to one affects the
operations of the rest, and thus suppresses or perverts the final result
to which, nearly or remotely, they all contribute.

Consider, for a moment, these precious economical organs and their mode
of operation. In any tolerably civilized community that has lasted for
any length of time, they consist, first in rank, of those who possess
wealth arising from the accumulation of old and recent savings, that
is to say, those who possess any sort of security, large or small,
in money, in notes, or in kind, whatever its form, whether in lands,
buildings or factories, in canals, shipping or machinery, in cattle or
tools, as well as in every species of merchandise or produce.--And see
what use they make of these: each person, reserving what he needs for
daily consumption, devotes his available surplus to some enterprise,
the capitalist his ready money, the real-estate owner his land and
tenements, the farmer his cattle, seed and farming implements, the
manufacturer his mills and raw material, the common-carrier his vessels,
vehicles and horses, the trader his warehouses and stock of goods for
the year, and the retailer his shop and supplies for a fortnight.
To which everybody, the agriculturist, merchant and manufacturer,
necessarily adds his cash on hand, the deposits in his bank for paying
the monthly salaries of his clerks, and at the end of the week, the
wages of his workmen.--Otherwise, it would be impossible to till the
soil, to build, to fabricate, to transport, to sell; however useful
the work might be, it could not be perfected, or even begun, without a
preliminary outlay in money or in kind. In every enterprise, the crop
presupposes labor and seed corn. If I want to dig a hole I am obliged
to hire a pick and the arms to wield it, or, in other terms, to make
certain advances. But these advances are made only on two conditions:
first, that he who makes them is able to make them, that is to say, that
he is the possessor of an available surplus; and next, being the owner
of this surplus, that he desires to make them, with this proviso that
he may gain instead of losing by the operation.--If I am wholly or
partially ruined, if my tenants and farmers do not pay their rent,[4202]
if my lands or goods do not bring half their value in the market, if
the net proceeds of my possessions are threatened with confiscation or
pillage, not only have I fewer securities to dispose of, but, again,
I become more and more