ence of nature, because that is what this charge amounts to. How, then, did he deny it? How could he deny it? Well, of course, he couldn't. And . . . he didn't! We quote Böhm-Bawerk: "That they (commodities) are just as much the product of nature as of labor—nobody says more explicitly than Marx himself when he says:—'The bodies of commodities are combinations of two elements, natural matter and labor;' or, when he cites with approval Petty's remark that:—'Labor is the father (of material wealth), and the earth is its mother.'" The guileless reader is evidently puzzled. But there is really nothing to be puzzled about. Marx is simply at his old game of contradicting himself in the most stupid manner imaginable.
If Böhm-Bawerk himself were not so careless and slovenly in his expressions, he would have noticed that when Marx speaks of the "participation" of nature he always refers to the "bodies" of commodities, or "wealth"; and when he speaks of labor as its source of measure, it is always exchange-value that he has reference to. Marx does not claim that labor is the only source of wealth. On the other hand, he does deny the "participation" of nature in the creation of exchange-value. And rightfully so. Nature, including all the material substances and forces which go into the production of "goods," has always existed, and remains unchanged. So has "wealth" (meaning in this connection an aggregation of useful articles), at least as far as we are concerned. Not so with exchange-value. Notwithstanding the existence of "nature" from time immemorial, and the application of labor thereto from the very beginning of the human race, this combination has failed to produce exchange-value, which makes a commodity out of a mere "good," until the appearance of the capitalistic system. It is evidently something connected with the capitalistic system, and not "nature," that is responsible for this result and should be called upon to "account" for it. That is why Marx went in search of the social phenomenon which distinguishes the capitalistic system from its predecessors, as was
