CHAP. XX. INCREASED PRICES. 99 



kinds of articles were adjusted. When any com- 

 modities were sold, the buyer would complain of 

 the quantity of money he must pay, and that 

 would leave a deep impression on his mind, which 

 would not be removed by the higher price he 

 would obtain for what he sold. All would wish 

 to buy cheap, but to sell dear. The gratification 

 of the last wish is more than destroyed by the non- 

 gratification of the first. This was evidently 

 the case with the individuals whose views are 

 described by themselves in the dialogues. Every 

 one who produced more than he consumed would 

 find at the end of a few years that his wealth, 

 estimated as wealth commonly is in money, had 

 increased considerably beyond his expectation. 

 Every one who consumed more than he pro- 

 duced would in a few years find that his wealth, 

 estimated in the same manner, had diminished 

 more than he had anticipated. This condition 

 of the two classes would have a beneficial effect 

 on the aggregate wealth of the community. The 

 producers would be encouraged to more strenuous 

 exertions, and the consumers would be induced 

 to adopt a greater degree of parsimony. That 

 portion of society who are both producers and 

 consumers, and they are probably by far the 

 largest class, would find little or no alteration in 

 their condition, except as far as the small dif- 

 ference on the excess of their production over their 

 consumption, or the contrary, which in most 



