalelementofcapitalistproduction。Thesemoredefiniteformsofcapitalistproductioncanonlybecomprehensivelypresented，however，afterthegeneralnatureofcapitalisunderstood。Furthermore，theydonotcomewithinthescopeofthisworkandbelongtoitseventualcontinuation。

Neverthelessthephenomenalistedintheabovetitlemaybediscussedinageneralwayatthisstage。Theyareinterrelated，firstwithoneanotherand，secondly，alsowiththerateandamountofprofit。Theyaretobebrieflydiscussedhereifonlybecausetheycreatetheimpressionthatnotonlytherate，butalsotheamountofprofit——whichisactuallyidenticalwiththeamountofsurplus-value-couldincreaseordecreaseindependentlyofthemovementsofthequantityorrateofsurplus-value。

Arewetoconsiderreleaseandtie-upofcapital，ontheonehand，anditsappreciationanddepreciation，ontheother，asdifferentphenomena？

Thequestioniswhatwemeanbyreleaseandtie-upofcapital？Appreciationanddepreciationareself-explanatory。Alltheymeanisthatagivencapitalincreasesordecreasesinvalueasaresultofcertaingeneraleconomicconditions，forwearenotdiscussingtheparticularfateofanindividualcapital。Alltheymean，therefore，isthatthevalueofacapitalinvestedinproductionrisesor，falls，irrespectiveofitsself-expansionbyvirtueofthesurplus-labouremployedbyit。

Bytie-upofcapitalwemeanthatcertainportionsofthetotalvalueoftheproductmustbereconvertedintoelementsofconstantandvariablecapitalifproductionistoproceedonthesamescale。Byreleaseofcapitalwemeanthataportionofthetotalvalueoftheproductwhichhadtobereconvertedintoconstantorvariablecapitaluptoacertaintime，becomesdisposableandsuperfluous，shouldproductioncontinueonthepreviousscale。Thisreleaseortie-upofcapitalisdifferentfromthereleaseortie-upofrevenue。Iftheannualsurplus-valueofanindividualcapitalCis，letussay，equaltox，thenareductioninthepriceofcommoditiesconsumedbythecapitalistswouldmakexasufficienttoprocurethesameenjoyments，etc。，asbefore。Aportionoftherevenue=aisreleased，therefore，andmayserveeithertoincreaseconsumptionortobereconvertedintocapital(forthepurposeofaccumulation)。Conversely，ifx+aisneededtocontinuetoliveasbefore，thenthisstandardoflivingmusteitherbereducedoraportionofthepreviouslyaccumulatedincome=a，expendedasrevenue。

Appreciationanddepreciationmayaffecteitherconstantorvariablecapital，orboth，andinthecaseofconstantcapitalitmay，inturn，affecteitherthefixed，orthecirculatingportion，orboth。

Underconstantcapitalwemustconsidertherawandauxiliarymaterials，includingsemi-finishedproducts，allofwhichwehereincludeunderthetermofrawmaterials，machinery，andotherfixedcapital。

Intheprecedinganalysiswereferredespeciallytovariationsintheprice，orthevalue，ofrawmaterialsinrespecttotheirinfluenceontherateofprofit，anddeterminedthegenerallawthatwithotherconditionsbeingequal，therateofprofitisinverselyproportionaltothevalueoftherawmaterials。Thisisabsolutelytrueforcapitalnewlyinvestedinabusinessenterprise，inwhichtheinvestment，i。e。，theconversionofmoneyintoproductivecapital，isonlyjusttakingplace。

Butasidefromthiscapital，whichisbeingnewlyinvested，alargeportionofthealreadyfunctioningcapitalisinthesphereofcirculation，whileanotherportionisinthesphereofproduction。Oneportionisinthemarketintheshapeofcommoditieswaitingtobeconvertedintomoney；

anotherisonhandasmoney，inwhateverform，waitingtobereconvertedintoelementsofproduction；finally，athirdportionisinthesphereofproduction，partlyinitsoriginalformofmeansofproductionsuchasrawandauxiliarymaterials，semi-finishedproductspurchasedinthemarket，machineryandotherfixedcapital，andpartlyintheformofproductswhichareintheprocessofmanufacture。Theeffectofappreciationordepreciationdependsheretoagreatextentontherelativeproportionofthesecomponentparts。Letus，forthesakeofsimplicity，leaveasideallfixedcapitalandconsideronlythatportionofconstantcapitalwhichconsistsofrawandauxiliarymaterials，andsemi-finishedproducts，andbothfinishedcommoditiesinthemarketandcommoditiesstillintheprocessofproduction。

Ifthepriceofrawmaterial，forinstanceofcotton，rises，thenthepriceofcottongoods——bothsemi-finishedgoodslikeyarnandfinishedgoodslikecottonfabrics——manufacturedwhilecottonwascheaper，risesalso。Sodoesthevalueoftheunprocessedcottonheldinstock，andofthecottonintheprocessofmanufacture。Thelatterbecauseitcomestorepresentmorelabour-timeinretrospectandthusaddsmorethanitsoriginalvaluetotheproductwhichitenters，andmorethanthecapitalistpaidforit。

Hence，ifthepriceofrawmaterialsrises，andthereisaconsiderablequantityofavailablefinishedcommoditiesinthemarket，nomatterwhatthestageoftheirmanufacture，thevalueofthesecommoditiesrises，therebyenhancingthevalueoftheexistingcapital。Thesameistrueforthesupplyofrawmaterials，etc。，inthehandsoftheproducer。Thisappreciationofvaluemaycompensate，ormorethancompensate，theindividualcapitalist，orevenanentireseparatesphereofcapitalistproduction，forthedropintherateofprofitattendingariseinthepriceofrawmaterials。Withoutenteringintothedetailedeffectsofcompetition，wemightstateforthesakeofthoroughnessthat1)ifavailablesuppliesofrawmaterialareconsiderable，theytendtocounteractthepriceincreasewhichoccurredattheplaceoftheirorigin；2)ifthesemi-finishedandfinishedgoodspressveryheavilyuponthemarket，theirpriceistherebypreventedfromrisingproportionatelytothepriceoftheirrawmaterials。

Thereversetakesplacewhenthepriceofrawmaterialfalls。Othercircumstancesremainingthesame，thisincreasestherateofprofit。Thecommoditiesinthemarket，thearticlesintheprocessofproduction，andtheavailablesuppliesofrawmaterial，depreciateinvalueandtherebycounteracttheattendantriseintherateofprofit。

Theeffectofpricevariationsforrawmaterialsisthemorepronounced，thesmallerthesuppliesavailableinthesphereofproductionandinthemarketat，say，thecloseofabusinessyear，i。e。，aftertheharvestinagriculture，whengreatquantitiesofrawmaterialsaredeliveredanew。

Weproceedinthisentireanalysisfromtheassumptionthattheriseorfallinpricesexpressesactualfluctuationsinvalue。Butsincewearehereconcernedwiththeeffectssuchpricevariationshaveontherateofprofit，itmatterslittlewhatisatthebottomofthem。Thepresentstatementsapplyequallyifpricesriseorfallundertheinfluenceofthecreditsystem，competition，etc。，andnotonaccountoffluctuationsinvalue。

Sincetherateofprofitequalstheratiooftheexcessoverthevalueoftheproducttothevalueofthetotalcapitaladvanced，arisecausedintherateofprofitbyadepreciationoftheadvancedcapitalwouldbeassociatedwithalossinthevalueofcapital。Similarly，adropcausedintherateofprofitbyanappreciationoftheadvancedcapitalmightpossiblybeassociatedwithagain。

Asfortheotherportionofconstantcapital，suchasmachineryandfixedcapitalingeneral，theappreciationofvaluetakingplaceinitwithrespectmainlytobuildings，realestate，etc。，cannotbediscussedwithoutthetheoryofground-rent，anddoesnotthereforebelonginthischapter。Butofageneralimportancetothequestionofdepreciationare:

Thecontinualimprovementswhichlowertheuse-value，andthereforethevalue，ofexistingmachinery，factorybuildings，etc。Thisprocesshasaparticularlydireeffectduringthefirstperiodofnewlyintroducedmachinery，beforeitattainsacertainstageofmaturity，whenitcontinuallybecomesantiquatedbeforeithastimetoreproduceitsownvalue。Thisisoneofthereasonsfortheflagrantprolongationoftheworking-timeusualinsuchperiods，foralternatingdayandnight-shifts，sothatthevalueofthemachinerymaybereproducedinashortertimewithouthavingtoplacethefiguresforwearandteartoohigh。If，ontheotherhand，theshortperiodinwhichthemachineryiseffective(itsshortlifevis-à；-vistheanticipatedimprovements)isnotcompensatedinthismanner，itgivesupsomuchofitsvaluetotheproductthroughmoraldepreciationthatitcannotcompeteevenwithhand-labour。[15]

Aftermachinery，equipmentofbuildings，andfixedcapitalingeneral，attainacertainmaturity，sothattheyremainunalteredforsomelengthoftimeatleastintheirbasicconstruction，therearisesasimilardepreciationduetoimprovementsinthemethodsofreproducingthisfixedcapital。Thevalueofthemachinery，etc。，fallsinthiscasenotsomuchbecausethemachineryisrapidlycrowdedoutanddepreciatedtoacertaindegreebynewandmoreproductivemachinery，etc。，butbecauseitcanbereproducedmorecheaply。Thisisoneofthereasonswhylargeenterprisesfrequentlydonotflourishuntiltheypassintootherhands，i。e。，aftertheirfirstproprietorshavebeenbankrupted，andtheirsuccessors，whobuythemcheaply，thereforebeginfromtheoutsetwithasmalleroutlayofcapital。

Itleapstotheeye，particularlyinthecaseofagriculture，thatthecauseswhichraiseorlowerthepriceofaproduct，alsoraiseorlowerthevalueofcapital，sincethelatterconsiststoalargedegreeofthisproduct，whetherasgrain，cattle，etc。(Ricardo[D。Ricardo，OnthePrinciplesofPoliticalEconomy，andTaxation，Thirdedition，London，1821，ChapterII——Ed。])。

Thereisstillvariablecapitaltobeconsidered。

Inasmuchasthevalueoflabour-powerrisesbecausethereisariseinthevalueofthemeansofsubsistencerequiredforitsreproduction，orfallsbecausethereisareductionintheirvalue-andtheappreciationanddepreciationofvariablecapitalarereallynothingmorethanexpressionsofthesetwocases——adropinsurplus-valuecorrespondstosuchappreciationandanincreaseinsurplus-valuetosuchdepreciation，providedthelengthoftheworking-dayremainsthesame。Butothercircumstances——thereleaseandtie-upofcapital——mayalsobeassociatedwithsuchcases，andsincewehavenotanalysedthemsofar，weshallbrieflymentionthemnow。

Ifwagesfallinconsequenceofadepreciationinthevalueoflabour-power(whichmayevenbeattendedbyariseintherealpriceoflabour)，aportionofthecapitalhithertoinvestedinwagesisreleased。Variablecapitalissetfree。Inthecaseofnewinvestmentsofcapital，thishassimplytheeffectofitsoperatingwithahigherrateofsurplus-value。Ittakeslessmoneythanbeforetosetinmotionthesameamountoflabour，andinthiswaytheunpaidportionoflabourincreasesattheexpenseofthepaidportion。Butinthecaseofalreadyinvestedcapital，notonlydoestherateofsurplus-valuerisebutaportionofthecapitalpreviouslyinvestedinwagesisalsoreleased。Untilthistimeitwastiedupandformedaregularportionwhichhadtobedeductedfromtheproceedsfortheproductandadvancedforwages，actingasvariablecapitalifthebusinessweretocontinueonitsformerscale。Nowthisportionissetfreeandmaybeusedasanewinvestment，beittoextendthesamebusinessortooperateinsomeothersphereofproduction。

Letusassume，forinstance，that£；500perweekwererequiredatfirsttoemploy500labourers，andthatnowonly£；400areneededforthesamepurpose。Ifthequantityofvalueproducedineithercase=£；1，000，theamountofweeklysurplus-valueinthefirstcase=

£；500andtherateofsurplus-value500/500=100%。Butafterthewagereductionthequantityofsurplus-value£；1，000£；400=£；600，anditsrate600/400=150%。Andthisincreaseintherateofsurplus-valueistheonlyeffectforonewhostartsanewenterpriseinthissphereofproductionwithavariablecapitalof£；400andacorrespondingconstantcapital。Butwhenthistakesplaceinabusinessalreadyinoperation，thedepreciationofthevariablecapitaldoesnotonlyincreasethequantityofsurplus-valuefrom£；500to£；600，andtherateofsurplus-valuefrom100to150%，butreleases£；100ofthevariablecapitalforthefurtherexploitationoflabour。Hence，thesameamountoflabourisexploitedtogreateradvantage，and，whatismore，thereleaseof£；100makesitpossibletoexploitmorelabourersthanbeforeatthehigherratewiththesamevariablecapitalof£；500。

Nowthereversesituation。Suppose，with500employedlabourers，theoriginalproportioninwhichtheproductisdivided=400v+600s=1，000，makingtherateofsurplus-value=150%。Inthatcase，thelabourerreceives£；4/5，or16shillingsperweek。Should500labourerscost£；500

perweek，duetoanappreciationofvariablecapital，eachoneofthemwillreceiveaweeklywage=£；1，and£；400canemployonly400

labourers。Ifthesamenumberoflabourersasbeforeisputtowork，therefore，wehave500v+500s=1，000。Therateofsurplus-valuewouldfallfrom150

to100%，whichisone-third。Inthecaseofnewcapitaltheonlyeffectwouldbethislowerrateofsurplus-value。Otherconditionsbeingequal，therateofprofitwouldalsohavefallenaccordingly，althoughnotinthesameproportion。Forinstance，ifc=2，000，wehaveintheonecase2，000c+400v+600s=3，000。Therateofsurplus-value=150%，therateofprofit=600/2，400=25%。Inthesecondcase，2，000c+500v+500s=3，000。

