What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government

hat, in their opinion, equality of conditions is impossible. "Equality of conditions is a chimera," the

surance, they never fail to add the following comment, as a sort of GLORY BE TO THE F

masters, nobo

rich, who would

e poor, who would l

invective-we have better

topia; and if I show it no longer by metaphysics and jurisprudence, but by figures, equations, and calcul

er; then shall we commence to see in numerical relations the synthetic unity of philosophy and the sciences; and, filled with admiration and enthusiasm for this profound and majestic simplicity of Nature, we shall shout with the apostle: "Yes, the Eternal has made all things by number, weight, and measure!" We shall understand not only that equality of conditions is possible, but that all else is impossible; that this seeming impossibility which we charge upon it arises from the fact that we always think

uld find some means of unsettling their certainty: here is an opportunity to try this curious experiment. I attack property, no longer with its own maxims,

f property, I complete the pro

is JUST mus

is useful m

s true must

,-a priori,-we may judge of the justice of any thing by its possibility; so

AND MATHEMATICALLY IM

se claimed by the Proprietor over any

n is purely an

the right to transform, to alter, to consume, to destroy, to use and abuse, &c. All these rights are so many different powers of property, w

deny it without denying the facts, without

ally or potentially) by the fact which this axiom expresses; and through

of increase is really an inherent right, so essential a part

RENT; if by houses and furniture, RENT; if by life-investments, REVENUE; if by money, INTEREST; if by exchange,

roprietor on account of his nominal and metaphysical occupancy. His seal is set upon th

s sale is really a stellionate and an extortion; but by the legal fiction of the right of property, this sam

njoys and does not labor. Very different from the idols of the Psalmist are the gods of property: the former had hands and felt not; the latter, on the contrary, manus habent et palpabunt. The right of increase is conferred in a very mysterious and supernatural manner. The inauguration of a propri

touching the article, even in the proprietor's absence; and pronounces every violator of propert

o inhabit it mentally, like a divinity in his sanctuary. By means of this dedication, the substance of the artic

BOND which fastens it to the proprietor, and which cannot be broken save by his act." Locke humbly doubted whether God could make matter I

n short, to create. Surely it is no more difficult to do this than to moralize matter. The jurists are right, then, in applying to proprietors thi

explanation of the whole mystery of this beast. It was known that he who should solve the mystery of this name would obtain a knowledge of the who

frightful taenia, whose head, with its thousand suckers, is always hidden from the sword of its most violent enemies, though abandoning to them immense fragments of its b

ate of interest,-whether it rise to three, five, or ten per cent., or fall to one-half, one-four

s capital as the corresponding term of another arithmetical series which progresses in a ratio equal to the rate of interest. Thus, a capital of five hundred francs being the fifth te

. 300 .

. 9 .

a very high degree, are possessed by proprietors-will give us the key to t

TE OF INTEREST. For instance; a house valued at one hundred thousand francs, and leased at five per cent., yields a revenue of five thousand francs, according to the formula 100,000 x 5 / 100 = five thousand. Vice versa, a p

sion which marks the increase of interest i

onth, or the year; profits and gains are paid at the time of exchange. Thus, the amount of increase is proportional both to th

, jure perfecto; that is, he would not be in reality a proprietor. Then, all which passes from the hands of the occupant into those of the proprietor in the name of increase, and as the price of the permission to occupy, is a permanent gain for the latter, and a dead loss and annihilation

wn debtor for a rent equal to that which I deny myself. This principle is universally practised in business, and is regarded as an axiom by the economists. Manufacturers, also, who have the advantage of being proprietors of their floating capital, although they owe no interest to any one, in calculating their profits subtract from them, not only their running expenses and the wages of their employees, but also the interest on their capital. For the same reason, money-lenders retain in their own possession as

PROPOS

e, because it demands

th anger, in view of this mass of nonsense, in which the detestable vies with the absurd. It would be a repetition of the story of the elephant in the moon, were it not for the atrocity of the consequences. To seek a rational and legitimate ori

a field. If he is not the proprietor of the field, if he is only a tenant, he pays the proprietor for the productive service of this tool. The tenant is reimbursed by the purchase

, for the present, pay attention only to the first one of all,-the rent paid to the pro

