Now, a word of caution. We say that all wealth is produced by labour. What is labour?
Labour is work. Work is said to be of two kinds: hand work and brain work. But really work is of one kind—the labour of hand and brain together; for there is hardly any head work wherein the hand has no share, and there is no hand work wherein the head has no share.
The hand is really a part of the brain, and can do nothing without the brain's direction.
So when we say that all wealth is produced by labour, we mean by the labour of hand and brain.
I want to make this quite plain, because you will find, if you come to deal with the economists, that attempts have been made to use the word labour as meaning chiefly hand labour.
When we say labour produces all wealth, we do not mean that all wealth is produced by farm labourers, mechanics, and navvies, but that it is all produced by workers—that is, by thinkers as well as doers; by inventors and directors as well as by the man with the hammer, the file, or the spade.
CHAPTER III HOW THE FEW GET RICH AND KEEP THE MANY POOR
We have already seen that most of the wealth produced by labour goes into the pockets of a few rich men: we have now to find out how it gets there.