rower, rather than
by the utility sacrificed by the proprietor? We must recognize, then,
this second economical law: INCREASE IS MEASURED BY A FRACTION OF THE
PROPRIETORS PRODUCTION.

Now, this production, what is it? In other words, What can the lord and
master of a piece of land justly claim to have sacrificed in lending it
to a tenant?

The productive capacity of a proprietor, like that of any laborer, being
one, the product which he sacrifices in surrendering his land is also
one. If, then, the rate of increase is ten per cent., the maximum
increase is 0.1.

But we have seen that, whenever a proprietor withdraws from production,
the amount of products is lessened by 1. Then the increase which accrues
to him, being equal to 0.1 while he remains among the laborers, will be
equal after his withdrawal, by the law of the decrease of farm-rent,
to 0.09. Thus we are led to this final formula: THE MAXIMUM INCOME OF
A PROPRIETOR IS EQUAL TO THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE PRODUCT OF ONE LABORER
(some number being agreed upon to express this product). THE DIMINUTION
WHICH THIS INCOME SUFFERS, IF THE PROPRIETOR IS IDLE, IS EQUAL TO A
FRACTION WHOSE NUMERATOR IS 1, AND WHOSE DENOMINATOR IS THE NUMBER WHICH
EXPRESSES THE PRODUCT.

Thus the maximum income of an idle proprietor, or of one who labors in
his own behalf outside of the community, figured at ten per cent. on an
average production of one thousand francs per laborer, would be ninety
francs. If, then, there are in France one million proprietors with an
income of one thousand francs each, which they consume unproductively,
instead of the one thousand millions which are paid them annually, they
are entitled in strict justice, and by the most accurate calculation, to
ninety millions only.

It is something of a reduction, to take nine hundred and ten millions
from the burdens which weigh so heavily upon the laboring class!
Nevertheless, the account is not finished, and the laborer is still
ignorant of the full extent of his rights.

What is the right of increase when confined within just limits? A
recognition of the right of occupancy. But since all have an equal right
of occupancy, every man is by the same title a proprietor. Every man has
a right to an income equal to a fraction of his product. If, then,
the laborer is obliged by the right of property to pay a rent to the
proprietor, the proprietor is obliged by the same right to pay the same
amount of rent to the laborer; a