PRODUCT OF THE MOST FERTILE LAND OVER THAT OF LANDS OF AN INFERIOR QUALITY; so that farm-rent is not d

me. Suppose two pieces of land of equal area; the one, A, capable of supporting ten thousand inhabitants; the other, B, capable of supporting nine thousand only: when, owing to an increase in their number, the inhabitants of A shall be forced to cultivate B, the landed proprietors of A will exact from the

f all men have an equal right to the possession of good land, no one can be forced to cultivate bad land without indemnification. Farm-rent-according to Ricardo, MacCulloch, and Mill-would then have been a compensation for loss and hardship

ing more than is necessary to supply the wants of the men who cultivate it. I would a

re furniture than he uses. But, since the various professions imply and sustain one another, not only the farmer, but the followers of all arts and trades-even to the doctor and the school-teacher-are, and ought to be, regarded as CULTIVATORS OF THE LAND. M

he found no basis for farm-rent save in the civil law. This opinion is a corollary of that which makes the civil law the basis of property. But why has the civil law-which ought to be the written expression of justi

st, because a monopolist "is one who does not increase the

owed, reaped, mowed, winnowed, weeded? These are the processes by which the tenant and his emp

al process, which so modifies the material that it multiplies it by destroying it. The soil is then a producer of utility; and when it [the soil?] asks its pay in the form of profit, or farm rent, for its proprietor, it at the same

ear up th

ason who builds his barn, the carpenter, the basket-maker, &c.,-all of whom contribute to agricultural production b

land also is an implement whose

endow it with vigor and fertility? Exactly there lies the monopoly of the proprietor; in the fact that, though he did not make the implement, he asks pay for its use. When the Cre

ervice," adds Say,

frank co

uld contend with another for the possession of a field witho

vellous wisdom of economists! The proprietor, if they are right, is like Perrin-Dandin who, when summ

wards you ea

g worse be sai

that possession is sufficient, without property, to maintain social order. Would it be more difficult, then, to reconcile possessors without masters than tenants controlled by proprietors? Would laboring men, who respect-much to their own detriment-the pretended rights of the idler, violate the natural rights of the producer and the manufacturer? What! if

t when, changing the noun into an adjective, they alter the phrase, t

Say, and most of his successors, teach that BOTH land AND labor AND capital are productive. The latter constitute the eclectic school of political economy. The truth is, that N

s in a simple laying on of hands. When he has taken that trouble, he has produced a value. Until then, the salt of the sea, the water of the springs, the grass of the fields, and the trees of the forests are to him as if they were not. The sea, without the fisherman and his line, supplies no fish. The forest, without the wood

ring tools and raw material together; place a plough and some seed on fertile soil; enter a smithy, light the fire, and shut up the shop,-you will produce nothing. The following remark was made by an

ll get neither wheat, nor fish, nor books. Your trouble will be as fruitless as was the immense labor of the army of Xerxes; who, as Herodotus says, with his three milli

ks to be rewarded for the use of a tool, or the productive power of his land, takes for granted, then, that which is radically false; nam

e implements which they furnish; and if land is an implement of production,-why does not this implement entitle its propriet

of property; which we must clear up, if we would understan

e is once paid to the manufacturer, the tools which he has delivered belong to him no more. Never does he claim double payment for the same tool, or

not yield his implement; eternally he

expense is charged to the borrower, and does not concern the proprietor except as he is interested in the preservation of the arti

of itself the implement produces nothing; we have just proved t

could consist, like that of the blacksmith and the wheelwright, only in the surrender of the whole or a part of his im

lence on the one hand, and weakness and ignorance upon the other. PRODUCTS say the economists, ARE BOUGHT ONLY BY PRODUCTS. This maxim is property's condemnation. The proprietor, producing nei

njoy the fruit of one's labor," was grossly mistaken. It should have said, "Property is the ri

irs (the repairs being charged to the lender, and representing products which he exchanges for other products), is guilty of swindling

evolution of 1789,-tithes, mortmain, statute-labor, &c.,-were different forms of the rights of property; and they who under the titles of nobles, se

