CAPITAL is a term used in commerce to express the stock of the merchant, nianufhc timer, or trader, used in carrying on his busi ness, in the purchase or manufacture of com modities, and in the payment of the wages of labour; and is understood not only of money, but of buildings; machinery, and all other ma terial objects which facilitate his operations in trade. The term itself and the practical qua lities and uses of capital are sufficiently under stood in this its commercial sense. But capi tal, in a more extended form, embraces not only the capital of particular individuals, but the entire capital of a country. In this latter sense capital may be, defined as the products of industry possessed by the community, and still available for use only, or for further pro duction. . .
Capital is first called into existence by the natural foresight of man, who even in a savage state discerns the advantage of not immedi ately consuming the whole produce of his ex ertions in present gratification, and stores up a part for his future subsistence. The greater
proportion of mankind possess this quality, end those who do not are admonished of its value by privation. A desire to accumulate some portion of the produce of industry being natural to mankind and nearly universal, the growth of capital may be expected wherever the means of accumulation exist ; or,,in other words, wherever men are not obliged to con sume the whole products of their labour in their own subsistence. From the moment at which a man produces more than he consumes he is creating a capital ; and the accumulated surplus of production over the consumption of the whole community is the capital of a country.
The relation of capital to manufacturing in dustry forms one of the most important de partments of study in political economy.