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Page 27
It puzzles me to conceive how any man can feel any satisfaction in such
a doctrine.
For, if true, what is its inevitable consequence? That there is no
activity, prosperity, wealth, or happiness possible for any people,
except for those who are stupid and inert, and to whom God has not
granted the fatal gift of knowing how to think, to observe, to combine,
to invent, and to obtain the greatest results with the smallest means.
On the contrary, rags, mean huts, poverty, and inanition, are the
inevitable lot of every nation which seeks and finds in iron, fire,
wind, electricity, magnetism, the laws of chemistry and mechanics, in a
word, in the powers of nature, an assistance to its natural powers. We
might as well say with Rousseau--"Every man that thinks is a depraved
animal."
This is not all. If this doctrine is true, since all men think and
invent, since all, from first to last, and at every moment of their
existence, seek the co-operation of the powers of nature, and try to
make the most of a little, by reducing either the work of their hands or
their expenses, so as to obtain the greatest possible amount of
gratification with the smallest possible amount of labour, it must
follow, as a matter of course, that the whole of mankind is rushing
towards its decline, by the same mental aspiration towards progress,
which torments each of its members.
Hence, it ought to be made known, by statistics, that the inhabitants of
Lancashire, abandoning that land of machines, seek for work in Ireland,
where they are unknown; and, by history, that barbarism darkens the
epochs of civilisation, and that civilisation shines in times of
ignorance and barbarism.
There is evidently in this mass of contradictions something which
revolts us, and which leads us to suspect that the problem contains
within it an element of solution which has not been sufficiently
disengaged.
Here is the whole mystery: behind _that which is seen_ lies something
_which is not seen_. I will endeavour to bring it to light. The
demonstration I shall give will only be a repetition of the preceding
one, for the problems are one and the same.
Men have a natural propensity to make the best bargain they can, when
not prevented by an opposing force; that is, they like to obtain as much
as they possibly can for their labour, whether the advantage is
obtained from a _foreign producer_ or a skilful _mechanical producer_.
The theoretical objection which is made to this propensity is the same
in both cases. In each case it is reproached with the apparent
inactivity which it causes to labour. Now, labour rendered available,
not inactive, is the very thing which determines it. And, therefore, in
both cases, the same practical obstacle--force, is opposed to it also.
The legislator prohibits foreign competition, and forbids mechanical
competition. For what other means can exist for arresting a propensity
which is natural to all men, but that of depriving them of their
liberty?
In many countries, it is true, the legislator strikes at only one of
these competitions, and confines himself to grumbling at the other. This
only proves one thing, that is, that the legislator is inconsistent.
We need not be surprised at this. On a wrong road, inconsistency is
inevitable; if it were not so, mankind would be sacrificed. A false
principle never has been, and never will be, carried out to the end.
Now for our demonstration, which shall not be a long one.
James B. had two francs which he had gained by two workmen; but it
occurs to him that an arrangement of ropes and weights might be made
which would diminish the labour by half. Therefore he obtains the same
advantage, saves a franc, and discharges a workman.
He discharges a workman: _this is that which is seen_.
And seeing this only, it is said, "See how misery attends civilisation;
this is the way that liberty is fatal to equality. The human mind has
made a conquest, and immediately a workman is cast into the gulf of
pauperism. James B. may possibly employ the two workmen, but then he
will give them only half their wages, for they will compete with each
other, and offer themselves at the lowest price. Thus the rich are
always growing richer, and the poor, poorer. Society wants remodelling."
A very fine conclusion, and worthy of the preamble.
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