ourselves.
But, again I am told, we will not be prepared; we will have no
furnaces in blast, no forges ready. True; neither will there be any
time when war shall occur that the country will not be already filled
with all the iron we shall want until we can make it here. Did the
Confederates in the late war lack for iron? Why, then, shall we
manufacture our own staples and bolts because we may some day or other
have a quarrel with our ironmonger!

To sum up:

A radical antagonism exists between the vender and the buyer.

The former wishes the article offered to be _scarce_, and the supply
to be small, so that the price may be high.

The latter wishes it _abundant_ and the supply to be large, so that
the price may be low.

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

CHAPTER II.

OBSTACLES TO WEALTH AND CAUSES OF WEALTH.

Man is naturally in a state of entire destitution.

Between this state, and the satisfying of his wants, there exist a
number of obstacles which it is the object of labor to surmount.

I wish to make a journey of some hundred miles. But between the point
of my departure and my destination there are interposed mountains,
rivers, swamps, forests, robbers; in a word--_obstacles_. To overcome
these obstacles it is necessary that I should bestow much labor and
great efforts in opposing them; or, what is the same thing, if others
do it for me, I must pay them the value of their exertions. IT IS
EVIDENT THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF HAD THESE OBSTACLES NEVER
EXISTED. Remember this.

Through the journey of life, in the long series of days from the
cradle to the tomb, man has many difficulties to oppose him. Hunger,
thirst, sickness, heat, cold, are so many obstacles scattered along
his road. In a state of isolation he would be obliged to combat them
all by hunting, fishing, agriculture, spinning, weaving, architecture,
etc., and it is very evident that it would be better for him that
these difficulties should exist to a less degree, or even not at all.
In a state of society he is not obliged personally to struggle with
each of these obstacles, but others do it for hi