This question we must make into two questions-- 1. Where does wealth come from? 2. Who produces wealth? Because the question, "Where does wealth come from?" really means, "How is wealth produced?" _All_ wealth comes from the land. All food comes from the land--all flesh is grass. Vegetable food comes directly from the land; animal food comes indirectly from the land, all animals being fed on the land. So the stuff of which we make our clothing, our houses, our fuel, our tools, arms, ships, engines, toys, ornaments, is all got from the land. For the land yields timber, metals, vegetables, and the food on which feed the animals from which we get feathers, fur, meat, milk, leather, ivory, bone, glue, and many other things. Even in the case of the things that come from the sea, as sealskin, whale oil, fish, iodine, shells, pearls, and other things, we are to remember that we need boats, or nets, or tools to get them with, and that boats, nets, and tools are made from minerals and vegetables got from the land. We may say, then, that all wealth comes from the land. This brings us to the second part of our question: "Who produces wealth?" or "How is wealth produced?" Wealth is produced by human beings. It is the people of a country who produce the wealth of that country. Wealth is produced by labour. Wealth cannot be produced by any other means or in any other way. _All_ wealth is produced _from_ the LAND _by_ human LABOUR. A coal seam is not wealth; but a coalmine is wealth. Coal is not wealth while it is in the bowels of the earth; but coal is wealth as soon as it is brought up out of the pit and made available for use. A whale or a seal is not wealth until it is caught. In a country without inhabitants there would be no wealth. Land is not wealth. To produce wealth you must have land and human beings. There can be no wealth without labour. And now we come to the first error of the economists. There are some economists who tell us that wealth is not produced by labour, but by "capital." There is neither truth nor reason in this assertion. What is "capital"? "Capital" is only another word for _stores_. Adam Smith calls capital "stock." Capital is any tools, machinery, or other stores used in producing wealth. Capital is any food, fuel, shelter, clothing supplied to those engaged in producing wealth. The hunter, before he can shoot game, needs weapons. His weapons are "capital." The farmer has to wait for his wheat and potatoes to ripen before he can use them as food. The stock of food and the tools he uses to produce the wheat or potatoes, and to live on while they ripen, are "capital." Robinson Crusoe's capital was the arms, food, and tools he saved from the wreck. On these he lived until he had planted corn, and tamed goats and built a hut, and made skin clothing and vessels of wood and clay.