Therateofsurplus-value=100%，therateofprofit=500/2，500=20%。Inthecaseofalreadyinvestedcapital，however，therewouldbeadualeffect。

Only400labourerscouldbeemployedwitha£；400variablecapital，andthatatarateofsurplus-valueof100%。Theywouldthereforeproduceanaggregatesurplus-valueofonly£；400。Furthermore，sinceaconstantcapitalof£；2，000requires500labourersforitsoperation，400labourerscanputintomotiononlyaconstantcapitalof£；1，600。Forproductiontocontinueonthesamescale，sothatone-fifthofthemachinerydoesnotstandidle，£；100mustbeaddedtothevariablecapitalinordertoemploy500labourersasbefore。Andthiscanbeaccomplishedonlybytyinguphithertodisposablecapital，sothatpartoftheaccumulationintendedtoextendproductionservesmerelytostopagap，oraportionreservedforrevenueisaddedtotheoldcapital。Thenavariablecapitalincreasedby£；100produces£；100lesssurplus-value。Morecapitalisrequiredtoemploythesamenumberoflabourers，andatthesametimethesurplus-valueproducedbyeachlabourerisreduced。

Theadvantagesresultingfromareleaseandthedisadvantagesresultingfromatie-upofvariablecapitalbothexistonlyforcapitalalreadyengagedandreproducingitselfundercertaingivenconditions。Fornewlyinvestedcapitaltheadvantagesontheonehand，andthedisadvantagesontheother，areconfinedtoanincreaseordropintherateofsurplus-value，andtoacorresponding，ifinnowayproportionate，changeintherateofprofit。

Thereleaseandtie-upofvariablecapital，justanalysed，istheresultofadepreciationorappreciationoftheelementsofvariablecapital，thatis，ofthecostofreproducinglabour-power。

Butvariablecapitalcouldalsobereleasedif，withthewagerateunchanged，fewerlabourerswererequiredduetothedevelopmentoflabourproductivitytosetinmotionthesameamountofconstantcapital。Inlikemanner，theremayreverselybeatie-upofadditionalvariablecapitalifmorelabourersarerequiredforthesamequantityofconstantcapitalduetoadropinproductivity。If，ontheotherhand，aportionofcapitalformerlyemployedasvariablecapitalisemployedintheformofconstantcapital，sothatmerelyadifferentdistributionexistsbetweenthecomponentsofthesamecapital，thishasaninfluenceonboththerateofsurplus-valueandtherateofprofit，butdoesnotbelongundertheheadingoftie-upandreleaseofcapital，whichisherebeingdiscussed。

Wehavealreadyseenthatconstantcapitalmayalsobetieduporreleasedbytheappreciationordepreciationofitscomponentelements。Asidefromthis，itcanbetieduponlyiftheproductivepoweroflabourincreases(providedaportionofthevariableisnotconvertedintoconstantcapital)，sothatthesameamountoflabourcreatesagreaterproductandthereforesetsinmotionalargerconstantcapital。Thesamemayoccurundercertaincircumstancesifproductivitydecreases，forinstanceinagriculture，sothatthesamequantityoflabourrequiresmoremeansofproduction，suchasseedsormanure，drainage，etc。，inordertoproducethesameoutput。

Constantcapitalmaybereleasedwithoutdepreciationifimprovements，utilisationoftheforcesofNature，etc。，enableaconstantcapitalofsmallervaluetotechnicallyperformthesameservicesaswereformerlyperformedbyaconstantcapitalofgreatervalue。

WehaveseeninBookII[Englishedition:Vol。II，PartIII-Ed。]

thatoncecommoditieshavebeenconvertedintomoney，orsold，acertainportionofthismoneymustbereconvertedintothematerialelementsofconstantcapital，andintheproportionsrequiredbythetechnicalnatureoftheparticularsphereofproduction。Inthisrespect，themostimportantelementinallbranches-asidefromwages，i。e。，variablecapital——israwmaterial，includingauxiliarymaterial，whichisparticularlyimportantinsuchlinesofproductionasdonotinvolverawmaterialsinthestrictsenseoftheterm，forinstanceinminingandtheextractiveindustriesingeneral。Thatportionofthepricewhichistomakegoodthewearandtearofmachineryenterstheaccountschieflynominallysolongasthemachineryisatallinanoperatingcondition。Itdoesnotgreatlymatterwhetheritispaidforandreplacedbymoneyonedayorthenext，oratanyotherstageoftheperiodofturnoverofthecapital。Itisquitedifferentinthecaseoftherawmaterial。Ifthepriceofrawmaterialrises，itmaybeimpossibletomakeitgoodfullyoutofthepriceofthecommoditiesafterwagesarededucted。Violentpricefluctuationsthereforecauseinterruptions，greatcollisions，evencatastrophes，intheprocessofreproduction。Itisespeciallyagriculturalproduceproper，i。e。，rawmaterialstakenfromorganicnature，which-leavingasidethecreditsystemforthepresent-issubjecttosuchfluctuationsofvalueinconsequenceofchangingyields，etc。Duetouncontrollablenaturalconditions，favourableorunfavourableseasons，etc。，thesamequantityoflabourmayberepresentedinverydifferentquantitiesofuse-values，andadefinitequantityoftheseuse-valuesmaythereforehaveverydifferentprices。Ifthevaluexisrepresentedby100lbs。ofthecommoditya，thenthepriceofonelb。ofa=x/100；ifitisrepresentedby1，000lbs。ofa，thepriceofonelb。ofa=x/1，000，etc。Thisisthereforeoneoftheelementsofthesefluctuationsinthepriceofrawmaterials。Asecondelement，mentionedatthispointonlyforthesakeofcompleteness——sincecompetitionandthecreditsystemarestilloutsidethescopeofouranalysis-isthis:Itis，inthenatureofthingsthatvegetableandanimalsubstanceswhosegrowthandproductionaresubjecttocertainorganiclawsandboundupwithdefinitenaturaltimeperiods，cannotbesuddenlyaugmentedinthesamedegreeas，forinstance，machinesandotherfixedcapital，orcoal，ore，etc。，whosereproductioncan，providedthenaturalconditionsdonotchange，berapidlyaccomplishedinanindustriallydevelopedcountry。Itisthereforequitepossible，andunderadevelopedsystemofcapitalistproductioneveninevitable，thattheproductionandincreaseoftheportionofconstantcapitalconsistingoffixedcapital，machinery，etc。，shouldconsiderablyoutstriptheportionconsistingoforganicrawmaterials，sothatdemandforthelattergrowsmorerapidlythantheirsupply，causingtheirpricetorise。Risingpricesactuallycause1)theserawmaterialstobeshippedfromgreaterdistances，sincethemountingpricessufficetocovergreaterfreightrates；2)anincreaseintheirproduction，whichcircumstance，however，willprobablynot，fornaturalreasons，multiplythequantityofproductsuntilthefollowingyear；3)theuseofvariouspreviouslyunusedsubstitutesandgreaterutilisationofwaste。Whenthisriseofpricesbeginstoexertamarkedinfluenceonproductionandsupplyitindicatesinmostcasesthattheturningpointhasbeenreachedatwhichdemanddropsonaccountoftheprotractedriseinthepriceoftherawmaterialandofallcommoditiesofwhichitisanelement，causingareactioninthepriceofrawmaterial。Asidefromtheconvulsionswhichthiscausesinvariousformsthroughdepreciationofcapital，therearealsoothercircumstances，whichweshallmentionshortly。

Butsomuchisalreadyevidentfromtheforegoing:Thegreaterthedevelopmentofcapitalistproduction，and，consequently，thegreaterthemeansofsuddenlyandpermanentlyincreasingthatportionofconstantcapitalconsistingofmachinery，etc。，andthemorerapidtheaccumulation(particularlyintimesofprosperity)，somuchgreatertherelativeover-productionofmachineryandotherfixedcapital，somuchmorefrequenttherelativeunder-productionofvegetableandanimalrawmaterials，andsomuchmorepronouncedthepreviouslydescribedriseoftheirpricesandtheattendantreaction。Andsomuchmorefrequentaretheconvulsionscausedastheyarebytheviolentpricefluctuationsofoneofthemainelementsintheprocessofreproduction。

If，however，acollapseofthesehighpricesoccursbecausetheirrisecausedadropindemandontheonehand，and，ontheother，anexpansionofproductioninoneplaceandinanotherimportationfromremoteandpreviouslylessresortedto，orentirelyignored，productionareas，and，inbothcases，asupplyofrawmaterialsexceedingthedemand——particularlyattheoldhighprices——thentheresultmaybeconsideredfromdifferentpointsofview。Thesuddencollapseofthepriceofrawmaterialscheckstheirreproduction，andthemonopolyoftheoriginalproducingcountries，whichenjoythemostfavourableconditionsofproduction，istherebyrestored-possiblywithcertainlimitations，butrestorednevertheless。True，duetotheimpetusithashad，reproductionofrawmaterialproceedsonanextendedscale，especiallyinthosecountrieswhichmoreorlesspossessamonopolyofthisproduction。Butthebasisonwhichproductioncarriesonaftertheextensionofmachinery，etc。，andwhich，aftersomefluctuations，istoserveasthenewnormalbasis，thenewpointofdeparture，isverymuchextendedbythedevelopmentsintheprecedingcycleofturnover。Inthemeantime，thebarelyincreasedreproductionagainexperiencesconsiderableimpedimentsinsomeofthesecondarysourcesofsupply。Forinstance，itiseasilydemonstratedonthebasisoftheexporttablesthatinthelastthirtyyears(upto1865)theproductionofcottoninIndiaincreaseswhenevertherehasbeenadropinAmericanproduction，andsubsequentlyitdropsagainmoreorlesspermanently。Duringtheperiodinwhichrawmaterialsbecomedear，industrialcapitalistsjoinhandsandformassociationstoregulateproduction。Theydidsoaftertheriseofcottonpricesin1848

inManchester，forexample，andsimilarlyinthecaseofflaxproductioninIreland。Butassoonastheimmediateimpulseisoverandthegeneralprincipleofcompetitionto”buyinthecheapestmarket”(insteadofstimulatingproductioninthecountriesoforigin，astheassociationsattempttodo，withoutregardtotheimmediatepriceatwhichthesemayhappenatthattimetobeabletosupplytheirproduct)——assoonastheprincipleofcompetitionagainreignssupreme，theregulationofthesupplyisleftonceagainto”prices”。Allthoughtofacommon，all-embracingandfar-sightedcontroloftheproductionofrawmaterialsgiveswayoncemoretothefaiththatdemandandsupplywillmutuallyregulateoneanother。

Anditmustbeadmittedthatsuchcontrolisonthewholeirreconcilablewiththelawsofcapitalistproduction，andremainsforeverapiouswish，orislimitedtoexceptionalco-operationintimesofgreatstressandconfusion。[16]Thesuperstitionofthecapitalistsinthisrespectissodeepthatintheirreportsevenfactoryinspectorsagainandagainthrowuptheirhandsinastonishment。Thealternationofgoodandbadyearsnaturallyalsoprovidesforcheaperrawmaterials。Asidefromthedirecteffectthishasonraisingthedemand，thereisalsotheaddedstimulusofthepreviouslymentionedinfluenceontherateofprofit。Theaforesaidprocessofproductionofrawmaterialsbeinggraduallyovertakenbytheproductionofmachinery，etc。，isthenrepeatedonalargerscale。Anactualimprovementofrawmaterialssatisfyingnotonlythedesiredquantity，butalsothequalitydesired，suchascottonfromIndiaofAmericanquality，wouldrequireaprolonged，regularlygrowingandsteadyEuropeandemand(regardlessoftheeconomicconditionsunderwhichtheIndianproducerlaboursinhiscountry)。Asitis，however，thesphereofproductionofrawmaterialsis，byfits，firstsuddenlyenlarged，andthenagainviolentlycurtailed。

Allthis，andthespiritofcapitalistproductioningeneral，maybeverywellstudiedinthecottonshortageof186165，furthercharacterisedasitwasbythefactthatarawmaterial，oneoftheprincipalelementsofreproduction，wasforatimeentirelyunavailable。Tobesure，thepricemayalsoriseintheeventofanabundantsupply，providedtheconditionsforthisabundancearemoreknotty。Or，theremaybeanactualshortageofrawmaterial。Itwasthislastsituationwhichoriginallyprevailedinthecottoncrisis。

Thecloserweapproachourowntimeinthehistoryofproduction，themoreregularlydowefind，especiallyintheessentiallinesofindustry，theever-recurringalternationbetweenrelativeappreciationandthesubsequentresultingdepreciationofrawmaterialsobtainedfromorganicnature。Whatwehavejustanalysedwillbeillustratedbythefollowingexamplestakenfromreportsoffactoryinspectors。

Themoralofhistory，alsotobededucedfromotherobservationsconcerningagriculture，isthatthecapitalistsystemworksagainstarationalagriculture，orthatarationalagricultureisincompatiblewiththecapitalistsystem(althoughthelatterpromotestechnicalimprovementsinagriculture)，andneedseitherthehandofthesmallfarmerlivingbyhisownlabourorthecontrolofassociatedproducers。

Herewithfollowtheillustrationsreferredtoabove，takenfromtheEnglishFactoryReports。”Thestateoftradeisbetter；butthecycleofgoodandbadtimesdiminishesasmachineryincreases，andthechangesfromtheonetotheotherhappenoftener，asthedemandforrawmaterialsincreaseswithit……Atpresent，confidenceisnotonlyrestoredafterthepanicof1857，butthepanicitselfseemstobealmostforgotten。Whetherthisimprovementwillcontinueornotdependsgreatlyuponthepriceofrawmaterials。Thereappeartomeevidencesalready，thatinsomeinstancesthemaximumhasbeenreached，beyondwhichtheirmanufacturebecomesgraduallylessandlessprofitable，tillitceasestobesoaltogether。Ifwetake，forinstance，thelucrativeyearsintheworstedtradeof1849and1850，weseethatthepriceofEnglishcombingwoolstoodat1s。1d。，andofAustralianatbetween1s。2d。and1s。5d。perlb。，andthatontheaverageofthetenyearsfrom1841to1850，bothinclusive，theaveragepriceofEnglishwoolneverexceeded1s。2d。andofAustralianwool1s。5d。perlb。Butthatinthecommencementofthedisastrousyearof1857，thepriceofAustralianwoolbeganwith1s。11d。，fallingto1s。6d。inDecember，whenthepanicwasatitsheight，buthasgraduallyrisenagainto1s。9d。through1858，atwhichitnowstands；whilstthatofEnglishwool，commencingwith1s。8d。，andrisinginAprilandSeptember1857to1s。9d。，fallinginJanuary1858to1s。