PROPO

e wherever it exists Producti

e; this one is economical. It serves to prove that pro

alue of the whole amount of service must be balanced by the value of the product. If this cond

eless product is necessarily valueless,-that it cannot be exchanged; and,

and there is no utility save where there is a possibility of consumption. Thus, so much of every product as is rendered by excessive abundance inc

ch it destroys are cancelled values-things produced at a pure loss; a state of things which causes products to depreciate in value. Man has the power t

f foreign intercourse. Let this community represent the human race, which, scattered over the face of the earth, is really isolated. In fact, t

hundred individuals, chosen from the mass, an annual revenue of ten per cent. on their product. It is clear that, in su

oprietors, laboring like the others, have labored only for themselves. Finally, this tax is of no use to its recipients who, having harvested wheat enough for their own

ing inconsumable, one-tenth of the labor goes

at nothing may be lacking, seven school-masters, one mayor, one judge, and one priest; each industry furnishes the whole community with its special product. Now, the total production being one thousand, each laborer's c

e. The farmer raises the price of his products in proportion to his share of the debt; the other laborers follow his example. Then, after some fluctuations, equilibrium is

: wheat, 0.63; wine and vegetables, 0.09; clothing and shoes, 0.054; furniture and iron-work, 0

aborers themselves, they, like the others, possess in the nine-tenths of their product the wherewithal to live: they want for nothing. Why should they wish their proportion of bread, wine, meat, clothes, shelter, &c., to be doubled, if they c

says) by the use of his instrument, but in an effective manner and by the labor of his hands.

do at leisure what he pleases and when he pleases. Having obtained the means of life, he gives himself up to trivialities and indolence; he enjoys, he fritters away his time

production and consumption seem to balance. But, in the first place, since the proprietors no longer labor, their consumption is, according to economical principles, unproductive; consequently, the previous condition of the community-when the labor of one hundred was rewarded by no produc

hey receive from it; they launch the most terrible curses against luxury and laziness. Very beautiful morality, surely; it is a pity that it lacks common sense. The proprietor who labors, or, as the economists say, WHO MAKES HIMSELF USEFUL, is paid for this labor and uti

least of the evils wh

he blind, the maimed, the insane, and the idiotic. It can easily support a few

PROPOS

h a given capital, Production is pro

ower, which at first was one thousand, being now but nine hundred, the production is also reduced to nine hundred, one-tenth of which is ninety. Either, then, ten proprietors out of the one hundred cannot be paid,-provided the remaining ninety are to get the whole amount of their farm-rent,-or else all must consent to a decrease of ten per cent. For it is not for the laborer, who has been wanting in no particular, who has produced as in the past, to suffer by the wit

me upon which he calculated gets diminished by one-tenth,-he at the same time not even suspecting the cause of this diminution. By taking part in the production, he was himself the creator of this tenth which has vanished; and w

ve been reduced to fifty; if there had been but one hundred, it would have fallen to ten. We may posit, then,

is to deliver us at one blow from all the evils of property, without aboli

t hundred, eighty, that of one hundred, ten, &c. So that, in a community where there was but one laborer, the farm-rent would be but 0.1; no matter h

try to ascertain the maximum in

you produce, the more I demand. It is, The more I sacrifice, the more I demand. The increase in the tenant's household, the number of hands at his disposal, the resources of his industry,-all these serve to increase production, but bear no relation to the proprietor. His claims are to be measured by his own productive capacity, not that of others. Property is the right of increase, not a poll-tax. How could a man, hardly capable of cultivating

at can the lord and master of a piece of land justly

e, the product which he sacrifices in surrendering his land is also one. If

al after his withdrawal, by the law of the decrease of farm-rent, to 0.09. Thus we are led to this final formula: THE MAXIMUM INCOME OF A PROPRIETOR IS EQUAL TO THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE PRODUCT OF ONE LABORER (some number

sand francs per laborer, would be ninety francs. If, then, there are in France one million proprietors with an income of one thousand francs each, which they consume unprodu

rdens which weigh so heavily upon the laboring class! Nevertheless, the account i

title a proprietor. Every man has a right to an income equal to a fraction of his product. If, then, the laborer is obliged by the right of property to pay a rent to the propri

value of the property, the same is true in the case of a large number of small and distinct proprietors. For,

defined by the laws of production, is annihilated by the right of occupancy. Now

PROPO

ossible, becaus

eason, with which it has nothing in common? The proprietor is not content with the increase allotted him by good sense and the nature of things: he demands ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, a million times as much. By his own labor, his property would yield him a product equal only to one; and he demands of society, no longer a right proportional to his productive capacity

me, he has only to divide his property. Instead of reckoning the interest due him on his labor, he reckons it on his capital; and, by this substitution, the same property, which in the hands of its owner is capable of yieldin

