the bastiat collection volume 2 phần 7 pptx

The very people who object to our studying mankind under the double aspect of producers and consumers have no difficulty in making this distinction when they address themselves to leg- islative assemblies. We then find them demanding monopoly or freedom of trade, according as the matter in dispute refers to a commodity they sell, or a commodity they purchase. Without dwelling longer, then, on this preliminary exception taken by the protectionists, let us acknowledge that in the social order the separation of employments causes each man to occupy two situations, sufficiently distinct to render their action and relations worthy of our study. In general, we devote ourselves to some special trade, profes- sion, or career, and it is not from the products of that particular line of work that we expect to derive our satisfactions. We render and receive services; we supply and demand values; we make pur- chases and sales; we work for others, and others work for us: in short, we are producers and consumers. According as we present ourselves in the market in one or other of these capacities, we carry thither a spirit that is very different, or rather, I should say, very opposite. Suppose, for example, that corn is the subject of the transaction. The same man has very different views when he goes to market as a purchaser from what he has when he goes there as a seller. As a purchaser, he desires abundance; as a seller, scarcity. In either case, these desires may be traced to the same source—personal interest; but as to sell or buy, to give or to receive, to supply or to demand, are acts as opposite as possible, they cannot but give rise, and from the same motive, to opposite desires. Antagonistic desires cannot at one and the same time coincide with the general good. In another work, 1 I have endeavored to show that the wishes or desires of men in their capacity of consumers are those which Harmonies of Political Economy—Book Two 359 1 Economic Sophisms, chap. 1 (1st series). Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 359 are in harmony with the public interest; and it cannot be other- wise. For seeing that enjoyment is the end and design of labor, and that the labor is determined only by the obstacle to be over- come, it is evident that labor is in this sense an evil, and that everything should tend to diminish it; that enjoyment is a good, and that everything should tend to increase it. And here presents itself the great, the perpetual, the deplorable illusion that springs from the erroneous definition of value, and from confounding value with utility. Value being simply a relation, is of as much greater importance to each individual as it is of less importance to society at large. What renders service to the masses is utility alone; and value is not at all the measure of it. What renders service to the individual is still only utility. But value is the measure of it; for, with each determinate value, he obtains from society the utility of his choice, in the proportion of that value. If we regard man as an isolated being, it is as clear as day that consumption, and not production, is the essential thing; for consumption to a certain extent implies labor, but labor does not imply consumption. The separation of employments has led certain economists to measure the general prosperity not by consumption, but by labor. And by following these economists we have come to this strange subversion of principle, to favor labor at the expense of its results. The reasoning has been this: The more difficulties are over- come the better. Then augment the difficulties to be conquered. The error of this reasoning is manifest. No doubt, a certain amount of difficulties being given, it is fortunate that a certain quantity of labor also given should sur- mount as many of these difficulties as possible. But to diminish the power of the labor or augment that of the difficulties in order to increase value is positively monstrous. An individual member of society is interested in this, that his services, while preserving even the same degree of utility, should 360 The Bastiat Collection Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 360 increase in value. Suppose his desires in this respect to be realized, it is easy to perceive what will happen. He is better off, but his brethren are worse off, seeing that the total amount of utility has not been increased. We cannot then reason from particulars to generals, and say: Pursue such measures as in their result will satisfy the desire that all individuals seek to see the value of their services augmented. Value being a relation, we should have accomplished nothing if the increase in all departments were proportionate to the ante- rior value; if it were arbitrary and unequal for different services, we should have done nothing but introduce injustice into the distribution of utilities. It is of the nature of every bargain or mercantile transaction to give rise to a debate. But by using this word debate, shall I not bring down upon myself all the sentimental schools that are nowadays so numerous? Debate implies antagonism, it will be said. You admit, then, that antagonism is the natural state of society. Here again I have to break another lance; for in this country economic science is so little understood that one cannot make use of a word without raising up an opponent. I have been justly reproached for using the phrase that “Between the seller and buyer there exists a radical antagonism.” The word antagonism, when strengthened by the word radical, implies much more than I meant to express. It would seem to imply a permanent opposition of interests, consequently an inde- structible social dissonance; while what I wished to indicate was merely that transient debate or discussion which precedes every commercial transaction, and which is inherent in the very idea of a bargain. As long as, to the regret of the sentimental utopian, there shall remain a vestige of liberty in the world, buyers and sellers will dis- cuss their interests, and higgle about prices; nor will the social laws cease to be harmonious on that account. Is it possible to con- ceive that the man who offers and the man who demands a service should meet each other in the market without having for the moment a different idea of its value? Is that to set the world on Harmonies of Political Economy—Book Two 361 Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 