As far as the ratio of the fixed and circulating capital in the composition
 of capitals is concerned, however, it does not in itself affect the rate of
 profit in the least. It can affect the rate of profit only if in one case, this
 difference in composition coincides with a different ratio of the variable and
 constant parts, so that the difference in the rate of profit is due to this
 latter difference, and not to the different ratio of fixed and circulating
 capital; and, in the other case, if the difference in the ratio of the fixed
 and circulating parts of capital is responsible for a difference in the period
 of turnover in which a certain profit is realised. If capitals are divided into
 fixed and circulating capital in different proportions, this will naturally
 always influence the period of turnover and cause differences in it. But this
 does not imply that the period of turnover, in which the same capitals realise
 certain profits, is different. For instance, A may continually have to convert
 the greater part of its product into raw materials, etc., while B may use the
 same machinery, etc., for a longer time, and may need less raw material, but
 both A and B, being occupied in production, always have a part of their capital
 engaged, the one in raw materials, i. e., in circulating capital, and the other
 in machinery, etc., or in fixed capital. A continually converts a portion of
 its capital from the form of commodities into that of money, and the latter
 again into the form of raw material, while B employs a portion of its capital
 for a longer time as an instrument of labour without any such conversions. If
 both of them employ the same amount of labour, they will indeed sell quantities
 of products of unequal value in the course of the year, but both quantities of
 products will contain equal amounts of surplus-value, and their rates of
 profit, calculated on the entire capital invested, will be the same, although
 their composition of fixed and circulating capital, and their periods of
 turnover, are different. Both capitals realise equal profits in equal periods,
 although their periods of turnover are different.[1] The difference in the period of
 turnover is in itself of no importance, except so far as it affects the mass of
 surplus-labour appropriated and realised by the same capital in a given time.
 If, therefore, a different division into fixed and circulating capital does not
 necessarily imply a different period of turnover, which would in its turn imply
 a different rate of profit, it is evident that if there is any such difference
 in the rates of profit, it is not due to a different ratio of fixed to
 circulating capital as such, but rather to the fact that this different ratio
 indicates an inequality in the periods of turnover affecting the rate of
 profit.