he producer, of whom he always demands the same reward. When the farm-rent of a piece of land is once raised to its highest point, the proprietor never lowers it; high p

s a new serie

o is blind to the fact that the proprietor, as well as the tax-gatherer, steal

l the producers to feed, clothe, and support themselves on five-sixths of what they produce. They admit t

anded of him, instead of one-sixth, two-sixths, or one-third, of their products? No; but he would still live. Then I as

blinded by his proprietary prejudices, he would hav

is, to make both ends meet; that, having lodged, warmed, clothed, and fed themselves, they are clear of debt, but have laid up nothing. Taking the years together, they contrive to live. If the year is prospero

an annual interest of two hundred francs to be paid. If, then, these two hundred francs, instead of being subtracted from the gross product to be saved and capitalized, are consumed, there is

s ridiculous-it

I do not think them wrong. It is hard for a young man of twenty to gain any thing by life in the barracks; unless he is depraved, he detests it. You can generally judge of a soldier's morality by his hatred of h

red francs;-a sum equal to that referred to above. If, up to this time, the production of the family, constantly balanced by its consumption, has been one thousand two h

They would soon find that with the stomach there is no compromise-that beyond a certain degree of abstinence it is impossible to go-that strict necessity can be curtailed but little without injury to the health; and, as for inc

f the husbandman the double power of enlarging his land, and fertilizing it by a simple command. While a man is simply possessor of the land, he finds in it means of subsistence; as soon as he pr

the tenant after the proprietor has retired from social product

urn to our fir

-now has not been produced, and has been paid. It must then have been taken from the producer's consumption. To choke this inexplicable deficit, the laborer borrows, confident of his intention and ability to return,-a confidence which is shaken the following year by a new loan, PLUS the interest on the first. From whom does he borrow? From the proprietor. The proprieto

, which will procure for him a recommendation in the curate's prayers; while the poor tenant, overwhelmed by this unstinted charity, and taught by his

uffers with the rest; so that the laborers, instead of being poorer by one-tenth, lose only nine-hundredths. But always it is a debt which necessitates a loan, the payment of interest, economy, and fasting. Fasting for the nine-hundredths which ought not to be paid, and are paid; fasting for the redemption of debts; fasting to pay the interest on them. Let the crop fail, and the fasting becomes starvation. They say, "IT IS NECESSARY TO WORK MORE." That means, obviously,

tor would increase the farm-rent. Is not this the way in which the large landed proprietors have gradually raised their rents, as fast as they have ascertained by the increase in population and the development

reproduced on a large scale in every nation and wherever human beings live, but with infi

by starvation. Now, without robbery and murder, property cannot exist; with ro

PROPOS

because, if it exists,

table courage, the proprietor-well knowing that it exists-bases his hopes of speculatio

; he leases new land; he will sow one-third more; and, taking half of this new product for himself, he will harvest an additional sixth, and thereby pay his rent. What an evil

satisfy property, the laborer must first produce beyond his needs. Then, he must produce beyond his strength; for, by the withdrawal of laborers who become proprietors, the one always follows from the other. But to produce beyond his strength and need

s,-all these give rise to a movement for the re-division of labor, and the elimination of a certain number of producers. Out of nine hundred, ninety will be ejected, that the production of the others may be increased one-tenth. But will the total product be increased? Not in the least: there will be eight hundred and ten laborers producing as nine hundred, while, to accomplish their purpose, they would have to produce as one thousand. Now, it having been proved that

oulders of the farmer and the manufacturer, they exclaim, each speaking for himself, "I should have the means wherewith to pay my rent and interest, had I not to pay so ma

tenants, added to its value. This act of private administration was repeated in 1820, by another lar

s not say whether he would have disapproved of a revolt on the part of these exiles. For myself, I avow boldly that in my eyes it wou

y the stoppage of the producer's consumption caused by property. These two modes of suicide are at first simultaneous; but soon t

roduct must furnish,-1. The interest on the capital employed; 2. Means for the preservation of this capital

ome derived from manufactures consists of interest on the capital employed. If one hundred thousand francs have been invested in a manufacturing enterprise, and in a year's time five thousand francs have been received therefrom in addition to the expense

tollo, nomi

sum fortis t

valeo, me se

r, si quis qua

g prettier th

actor. I take t

orer, I take

italist, I t

rietor, I tak

us has summed up all

t, all the more then th

-a cattle-raiser, a tanner, and a shoemaker. The social industry, then, is that of shoemaking. If I should ask what ought to be each producer's share of the social product, the first schoolboy whom I should meet would answer, by a rule of commerce and association, that it should be one-third.