361 fire? Must all commercial transactions, all exchanges, all barter, all liberty, be banished from this earth, or are we to allow each of the contracting parties to defend his position, and urge and put forward his motives? It is this very free debate or discussion that gives rise to the equivalence of services and the equity of transactions. By what other means can our system-makers ensure this equity that is so desirable? Would they by legislation trammel the liberty of one of the parties only? Then the one must be in the power of the other. Would they take away from both the liberty of managing their own affairs, under the pretext that they ought henceforth to buy and sell on the principle of fraternity? Let me tell the Socialists that it is here their absurdity becomes apparent, for, in the long run, these interests will automatically be regulated and adjusted. Is the discussion to be inverted, the purchaser taking the part of the seller, and vice versa? Such transactions would be very diverting, we must allow. “Please, sir, give me only 10 francs for this cloth.” “What say you? I will give you 20 for it.” “But, my good sir, it is worth nothing—it is out of fashion—it will be worn out in a fortnight,” says the merchant. “It is of the best quality, and will last two winters,” replies the customer. “Very well, sir, to please you, I will add 5 francs—this is all the length that fraternity will allow me to go.” “It is against my Socialist principles to pay less than 20 francs, but we must learn to make sacrifices, and I agree.” Thus this whimsical transaction will just arrive at the ordinary result, and our system-makers will regret to see accursed liberty still surviving, although turned upside down and engendering a new antagonism. That is not what we want, say the organisateurs; what we desire is liberty. Then what would you be at? for services must still be exchanged, and conditions adjusted. We expect that the care of adjusting them should be left to us. I suspected as much. Fraternity! bond of brotherhood, sacred flame kindled by heaven in man’s soul, how has thy name been abused! In thy name all freedom has been stifled. In thy name a new despotism, such as the world had never before seen, has been erected; and we are at length driven to fear that the very name of fraternity, after 362 The Bastiat Collection Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 362 being thus sullied, and having served as the rallying cry of so many incapables, the mask of so much ambition, and proud con- tempt of human dignity, should end by losing altogether its grand and noble significance. Let us no longer, then, aim at overturning everything, domi- neering over everything and everybody, and withdrawing all— men and things—from the operation of natural laws. Let us leave the world as God has made it. Let us, poor scribblers, not imag- ine ourselves anything else than observers, more or less exact, of what is passing around us. Let us no longer render ourselves ridiculous by pretending to change human nature, as if we were ourselves beyond humanity and its errors and weaknesses. Let us leave producers and consumers to take care of their own interests, and to arrange and adjust these interests by honest and peaceful conventions. Let us confine ourselves to the observation of relations, and the effects to which they give rise. This is precisely what I am about to do, keeping always in view this general law, which I apprehend to be the law of human society, namely, the gradual equalization of individuals and of classes, combined with general progress. A line no more resembles a force or a velocity than it does a value or a utility. Mathematicians, nevertheless, make use of dia- grams; and why should not the economist do the same? We have values that are equal, values the mutual relations of which are known as the half, the quarter, double, triple, etc. There is nothing to prevent our representing these differences by lines of various lengths. But the same thing does not hold with reference to utility. General utility, as we have seen, may be resolved into gratuitous utility and onerous utility, the former due to the action of nature, the latter the result of human labor. This last being capable of being estimated and measured, may be represented by a line of determinate length; but the other is not susceptible of estimation or of measurement. No doubt in the production of a measure of wheat, of a cask of wine, of an ox, of a stone of wool, a ton of coals, a bundle of faggots, nature does much. But we have no Harmonies of Political Economy—Book Two 363 Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 363 means of measuring this natural co-operation of forces, most of which are unknown to us, and which have been in operation since the beginning of time. Nor have we any interest in doing so. We may represent gratuitous utility, then, by an indefinite line. Now, let there be two items, the value of the one being double that of the other, they may be represented by these lines: IAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _________________________ ICD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _______________ IB, ID, represent the total items, general utility, what satisfies man’s wants, absolute wealth. IA, IC, the co-operation of nature, gratuitous utility, the part that belongs to the domain of community. AB, CD, human service, onerous utility, value, relative wealth, the part that belongs to the domain of property. I need not say that AB, which you may suppose, if you will, to represent a house, a piece of furniture, a book, a song sung by Jenny Lind, a horse, a bale of cloth, a consultation of physicians, etc., will exchange for twice CD, and that the two men who effect the exchange will give into the bargain, and without even being aware of it, the one, once IA, the other twice IC. Man is so constituted that his constant endeavor is to diminish the proportion of effort to result, to substitute the action of nature for his own action; in a word, to accomplish more with less. This is the constant aim of his skill, his intelligence, and his energy. Let us suppose then that John, the producer of IB, discovers a process by means of which he accomplishes his work with one- half the labor it formerly cost him, taking everything into account, even the construction of the instrument by means of which he avails himself the co-operation of nature. 