2d。，hassincerisento1s。5d。，whichis3d。perlb。higherthantheaverageofthetenyearstowhichIhavereferred……Thisshows，Ithink，oneofthreethings——eitherthatthebankruptcieswhichsimilarpricesoccasionedin1857areforgotten；orthatthereisbarelythewoolgrownwhichtheexistingspindlesarecapableofconsuming；orelse，thatthepricesofmanufacturedarticlesareabouttobepermanentlyhigher……AndasinpastexperienceIhaveseenspindlesandloomsmultiplybothinnumbersandspeedinanincrediblyshortspaceoftime，andourexportsofwooltoFranceincreaseinanalmostequalratio，andasbothathomeandabroadtheageofsheepseemstobegettinglessandless，owingtoincreasingpopulationsandtowhattheagriculturalistscall’aquickreturninstock’，soIhaveoftenfeltanxiousforpersonswhom，withoutthisknowledge，Ihaveseenembarkingskillandcapitalinundertakings，whollyreliantfortheirsuccessonaproductwhichcanonlybeincreasedaccordingtoorganiclaws……Thesamestateofsupplyanddemandofallrawmaterials……seemstoaccountformanyofthefluctuationsinthecottontradeduringpastperiods，aswellasfortheconditionoftheEnglishwoolmarketintheautumnof1857，withitsoverwhelmingconsequences。”[17](R。BakerinReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1858，pp。56-61。)

ThehalcyondaysoftheWest-Ridingworstedindustry，ofYorkshire，were1849-50。Thisindustryemployed29，246personsin1838；37，000personsin1843；48，097in1845；and74，891in1850。Thesamedistricthad2，768

mechanicalloomsin1838；11，458in1841；16，870in1843；19，121in1845

and29，539in1850。(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，1850，p。60。)ThisprosperityofthecardedwoolindustryexcitedcertainforebodingsasearlyasOctober1850。InhisreportforApril1851，Sub-InspectorBakersaidinregardtoLeedsandBradford:”Thestateoftradeis，andhasbeenforsometime，veryunsatisfactory。Theworstedspinnersarefastlosingtheprofitsof1850，and，inthemajorityofcases，themanufacturersarenotdoingmuchgood。Ibelieve，atthismoment，thereismorewoollenmachinerystandingthanIhavealmosteverknownatonetime，andtheflaxspinnersarealsoturningoffhandsandstoppingframes。Thecyclesoftrade，infact，inthetextilefabrics，arenowextremelyuncertain，andIthinkweshallshortlyfindtobetrue……thatthereisnocomparisonmadebetweentheproducingpowerofthespindles，thequantityofrawmaterial，andthegrowthofthepopulation”(p。52)。

Thesameistrueofthecottonindustry。InthecitedreportforOctober1858，weread:”Sincethehoursoflabourinfactorieshavebeenfixed，theamountsofconsumption，produce，andwagesinalltextilefabricshavebeenreducedtoaruleofthree……Iquotefromarecentlecturedeliveredby……thepresentMayorofBlackburn，Mr。Baynes，onthecottontrade，whobysuchmeanshasreducedthecottonstatisticsofhisownneighbourhoodtotheclosestapproximation:——”’Eachrealandmechanicalhorse-powerwilldrive450self-actingmulespindleswithpreparation，or200throstlespindles，or15loomsfor40

inchescloth，withwinding，warping，andsizing。Eachhorse-powerinspinningwillgiveemploymentto21/2operatives，butinweavingto10persons，atwagesaveragingfull10s。6d。aweektoeachperson……Theaveragecountsofyarnspunandwovenarefrom30s。to32s。twist，and34s。to36s。weftyarns；andtakingthespinningproductionat13ouncesperspindleperweek，willgive824，700lbs。yarnspunperweek，requiring970，000lbs。or2，300balesofcotton，atacostof£；28，300……Thetotalcottonconsumedinthisdistrict(withinafive-mileradiusroundBlackburn)perweekis1，530，000lbs。，or3，650bales，atacostof£；44，625……

Thisisone-eighteenthofthewholecottonspinningoftheUnitedKingdom，andone-sixthofthewholepower-loomweaving。’”Thusweseethat，accordingtoMr。Baynes’scalculations，thetotalnumberofcottonspindlesintheUnitedKingdomis28，800，000，andsupposingthesetobealwaysworkingfulltime，thattheannualconsumptionofcottonoughttobe1，432，080，000lbs。Butastheimportofcotton，lesstheexportin1856and1857，wasonly1，022，576，832lbs。，theremustnecessarilybeadeficiencyofsupplyequalto409，503，168lbs。Mr。Baynes，however，whohasbeengoodenoughtocommunicatewithmeonthissubject，thinksthatanannualconsumptionofcottonbaseduponthequantityusedintheBlackburndistrictwouldbeliabletobeovercharged，owingtothedifference，notonlyinthecountsspun，butintheexcellenceofthemachinery。HeestimatesthetotalannualconsumptionofcottonintheUnitedKingdomat1，000，000，000

lbs。Butifheisright，andtherereallyisanexcessofsupplyequalto22，576，832lbs。，supplyanddemandseemtobenearlybalancedalready，withouttakingintoconsiderationthoseadditionalspindlesandloomswhichMr。Baynesspeaksofasgettingreadyforworkinhisowndistrict，and，byparityofreasoning，probablyinotherdistrictsalso”(pp。59，60)。

III。GENERALILLUSTRATION。THECOTTONCRISISOF

1861-65

PreliminaryHistory。1845-60

1845。Thegoldenageofcottonindustry。Priceofcottonverylow。L。Hornersaysonthispoint:”ForthelasteightyearsIhavenotknownsoactiveastateoftradeashasprevailedduringthelastsummerandautumn，particularlyincottonspinning。Throughoutthehalf-yearI

havebeenreceivingnoticeseveryweekofnewinvestmentsofcapitalinfactories，eitherintheformofnewmillsbeingbuilt，ofthefewthatwereuntenantedfindingoccupiers，ofenlargementsofexistingmills，ofnewenginesofincreasedpower，andofmanufacturingmachinery。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1845，p。13。)

1846。Thecomplaintsbegin:”ForaconsiderabletimepastIhaveheardfromtheoccupiersofcottonmillsverygeneralcomplaintsofthedepressedstateoftheirtrade……forwithinthelastsixweeksseveralmillshavebeguntoworkshorttime，usuallyeighthoursadayinsteadoftwelve；thisappearstobeontheincrease……Therehasbeenagreatadvanceinthepriceoftherawmaterial……therehasbeennotonlynoadvanceinthemanufacturedarticles，but……pricesarelowerthantheywerebeforetheriseincottonbegan。Fromthegreatincreaseinthenumberofcottonmillswithinthelastfouryears，theremusthavebeen，ontheonehand，agreatlyincreaseddemandfortherawmaterial，and，ontheother，agreatlyincreasedsupplyinthemarketofthemanufacturedarticles；

causesthatmustconcurrentlyhaveoperatedagainstprofits，supposingthesupplyoftherawmaterialandtheconsumptionofthemanufacturedarticletohaveremainedunaltered；but，ofcourse，inthegreaterratiobythelateshortsupplyofcotton，andthefallingoffinthedemandforthemanufacturedarticlesinseveralmarkets，bothhomeandforeign。(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1846，p。10。)

Therisingdemandforrawmaterialsnaturallywenthandinhandwithamarketfloodedwithmanufactures。Bytheway，theexpansionofindustryatthattimeandthesubsequentstagnationwerenotconfinedtothecottondistricts。ThecardedwooldistrictofBradfordhadonly318factoriesin1836and490in1846。Thesefiguresdonotbyanymeansexpresstheactualgrowthofproduction，sincetheexistingfactorieswerealsoconsiderablyenlarged。Thiswasparticularlytrueoftheflaxspinning-mills。”Allhavecontributedmoreorless，duringthelasttenyears，totheoverstockingofthemarket，towhichagreatpartofthepresentstagnationoftrademustbeattributed……Thedepression……naturallyresultsfromsuchrapidincreaseofmillsandmachinery。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1846，p。30。)

1847。InOctober，amoneypanic。Discount8%。ThiswasprecededbythedebacleoftherailwayswindleandtheEastIndianspeculationinaccommodationbills。But:”Mr。Bakerentersintoveryinterestingdetailsrespectingtheincreaseddemand，inthelastfewyears，forcotton，wool，andflax，owingtothegreatextensionofthesetrades。Heconsiderstheincreaseddemandfortheserawmaterials，occurring，asithas，ataperiodwhentheproducehasfallenmuchbelowanaveragesupply，asalmostsufficient，evenwithoutreferencetothemonetaryderangement，toaccountforthepresentstateofthesebranches。Thisopinionisfullyconfirmed，bymyownobservations，andconversationwithpersonswellacquaintedwithtrade。Thoseseveralbrancheswereallinaverydepressedstate，whilediscountswerereadilyobtainedatandunder5percent。Thesupplyofrawsilkhas，onthecontrary，beenabundant，thepricesmoderate，andthetrade，consequently，veryactive，til……thelasttwoorthreeweeks，whenthereisnodoubtthemonetaryderangementhasaffectednotonlythepersonsactuallyengagedinthemanufacture，butmoreextensivelystill，themanufacturersoffancygoods，whoweregreatcustomerstothethrowster。Areferencetopublishedreturnsshowsthatthecottontradehadincreasednearly27percentinthelastthreeyears。Cottonhasconsequentlyincreased，inroundnumbers，from4d。to6d。perlb。，whiletwist，inconsequenceoftheincreasedsupply，isyetonlyafractionaboveitsformerprice。Thewoollentradebeganitsincreasein1836，sincewhichYorkshirehasincreaseditsmanufactureofthisarticle40percent，butScotlandexhibitsayetgreaterincrease。Theincreaseoftheworstedtrade[18]isstilllarger。Calculationsgivearesultofupwardsof74percentincreasewithinthesameperiod。Theconsumptionofrawwoolhasthereforebeenimmense。Flaxhasincreasedsince1839about25percentinEngland，第一章

percentinScotland，andnearly90percentinIreland[19]；

theconsequenceofthis，inconnexionwithbadcrops，hasbeenthattherawmaterialhasgoneup£；10perton，whilethepriceofyarnhasfallen6d。abundle。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1847，pp。30-3t。)

1849。Sincelatein1848businessrevived。”Thepriceofflaxwhichhasbeensolowastoalmostguaranteeareasonableprofitunderanyfuturecircumstances，hasinducedthemanufacturerstocarryontheirworkverysteadily……Thewoollenmanufacturerswereexceedinglybusyforawhileintheearlypartoftheyear……Ifearthatconsignmentsofwoollengoodsoftentaketheplaceofrealdemand，andthatperiodsofapparentprosperity，i。e。，offullwork，arenotalwaysperiodsoflegitimatedemand。

Insomemonthstheworstedhasbeenexceedinglygood，infactflourishing……

Atthecommencementoftheperiodreferredto，woolwasexceedinglylow；

whatwasboughtbythespinnerswaswellbought，andnodoubtinconsiderablequantities。Whenthepriceofwoolrosewiththespringwoolsales，thespinnerhadtheadvantage，andthedemandformanufacturedgoodsbecomingconsiderableandimperative，theykeptit。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1849，p。42。)”Ifwelookatthevariationsinthestateoftrade，whichhaveoccurredinthemanufacturingdistrictsofthekingdomforaperiodnowofbetweenthreeandfouryears，Ithinkwemustadmittheexistenceofagreatdisturbingcausesomewhere……butmaynottheimmenselyproductivepowerofincreasedmachineryhaveaddedanotherelementtothesamecause？”(ReportsofInsp。

ofFact。，April1849，pp。42，43。)

InNovember1848，andinMayandsummerof1849，rightuptoOctober，businessflourished。”Theworstedstuffoftrade，ofwhichBradfordandHalifaxarethegreathivesofindustry，hasbeentheonemostactive；

thistradehasneverbeforereachedanythingliketheextent，towhichithasnowattained……Speculation，anduncertaintyastotheprobablesupplyofcottonwool，haveeverhadtheeffectofcausinggreaterexcitement，andmorefrequentalterationsinthestateofthatbranchofmanufacture，thananyother。Thereis……atpresentanaccumulationinstockofthecoarserkindsofcottongoods，whichcreatesanxietyonthepartofthesmallerspinners，andisalreadyactingtotheirdetriment，havingcausedseveralofthemtoworktheirmillsshorttime。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1849，pp。64-65。)

1850。April。Businesscontinuedbrisk。Theexception:”Thegreatdepressioninapartofthecottontrade……attributabletothescarcityinthesupplyoftherawmaterialmoreespeciallyadaptedtothebranchengagedinspinninglownumbersofcottonyarns，ormanufacturingheavycottongoods。Afearisentertainedthattheincreasedmachinerybuiltrecentlyfortheworstedtrade，maybefollowedwithasimilarreaction。

Mr。Bakercomputesthatintheyear1849alonetheworstedloomshaveincreasedtheirproduce40percent，andthespindles25or30percent，andtheyarestillincreasingatthesamerate。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1850，p。54。)

1850。October。”Thehighpriceofrawcottoncontinues……tocauseaconsiderabledepressioninthisbranchofmanufacture，especiallyinthosedescriptionsofgoodsinwhichtherawmaterialconstitutesaconsiderablepartofthecostofproduction……Thegreatadvanceinthepriceofrawsilkhaslikewisecausedadepressioninmanybranchesofthatmanufacture。”(Reports。ofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1850，p。14。)