in any quantity whatever of this article, each producer must pay, then, first for his own labor, and second for the labor of the other producers. Thus, to obtain as many shoes as can be made from ten hides, the farmer will give thirty raw hides, and the tanner twenty tanned hides. For, the shoes that are made from ten hides are worth thirty raw hides, in consequence of the extra labor bestowed upon them; just as twenty tanne

emaker-in order to procure tools, buy a stock of leather, and support himself until he receives something from his investment-borrows money at interest, it is clear that to pay this interest he will

pports numerous industries; to-day, the number of industrial functions (I mean by industrial functions all useful functions) exceeds, perhaps, a

mic law, and make exchange impossible? A contractor pays one hundred thousand francs for raw material, fifty thousand francs in wages, and then expects to receive a product of two hundred thousand francs,-that is, expects to make a profit on the material an

for more than three francs. The workingman cannot, then, repurchase that which he has produced for his master. It is thus with all trades whatsoever. The tailor, the hatter, the cabinet-maker, the blacksmith, the tanner, the mason, the jewelle

the right of property, and the multifarious forms of increase, premiums, tithes, interests, fines, profits, farm-rents, house-rents, revenues, emoluments of every nature and description, their products are estimated by the proprietors a

n is false, I summon him to appear; and I promise to retract all tha

at the results

uld soon be discovered and suppressed. But, as there is the same inequality of wages (from that of the scavenger up to that of the minister of state) as of property, robbery continually rebounds from th

they grow, nor the flesh of the animals which they raise. They are allowed neither to dwell in the houses which they build, nor to attend the plays which their labor supports, nor to enjoy the rest which their body requires. And why? Because the right of increase does not p

s entered into a conspiracy with famine. But the whole nation has not even this labor, by means of which property starves it. And why? Because the workers are forced by the

the richer consumer; that is, for only a fraction of society. But when the whole society labors, it produces for the whole society. If, then, only

usion is i

cers resisting and struggling against this mathematical necessi

r rest two days out of three, or, separating into three groups, relieve each other three times a week, month, or quarter; that is, during two-thirds of their life they must not live. But industry, under the influence of property, does not proceed with such regularity. It endeavors to produce a great deal in a short time, because the greater the amount of products, and the shorter the time of production, the less

ause the decreased cost creates a larger market; but they do not produce long, because, the cheapness being due to the quantity and rapidity of production, the productive power tends more than ever to outstrip consumption. It is when laborers, whose wages are scarcely sufficient to support them from one day to another, are thrown out of work, that the

upon his frightened creditors hasten to withdraw their funds. Production is suspended, and labor comes to a standstill. Then people are astonished to see capital desert commerce, and throw itself upon the Stock Exchange; and I once heard M. Bla

all kinds of business to get ahead of each other. This effort is to-day so strong, that the price of merchandise scarcely covers the cost

ccord branded with the name of usury, whenever it was paid for the use of money, but which they did not dare to condemn in the forms

the two others; and vice versa. Do you wish to know the regulator of a society? Ascertain the amount of active capital; that is, the capital bearing interest, a

1840; and, as I write these lines, the crisis is not yet ended. It is said, further, that the number of houses which have wound u

. There-it may be truly said-property does not exist, since the right of increase is scarcely exercised at all. The condition of the laborers-as regards security of life-is almost the same as if absolute equality prevailed among them. They are deprived of all the advantages of full and free association, but their existence is not end

nt varies but little, and depends mainly on the seasons. The devouring action of property bears, then, principally upon business. We commonly say COMMERCIAL CRISES, not AGRICULTURAL CRISES; because, while the farmer is eaten up slowly by the right of incr

this pro

orer for more than it pays him for

THE FIFTH

he amelioration of the lot of the poorer and more numerous class-lay much stress now-a-days on a better organization of labor. The disciples of

