ishes run counter to the good
of society.

It may be said, perhaps, that were these desires granted, the labor of
the producer constantly checked would end by being entirely arrested
for want of support. But why? Because in this extreme supposition every
imaginable need and desire would be completely satisfied. Man, like the
All-powerful, would create by the single act of his will. How in such an
hypothesis could laborious production be regretted?

Imagine a legislative assembly composed of producers, of whom each
member should cause to pass into a law his secret desire as a
_producer_; the code which would emanate from such an assembly could be
nothing but systematized monopoly; the scarcity theory put into
practice.

In the same manner, an assembly in which each member should consult only
his immediate interest of _consumer_ would aim at the systematizing of
free trade; the suppression of every restrictive measure; the
destruction of artificial barriers; in a word, would realize the theory
of abundance.

It follows then,

That to consult exclusively the immediate interest of the producer, is
to consult an anti-social interest.

To take exclusively for basis the interest of the consumer, is to take
for basis the general interest.

* * * * *

Let me be permitted to insist once more upon this point of view, though
at the risk of repetition.

A radical antagonism exists between the seller and the buyer.

The former wishes the article offered to be _scarce_, supply small, and
at a high price.

The latter wishes it _abundant_, supply large, and at a low price.

The laws, which should at least remain neutral, take part for the seller
against the buyer; for the producer against the consumer; for high
against low prices; for scarcity against abundance. They act, if not
intentionally at least logically, upon the principle that _a nation is
rich in proportion as it is in want of every thing_.

For, say they, it is necessary to favor the producer by securing him a
profitable disposal of his goods. To effect this, their price must be
raised; to raise the price the supply must be diminished; and to
diminish the supply is to create scarcity.

Let us suppose that at this moment, with these laws in full action, a
complete inventory should be made, not by value, but by weight, measure
and quantity, of all articles now in France calculated to supply the
necessities and pleasures of its i