Andonpages31and33ofthesamereportwelearnthattheCommitteeoftheRoyalSocietyforthePromotionandImprovementoftheGrowthofFlaxinIrelandpredictedthatthehighpriceofflax，togetherwiththelowlevelofpricesforotheragriculturalproducts，ensuredaconsiderableincreaseinflaxproductionintheensuingyear。

1853。April。Greatprosperity。L。Hornersaysinhisreport:”AtnoperiodduringthelastseventeenyearsthatIhavebeenofficiallyacquaintedwiththemanufacturingdistrictsinLancashirehaveIknownsuchgeneralprosperity；theactivityineverybranchisextraordinary。”

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1853，p。19。)

1853。October。Depressioninthecottonindustry。”Over-production。”

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1853，p。15。)

1854。April。”Thewoollentrade，althoughnotbrisk，hasgivenfullemploymenttoallthefactoriesengageduponthatfabric，andasimilarremarkappliestothecottonfactories。Theworstedtradegenerallyhasbeeninanuncertainandunsatisfactoryconditionduringthewholeofthelasthalf-year……Themanufactureofflaxandhemparemorelikelytobeseriouslyimpeded，byreasonofthediminishedsuppliesoftherawmaterialsfromRussiaduetotheCrimeanwar。”(ReportsofInsp。

ofFact。，April1854，p。37。)

1859。”ThetradeintheScottishflaxdistrictsstillcontinuesdepressed——therawmaterialbeingscarce，aswellashighinprice；andtheinferiorqualityofthelastyear’scropintheBaltic，fromwhencecomeourprincipalsupplies，willhaveaninjuriouseffectonthetradeofthedistrict；jute，however，whichisgraduallysupersedingflaxinmanyofthecoarserfabrics，isneitherunusuallyhighinprice，norscarceinquantity……aboutone-halfofthemachineryinDundeeisnowemployedinjutespinning。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1859，p。19。)-”Owingtothehighpriceoftherawmaterial，flaxspinningisstillfarfromremunerating，andwhilealltheothermillsaregoingfulltime，thereareseveralinstancesofthestoppageofflaxmachinery……Jutespinningis……inarathermoresatisfactorystate，owingtotherecentdeclineinthepriceofmaterial，whichhasnowfallentoaverymoderatepoint。”

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1859，p。20。)

1861-64。AmericanCivilWar。CottonFamine。TheGreatestExampleofanInterruptionintheProductionProcessthroughScarcityandDearnessofRawMaterial1860。April。”Withrespecttothestateoftrade，Iamhappytobeabletoinformyouthat，notwithstandingthehighpriceofrawmaterial，allthetextilemanufactures，withtheexceptionofsilk，havebeenfairlybusyduringthepasthalf-year……Insomeofthecottondistrictshandshavebeenadvertisedfor，andhavemigratedthitherfromNorfolkandotherruralcounties……Thereappearstobe，ineverybranchoftrade，agreatscarcityofrawmaterial。Itis……thewantofitalone，whichkeepsuswithinbounds。Inthecottontrade，theerectionofnewmills，theformationofnewsystemsofextension，andthedemandforhands，canscarcely，I

think，havebeenatanytimeexceeded。Everywheretherearenewmovementsinsearchofrawmaterial。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1860，p。

57。)

1860。October。”Thestateoftradeinthecotton，woollen，andflaxdistrictsasbeengood；indeedinIreland，itisstatedtohavebeen’verygood’fornowmorethanayear；andthatitwouldhavebeenstillbetter，butforthehighpriceofrawmaterial。TheflaxspinnersappeartobelookingwithmoreanxietythanevertotheopeningoutofIndiabyrailways，andtothedevelopmentofitsagriculture，forasupplyofflaxwhichmaybecommensuratewiththeirwants。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1860，p。37。)

1861。April。”Thestateoftradeisatpresentdepressed……A

fewcottonmillsarerunningshorttime，andmanysilkmillsareonlypartiallyemployed。Rawmaterialishigh。Inalmosteverybranchoftextilemanufactureitisabovethepriceatwhichitcanbemanufacturedforthemassesoftheconsumers。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1861，p。33。)

Ithadbecomeevidentthatin1860thecottonindustryhadoverproduced。

Theeffectofthismadeitselffeltduringthenextfewyears。”Ithastakenbetweentwoandthreeyearstoabsorbtheover-productionof1860

inthemarketsoftheworld。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，December1863，p。127。)”ThedepressedstateofthemarketsforcottonmanufacturesintheEast，earlyin1860，hadacorrespondingeffectuponthetradeofBlackburn，inwhich30，000power-loomsareusuallyemployedalmostexclusivelyintheproductionofclothtobeconsumedintheEast。Therewasconsequentlybutalimiteddemandforlabourformanymonthspriortotheeffectsofthecottonblockadebeingfelt……Fortunatelythispreservedmanyofthespinnersandmanufacturersfrombeinginvolvedinthecommonruin。Stocksincreasedinvaluesolongastheywereheld，andtherehadbeenconsequentlynothinglikethatalarmingdepreciationinthevalueofpropertywhichmightnotunreasonablyhavebeenlookedforinsuchacrisis。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1862，pp。29，31。)

1861。October。”Tradehasbeenforsometimeinaverydepressedstate……Itisnotimprobableindeedthatduringthewintermonthsmanyestablishmentswillbefoundtoworkveryshorttime。Thismight，however，havebeenanticipated……irrespectiveofthecauseswhichhaveinterruptedourusualsuppliesofcottonfromAmericaandourexports，shorttimemusthavebeenkeptduringtheensuingwinterinconsequenceofthegreatincreaseofproductionduringthelastthreeyears，andtheunsettledstateoftheIndianandChinesemarkets。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1861，p。

19。)CottonWaste。EastIndianCotton(Surat)。InfluenceontheWagesofLabourers。ImprovementofMachinery。AddingStarchFlourandMineralSubstitutestoCotton。EffectofStarchFlourSizingonLabourers。ManufacturersofFinerYarnGrades。Manufacturers’Fraud”Amanufacturerwritestomethus:’Astoestimatesofconsumptionperspindle，Idoubtifyoutakesufficientlyintocalculationthefactthatwhencottonishighinprice，everyspinnerofordinaryyarns(sayupto40s。)(principally12s。to32s。)willraisehiscountsasmuchashecan，thatis，willspin16s。whereheusedtospin12s。，or22s。intheplaceof16s。，andsoon；andthemanufacturerusingthesefineyarnswillmakehiscloththeusualweightbytheadditionofsomuchmoresize。Thetradeisavailingitselfofthisresourceatpresenttoanextentwhichisevendiscreditable。Ihaveheardongoodauthorityofordinaryexportshirtingweighing8lbs。whichwasmadeof51/4lbs。cottonand23/4lbs。size……Inclothsofotherdescriptionsasmuchas50percentsizeissometimesadded；sothatamanufacturermayanddoestrulyboastthatheisgettingrichbysellingclothforlessmoneyperpoundthanhepaidforthemereyarnofwhichtheyarecomposed。”’

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1864，p。27。)”IhavealsoreceivedstatementsthattheweaversattributeincreasedsicknesstothesizewhichisusedindressingthewarpsofSuratcotton，andwhichisnotmadeofthesamematerialasformerly，viz。，flour。Thissubstituteforflourissaid，however，tohavetheveryimportantadvantageofincreasinggreatlytheweightoftheclothmanufactured，making15lbs。

oftherawmaterialtoweigh20lbs。whenwovenintocloth。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863。Thissubstitutewasgroundtalcum，calledChinaclay，orgypsum，calledFrenchchalk。)”Theearningsoftheweavers(meaningtheoperatives)aremuchreducedfromtheemploymentofsubstitutesforflourassizingforwarps。Thissizing，whichgivesweighttotheyarn，rendersithardandbrittle。Eachthreadofthewarpintheloompassesthroughapartoftheloomcalled’aheald’，whichconsistsofstrongthreadstokeepthewarpinitsproperplace，andthehardstateofthewarpcausesthethreadsofthehealdtobreakfrequently；anditissaidtotakeaweaverfiveminutestotieupthethreadseverytimetheybreak；andaweaverhastopiecetheseendsatleasttentimesasoftenasformerly，thusreducingtheproductivepowersoftheloomintheworking-hours。”

(Ibid。，pp。42-43。)”InAshton，Stalybridge，Mossley，Oldham，etc。，thereductionofthetimehasbeenfullyone-third，andthehoursarelesseningeveryweek……

Simultaneouslywiththisdiminutionoftimethereisalsoareductionofwagesinmanydepartments。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1861，pp。

12-13。)Earlyin1861therewasastrikeamongthemechanicalweaversinsomepartsofLancashire。Severalmanufacturershadannouncedawagereductionof5to7。5%。Theoperativesinsistedthatthewagescaleremainthesamewhileworking-hourswerereduced。Thiswasnotgranted，andastrikewascalled。Amonthlater，theoperativeshadtogivein。Butthentheygotboth。”Inadditiontothereductionofwagestowhichtheoperativesatlastconsented，manymillsarenowrunningshorttime。”(ReportsofInsp。

ofFact。，April1861，p。23:)

1862。April。”Thesufferingsoftheoperativessincethedateofmylastreporthavegreatlyincreased；butatnoperiodofthehistoryofmanufactures，havesufferingssosuddenandsoseverebeenbornewithsomuchsilentresignationandsomuchpatientself-respect。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1862，p。10。)”Theproportionatenumberofoperativeswhollyoutofemploymentatthisdateappearsnottobemuchlargerthanitwasin1848，whentherewasanordinarypanicofsufficientconsequencestoexcitealarmamongstthemanufacturers，somuchastowarrantthecollectionofsimilarstatisticsofthestateofthecottontradeasarenowissuedweekly……InMay1848，theproportionofcottonoperativesoutofworkinManchesteroutofthewholenumberusuallyemployedwas15percent，onshorttime12percent，whilst70percentwereinfullwork。Onthe28thofMayofthepresentyear，ofthewholenumberofpersonsusuallyemployed15percentwereoutofwork，35percentwereonshorttime，and49percentwereworkingfulltime……Insomeotherplaces，Stockportforexample，theaveragesofshorttimeandofnon-employmentarehigher，whilstthoseoffulltimeareless”，becausecoarsernumbersarespuntherethaninManchester(p。16)。

1862。October。”IfindbythelastreturntoParliamentthattherewere2，887cottonfactoriesintheUnitedKingdomin1861，2，109

ofthembeinginmydistrict(LancashireandCheshire)。Iwasawarethataverylargeproportionofthe2，109factoriesinmydistrictweresmallestablishments，givingemploymenttofewpersons，butIhavebeensurprisedtofindhowlargethatproportionis。In392，or19percent，thesteam-engineorwaterwheelisunder10horse-power；in345，or16percent，thehorsepowerisabove10andunder20；andin1，372thepoweris20horsesandmore……

Averylargeproportionofthesesmallmanufacturers-beingmorethanathirdofthewholenumber——wereoperativesthemselvesatnodistantperiod；theyaremenwithoutcommandofcapital……Thebruntoftheburdenthenwouldhavetobebornebytheremainingtwo-thirds。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1862，pp。18，19。)

Accordingtothesamereport，40，146，or11。3%，ofthecottonemployeesinLancashireandCheshirewerethenworkingfulltime；134，767，or38%，wereworkingshorttime；and179，721，or50。7%，wereunemployed。AfterdeductingthereturnsfromManchesterandBolton，wheremainlyfinegradeswerespun，alinerelativelylittleaffectedbythecottonfamine，thematterlooksstillmoreunfavourable；namely，fullyemployed8。5%，partlyemployed38%，andunemployed53。5%(pp。19and20)。”Workingupgoodorbadcottonmakesamaterialdifferencetotheoperative。

Intheearlierpartoftheyear，whenmanufacturerswereendeavouringtokeeptheirmillsatworkbyusingupallthemoderatelypricedcottontheycouldobtain，muchbadcottonwasbroughtintomillsinwhichgoodcottonwasordinarilyused，andthedifferencetotheoperativesinwageswassogreatthatmanystrikestookplaceonthegroundthattheycouldnotmakeafairday’swagesattheoldrates……Insomecases，althoughworkingfulltime，thedifferenceinwagesfromworkingbadcottonwasasmuchasone-half”(p。27)。

1863。April。”Duringthepresentyeartherewillnotbefullemploymentformuchmorethanone-halfofthecottonoperativesinthecountry。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1863，p。14。)”AveryseriousobjectiontotheuseofSuratcotton，asmanufacturersarenowcompelledtouseit，isthatthespeedofthemachinerymustbegreatlyreducedintheprocessesofmanufacture。Forsomeyearspasteveryefforthasbeenmadetoincreasethespeedofmachinery，inordertomakethesamemachineryproducemorework；andthereductionofthespeedbecomesthereforeaquestionwhichaffectstheoperativeaswellasthemanufacturer；

forthechiefpartoftheoperativesarepaidbytheworkdone；forinstance，spinnersarepaidperlb。fortheyarnspun，weaversperpieceforthenumberofpieceswoven；andevenwiththeotherclassesofoperativespaidbytheweektherewouldbeadiminutionofwagesinconsiderationofthelessamountofgoodsproduced。FrominquiriesIhavemade，andstatementsplacedinmyhands，oftheearningsofcottonoperativesduringthepresentyear，Ifindthereisadiminutionaveraging20percentupontheirformerearnings，insomeinstancesthediminutionhasbeenasmuchas50percent，calculateduponthesamerateofwagesasprevailedin1861”(p。13)。”……Thesumearneddependsupon……thenatureofthematerialoperatedupon……

Thepositionoftheoperativesinregardtotheamountoftheirearningsisverymuchbetternow(October1863)thanitwasthistimelastyear。

