Karl Marx, in Capital^ Part III, Chapter
VII, thus describes labor: 'Labor is, in
the first place, a process in which both
man and nature participate, and in which
man of his own accord, starts, regu-
lates and controls the material reactions
between himself and nature. He opposes
himself to nature as one of her own
forces setting in motion arms and legs,
head and hands, the natural forces of his
body in order to appropriate nature's



72 God's Children

productions in a form adapted to his own
wants." It is only by the exercise of
labor that wealth can be created. In his
Wealth of Nations^ Chapter V, Adam
Smith says: * Useful human labor applied
to land and raw material creates all
wealth and makes all value.'

"Now, there is a period in the life of a
thing, a form of its matter, when it is not
wealth or an object of use or luxury, and
that is before labor has been applied to it
to cause its value.
