e piece of folly; State
interference ends in a _maximum_ or a monopoly. To my thinking, few
things can be more in conformity with the principles of free trade than
joint-stock companies. State interference means that you try to regulate
the relations of principal and interest, which is absurd. In business,
generally speaking, the profits are in proportion to the risks. What
does it matter to the State how money is set circulating, provided that
it is always in circulation? What does it matter who is rich or who is
poor, provided that there is a constant quantity of rich people to be
taxed? Joint-stock companies, limited liability companies, every sort of
enterprise that pays a dividend, has been carried on for twenty years
in England, commercially the first country in the world. Nothing passes
unchallenged there; the Houses of Parliament hatch some twelve hundred
laws every session, yet no member of Parliament has ever yet raised an
objection to the system----"

"A cure for plethora of the strong box. Purely vegetable remedy," put in
Bixiou, "_les carottes_" (gambling speculation).

"Look here!" cried Couture, firing up at this. "You have ten thousand
francs. You invest it in ten shares of a thousand francs each in ten
different enterprises. You are swindled nine times out of the ten--as a
matter of fact you are not, the public is a match for anybody, but
say that you are swindled, and only one affair turns out well (by
accident!--oh, granted!--it was not done on purpose--there, chaff
away!). Very well, the punter that has the sense to divide up his stakes
in this way hits on a splendid investment, like those who took shares in
the Wortschin mines. Gentlemen, let us admit among ourselves that those
who call out are hypocrites, desperately vexed because they have no good
ideas of their own, and neither power to advertise nor skill to exploit
a business. You will not have long to wait for proof. In a very short
time you will see the aristocracy, the court, and public men descend
into speculation in serried columns; you will see that their claws are
longer, their morality more crooked than ours, while they have not our
good points. What a head a man must have if he has to found a business
in times when the shareholder is as covetous and keen as the inventor!
What a great magnetizer must he be that can create a Claparon and hit
upon expedients never tried before! Do you know the moral of it all?
Our age is no better than w