Machineryhasimproved，thematerialisbetterunderstood，andtheoperativesareablebettertoovercomethedifficultiestheyhadtocontendwithatfirst。Irememberbeinginasewingschool(acharityinstitutionforunemployed)

atPrestonlastspring，whentwoyoungwomen，whohadbeensenttoworkataweavingshedthedaybefore，upontherepresentationofthemanufacturerthattheycouldearn4s。perweek，returnedtotheschooltobereadmitted，complainingthattheycouldnothaveearned1s。perweek。Ihavebeeninformedof’self-actingminders’……menwhomanageapairofself-actingmules，earningattheendofafortnight’sfullwork8s。11d。，andthatfromthissumwasdeductedtherentofthehouse，themanufacturer，however，returninghalftherentasagift。(Howgenerous！)Theminderstookawaythesumof6s。11d。Inmanyplacestheself-actingmindersrangedfrom5s。to9s。

perweek，andtheweaversfrom2s。to6s。perweekinthelastmonthsof1862……Atthepresenttimeamuchmorehealthystateofthingsexists，althoughthereisstillagreatdecreaseintheearningsinmostdistricts……

Thereareseveralcauseswhichhavetendedtothereductionofearnings，besidestheshorterstapleoftheSuratcottonanditsdirtycondition；

forinstance，itisnowthepracticetomix’waste’largelywithSurat，whichconsequentlyincreasesthedifficultiesofthespinnerorminder。

Thethreads，fromtheirshortnessoffibre，aremoreliabletobreakinthedrawingoutofthemuleandinthetwistingoftheyarn，andthemulecannotbekeptsocontinuouslyinmotion……Then，fromthegreatattentionrequiredinwatchingthethreadsinweaving，manyweaverscanonlymindoneloom，andveryfewcanmindmorethantwolooms……Therehasbeenadirectreductionof5，71/2and10percentuponthewagesoftheoperatives……Inthemajorityofcasestheoperativehastomakethebestofhismaterial，andtoearnthebestwageshecanattheordinaryrates……Anotherdifficultytheweavershavesometimestocontendwithis，thattheyareexpectedtoproducewell-finishedclothfrominferiormaterials，andaresubjecttofinefortheflawsintheirwork。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863，pp。41-43。)

Wagesweremiserable，evenwhereworkwasfulltime。Thecottonworkerswillinglyofferedthemselvesforallpublicworkssuchasdrainage，road-building，stone-breakingandstreet-paving，inwhichtheywereemployed，togettheirkeepfromtheauthorities(althoughthispracticallyamountedtoassistancetothemanufacturer。SeeBookI，S。598/589[Englishedition:pp。574-75——

Ed。])。Thewholebourgeoisiestoodguardoverthelabourers。

Weretheworstdog’swagesoffered，andalabourerrefusedtoacceptthem，theReliefCommitteewouldstrikehimfromitslists。Itwasinawayagoldenageforthemanufacturers，forthelabourershadeithertostarveorworkatapricemostprofitableforthebourgeois。TheReliefCommitteesactedaswatch-dogs。Atthesametime，themanufacturersactedinsecretagreementwiththegovernmenttohinderemigrationasmuchaspossible，partlytoretaininreadinessthecapitalinvestedinthefleshandbloodofthelabourers，andpartlytosafeguardthehouse-rentsqueezedoutofthelabourers。”TheReliefCommitteesactedwithgreatstrictnessuponthispoint。

Ifworkwasoffered，theoperativestowhomitwasproposedwerestruckoffthelists，andthuscompelledtoaccepttheoffer。Whentheyobjectedtoacceptwork……thecausehasbeenthattheirearningswouldhavebeenmerelynominal，andtheworkexceedinglysevere。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863，p。97。)

TheoperativeswerewillingtoperformanyworkgiventothemunderthePublicWorksAct。”Theprincipleuponwhichindustrialemploymentswereorganisedvariedconsiderablyindifferenttowns，butinthoseplaceseveninwhichtheoutdoorworkwasnotabsolutelyalabourtestthemannerinwhichlabourwasremuneratedbyitsbeingpaidforeitherattheexactrateofrelief，orcloselyapproximatingtherate，itbecameinfactalabourtest”(p。69)。”ThePublicWorksActof1863wasintendedtoremedythisinconvenience，andtoenabletheoperativetoearnhisday’swagesasanindependentlabourer。ThepurposeofthisActwasthree-fold:firstly，toenablelocalauthoritiestoborrowmoneyoftheExchequerLoanCommissioners(withconsentofthePresidentoftheCentralReliefCommittee)；secondly，tofacilitatetheimprovementofthetownsofthecottondistricts；thirdly，toprovideworkandremunerativewagestotheunemployedoperatives。”Loanstotheamountof£；883，700hadbeengrantedunderthisActuptotheendofOctober1863(p。70)。Theworksundertakenweremainlycanalisation，road-building，street-paving，water-worksreservoirs，etc。

Mr。Henderson，presidentofthecommitteeinBlackburn，wrotewithreferencetothistofactoryinspectorRedgrave:”Nothinginmyexperience，duringthepresentperiodofsufferinganddistress，hasstruckmemoreforciblyorgivenmemoresatisfaction，thanthecheerfulalacritywithwhichtheunemployedoperativesofthisdistricthaveacceptedoftheworkofferedtothemthroughtheadoptionofthePublicWorksAct，bytheCorporationofBlackburn。Agreatercontrastthanthatpresentedbetweenthecottonspinnerasaskilledworkmaninafactory，andasalabourerinasewer14or18feetdeep，canscarcelybeconceived。”(Dependingonthesizeofhisfamily，heearned4to12s。perweek，thisenormousamountprovidingsometimesforafamilyofeight。Thetowns-menderivedadoubleprofitfromthis。Inthefirstplace，theysecuredmoneytoimprovetheirsmokyandneglectedcitiesatexceptionallylowinterestrates。Inthesecondplace，theypaidthelabourersfarlessthantheregularwage。)”Accustomedashehadbeentoatemperatureallbuttropical，toworkatwhichagilityanddelicacyofmanipulationavailedhiminfinitelymorethanmuscularstrengthandtodoubleandsometimestrebletheremunerationwhichitispossibleforhimnowtoobtain，hisreadyacceptanceoftheprofferedemploymentinvolvedanamountofself-denialandconsiderationtheexerciseofwhichismostcreditable。InBlackburnthemenhavebeentestedatalmosteveryvarietyofoutdoorwork；inexcavatingastiffheavyclaysoiltoaconsiderabledepth，indraining，instone-breaking，inroad-making，andinexcavatingforstreetsewerstoadepthof14，16，andsometimes20feet。Inmanycaseswhilethusemployedtheyarestandinginmudandwatertothedepthof10or12inches，andinalltheyareexposedtoaclimatewhich，forchillyhumidityisnotsurpassedIsuppose，evenifitisequalled，bythatofanydistrictinEngland”(pp。91-92)。”Theconductoftheoperativeshasbeenalmostblameless，andtheirreadinesstoacceptandmakethebestofoutdoorlabour”(p。69)。

1864。April。”Complaintsareoccasionallymadeindifferentdistrictsatthescarcityofhands，butthisdeficiencyischieflyfeltinparticulardepartments，as，forinstanceofweavers……Thesecomplaintshavetheiroriginasmuchfromthelowrateofwageswhichthehandscanearnowingtotheinferiorqualitiesofyarnused，asfromanypositivescarcityofwork-peopleeveninthatparticulardepartment。Numerousdifferenceshavetakenplaceduringthepastmonthbetweenthemastersofparticularmillsandtheiroperativesinrespectofthewages。Strikes，Iamsorrytosay，arebuttoofrequentlyresortedto，……theeffectofthePublicWorksActisfeltasacompetitionbythemill-owners。ThelocalcommitteeatBacuphassuspendedoperations，foralthoughallthemillsarenotrunning，yetascarcityofhandshasbeenexperienced。”(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，April1864，pp。9，10。)Itwasindeedhightimeforthemanufacturers。

DuetothePublicWorksActthedemandforlabourgrewsostrongthatmanyafactoryhandwasearning4to5shillingsdailyinthequarriesofBacup。

Andsothepublicworksweregraduallysuspended-thisneweditionoftheAteliersnationauxof1848，butthistimeinstitutedintheinterestsofthebourgeoisie。Experimentsincorporevili”AlthoughIhavegiventheactualearningsoftheoperatives(fullyemployed)inseveralmills，itdoesnotfollowthattheyearnthesameamountweekbyweek。Theoperativesaresubjecttogreatfluctuation，fromtheconstantexperimentalisingofthemanufacturersupondifferentkindsandproportionsofcottonand，wasteinthesamemill，the’mixings’asitiscalled，beingfrequentlychanged；andtheearningsoftheoperativesriseandfallwiththequalityofthecottonmixings；sometimestheyhavebeenwithin15percentofformerearnings，andtheninaweekortwo，theyhavefallenfrom50to60percent。”InspectorRedgrave，whomakesthisreport，thenproceedstocitewagefigurestakenfromactualpractice，ofwhichthefollowingexamplesmaysuffice:

A，weaver，familyof6，employed4daysaweek，6s。8。5d。；B，twister，employed4。5daysaweek，6s。；C，weaver，familyof4，employed5daysaweek，5s。1d。；D，slubber，familyof6，employed4daysaweek，7s。10d。；

E，weaver，familyof7，employed3daysaweek，5s。，etc。Redgravecontinues:”Theabovereturnsaredeservingofconsideration，fortheyshowthatworkwouldbecomeamisfortuneinmanyafamily，asitnotmerelyreducestheincome，butbringsitsolowastobeutterlyinsufficienttoprovidemorethanasmallportionoftheabsolutewants，wereitnotthatsupplementalreliefisgrantedtooperativeswhenthewagesofthefamilydonotreachthesumthatwouldbegiventothemasrelief，iftheywereallunemployed。”

(ReportsofInsp。ofFact。，Oct。1863，pp。50-53。)”Innoweeksincethe5thofJunelastwastheremorethantwodayssevenhoursandafewminutesemploymentforalltheworkers。”(Ibid。，p。121。)

FromthebeginningofthecrisistoMarch25，1863，nearlythreemillionpoundssterlingwereexpendedbytheguardians，theCentralReliefCommittee，andtheMansionHouseCommittee。(Ibid。，p。13。)”Inadistrictinwhichthefinestyarnisspun……thespinnerssufferanindirectreductionof15percentinconsequenceofthechangefromSouthSeaIslandtoEgyptiancotton……Inanextensivedistrict，inmanypartsofwhichwasteislargelyusedasamixturewithSurat……thespinnershavehadareductionof5percent，andhavelostfrom20to30percentinaddition，throughworkingSuratandwaste。Theweaversarereducedfrom4loomsto2looms。In1860，theyaveraged5s。7d。perloom，in1863，only3s。4d。Thefines，whichformerlyvariedfrom3d。to6d。(fortheweaver)

onAmerican，nowrunuptofrom1s。to3s。6d。”Inonedistrict，whereEgyptiancottonwasusedwithanadmixtureofEastIndian”theaverageofthemulespinners，whichwasin186018s。to25s。，nowaveragesfrom10s。to18s。perweek，caused，inadditiontoinferiorcotton，bythereductionofthespeedofthemuletoputanextraamountoftwistintheyarn，whichinordinarytimeswouldbepaidforaccordingtolist”(pp。43，44)。”AlthoughtheIndiancottonmayhavebeenworkedtoprofitbythemanufacturer，itwillbeseen(seethewagelistonp。53)thattheoperativesaresuffererscomparedwith1861，andiftheuseofSuratbeconfirmed，theoperativeswillwanttoearnthewagesof1861，whichwouldseriouslyaffecttheprofitsofthemanufacturer，unlessheobtaincompensationeitherinthepriceoftherawcottonorofhisproducts”(p。105)。

House-Rent。”Therentisfrequentlydeductedfromthewagesofoperatives，evenwhenworkingshorttime，bythemanufacturerswhosecottagestheymaybeoccupying。Neverthelessthevalueofthisclassofpropertyhasdiminished，andhousesmaybeobtainedatareductionoffrom25to50percentupontherentofthehousesinordinarytimes；forinstance，acottagewhichwouldhavecost3s。6d。perweekcannowbehadfor2s。

4d。perweek，andsometimesevenforless”(p。57)。

Emigration。Theemployerswerenaturallyopposedtoemigrationoflabourers，because，ontheonehand，”lookingforwardtotherecoveryofthecottontradefromitspresentdepression，theykeepwithintheirreachthemeanswherebytheirmillscanbeworkedinthemostadvantageousmanner”。Ontheotherhand，”manymanufacturersareownersofthehousesinwhichoperativesemployedintheirmillsreside，andsomeunquestionablyexpecttoobtainaportionofthebackrentowing”(p。96)。

Mr。BernallOsbornesaidinaspeechtohisparliamentaryconstituentsonOctober22，1864，thatthelabourersofLancashirehadbehavedliketheancientphilosophers——(Stoics)。Notlikesheep？

FOOTNOTES[13]TheFactoryQuestionandtheTenHours’BillbyR。H。Greg，London，1837，p。115。

[14]Thereporterrsinthefinalsentence。Insteadof6d。itshouldbe3d。

forlossthroughwaste。Thislossamountsto25%inthecaseofSurat，andonly121/2to15%inthecaseofAmericancotton，andthislatterismeant，thesamepercentagehavingbeencorrectlycalculatedforthepriceof5to6d。Itistrue，however，thatalsointhecaseofAmericancottonbroughttoEuropeduringthelatteryearsoftheCivilWartheproportionofwasteoftenroseconsiderablyhigherthanbefore——

F。E。

[15]ForexamplesseeBabbage[OntheEconomyofMachineryandManufactures，London，1832，pp。280-81-Ed。)，amongothers。Theusualexpedient——areductionofwages——isalsoemployedinthisinstance，sothatthiscontinualdepreciationactsquitecontrarytothedreamsofMr。Carey’s”harmoniousbrain”。

[16]Sincetheabovewaswritten(1865)，competitionontheworld-markethasbeenconsiderablyintensifiedbytherapiddevelopmentofindustryinallcivilisedcountries，especiallyinAmericaandGermany。Thefactthattherapidlyandenormouslyexpandingproductiveforcestodayoutgrowthecontrolofthelawsofthecapitalistmodeofcommodityexchange，withinwhichtheyaresupposedtooperate，impressesitselfmoreandmoreevenonthemindsofthecapitalists。Thisisdisclosedespeciallybytwosymptoms。