364 The Bastiat Collection Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 364 As long as he preserves his secret, we shall have no change in the figures we have given above; AB and CD will represent the same values, the same relations; for John alone of all the world being acquainted with the improved process, he will turn it exclusively to his own profit and advantage. He will take his ease for half the day, or else he will make, each day, twice the quantity of IB, and his labor will be better remunerated. The discovery he has made is for the good of mankind, but mankind in this case is represented by one man. And here let us remark, in passing, how fallacious is the axiom of the English Economists that value comes from labor, if thereby it is intended to represent value and labor as proportionate. Here we have the labor diminished by one-half, and yet no change in the value. This is what constantly happens, and why? Because the service is the same. Before as after the discovery, as long as it is a secret, he who gives or transfers IB renders the same service. But things will no longer be in the same position when Peter, the producer of ID, is enabled to say, “You ask me for two hours of my labor in exchange for one hour of yours; but I have found out your process, and if you set so high a price on your service, I shall serve myself.” Now this day must necessarily come. A process once realized is not long a mystery. Then the value of the product IB will fall by one-half, and we shall have these two figures: IAA′ B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________ ICD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________ AA′ represents value annihilated, relative wealth that has dis- appeared, property become common, utility formerly onerous, now gratuitous. For, as regards John, who here represents the producer, he is reinstated in his former condition. With the same effort it cost Harmonies of Political Economy—Book Two 365 Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 365 him formerly to produce IB, he can now produce twice as much. In order to obtain twice ID, we see him constrained to give twice IB, or what IB represents, be it furniture, books, houses, or what it may. Who profits by all this? Clearly Peter, the producer of ID, who here represents consumers in general, including John himself. If, in fact, John desires to consume his own product, he profits by the saving of time represented by the suppression of AA′. As regards Peter, that is to say as regards consumers in general, they can now purchase IB with half the expenditure of time, effort, labor, value, compared with what it would have cost them before the intervention of natural forces. These forces, then, are gratuitous and, moreover, held in common. Since I have ventured to illustrate my argument by geometri- cal figures, perhaps I may be permitted to give another example, and I shall be happy if by this method—somewhat whimsical, I allow, as applied to Political Economy—I can render more intelli- gible to the reader the phenomena I wish to describe. As a producer, or as a consumer, every man may be consid- ered as a center, from whence radiate the services he renders, and to which tend the services he receives in exchange. Suppose then that there is placed at A (Fig. 1) a producer, a copyist, for example, or transcriber of manuscripts, who here represents all producers, or production in general. He furnishes to society four manuscripts. If at the present moment the value of each of these manuscripts is equal to 15, he renders services equal to 60, and receives an equal value, variously spread over a multitude of services. To simplify the demonstration, I suppose only four of them, proceeding from four points of the circumference BCDE. This man, we now suppose, discovers the art of printing. He can thenceforth produce in 40 hours what formerly would have cost him 60. Admit that competition forces him to reduce proportionally the price of his books, and that in place of being worth 15, they are now worth only 10. But then in place of four our workman can now produce six books. On the other hand, the fund of remuneration proceeding from the circumference, 366 The Bastiat Collection Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 366 amounting to 60, has not changed. There is remuneration for six books, worth 10 each, just as there was formerly remuneration for four manuscripts, each worth 15. This, let me remark briefly, is what is always lost sight of in discussing the question of machinery, of free trade, and of progress in general. Men see the labor set free and rendered disposable by the expeditive process, and they become alarmed. They do not see that a corresponding proportion of remuneration is rendered disposable also by the same circumstance. The new transactions we have supposed are represented by Fig. 2, where we see radiate from the center A a total value of 60 spread over six books, in place of four manuscripts. From the circumference still proceeds a value equal to 60, necessary now as formerly to make up the balance. Who then has gained by the change? As regards value, no one. As regards real wealth, positive satisfactions, the countless body of consumers ranged around the circumference. Each of them can Harmonies of Political Economy—Book Two 367 Figure 1 Figure 2 Value produced = 60 Value received = 60 Utility produced = 4 Value produced = 60 Value received = 60 Utility produced = 6 Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 367 now purchase a book with an amount of labor reduced by one- third. But the consumers are the human race. For observe that A himself, if he gains nothing in his capacity of producer—if he is obliged, as formerly, to perform 60 hours’ labor in order to obtain the old remuneration—nevertheless, in so far as he is a consumer of books, gains exactly as others do. Like them, if he desires to read, he can procure this enjoyment with an economy of labor equal to one-third. But if, in his character of producer, he finds himself at length deprived of the profit of his own inventions by competition, where in that case is his compensation? His compensation consists, first, in this, that as long as he was able to preserve his secret, he continued to sell for 15 what he produced at the cost of 10; second, in this, that he obtains books for his own use at a smaller cost, and thus participates in the advantages he has procured for society. But, third, his