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28 
THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
it, does, in general, immediately acquire an extra value ; but in 
my view, what it is especially necessary to consider is the value 
in use, the utility, for ultimately everything comes to that. 
Consumption is the final aim of the production and circulation 
of wealth. Exchange brings everything to the place where it 
answers the most intense needs—“ the right ware in the right 
place ”—and thus it creates utilities which are real values. 
To return to the system of Marx, capital, according to him, 
comes into being in this way. The future capitalist presents 
himself on the market of commodities provided with money. 
First of all he buys machines, tools, raw materials, and then, 
in order to work up the materials, he purchases the workman’s 
“ labour-force,” arbeitskraft., the sole source of all value. He 
sets the labourer to work to change, by means of the tools and 
machines, the raw materials into manufactured articles, and 
sells them for more than they cost him to make. In this way 
he obtains a greater value, “ surplus value ” {mehrwerth). The 
money, temporarily transformed into wages and merchandise, 
reappears under its original form, but more or less increased in 
amount ; it has brought forth young—capital is born. 
This would seem to conflict with the principle laid down 
above, that exchange does not create new value. The manu 
facturer has only made exchanges, and yet he finds himself in 
possession of a greater value. The explanation of the mystery 
is as follows. The capitalist pays for labour its exchange-value 
and thus obtains its value in use. Labour-force has the unique 
characteristic of producing more than it costs to be produced. 
He who buys it and sets it to work for his gain, enjoys then the 
source of all wealth. The capitalist pays for labour its value. 
What is the value of labour ? Like all other merchandise, it is 
worth what it costs in time and trouble to be produced, that is 
to say, its cost of production. The cost of production of labour 
is the food and different commodities necessary to support the 
labourer and the children destined to succeed him. The value 
of all these commodities is measured in its turn by the time that 
it takes to produce them. In short, then, according to Marx, 
the value of labour is equivalent to the sum of hours required 
to create what the maintenance of the labourer demands. This