First，bythenewgeneralmaniaforaprotectivetariff，whichdiffersfromtheoldprotectionisminthatnowarticlesfitforexportarethosebestprotected。Andsecondly，bythetrustsofmanufacturersofwholespheresofproductionwhichregulateproduction，andthuspricesandprofits。Itgoeswithoutsayingthattheseexperimentsarepracticableonlysolongastheeconomicclimateisrelativefavourable。Thefirststormmustupsetthemandprovethat，althoughproductionassuredlyneedsregulation，itiscertainlynotthecapitalistclasswhichisfittedforthattask。Meanwhile，thetrustshavenoothermissionbuttoseetoitthatthelittlefishareswallowedbythebigfishstillmorerapidlythanbefore-F。E。

[17]Itgoeswithoutsayingthatwedonot，likeMr。Baker，explainthewoolcrisisof1857onthebasisofthedisproportionbetweenthepricesofrawmaterialandproduct。Thisdisproportionwasitselfbutasymptom，andthecrisiswasageneralone——F。E。

[18]AsharpdistinctionismadeinEnglandbetweenwoollenmanufacture，whichspinscardedyarnfromshortwoolandweavesit(maincentreLeeds)，andworstedmanufacture，whichmakesworstedyarnfromlongwoolandweavesit(mainseatBradford，inYorkshire)——F。E。

[19]Thisrapidexpansionofoutputofmachine-madelinenyarninIrelanddealtadeath-blowtoexportsoflinenmadeofhand-madeyarninGermany(Silesia，Lusatia，andWestphalia)——F。E。

Capital，Vol。3，Chapter7KarlMarxCAPITALVol。III

THEPROCESSOF

CAPITALISTPRODUCTIONASAWHOLEPartI

THECONVERSIONOFSURPLUS-VALUEINTOPROFITANDOFTHERATEOFSURPLUS-VALUE

INTOTHERATEOFPROFITCHAPTER7

SupplementaryRemarksSuppose，asisassumedinthispart，theamountofprofitinanyparticularsphereofproductionequalsthesumofthesurplus-valueproducedbythetotalcapitalinvestedinthatsphere。Eventhenthebourgeoiswillnotconsiderhisprofitasidenticalwithsurplus-value，i。e。，withunpaidsurplus-labour，and，tobesure，forthefollowingreasons:

1)Intheprocessofcirculationheforgetstheprocessofproduction。

Hethinksthatsurplus-valueismadewhenherealisesthevalueofcommodities，whichincludesrealisationoftheirsurplus-value。[Ablankspacewhichfollowsinthemanuscript，indicatesthatMarxintendedtodwellingreaterdetailonthispoint——F。E。]

2)Assumingauniformdegreeofexploitation，wehaveseenthatregardlessofallmodificationsoriginatinginthecreditsystem，regardlessofthecapitalists’effortstooutwitandcheatoneanother，and，lastly，regardlessofanyfavourablechoiceofthemarket——therateofprofitmaydifferconsiderably，dependingontheloworhighpricesofrawmaterialsandtheexperienceofthebuyer，ontherelativeproductivity，efficiencyandcheapnessofthemachinery，onthegreaterorlesserefficiencyoftheaggregatearrangementinthevariousstagesoftheproductiveprocess，eliminationofwaste，thesimplicityandefficiencyofmanagementandsupervision，etc。Inshort，giventhesurplus-valueforacertainvariablecapital，itstilldependsverymuchontheindividualbusinessacumenofthecapitalist，orofhismanagersandsalesmen，whetherthissamesurplus-valueisexpressedinagreaterorsmallerrateofprofit，andaccordinglyyieldsagreaterorsmalleramountofprofit。Letthesamesurplus-valueof£；1，000，theproductof£；1，000inwages，obtaininenterpriseAforaconstantcapitalof£；9，000，andinenterpriseBfor£；11，000。IncaseAwehavep’=1，000/10，000or10%。IncaseBwehavep’=1，000/12，000，or81/3%。ThetotalcapitalproducesrelativelymoreprofitinenterpriseAthaninB，becauseofahigherrateofprofit，althoughthevariablecapitaladvancedinbothcases=£；1，000andthesurplus-valueproducedbyeachlikewise=£；1，000，sothatinbothcasesthereexiststhesamedegreeofexploitationofthesamenumberoflabourers。Thisdifferenceinthepresentationofthesamemassofsurplus-value，orthedifferenceintheratesofprofit，andthereforeintheprofititself，whiletheexploitationoflabouristhesame，mayalsobeduetoothercauses。Still，itmayalsobeduewhollytoadifferenceinthebusinessacumenwithwhichbothestablishmentsarerun。Andthiscircumstancemisleadsthecapitalist，convinceshimthathisprofitsarenotduetoexploitinglabour，but，atleastinpart，tootherindependentcircumstances，andparticularlyhisindividualactivity。

Theanalysesinthisfirstpartdemonstratetheincorrectnessoftheview(Rodbertus[SocialeBriefeanvonKirchmann，DritterBrief:WiderlegungderRicardo’schenLehrevonderGrundrenteundBegrü；ndungeinerneuenRententheorie，Berlin，1851，S。125——Ed。])accordingtowhich(asdistinctfromground-rent，inwhichcase，forexample，theareaofrealestateremainsthesameandyettherentrises)achangeinthemagnitudeofanindividualcapitalissupposedtohavenoinfluenceontheratioofprofittocapital，andthusontherateofprofit，becauseifthemassofprofitshouldgrow，sodoesthemassofcapitaluponwhichitiscalculated，andviceversa。

Thisistrueonlyintwocases。First，when——assumingthatallothercircumstances，especiallytherateofsurplus-value，remainunchanged——

thereisachangeinthevalueofthatcommoditywhichisamoney-commodity。

(Thesameoccursinamerelynominalchangeofvalue，theriseorfallofmoretokensofvalue，otherconditionsbeingequal。)Letthetotalcapital=£；100，andtheprofit=£；20，therateofprofitbeing=20%。

Shouldgoldfallbyhalf，ordouble，thesamecapitalpreviouslyworthonly£；100，willbeworth£；200ifitfallsandtheprofitwillbeworth£；40，i。e。，itwillbeexpressedinsomuchmoneyinsteadoftheformer£；20；ifitrises，thecapitalof£；100willbeworthonly£；50，andtheprofitwillberepresentedbyaproduct，whosevaluewillbe£；10。Butineithercase200:40=50:10=100:20

=20%。Inalltheseexamplestherewould，however，havebeennoactualchangeinthemagnitudeofcapital-value，andonlyinthemoney-expressionofthesamevalueandthesamesurplus-value。Forthisreasons/C，ortherateofprofit，couldnotbeaffected。

Inthesecondcasethereisanactualchangeofmagnitudeinthevalue，butunaccompaniedbyachangeintheratioofvtoc；inotherwords，withaconstantrateofsurplus-valuetherelationofcapitalinvestedinlabour-power(variablecapitalconsideredasanindexoftheamountoflabour-powersetinmotion)tothecapitalinvestedinmeansofproductionremainsthesame。Underthesecircumstances，nomatterwhetherwehaveC，ornC，orC/n，e。g。，1，000，or2，000，or500，andtherateofprofitbeing20%，theprofit=200inthefirstcase，=400inthesecond，and=100inthethird。

But200:1，000=400:2，000=100:500=20%。Thatistosay，therateofprofitisunchanged，becausethecompositionofcapitalremainsthesameandisnotaffectedbythechangeinmagnitude。Therefore，anincreaseordecreaseintheamountofprofitshowsmerelyanincreaseordecreaseinthemagnitudeoftheinvestedcapital。

Inthefirstcasethereis，therefore，buttheappearanceofachangeinthemagnitudeoftheemployedcapital，whileinthesecondcasethereisanactualchangeinmagnitude，butnochangeintheorganiccompositionofthecapital，i。e。，intherelativeproportionsofitsvariableandconstantportions。Butwiththeexceptionofthesetwocases，achangeinthemagnitudeoftheemployedcapitaliseithertheresultofaprecedingchangeinthevalueofoneofitscomponents，andthereforeofachangeintherelativemagnitudeofthesecomponents(aslongasthesurplus-valueitselfdoesnotchangewiththevariablecapital)；or，thischangeofmagnitude(asinlabour-processesonalargescale，introductionofnewmachinery，etc。)isthecauseofachangeintherelativemagnitudeofitstwoorganiccomponents。Inallthesecases，othercircumstancesremainingthesame，achangeinthemagnitudeoftheemployedcapitalmustthereforebeaccompaniedsimultaneouslybyachangeintherateofprofit。

Ariseintherateofprofitisalwaysduetoarelativeorabsoluteincreaseofthesurplus-valueinrelationtoitscostofproduction，i。e。，totheadvancedtotalcapital，ortoadecreaseinthedifferencebetweentherateofprofitandtherateofsurplus-value。

Fluctuationsintherateofprofitmayoccurirrespectiveofchangesintheorganiccomponentsofthecapital，oroftheabsolutemagnitudeofthecapital，throughariseorfallinthevalueofthefixedorcirculatingadvancedcapitalcausedbyanincreaseorareductionoftheworking-timerequiredforitsreproduction，thisincreaseorreductiontakingplaceindependentlyofthealreadyexistingcapital。Thevalueofeverycommodity——thusalsoofthecommoditiesmakingupthecapital——isdeterminednotbythenecessarylabour-timecontainedinit，butbythesociallabour-timerequiredforitsreproduction。Thisreproductionmaytakeplaceunderunfavourableorunderpropitiouscircumstances，distinctfromtheconditionsoforiginalproduction。If，underalteredconditions，ittakesdoubleor，conversely，halfthetime，toreproducethesamematerialcapital，andifthevalueofmoneyremainsunchanged，acapitalformerlyworth£；100wouldbeworth£；200，or£；50respectively。Shouldthisappreciationordepreciationaffectallpartsofcapitaluniformly，thentheprofitwouldalsobeaccordinglyexpressedindouble，orhalf，theamountofmoney。

Butifitinvolvesachangeintheorganiccompositionofthecapital，iftheratioofthevariabletotheconstantportionofcapitalrisesorfalls，then，othercircumstancesremainingthesame，therateofprofitwillrisewitharelativelyrisingvariablecapitalandfallwitharelativelyfallingone。Ifonlythemoney-valueoftheadvancedcapitalrisesorfalls(inconsequenceofachangeinthevalueofmoney)，thenthemoney-expressionofthesurplus-valuerises，orfalls，inthesameproportion。Therateofprofitremainsunchanged。

Capital，Vol。3，Chapter8KarlMarxCapital，VolumeIIIPartII

CONVERSIONOFPROFITINTOAVERAGEPROFITCHAPTERVII

DifferentCompositionsofCapitalsinDifferentBranchesofProductionandResultingDifferencesinRatesofProfitIntheprecedingpartwedemonstrated，amongotherthings，thattherateofprofitmayvary——riseorfall——whiletherateofsurplus-valueremainsthesame。Inthepresentchapterweassumethattheintensityoflaborexploitation，andthereforetherateofsurplus-valueandthelengthoftheworking-day，arethesameinallthespheresofproductionintowhichthesociallaborofagivencountryisdivided。AdamSmithhasalreadycomprehensivelyshownthatthenumerousdifferencesintheexploitationoflaborinvariousspheresofproductionbalanceoneanotherbymeansofallkindsofexistingcompensations，orcompensationsacceptedassuchonthebasisofcurrentprejudice，sothattheyaremerelyevanescentdistinctionsandareofnomomentinastudyofthegeneralrelations。Otherdifferences，forinstancethoseinthewagescale，restlargelyonthedifferencebetweensimpleandcomplicatedlabormentionedinthebeginningofBookI(S。19)，andhavenothingtodowiththeintensityofexploitationinthedifferentspheresofproduction，althoughtheyrenderthelotofthelaborerinthosespheresveryunequal。Forinstance，ifthelaborofagoldsmithisbetterpaidthanthatofaday-laborer，theformer’ssurplus-laborproducesproportionatelymoresurplus-valuethanthelatter’s。Andalthoughtheequalizingofwagesandworking-days，andtherebyoftheratesofsurplus-value，amongdifferentspheresofproduction，andevenamongdifferentinvestmentsofcapitalinthesamesphereofproduction，ischeckedbyallkindsoflocalobstacles，itisneverthelesstakingplacemoreandmorewiththeadvanceofcapitalistproductionandthesubordinationofalleconomicconditionstothismodeofproduction。Thestudyofsuchfrictions，whileimportanttoanyspecialworkonwages，maybedispensedwithasincidentalandirrelevantinageneralanalysisofcapitalistproduction。Inageneralanalysisofthiskinditisusuallyalwaysassumedthattheactualconditionscorrespondtotheirconception，or，whatisthesame，thatactualconditionsarerepresentedonlytotheextentthattheyaretypicaloftheirowngeneralcase。

Thedifferenceintheratesofsurplus-valueindifferentcountries，andconsequentlythenationaldifferencesinthedegreeofexploitationoflabor，areimmaterialforourpresentanalysis。Whatwewanttoshowinthispartispreciselythewayinwhichageneralrateofprofittakesshapeinanygivencountry。Itisevident，however，thatacomparisonofthevariousnationalratesofprofitrequiresonlyacollationofthepreviouslystudiedwiththatwhichisheretobestudied。Firstoneshouldconsiderthedifferencesinthenationalratesofsurplus-value，andthen，onthebasisofthesegivenrates，acomparisonshouldbemadeofthedifferencesinthenationalratesofprofit。Insofarasthosedifferencesarenotduetodifferencesinthenationalratesofsurplus-value，theymustbeduetocircumstancesinwhichthesurplus-valueisassumed，justasintheanalysisofthischapter，tobeuniversallythesame，i。e。，constant。