compensation consists above all in this, that just in the same way as he has been forced to impart to his fellow-men the benefit of his own progress, he benefits by the progress of his fellow-men. Just as the progress accomplished by A (Fig. 3) has profited B, C, D, and E, the progress realized by B, C, D, and E has profited A. By turns A finds himself at the center and at the circumference of universal industry, for he is by turns producer and consumer. If B, for example, is a cotton-spinner who has introduced improved machinery, the profit will redound to A as well as to C and D. If C is a mariner who has replaced the oar by the sail, the economy of labor will profit B, A, and E. In short, the whole mechanism reposes on this law: Progress benefits the producer, as such, only during the time necessary to recompense his skill. It soon produces a fall of value, and leaves to the first imitators a fair, but small, recompense. At length value becomes proportioned to the diminished labor, and the whole saving accrues to society at large. Thus all profit by the progress of each, and each profits by the progress of all. The principle, each for all, all for each, put forward by the Socialists, and which they would have us receive 368 The Bastiat Collection Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/6/2007 11:35 AM Page 368 [...]... equal values, or equal relative wealth, but not the same absolute wealth In other words, the one employs its labor well, and the other employs it ill Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 374 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 374 The Bastiat Collection And as regards satisfactions the result will be this: that the one people will have much instruction, and the other good dinners The ultimate consequences of this diversity... between these two members of the adages we have quoted, namely, each for all—each for himself The one, it is said, expresses the sympathetic principle, the other the individualist or selfish principle The first unites, the second divides Now, if we refer exclusively to the motive that determines the effort, the opposition is incontestable But I maintain that if we 377 Harmonies 2 Chap Twelve.qxd 378 7/ 6 /20 07. .. prudential regulation That is all—they go no farther Harmonies 2 Chap Twelve.qxd 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 386 Harmonies 2 Chap Thirteen.qxd 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 3 87 13 RENT I f, with an increase in the value of land, a corresponding augmentation took place in the value of the products of the soil, I could understand the opposition that the theory I have explained in the present work (part 1, chapter... deduced from the consideration of utility, is fully confirmed when we advert to the consideration of morality Responsibility, in fact, always rests with the initiative Now where is the initiative? In demand Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 3 72 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 3 72 The Bastiat Collection Demand (which implies the means of remuneration) determines all the direction of capital and of labor, the distribution... incumbent on the man who manifests the desire or makes Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 376 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 376 The Bastiat Collection the demand for the commodity to weigh the consequences, whether useful or hurtful, and to answer before God and man for the good or bad direction he impresses upon industry Thus from whatever point of view we regard the subject, we see clearly that consumption is the great... some form or other, in the hands of the proprietor, the capitalist, or the laborer In the case of the proprietor, it must take the form of an increase in the value of his land If, on the other hand, the State expends its revenue injudiciously, it is a misfortune The tax is lost; and that is Harmonies 2 Chap Thirteen.qxd 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 389 Harmonies of Political Economy—Book Two 389 the taxpayer’s... produce The field immediately becomes worth £150 The proprietor having by this means acquired facilities for improvement and for a more varied culture, then increases the value of the land, and it comes to be worth 20 0 3 87 Harmonies 2 Chap Thirteen.qxd 388 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 388 The Bastiat Collection The value of the field is now doubled Let us examine this added value—both as regards the question... fall on some other body.” To rid oneself of a burden and transfer it to the shoulders of another, such was the sense in which these unfortunate people understood the apothegm of fraternity—all for each Harmonies 2 Chap Twelve.qxd 384 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 384 The Bastiat Collection Fraternity We live at other men’s expense, and attribute heroism to the sacrifice What an odd, strange thing the human mind... dint of the maxim, all for each, we allay the scruples of conscience We impose upon others the duty of working for us, and we arrogate to ourselves the right to enjoy the fruits of other men’s labor We summon the State, the law, to impose the pretended duty, to protect the pretended right, and we arrive at the whimsical result of robbing one another in the sacred name of 1When the vanguard of the Icarian... falls forever into the Harmonies 2 Chap Twelve.qxd 3 82 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 3 82 The Bastiat Collection domain of the common and gratuitous And while we thus impart the fruits of our progress to our fellow-men, we ourselves become participators in the progress that other men have achieved In short, by the rule each for himself, individual efforts, reinforced and invigorated, act in the direction of . but not the same absolute wealth. In other words, the one employs its labor well, and the other employs it ill. Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 373 374 The Bastiat Collection And. in the consumer, for he represents mankind at large. 376 The Bastiat Collection Harmonies 2 Chap Eleven.qxd 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 376 12 THE TWO APHORISMS M odern moralists who contrast the. Chap Eleven.qxd 7/ 6 /20 07 11:35 AM Page 371 3 72 The Bastiat Collection Demand (which implies the means of remuneration) determines all the direction of capital and of labor, the distribution of

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