536 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



in the Socialist system, is what is not seen. In what does this pre- 

 tended 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 grain which can satisfy 

 it is at Chicago, the suffering cannot cease till the grain is brought 

 into contact with the stomach. There are three methods by which 

 this contact may be effected: (i) the famished men may go themselves' 

 and fetch the grain; (2) they may leave this task to those to whose 

 trade it belongs; (3) they may club together and give the office in 

 charge to public functionaries. Which of these three methods pos- 

 sesses greatest advantages ? In every tune, in all countries, and the 

 more free, enlightened, and experienced they are, men have volun- 

 tarily chosen the second. I confess that this is sufficient, in my 

 opinion, to justify this choice. I cannot believe that mankind, as a 

 whole, is deceiving itself upon a point which touches its interest so 

 closely. But let us now consider the subject. 



For thirty-six millions of citizens to go and fetch the grain they 

 want from Chicago is a manifest impossibility. The first method 

 then, goes for nothing. The consumers cannot act for themselves. 

 They must, of necessity, have recourse to intermediates, officials or 

 agents. But observe, at the same time, that the first of these three 

 methods would be the most natural. In reality, the hungry man has 

 to fetch his grain. It is a task which concerns himself, a service due 

 to himself. If another person, on whatever ground, performs this 

 service for him, takes the task upon himself, this latter has a claim 

 upon him for a compensation. I mean by this to say that interme- 

 diates contain in themselves the principle of remuneration. However 

 that may be, since we must refer to what the Socialists call a parasite, 

 I would ask, which of the two is the most exacting parasite, the mer- 

 chant or the official ? 



Commerce (free of course, otherwise I could not reason upon it), 

 commerce, I say, is led by its own interests to study the seasons, to 

 give daily statements of the state of the crops, to receive information 

 from every part of the globe, to foresee wants, to take precautions 

 beforehand. It has vessels always ready, correspondents everywhere ; 

 and it is its immediate interest to buy at the lowest possible price, to 

 economize in all the details of its operations, and to attain the greatest 

 results by the smallest efforts. It is not the French merchants only 

 who are occupied in procuring provisions for France in time of need ; 