Wedemonstratedintheprecedingchapterthat，assumingtherateofsurplus-valuetobeconstant，therateofprofitobtainingforagivencapitalmayriseorfallinconsequenceofcircumstanceswhichraiseorlowerthevalueofoneortheotherportionofconstantcapital，andsoaffecttheproportionbetweenthevariableandconstantcomponentsofcapital。

Wefurtherobservedthatcircumstanceswhichprolongorreducethetimeofturnoverofanindividualcapitalmaysimilarlyinfluencetherateofprofit。Sincethemassoftheprofitisidenticalwiththemassofthesurplus-value，andwiththesurplus-valueitself，itwasalsoseenthatthemassoftheprofit——asdistinctfromtherateofprofit——isnotaffectedbytheaforementionedfluctuationsofvalue。Theyonlymodifytherateinwhichagivensurplus-value，andthereforeaprofitofagivenmagnitude，expressthemselves；inotherwords，theymodifyonlytherelativemagnitudeofprofit，i。e。，itsmagnitudecomparedwiththemagnitudeoftheadvancedcapital。Inasmuchascapitalwastieduporreleasedbysuchfluctuationsofvalue，itwasnotonlytherateofprofit，buttheprofititself，whichwaslikelytobeaffectedinthisindirectmanner。

However，thishasthenalwaysappliedonlytosuchcapitalaswasalreadyinvested，andnottonewinvestments。Besides，theincreaseorreductionofprofitalwaysdependedontheextenttowhichthesamecapitalcould，inconsequenceofsuchfluctuationofvalue，setinmotionmoreorlesslabor；inotherwords，itdependedontheextenttowhichthesamecapitalcould，withtherateofsurplus-valueremainingthesame，obtainalargerorsmalleramountofsurplus-value。Farfromcontradictingthegeneralrule，orfrombeinganexceptiontoit，thisseemingexceptionwasreallybutaspecialcaseintheapplicationofthegeneralrule。

Itwasseenintheprecedingpartthat，thedegreeofexploitationremainingconstant，changesinthevalueofthecomponentpartsofconstantcapitalandinthetimeofturnoverofcapitalareattendedbychangesintherateofprofit。Theobviousconclusionisthattheratesofprofitindifferentspheresofproductionexistingsidebysidehavetodifferwhen，othercircumstancesremainingunchanged，thetimeofturnoverofcapitalsemployedinthedifferentspheresdiffers，orwhenthevalue-relationoftheorganiccomponentsofthesecapitalsdiffersinthevariousbranchesofproduction。

Whatwepreviouslyregardedaschangesoccurringsuccessivelywithoneandthesamecapitalisnowtoberegardedassimultaneousdifferencesamongcapitalinvestmentsexistingsidebysideindifferentspheresofproduction。

Inthesecircumstancesweshallhavetoanalyze:1)thedifferenceintheorganiccompositionofcapitals，and2)thedifferenceintheirperiodofturnover。

Thepremiseinthisentireanalysisisnaturallythatbyspeakingofthecompositionorturnoverofacapitalinacertainlineofproductionwealwaysmeantheaveragenormalproportionsofcapitalinvestedinthissphere，andgenerallytheaverageinthetotalcapitalemployedinthatparticularsphere，andnottheaccidentaldifferencesoftheindividualcapitals。

Sinceitisfurtherassumedthattherateofsurplus-valueandtheworking-dayareconstant，andsincethisassumptionalsoimpliesconstantwages，acertainquantityofvariablecapitalrepresentsadefinitequantityoflabor-powersetinmotion，andthereforeadefinitequantityofmaterializedlabor。If，therefore，£；100representtheweeklywageof100laborers，indicating100actuallabor-powers，thenntimes£；100indicatethelabour-powersofntimes100laborers，and£；100/nthoseof100/nlaborers。Thevariablecapitalthusserveshere(asisalwaysthecasewhenthewageisgiven)asanindexoftheamountoflaborsetinmotionbyadefinitetotalcapital。Differencesinthemagnitudeoftheemployedvariablecapitalsserve，therefore，asindexesofthedifferenceintheamountofemployedlabor-power。If£；100indicate100laborersperweek，andrepresent6，000working-hoursat60working-hoursperweek，then£；200represent12，000，and£；50only3，000working-hours。

Bycompositionofcapitalwemean，asstatedinBookI，theproportionofitsactiveandpassivecomponents，i。e。，ofvariableandconstantcapital。

Twoproportionsenterintoconsiderationunderthisheading。Theyarenotequallyimportant，althoughtheymayproducesimilareffectsundercertaincircumstances。

Thefirstproportionrestsonatechnicalbasis，andmustberegardedasgivenatacertainstageofdevelopmentoftheproductiveforces。A

definitequantityoflabor-powerrepresentedbyadefinitenumberoflaborersisrequiredtoproduceadefinitequantityofproductsin，say，oneday，and——whatisself-evident——therebytoconsumeproductively，i。e。，tosetinmotion，adefinitequantityofmeansofproduction，machinery，rawmaterials，etc。Adefinitenumberoflaborerscorrespondstoadefinitequantityofmeansofproduction，andhenceadefinitequantityoflivinglabortoadefinitequantityoflabormaterializedinmeansofproduction。

Thisproportiondiffersgreatlyindifferentspheresofproduction，andfrequentlyevenindifferentbranchesofoneandthesameindustry，althoughitmaybycoincidencebeentirelyorapproximatelythesameinentirelyseparatelinesofindustry。

Thisproportionformsthetechnicalcompositionofcapitalandistherealbasisofitsorganiccomposition。

However，itisalsopossiblethatthisfirstproportionmaybethesameindifferentlinesofindustry，providedvariablecapitalismerelyanindexoflabor-powerandconstantcapitalmerelyanindexofthemassofmeansofproductionsetinmotionbythislabor-power。Forinstance，certainworkincopperandironmayrequirethesameratiooflabor-powertomassofmeansofproduction。Butsincecopperismoreexpensivethaniron，thevalue-relationbetweenvariableandconstantcapitalisdifferentineachcase，andhencealsothevalue-compositionofthetwototalcapitals。Thedifferencebetweenthetechnicalcompositionandthevaluecompositionismanifestedineachbranchofindustryinthatthevalue-relationofthetwoportionsofcapitalmayvarywhilethetechnicalcompositionisconstant，andthevalue-relationmayremainthesamewhilethetechnicalcompositionvaries。Thelattercasewill，ofcourse，bepossibleonlyifthechangeintheratiooftheemployedmassesofmeansofproductionandlabor-poweriscompensatedbyareversechangeintheirvalues。

Thevalue-compositionofcapital，inasmuchasitisdeterminedby，andreflects，itstechnicalcomposition，iscalledtheorganiccompositionofcapital。

Inthecaseofvariablecapital，therefore，weassumethatitistheindexofadefinitequantityoflabor-power，orofadefinitenumberoflaborers，oradefinitequantityoflivinglaborsetinmotion。Wehaveseenintheprecedingpartthatachangeinthemagnitudeofthevalueofvariablecapitalmighteventuallyindicatenothingbutahigherorlowerpriceofthesamemassoflabor。Buthere，wheretherateofsurplus-valueandtheworking-dayaretakentobeconstant，andthewagesforadefiniteworkingperiodaregiven，thisisoutofthequestion。Ontheotherhand，adifferenceinthemagnitudeoftheconstantcapitalmaylikewisebeanindexofachangeinthemassofmeansofproductionsetinmotionbyadefinitequantityoflabor-power。Butitmayalsostemfromadifferenceinvaluebetweenthemeansofproductionsetinmotioninonesphereandthoseofanother。Bothpointsofviewmustthereforebeexaminedhere。

Finally，wemusttakenoteofthefollowingessentialfacts:

Let£；100betheweeklywageof100laborers。Lettheweeklyworking-hours=60。

Furthermore，lettherateofsurplus-value==100%。Inthiscase，thelaborerswork30ofthe60hoursforthemselvesand30hoursgratisforthecapitalist。

Infact，the£；100ofwagesrepresentjustthe30working-hoursof100laborers，oraltogether3，000working-hours，whiletheother3，000

hoursworkedbythelaborersareincorporatedinthe£；100ofsurplus-value，orintheprofitpocketedbythecapitalist。Althoughthewageof£；100

doesnot，therefore，expressthevalueinwhichtheweeklylaborofthe100laborersismaterialized，itindicatesnevertheless(sincethelengthoftheworking-dayandtherateof。surplus-valuearegiven)thatthiscapitalsetsinmotion100laborersfor6，000working-hours。Thecapitalof£；100indicatesthis，first，becauseitindicatesthenumberoflaborerssetinmotion，with£；1=1laborerperweek，hence£；100=100

laborers；and，secondly，because，sincetherateofsurplus-valueisgivenas100%，eachoftheselaborersperformstwiceasmuchworkasiscontainedinhiswages，sothat£；1，i。e。，hiswage，whichistheexpressionofhalfaweekoflabor，actuatesawholeweek’slabor，justas£；100

setsinmotion100weeksoflabor。althoughitcontainsonly50。Averyessentialdistinctionisthustobemadeinregardtovariablecapitallaidoutinwages。Itsvalueasthesumofwages，i。e。，asacertainamountofmaterialisedlabour，istobedistinguishedfromitsvalueasamereindexofthemassoflivinglabourwhichitsetsinmotion。Thelatterisalwaysgreaterthanthelabourwhichitincorporates，andis，therefore，representedbyagreatervaluethanthatofthevariablecapital。Thisgreatervalueisdetermined，ontheonehand，bythenumberoflabourerssetinmotionbythevariablecapitaland，ontheother，bythequantityofsurplus-labourperformedbythem。

Itfollowsfromthismanneroflookinguponvariablecapitalthat:

WhenacapitalinvestedinproductionsphereAexpendsonly100invariablecapitalforeach700oftotalcapital，leaving600forconstantcapital，whileacapitalinvestedinproductionsphereBexpends600forvariableandonly100forconstantcapital，thencapitalAof700setsinmotiononly100oflabour-power，or，inthetermsofourpreviousassumption，100weeksoflabour，or6，000hoursoflivinglabour，whilethesameamountofcapitalBwillsetinmotion600weeksoflabour，or36，000hoursoflivinglabour。ThecapitalinAwouldthenappropriateonly50weeksoflabour，or3，000hoursofsurplus-labour，whilethesameamountofcapitalinBwouldappropriate300weeksoflabour，or18，000hours。Variablecapitalisnotonlytheindexofthelabourembodiedinit。Whentherateofsurplus-valueisknownitisalsoanindexoftheamountoflaboursetinmotionoverandabovethatembodiedinitself，i。e。，ofsurplus-labour。Assumingthesameintensityofexploitation，theprofitinthefirstcasewouldbe100/700

=1/7=142/7%，andinthesecondcase，600/7O0=6/7=855/7%，orasix-foldrateofprofit。Inthiscase，theprofititselfwouldactuallybesixtimesasgreat，600inBasagainst100inA，becausethesamecapitalsetinmotionsixtimesasmuchlivinglabour，whichatthesamelevelofexploitationmeanssixtimesasmuchsurplusvalue，andthussixtimesasmuchprofit。

ButifthecapitalinvestedinAwerenot700but£；7，000，whilethatinvestedinBwereonly£；700，andtheorganiccompositionofbothweretoremainthesame，thenthecapitalinAwouldemploy£；1，000

ofthe£；7，000asvariablecapital，thatis，1，000labourersperweek=60，000hoursoflivinglabour，ofwhich30，000wouldbesurplus-labour。

Yeteach£；700ofthecapitalinAwouldcontinuetosetinmotiononlyone-sixthasmuchlivinglabour，andhenceonlyone-sixthasmuchsurplus-labour，asthecapitalinB，andwouldproduceonlyone-sixthasmuchprofit。Ifweconsidertherateofprofit，theninA1000/7000=100/700

=142/7%，ascomparedwith600/700，or855/7%，inB。Takingequalamountsofcapital，theratesofprofitdifferbecause，owingtothedifferentmassesoflivinglaboursetinmotion，themassesofsurplus-value，andthusofprofit，differ，althoughtheratesofsurplus-valuearethesame。

Wegetpracticallythesameresultifthetechnicalconditionsarethesameinbothspheresofproduction，butthevalueoftheelementsoftheemployedconstantcapitalisgreaterorsmallerintheonethanintheother。Letusassumethatbothinvest£；100asvariablecapitalandthereforeemploy100labourersperweektosetinmotionthesamequantityofmachineryandrawmaterials。ButletthelatterbemoreexpensiveinBthaninA。Forinstance，letthe£；100ofvariablecapitalsetinmotion£；200ofconstantcapitalinA，and£；400inB。Withthesamerateofsurplusvalue，of100%，thesurplus-valueproducedisineithercaseequalto£；100。Hence，theprofitisalsoequalto£；100

inboth。ButtherateofprofitinAis100/200c+100v=1/8=331/3%，whileinBitis100/400c+100v=1/5=20%。Infact，ifweselectacertainaliquotpartofthetotalcapitalineithercase，wefindthatinevery£；100ofBonly£；20，orone-fifth，constitutevariablecapital，whileinevery£；100ofA£；33l/3，orone-third，formvariablecapital。Bproduceslessprofitforeach£；100，becauseitsetsinmotionlesslivinglabourthanA。Thedifferenceintheratesofprofitthusresolvesitselfoncemore，inthiscase，intoadifferenceofthemassesofprofit，becauseofthemassesofsurplus-value，producedbyeach100ofinvestedcapital。

Thedifferencebetweenthissecondexampleandthefirstisjustthis:

TheequalisationbetweenAandBinthesecondcasewouldrequireonlyachangeinthevalueoftheconstantcapitalofeitherAorB，providedthetechnicalbasisremainedthesame。Butinthefirstcasethetechnicalcompositionitselfisdifferentinthetwospheresofproductionandwouldhavetobecompletelychangedtoachieveanequalisation。

Thedifferentorganiccompositionofvariouscapitalsisthusindependentoftheirabsolutemagnitude。Itisalwaysbutaquestionofhowmuchofevery100isvariableandhowmuchconstantcapital。

