ÁTA/ÍL  MARX.

35

ns  st  on  th,s  pent  :  ,t  .s  the  essence  of  the  matter.  A  little
tatience  in  foUowing  these  discussions,  sometimes  dry  enough
f™  L  K  r  f""  'hat  they  concern  the  ver^
They  are  the  produce  of  equal  efforts  during  the  same  period  •
have  they  the  ^me  value?  No;  the  roebuck  will  feed  me
fr  :  ::
a  .otde,  Ä  :^f  %
former  has  not  required  twice  as  much  labour  as  the  latter
that  IS  to  say  ordinarily  and  always,  less  labour.  Butter  sells
at  eighteenpence  per  pound,  and  yet  it  is  the  almost  spuntaneous
  product  of  the  grass  that  the  cow  grazes.  Thus  we
sometimes  obtain  for  the  same  amount  of  effort  very  unequal
values,  and  sometimes  equal  values  for  unequal  quantities  of
labour.  Value,  then,  is  not  in  proportion  to  labour.
Beyond  question,  labour  is  an  essential  element  of  value
but  wherever  scarcity,  that  is  to  say  natural  or  social  monopoly’
dlZnT^'""'  “  ""''-hibour  is  not  the  sole
In  reality,  value  springs  from  utility.  We  estimate  things
according  to  the  advantages  that  they  obtain  for  us.  An
The  word  '^alui^"  rtt%ok^c%c!^la%r.Cl%r''
osely,  we  shall  see  that  rarity  is  only  a  form  of  utility.  The
useful  ir  ""  uT'  more
'  """  1)«  “a  possession.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  I