VE AND FOUR MAKE NINE; TAKE TWO AWAY, AND NINE REMAIN,-and who weep over the b

o multiply a whole

y, to obtain a produc

ed that under his syste

e temperature was abov

onians would make burni

ian what he thought of

I believe." And yet the

e of the Re

SKILL. On the other hand, they wish the workingman to come into the enjoyment of all the wealth of society; that is,-abridging the expression,-into the undivided enjoyment of his own product. Is not

es Fourier's system, I will subscribe to the whole p

hould be quadrupled,-a thing which does not seem to me at all impossible,-it would be labor lost: if the additional product was not consumed, it would be of no value, and the proprietor would decline to receive it as interest; if it was consumed, all the disadvantages of prop

is not mine. Charlatanism was too important a part for such a man to play, and sincerity too insignificant a one. I would rather think Fourier ignorant (which is generally admitted) than disingenuous. As for his disciples, before they can formulate an

ury of all kinds, and finally property itself, to proportion products to capacities? That was St. Simon's idea; it was also Fourier's; it is

Simon, Fourier, and their respective flocks committed a serious blunder in attempting to unite, the one, inequality and communism; the other, inequa

ed to some a salary of one hundred thousand francs each; to others, eighty thousand; then twenty-five thousand, fifteen thousand, ten thousand, &c., down to one thousand five hundred, and one thousand francs, the minimum allowance of a citizen. Pinheiro loved distinctions, and could no more conceive of a State without great dignitaries than of an army without drum-majors; and as he also loved, or thought he loved, libe

on in a century is equal to thirty millions of men; the psychologist admires the rarity of so fine a genius, the legislator sees only the r

ty to go down on its knees before the man of superior talents, but a provident

ary capacities in the very respect in which it ought to shine. The more extensive a man's knowledge, the more luxuriant his imagination, the more versatile his talent,-the more costly has his education been, the more remarkable and numerous were his teachers and his models,

on: the conditions of development being equal, in

furnished his maximum production; that there may be an equitable distribution of products, the share of each must be equal to the quotie

ve service, they will not be able to repurchase their product, and we shall once more be afflicted with all the calamities of property. I do not speak of the inju

could there be large and small producers? On the other hand, all functions being equal, either on account of the actual equivalence of ta

equal to his production, of which we are speaking. When the astronomer produces observations, the poet verses, or the savant experiments, they consume instruments, books, travels, &c., &c.; now, if society supplies this consumption, what more can

r-abundant. Complaints have been made in all ages of the excess of population; in all ages property has been embarrassed by the presence of pauperism, not perceiving

Rome (where property held full sway), these three means were employed so effectively, and for so long a time, that finally the empire found itself withou

ys hunger kills the inhabitants by myriads; and the Chinese historian records in the annals of the empire, that in such a year of such an emperor twenty, thirty, fifty, one hundred thousand inhabita

wing facts from a

upon by pauperism. At that time beggars were punished by law." Nevert

t its own paupers. But what is a pauper? Charles II. decides that an UNDISPUTED residence of forty days constitutes a settlement in a parish; but, if disputed, the new-comer is forced to pa

llions; 1813, more than a hundred and eighty-seven millions five hundred thousand francs; 1816,

on the parish lists was estimated at four m

ory tax in behalf of the poor. In 1566 and 1586, t

oportion as to-day]. Mendicity was punished severely. In 1740, the Parliament

t the extent of the evil and the diffic

nce of the poor to be a NATIONAL

ay,' said he, 'I shall protect the rich from the importunity of beggars, and s

e inferred,-the one, that pauperism is independent of population; the other

ds charity; that is, she encourages mendicity. That i

banishment and imprisonment for the poor; that is, on the one hand, viola

voted themselves to devising checks. Some wish to prohibit the poor from marrying; thus,-having denounce

LD. They would simply recommend him to be PRUDENT. This opinion is held by Malthus, Sismondi, Say, Droz, Duchatel, &c. But if the poor are to be PRUDENT,

cially dangerous, and I suspect that the economists are not thoroughly understood. "Some half-enlightened ecclesiastics are alarmed when they hear prudence in marriage

ce is the very best evidence of the purity of his heart. Religion never has encouraged early marriages; and the kind of PRUDEN

this our philosopher does not heed. True to the dogma of the necessity of evil, to evil he looks for the solution of all problems. He adds: "The multiplication of men continuing in all classes of society, the surplus members of the upper classes are supported by the lower classes, and those of the latter are destroyed by poverty." This philosophy has few avowed partisans; but it has ove

