One makes use of them for taking in
more newspapers; another, to get better living; another, better clothes;
another, better furniture. It is thus that the trades are bound
together. They form a vast whole, whose different parts communicate by
secret canals: what is saved by one, profits all. It is very important
for us to understand that savings never take place at the expense of
labour and wages.
IX.--Credit.
In all times, but more especially of late years, attempts have been made
to extend wealth by the extension of credit.
I believe it is no exaggeration to say, that since the revolution of
February, the Parisian presses have issued more than 10,000 pamphlets,
crying up this solution of the _social problem_.
The only basis, alas! of this solution, is an optical delusion--if,
indeed, an optical delusion can be called a basis at all.
The first thing done is to confuse cash with produce, then paper money
with cash; and from these two confusions it is pretended that a reality
can be drawn.
It is absolutely necessary in this question to forget money, coin,
bills, and the other instruments by means of which productions pass from
hand to hand. Our business is with the productions themselves, which are
the real objects of the loan; for when a farmer borrows fifty francs to
buy a plough, it is not, in reality, the fifty francs which are lent to
him, but the plough; and when a merchant borrows 20,000 francs to
purchase a house, it is not the 20,000 francs which he owes, but the
house.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109