e preparation of their hides, and the cutting and sewing.
If the hide, on leaving the farmer's stable, is worth one, it is worth
two on leaving the tanner's pit, and three on leaving the shoemaker's
shop. Each laborer has produced a portion of the utility; so that, by
adding all these portions together, we get the value of the article. To
obtain any quantity whatever of this article, each producer must pay,
then, first for his own labor, and second for the labor of the other
producers. Thus, to obtain as many shoes as can be made from ten hides,
the farmer will give thirty raw hides, and the tanner twenty tanned
hides. For, the shoes that are made from ten hides are worth thirty raw
hides, in consequence of the extra labor bestowed upon them; just
as twenty tanned hides are worth thirty raw hides, on account of
the tanner's labor. But if the shoemaker demands thirty-three in the
farmer's product, or twenty-two in the tanner's, for ten in his own,
there will be no exchange; for, if there were, the farmer and the
tanner, after having paid the shoemaker ten for his labor, would have to
pay eleven for that which they had themselves sold for ten,--which, of
course, would be impossible. [18]

Well, this is precisely what happens whenever an emolument of any kind
is received; be it called revenue, farm-rent, interest, or profit. In
the little community of which we are speaking, if the shoemaker--in
order to procure tools, buy a stock of leather, and support himself
until he receives something from his investment--borrows money at
interest, it is clear that to pay this interest he will have to make a
profit off the tanner and the farmer. But as this profit is impossible
unless fraud is used, the interest will fall back upon the shoulders of
the unfortunate shoemaker, and ruin him.

I have imagined a case of unnatural simplicity. There is no human
society but sustains more than three vocations. The most uncivilized
society supports numerous industries; to-day, the number of industrial
functions (I mean by industrial functions all useful functions) exceeds,
perhaps, a thousand. However numerous the occupations, the economic law
remains the same,--THAT THE PRODUCER MAY LIVE, HIS WAGES MUST REPURCHASE
HIS PRODUCT.

_ _The economists cannot be ignorant of this rudimentary principle
of their pretended science: why, then, do they so obstinately defend
property, and inequality of wages, and the legitimacy of usury, and the
honesty