-could not, in this field, belie their character. They inven

though vigorous women may be less likely to conceive, nevertheless they give birt

all the physical powers. If this development is

stroys their reproductive capacity. But the analogy is a false one. Flowers become sterile when the stamens-or male organs-are changed into petals, as may be seen by inspecting a rose; and when through excessive

o clearly in French. This method-like the preceding one-is copied from civilized customs. Fourier, himself, cites the example of prostitute

ned by universal practice, philosophy, political economy, and the latest reformers-may be summed up in the following list:

proved inadequate, the

mong them, called proprietor, who eats the share of two. Suppose that the twentieth laborer-the poor one-is killed: the production of the following year will be diminished one-twentieth; consequently the nineteenth will have to yield his portion, and perish. For, since it is not one-twentieth of the product of nineteen which must be pai

t notice this PAUPERIZING power of property. Had he observed this, he would have understood that, before trying to check reproduction, the right of incr

say a thing unless we prove it. Now, to explain my method fully would require no less than a formal treatise. It is a thing so simple and so vast, so common and so extraordinary, so true and so misunderstood, so sacred and so profane, that

PROPOS

le, because it is th

conomy, the supreme administrative power o

stockholders; therefore, one may have several hundred votes, while another has only one. If, for example, I enjoy an income of one million; that is, if I am the proprietor of a fortune of thirty or forty millions well invested, and if this fortune constitutes 1/30000 of the nation

the illustrious orator ought at the same time to demand that each elector shall have as many votes as he has shares; as is the case in commercial associations. For to do otherwise is to pretend that the nation h

former, marry them at pleasure, take from them their wives, castrate their sons, prostitute their daughters, throw the aged to the sharks,-and finally will be forced to serve themselves in the same way, unless they

political and civil equality

e controlled three-fourths of the votes in the national representation. To double the vote of the third estate was just, it is said, since the people paid nearly all the taxes. This argument would be sound, if there were n

to power, they would work a reform by which every National Guard should be

of interest on public fu

, pass laws to regulate the exportation o

assessment of taxes,-

eople gratuitously,-a co

uarantee labor to the workingman, and give him a

ders of property,-a radical proof that the

republican oath should be changed. Instead of, "I swear hatred to royalty," hence

H PROP

, it loses them; in hoarding them, it nullifies them; and

repair. The head of a manufacturing establishment-who employs laborers at three, five, ten, and fifteen francs per day, and who charges twenty francs for his superintendence-

es not work; or, which working for its own pleas

t give his labor in exchange for his property, since, if he did, he would thereby cease to be a proprietor. In consuming as a laborer, the proprietor gains, or at least does not lose, since he recov

g nor knowing how to produce, and perceiving that as fast as he uses his property he destroys it for ever-has taken the precaution to make some one produce in his place. That is what political economy, speaking in the name of eternal

ich is not rich,-that poverty even increases with luxury, and vice versa. The economists (so much credit must be given them, at least) have caused such a horror of luxury, that

proprietor. By his labor, the proprietor produces his wages only-not his income. And since his condition enables him to engage in the most lucrative pursuits, it may be said that the proprietor's labor harms society more than it helps

more is seen of them, not even the caput mortuum,-the smoke. If we had some means of transportation by which to travel to the moon, and if the proprietors should

s: he does not use them. He may feast his eyes upon them; he may lie down with them; he may sleep with them in his arms: all very fine, but coins do not breed coins. No real property without enj

ount of interest to be paid upon it, the more he is compelled to diminish wages. Now, the more he diminishes wages,-that is, the less he devotes to the maintenance and repair of the machines,-the more h

per cent. If, instead of consuming his revenue, the proprietor uses it, not in enlarging but in beautifying his estate, can he annually demand of his tenant an additional ninety francs on account of the three thousand francs which

since it is impossible to go on acquiring for ever, to add estate to estate, to CONTINUE ONE'S POSSESSIONS, as the Latins said; and since

hout stopping to look at the particular cases which occur in commerce, manufacturing operations, and banking, I

isagree. What is to be thought, I ask, of the science of government, when its professors cannot understand one another's figures? Whatever be the immediate causes of this growth of the budget, it is certain that taxation incr

ation of the English

during the session o

r several years the ex

ster has been able to

nnually. The combined d

y-seven million five hu

enses over receipts is

housand francs. Attent

ord Melbourne replied: '

that the public expense

that there is no room

n any way.'"-Nation

gains a battle, changes the outfit of its army, erects a monu-ment, digs a canal, opens a road, or builds a railway, it borrows money, on which the tax-payers pay interest; that

e expenses, which is impossible, since the loan was contracted for the sole reason that the ordinary receipts were insufficient; or the money expended by the government must be reproductive, which requires an increase of productive capacity,-a condition excluded by our hypothesis; or, finally, the tax-payers must submit to a new tax in order to pay the debt,-an impossible thing. For, if this new tax were levied upon all ci

is astonishing that the economists, with all their learning, have failed to perceive a fact

h the financial question,-is it not true that, when five per cent. is changed to four per cent., it will then be necessary, for the same reasons, to change four to three; then three to two, then two to one, and finally to sweep away increase altogether? But that

