t does not represent the participation of the
proprietor in the production; since this participation could consist,
like that of the blacksmith and the wheelwright, only in the surrender
of the whole or a part of his implement, in which case he would cease
to be its proprietor, which would involve a contradiction of the idea of
property.

Then, between the proprietor and his tenant there is no exchange either
of values or services; then, as our axiom says, farm-rent is real
increase,--an extortion based solely upon fraud and violence on the
one hand, and weakness and ignorance upon the other. PRODUCTS say
the economists, ARE BOUGHT ONLY BY PRODUCTS. This maxim is property's
condemnation. The proprietor, producing neither by his own labor nor by
his implement, and receiving products in exchange for nothing, is either
a parasite or a thief. Then, if property can exist only as a right,
property is impossible.

COROLLARIES.--1. The republican constitution of 1793, which defined
property as "the right to enjoy the fruit of one's labor," was grossly
mistaken. It should have said, "Property is the right to enjoy and
dispose at will of another's goods,--the fruit of another's industry and
labor."

2. Every possessor of lands, houses, furniture, machinery, tools, money,
&c., who lends a thing for a price exceeding the cost of repairs (the
repairs being charged to the lender, and representing products which he
exchanges for other products), is guilty of swindling and extortion. In
short, all rent received (nominally as damages, but really as payment
for a loan) is an act of property,--a robbery.

HISTORICAL COMMENT.--The tax which a victorious nation levies upon a
conquered nation is genuine farm-rent. The seigniorial rights abolished
by the Revolution of 1789,--tithes, mortmain, statute-labor, &c.,--were
different forms of the rights of property; and they who under the titles
of nobles, seigneurs, prebendaries, &c. enjoyed these rights, were
neither more nor less than proprietors. To defend property to-day is to
condemn the Revolution.

SECOND PROPOSITION.

Property is impossible because wherever it exists Production costs more
than it is worth.

The preceding proposition was legislative in its nature; this one
is economical. It serves to prove that property, which originates in
violence, results in waste.

"Production," says Say, "is exchange on a large scale. To render the
exchange productive the value of th