In discussing these objections we will have to pursue the course adopted by us of following more or less closely on the heels of Böhm-Bawerk, except where others specially claim our attention.
The first objection to be noted here is, that Marx's analysis must, of necessity, be faulty, for the reason that the field of his investigation was not broad enough; that he did not take as the subject of his analysis all "goods" which may be the subject of exchange, but only "commodities," that is, goods created by labor. It is claimed that by thus limiting his analysis from the outset to the products of labor only, he prejudged the case and forced the result of leaving labor as the only "common something," and that if the analysis were to be made on all exchangeable "goods" the result would be different. As Böhm-Bawerk puts it:—Marx purposely puts into the sieve only those things which can get through it. And he adds:—"Marx is careful not to give us any explicit statement of the fact that, and the reason why, he began his investigation, by excluding therefrom a part of the goods possessing exchange-value."
It will be noticed that Böhm-Bawerk does not use the word, "analysis," but "investigation." This is one instance of the careless use of terms for which all Marx critics are well noted. While seemingly a mere trifle, this interchange of words is, in reality, a matter of quite some importance. An analysis is a purely logical operation used as a means to show the logical counterpart of some actual phenomenon. It serves to formulate, by bringing into play our powers of abstract reasoning, a general conception of the mass of particular facts. While, therefore, analysis is a helpful means in arriving at a generalization, it is no proof of its correctness. On the contrary, it is the correctness of the generalization that is usually the best proof of the faultlessness of the analysis. The mastery of a subject will be shown by the ability to recognize which phenomena are most typical for the subject-matter under consideration. But this can not be found out from the analysis itself, but must be
