It was at the time of the scarcity, in 1847, that the Socialist schools
attempted and succeeded in popularizing their fatal theory. They knew
very well that the most absurd notions have always a chance with people
who are suffering; _malisunda fames_.
Therefore, by the help of the fine words, "trafficking in men by men,
speculation on hunger, monopoly," they began to blacken commerce, and to
cast a veil over its benefits.
"What can be the use," they say, "of leaving to the merchants the care
of importing food from the United States and the Crimea? Why do not the
State, the departments, and the towns, organize a service for provisions
and a magazine for stores? They would sell at a _return price_, and the
people, poor things, would be exempted from the tribute which they pay
to free, that is, to egotistical, individual, and anarchical commerce."
The tribute paid by the people to commerce is _that which is seen_. The
tribute which the people would pay to the State, or to its agents, in
the Socialist system, is _what is not seen_.
In what does this pretended tribute, which the people pay to commerce,
consist? In this: that two men render each other a mutual service, in
all freedom, and under the pressure of competition and reduced prices.
When the hungry stomach is at Paris, and corn which can satisfy it is at
Odessa, the suffering cannot cease till the corn is brought into
contact with the stomach.
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