THE UPPER AND NETHER MILLSTONES. 9 1 



while the nether stone stands firm. The first is governed 

 by artificial laws ; the other by natural laws, though natural 

 laws sadly imposed upon ; one by impositions, injustices, 

 and duplicity, the other by the stern logic of facts. 



The price of the farmer's productions is, as we have 

 seen in a former chapter, governed by a world-wide 

 competition, being neither protected by national boun- 

 daries nor by special combinations. This is the natural, 

 the normal condition. On the other hand, the prices 

 which the farmer is obliged to pay for the productions 

 and the services of others are inflated, through the re- 

 sult of artificial barriers, against all competition from 

 production outside the limits of the nation, and by com- 

 binations within. This is the unnatural, the abnormal 

 condition. 



With such as the manufacturer, the conditions are 

 exactly reversed. As producers, the results of their 

 labors are inflated in exchange value by protection; 

 whereas, as consumers of farm produce, they have but 

 to pay competition prices. The system of extreme in- 

 direct taxation, as operated in America, gives the great 

 manufacturing industries the power to relieve themselves, 

 however much they may be pressed upon. This is done 

 by forcing unnatural terms upon such as the farmer. 



Whatever the extortion which one manufacturer may 

 practise upon another in the price he demands for his 

 productions, that other finds relief through an equivalent 

 exaction in return ; but the farmer is victimized by both, 

 and he does not, or cannot, retaliate. 



The trades combine one against another, and both 

 against the farmer ; and he does not, or cannot, retaliate. 



Government, in its combination with capital, uses its 

 power against such as the farmer ; and nothing is done, 

 or can be done, by retaliation. 



