MacLeod uses this language also: "If a person has a sum of money, he may expend it on his household requirements; or in gratifying his personal taste by buying books, or statues, or pictures, etc. Money spent in this way is not capital.
"But if he buys goods of any sort for the purpose of selling them again with a profit: Then the money so employed is 'capital,' and the goods so purchased are also capital, because they are intended to be sold with a 'profit.'
"So money let out at interest is capital.
"In a similar way any material thing may be used as capital. If a landlord lets out his land for the purpose of profit, it is capital.
"All modern economists class personal skill, ability, energy and character, as wealth, because persons can make a profit by their use. Hence they may be used as capital, as well as material objects.
"If a man digs in his garden for his own amusement such labor is not capital; or if he sings or acts or gives gratuitous lectures on any subject to his friends, such labor is not capital.
"But if he sells his labor in any capacity for money: then such labor is capital for him. Thus Huskisson says: 'that he had always maintained that labor is the poor man's capital.' So Mr. Cardwell addressing his constituents said 'labor is the poor man's capital.' And a writer in a daily paper, speaking of agricultural laborers, said: 'The only capital they possess is their labor, which they bring into the market to supply their daily wants.'
"So if a man expends money in learning a profession such as that of an advocate, physician, engineer, or a profession of any sort which he practices for profit, the money laid out in acquiring such knowledge is capital: and his skill, ability and knowledge are also capital. He makes an income which is measurable and taxable, just in the same way as if he had made profits by selling goods.
"Now, there are two fundamentally distinct ways in which capital may increase:
"1. By direct and actual increase of quantity; thus flocks, and herds, and all the fruits of the earth increase by adding to their number and quantity.