PROPO

wer of Accumulation is infinite, and i

st, payable to his descendants twenty-four generations hence,-at the end of six hundred years this sum of one hundred francs, at five per cent., would amount to 107,854,010,777,600 francs;

said heirs were not the rightful possessors, and that prescription had been interrupted always at the right moment,-nevertheless, by our laws, the last heir would be oblige

ing example supposed the interest equal to one-twentieth of the capital,-it often eq

. But, should production be multiplied by four, ten, or even one hundred, property would soon absorb, by its power of accumulation and the effects of its capitalization, both produ

which it would be puerile for me to insist. I only ask by what standard judges, called up

nd charging interest,-to the judge in recognizing and fixing the domain of property,-to the State in its power to levy new taxes continually? At what point is the nation justified in repudiating the budget, the tenant his farm-rent, and the manufacturer the inter

must be thought of his justice? If he did not know it, what must be thought

s a judgment of the Court of Appeal amount to? About what do our Chambers deliberate? What is POLITICS? What i

are so many shams? And if the entire social structure is built upon this absolute impossibility of proper

PROPOS

e, because it is powe

he stranger. This economical principle is universally admitted. Nothing simpler at first b

e manufacturer, who seems to make this profit on his property, wishes also to make it on his merchandise, can he then pay himself one franc for that which cost him nine

rm a chain of ten, fifteen, twenty producers; as many as you wish. If the producer A makes a profit out of the p

mer any other, then, than A, B. C, D, &c., or Z? By whom will Z be paid? If he is paid by A, no one makes a profit; consequently, there is no property. If, on the con

e right of increase, may be respected in the case of A, it must be denied to Z; thus we see how equality of rights, separated from equality of conditions, may be a truth. The iniquity of political economy in this respect is flagrant. "

he manufacturer? Why is this right, which is at bottom the right of property itself, denied to the workingman? In the terms of economical science, the workingman is capital. Now, all capital, beyond the cost of its m

it would be equality of goods,-in other words, it would not exist. Now, the charter

ssion of the field belonging to B. his neighbor? "No," reply the proprietors; "but what has tha

hbor and also a hatter, to close his shop, and

th fifty centimes. It is evident that D's moderation is injurious to C's extra

; so that at the end of two or three years D is ruined by this intolerable competition, and C has complete control of the market. Can the proprietor D get any redress f

So that A can devour B if he likes, for the very reason that A is stronger than B. Consequently, it is not the right of property which enables A and C to rob B and D, but the right of might. By the right of property, neit

eir products for what they please. The manufacturer says to the laborer, "You are as free to go elsewhere with your services as I am to receive them. I offer you

property, since without force it has no power to incre

business is precisely that to which the least attention is paid; namely, that, in one way or another, property has to be violated. Impose on each industry a proportional tax, so as to preserve a balance in the market, and you create a MAXIMUM PRICE,-you attack property in two ways. On the one hand, your tax interferes with the liberty of trade; on the other, it does not recognize equality of proprietors. Ind

the basis of our commercial legislation; which, from the economical point of view, embraces all civil law

barbarous ancestors. "Let them fight it out," replied

ffer them for sale," cries the economist; "the sharper, or the

ct spirit of th

PROPOS

e, because it is the

roposition will be the re

Y BY PRODUCTS. Property, being capable of defence only on the ground tha

BALANCED BY PRODUCT. It is a fact that, with pr

CAPITAL, BUT BY PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY. Property, requiring income to be always proportional to capi

er produces for himself alone. Property, demanding a double pr

, one will. Property, granting to one individual a plura

ruction. Property, whether it consumes or hoards or capitalizes

n there is a balance, an equation; between the right to be a father and paternity, an equation; between the right to security and the social guarantee, an equation. But between the right of increase and the receipt of this increase

FORCE or FRAUD-is necessary to its life and action. In other words,