◆¹ It will be found that these things divide themselves into three classes. The first consists of things which, from their very nature, are not susceptible of any forcible division at all; the second consists of things which are susceptible of division only by a process of physically destroying them and pulling them into pieces; and each of these two classes, in point of value, represents, roughly speaking, nearly a quarter of the total. The third class alone, which represents little more than a half, consists of things which, even theoretically, could be divided without being destroyed.
◆1 The third class comprising all those things that could be divided without destroying them; and forming about half of the total.
◆¹ We will consider this third class first, which represents in the estimates of statisticians five thousand seven hundred million pounds. The principal things comprised in it are land, houses, furniture, works of art, clothing, merchandise, provisions, and live-stock; and such commodities in general as change hands over the shopman’s counter, or in the market.[15] Of these items, by far the largest is houses, which make up a quarter of the capital value of the country, or two thousand five hundred million pounds. But more than half this sum stands for houses which are much above the average in size, and which do not form more than an eighth part of the whole; and were they apportioned to a new class of occupants, they would lose at least three-fourths of their present estimated value. So too with regard to furniture and works of art, a large part of their estimated value would, as we have seen already, disappear in distribution likewise: and their estimated value is about a tenth of the whole we are now considering. Land, of course, can, at all events in theory, be divided with far greater advantage; and counts in the estimates as fifteen hundred million pounds—or something under a sixth of the whole. Merchandise, provisions, and movable goods in general can be divided yet more readily; and so one would think could live-stock, though this is hardly so in reality: but of the whole these three last items form little more than a twentieth.
◆1 The results of dividing these would be ridiculous.
◆¹ And now, supposing all these divisible things to be divided, let us see what the capital would look like which would be allotted to each individual. Each individual would find himself possessed of a lodging of some sort, together with clothes and furniture worth about eight pounds. He would have about eight pounds’ worth of provisions and miscellaneous movables, and a ring, a pin, or a brooch, worth about three pounds ten shillings. He would also be the proprietor of one acre of land, which would necessarily in many cases be miles away from his dwelling, whilst as to stocking his acre, he would be met by the following difficulty. He would find himself entitled to the twentieth part of a horse, to two-thirds of a sheep, the fourth part of a cow, and the tenth part of a pig.
◆1 The second class of things, comprising the national capital, could not be divided without destroying them.
◆2 The remaining class of things could not be divided at all.
◆¹ Such then would be the result to the individual of dividing the whole of our capital that could be divided without destroying it. This is, as we said, a little more than half of the total; and now let us turn to the two other quarters; beginning with the things which could be indeed divided, but which would obviously be destroyed in the process. Their estimated value is more than two thousand million pounds: half of which sum is represented by the railways and shipping of the kingdom; six hundred million pounds, by gasworks and the machinery in our factories; and the rest, by roads and streets and public works and buildings. ◆² These, it is obvious, are not suitable for division; and still less divisible are the things in the class that still remains. For of their total value, which amounts to some two thousand five hundred million pounds, more than a thousand million pounds, according to Mr. Giffen, represent the good-will of various professions of business; and the whole of the remainder—nearly fifteen hundred million pounds—represents nothing that is in the United Kingdom at all, but merely legal claims on the part of particular British subjects to a share in the proceeds of enterprise in other countries.
This last class consists of things which are merely rights and advantages secured by law, and dependent on existing social conditions; and it can be easily understood how they would disappear under any attempt to seize them. But the remaining three quarters of our capital consists of material things; and what we have seen with regard to them may strike many people as incredible; for the moment we imagine them violently seized and distributed, they seem to dwindle and shrivel up; and the share of each individual suggests to one’s mind nothing but a series of ludicrous pictures—pictures of men whose heritage in all this unimaginable wealth is an acre of ground, two wheels of a steam-engine, a bedroom, a pearl pin, and the tenth part of a pig.
◆1 Capital has no value at all, except when vivified by use;