Capitalsofdifferentmagnitude，calculatedinpercentages，or，whatamountstothesameinthiscase，capitalsofthesamemagnitudeoperatingforthesameworking-timeandwiththesamedegreeofexploitationmayproduceverymuchdifferentamountsofprofit，becauseofsurplus-value，forthereasonthatadifferenceintheorganiccompositionofcapitalindifferentspheresofproductionimpliesadifferenceintheirvariablepart，thusadifferenceinthequantitiesoflivinglaboursetinmotionbythem，andthereforealsoadifferenceinthequantitiesofsurplus-labourappropriatedbythem。Andthissurplus-labouristhesubstanceofsurplus-value，andthusofprofit。Indifferentspheresofproductionequalportionsofthetotalcapitalcompriseunequalsourcesofsurplus-value，andthesolesourceofsurplus-valueislivinglabour。Assumingthesamedegreeoflabourexploitation，themassoflaboursetinmotionbyacapitalof100，andconsequentlythemassofsurplus-labourappropriatedbyit，dependonthemagnitudeofitsvariablecomponent。Ifacapital，consistinginpercentof90c+10v，producedasmuchsurplus-value，orprofit，atthesamedegreeofexploitationasacapitalconsistingof10c+90v，itwouldbeasplainasdaythatthesurplus-value，andthusvalueingeneral，musthaveanentirelydifferentsourcethanlabour，andthatpoliticaleconomywouldthenbedeprivedofeveryrationalbasis。Ifwearetoassumeallthetimethat£；1standsfortheweeklywageofalabourerworking60hours，andthattherateofsurplus-valueis100%，thenitisevidentthatthetotalvalueproductofonelabourerinaweek，is£；2。Tenlabourerswouldthenproducenomorethan£；20。Andsince£；10ofthe£；20

replacethewages，thetenlabourerscannotproducemoresurplus-valuethan£；10。Ontheotherhand，90labourers，whosetotalproductis£；180，andwhosewagesamountto£；90，wouldproduceasurplus-valueof£；90。Therateofprofitinthefirstcasewouldthusbe10%，andintheother90%。Ifthiswerenotso，thenvalueandsurplus-valuewouldbesomethingelsethanmaterialisedlabour。Sincecapitalsindifferentspheresofproductionviewedinpercentages-orascapitalsofequalmagnitude-aredivideddifferentlyintovariableandconstantcapital，settinginmotionunequalquantitiesoflivinglabourandproducingdifferentsurplus-values，andthereforeprofits，itfollowsthattherateofprofit，whichconsistspreciselyoftheratioofsurplus-valuetototalcapitalinpercent，mustalsodiffer。

Now，ifcapitalsindifferentspheresofproduction，calculatedinpercent，i。e。，capitalsofequalmagnitude，produceunequalprofitsinconsequenceoftheirdifferentorganiccomposition，thenitfollowsthattheprofitsofunequalcapitalsindifferentspheresofproductioncannotbeproportionaltotheirrespectivemagnitudes，orthatprofitsindifferentspheresofproductionarenotproportionaltothemagnitudeoftherespectivecapitalsinvestedinthem。Forifprofitsweretogrowproratatothemagnitudeofinvestedcapital，itwouldmeanthatinpercenttheprofitswouldbethesame，sothatindifferentspheresofproductioncapitalsofequalmagnitudewouldhaveequalratesofprofit，inspiteoftheirdifferentorganiccomposition。Itisonlyinthesamesphereofproduction，wherewehaveagivenorganiccompositionofcapital，orindifferentsphereswiththesameorganiccompositionofcapital，thattheamountsofprofitsaredirectlyproportionaltotheamountsofinvestedcapitals。Tosaythattheprofitsofunequalcapitalsareproportionaltotheirmagnitudeswouldonlymeanthatcapitalsofequalmagnitudeyieldequalprofits，orthattherateofprofitisthesameforallcapitals，whatevertheirmagnitudeandorganiccomposition。

Thesestatementsholdgoodontheassumptionthatthecommoditiesaresoldattheirvalues。Thevalueofacommodityisequaltothevalueoftheconstantcapitalcontainedinit，plusthevalueofthevariablecapitalreproducedinit，plustheincrement-thesurplus-valueproduced-ofthisvariablecapital。Atthesamerateofsurplus-value，itsquantityevidentlydependsonthequantityofthevariablecapital。Thevalueoftheproductofanindividualcapitalof100is，inonecase，90c+10v+1Os=110；andintheother，10c+9Ov+90s=l90。Ifthecommoditiesgoattheirvalues，thefirstproductissoldat1lO，ofwhich10representsurplus-value，orunpaidlabour，andthesecondat190，ofwhich90representsurplus-value，orunpaidlabour。

Thisisparticularlyimportantincomparingratesofprofitindifferentcountries。Letusassumethattherateofsurplus-valueinoneEuropeancountryis100%，sothatthelabourerworkshalfoftheworking-dayforhimselfandtheotherhalfforhisemployer。LetusfurtherassumethattherateofprofitinanAsiancountryis25%，sothatthelabourerworksfour-fifthsoftheworking-dayforhimself，andone-fifthforhisemployer。

Let84c+l6vbethecompositionofthenationalcapitalintheEuropeancountry，and16c+84vintheAsiancountry，wherelittlemachinery，etc。，isused，andwhereagivenquantityoflabour-powerconsumesrelativelylittlerawmaterialproductivelyinagiventime。Thenwehavethefollowingcalculation:

IntheEuropeancountrythevalueoftheproduct=84c+16v++16s=116；

rateofprofit=16/100=16%。

IntheAsiancountrythevalueoftheproduct=16c+84v++21s=121；rateofprofit=100=21%。

TherateofprofitintheAsiancountryisthusmorethan25%higherthanintheEuropeancountry，althoughtherateofsurplus-valueintheformerisone-fourththatofthelatter。MenlikeCarey，Bastiat，andtuttiquanti，wouldarriveattheveryoppositeconclusion。

Bytheway，differentnationalratesofprofitaremostlybasedondifferentnationalratesofsurplus-value。Butinthischapterwecompareunequalratesofprofitderivedfromthesamerateofsurplus-value。

Asidefromdifferencesintheorganiccompositionofcapitals，andthereforeasidefromthedifferentmassesoflabour-andconsequently，othercircumstancesremainingthesame，fromdifferentmassesofsurplus-laboursetinmotionbycapitalsofthesamemagnitudeindifferentspheresofproduction，thereisyetanothersourceofinequalityinratesofprofit。Thisisthedifferentperiodofturnoverofcapitalindifferentspheresofproduction。WehaveseeninChapterIVthat，otherconditionsbeingequal，theratesofprofitofcapitalsofthesameorganiccompositionareinverselyproportionaltotheirperiodsofturnover。Wehavealsoseenthatthesamevariablecapitalturnedoverindifferentperiodsoftimeproducesdifferentquantitiesofannualsurplus-value。Thedifferenceintheperiodsofturnoveristhereforeanotherreasonwhycapitalsofequalmagnitudeindifferentspheresofproductiondonotproduceequalprofitsinequalperiods，andwhy，consequently，theratesofprofitinthesedifferentspheresdiffer。

Asfarastheratioofthefixedandcirculatingcapitalinthecompositionofcapitalsisconcerned，however，itdoesnotinitselfaffecttherateofprofitintheleast。Itcanaffecttherateofprofitonlyifinonecase，thisdifferenceincompositioncoincideswithadifferentratioofthevariableandconstantparts，sothatthedifferenceintherateofprofitisduetothislatterdifference，andnottothedifferentratiooffixedandcirculatingcapital；and，intheothercase，ifthedifferenceintheratioofthefixedandcirculatingpartsofcapitalisresponsibleforadifferenceintheperiodofturnoverinwhichacertainprofitisrealised。Ifcapitalsaredividedintofixedandcirculatingcapitalindifferentproportions，thiswillnaturallyalwaysinfluencetheperiodofturnoverandcausedifferencesinit。Butthisdoesnotimplythattheperiodofturnover，inwhichthesamecapitalsrealisecertainprofits，isdifferent。Forinstance，Amaycontinuallyhavetoconvertthegreaterpartofitsproductintorawmaterials，etc。，whileBmayusethesamemachinery，etc。，foralongertime，andmayneedlessrawmaterial，butbothAandB，beingoccupiedinproduction，alwayshaveapartoftheircapitalengaged，theoneinrawmaterials，i。e。，incirculatingcapital，andtheotherinmachinery，etc。，orinfixedcapital。Acontinuallyconvertsaportionofitscapitalfromtheformofcommoditiesintothatofmoney，andthelatteragainintotheformofrawmaterial，whileBemploysaportionofitscapitalforalongertimeasaninstrumentoflabourwithoutanysuchconversions。Ifbothofthememploythesameamountoflabour，theywillindeedsellquantitiesofproductsofunequalvalueinthecourseoftheyear，butbothquantitiesofproductswillcontainequalamountsofsurplus-value，andtheirratesofprofit，calculatedontheentirecapitalinvested，willbethesame，althoughtheircompositionoffixedandcirculatingcapital，andtheirperiodsofturnover，aredifferent。Bothcapitalsrealiseequalprofitsinequalperiods，althoughtheirperiodsofturnoveraredifferent。[1]Thedifferenceintheperiodofturnoverisinitselfofnoimportance，exceptsofarasitaffectsthemassofsurplus-labourappropriatedandrealisedbythesamecapitalinagiventime。If，therefore，adifferentdivisionintofixedandcirculatingcapitaldoesnotnecessarilyimplyadifferentperiodofturnover，whichwouldinitsturnimplyadifferentrateofprofit，itisevidentthatifthereisanysuchdifferenceintheratesofprofit，itisnotduetoadifferentratiooffixedtocirculatingcapitalassuch，butrathertothefactthatthisdifferentratioindicatesaninequalityintheperiodsofturnoveraffectingtherateofprofit。

Itfollows，therefore，thatthedifferentcompositionofconstantcapitalinrespecttoitsfixedandcirculatingportionsinvariousbranchesofproductionhasinitselfnobearingontherateofprofit，sinceitistheratioofvariabletoconstantcapitalwhichdecidesthisquestion，whilethevalueoftheconstantcapital，andthereforealsoitsmagnitudeinrelationtothevariableisentirelyunrelatedtothefixedorcirculatingnatureofitscomponents。Yetitmaybefound——andthisoftenleadstoincorrectconclusions——thatwhereverfixedcapitalisconsiderablyadvancedthisbutexpressesthefactthatproductionisonalargescale，sothatconstantcapitalgreatlyoutweighsthevariable，orthatthelivinglabour-poweritemploysissmallcomparedtothemassofthemeansofproductionwhichitoperates。

Wehavethusdemonstratedthatdifferentlinesofindustryhavedifferentratesofprofit，whichcorrespondtodifferencesintheorganiccompositionoftheircapitalsand，withinindicatedlimits，alsototheirdifferentperiodsofturnover；giventhesametimeofturnover，thelaw(asageneraltendency)thatprofitsarerelatedtooneanotherasthemagnitudesofthecapitals，andthat，consequently，capitalsofequalmagnitudeyieldequalprofitsinequalperiods，appliesonlytocapitalsofthesameorganiccomposition，evenwiththesamerateofsurplus-value。Thesestatementsholdgoodontheassumptionwhichhasbeenthebasisofallouranalysessofar，namelythatthecommoditiesaresoldattheirvalues。Thereisnodoubt，ontheotherhand，thatasidefromunessential，incidentalandmutuallycompensatingdistinctions，differencesintheaveragerateofprofitinthevariousbranchesofindustrydonotexistinreality，andcouldnotexistwithoutabolishingtheentiresystemofcapitalistproduction。

Itwouldseem，therefore，thatherethetheoryofvalueisincompatiblewiththeactualprocess，incompatiblewiththerealphenomenaofproduction，andthatforthisreasonanyattempttounderstandthesephenomenashouldbegivenup。

Itfollowsfromthefirstpartofthisvolumethatthecost-pricesofproductsindifferentspheresofproductionareequalifequalportionsofcapitalhavebeenadvancedfortheirproduction，howeverdifferenttheorganiccompositionofsuchcapitals。Thedistinctionbetweenvariableandconstantcapitalescapesthecapitalistinthecost-price。Acommodityforwhoseproductionhemustadvance£；100costshimjustasmuch，whetherheinvests90c+10v，or10c+90v。Itcostshim£；100ineithercase——nomoreandnoless。Thecost-pricesarethesameforequalcapitalsindifferentspheres，nomatterhowmuchtheproducedvaluesandsurplus-valuesmaydiffer。Theequalityofcost-pricesisthebasisforcompetitionamonginvestedcapitals，wherebyanaverageprofitisbroughtabout。

FOOTNOTES[1][ItfollowsfromChapterIVthattheabovestatementcorrectlyappliesonlywhencapitalsAandBaredifferentlycomposedinrespecttotheirvalues，butthatthepercentagesoftheirvariablepartsareproportionatetotheirperiodsofturnover，i。e。，inverselyproportionatetotheirnumberofturnovers。

LetcapitalAhavethefollowingpercentagesofcomposition:20cfixed+70ccirculatingandthus90c+10v=100。Atarateofsurplus-valueof100%thel0vproduces10sinoneturnover，yieldingarateofprofitforoneturnover=10%。LetcapitalB=60cfixed+20ccirculating，andthus80c+20v=100。

The20vproduce20sinoneturnoverattheaboverateofsurplus-value，yieldingarateofprofitforoneturnover=20%，whichisdoublethatofA。ButifAisturnedovertwiceperyear，andBonlyonce，then2x10

alsomake20speryear，andtheannualrateofprofitisthesameforboth，namely20%-F。E。]

Capital，Vol。3，Chapter9KarlMarxCAPITALVol。III

THEPROCESSOF

CAPITALISTPRODUCTIONASAWHOLEPartII

CONVERSIONOFPROFITINTOAVERAGEPROFITCHAPTERIX

FORMATIONOFAGENERALRATEOFPROFIT

(AVERAGERATEOFPROFIT)

ANDTRANSFORMATIONOFTHEVALUES

OFCOMMODITIES

INTOPRICESOFPRODUCTION