The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1848-01-18
Translated from the French Of Dps.ia., for the Ever
PostJ
ABUNDANCE VS.. SCARCITY.

WRiSh, Is the most advantageous TO man
society, abundance or scafcitya oAT
What! itwllsbe said, can this be a sqne
ZION? Has il ever been asserted, is il poss
Die TO maintain, that scarcity is the found;
tiou ofathe welfare OF men? Yes, this yhs
been asserted; yes, thishas been maintained
isomaintained every day, and fear moi ,
say that the theory of scarcity is much, til
most popuiarof tfeawoa It is the theme {
Conversations, Of ne wspapers, Of books, e
legislatures, and, extraordinary as it may az
pear, il is certain that political economy wi
have accomplished its task when it shaal hay
rendered Governor and aHapswerablc thi
simple proposition: .siThe wealth of men con
sists in the abundance of ihings.7 7a,aa3n s
do weinot hear i. said every days *Wt
shall be inundated with foreign product p
Therefore abundance is feared s,1 s.,e-
Has il not been said, We overproduce 2?
Abundance was, therefore, dreaded. uo,,,
Have not workmen destroyed Nachineryi
they then feared excess of production Of
abundance. jiw isls ;aaQ jaol .'crisy i.f Z
II has been, said I" Let bread be dear and
agricnlturisis will become rich -? But as
bread can only become dear when il is scarce,
scarcity must have been desired. ,,af ,,y e..
Has not even the fecnadity of the beet
root been made an argument against its cui-
ture for the manufacture of sugar? Was it
not said. The cultivation of beeis cannot
become extensive, because q few acres in
each department will raise sufficient for the
consumption Of, all Francen? 1t thus ap-
pears that wealth depends on sieiiliiy, on
acarciiy; poverty on fertility, on abundance.
Do net most Of the daily papers publish ev-
cry day articles 10 convince government that
II is good policy to raise the price of all ar
ticles by means Of tariffse 9 But as tarGs on
ly raise The prices by diminishing the quantity
offered in market, the daily papers desire to
pat into practice the theory Of scarcity, and |
waa right in saying that this theory WAS by
far the most popular of the two.
How is it,hat in the eyes Of laborers, wr-!
ters, statesman, abundance hiss come to be
feared and scarcity desired? 4 propose toI
60 back TO the source of this allusion. Il
tits seen That a man onrchos himself in
proportion to the result he obtains for his la
bcr; that is TO say, the higher he sells the
prcducs Of his labor, The searcer the artic-
les he produces becomes, ,he higher The price
he obsnihs fol il. We, therefore, conclude,
that, as regards him ar least, scarcity enrich
es him. Applying this reasoning success
sively.to all kind pfiabor produces the theo-
ry fscarci.y. From this it was soon put in
TO practice, and, TO favor all laborers, an ar
,i6cial dearness afd scarcity are produced in
all things by prohibition, by restriction, by
the destruction of machinery and other SIM
liar means. t''iAfF %" @D'
II is the same with abundance. 1t is OBJ
served that when an article becomes abund
ant, il sells a, low prices; therefore the pro-
ducer gains less. If all producers are in this
position, they are al poor; therefore it is
abundance that ruins society And as all
convictions lead 10 acts, in most countries
the laws Of man are seen struggling against
tho abundance Of things.
This sophism, when applied generally,
would make but slight impression; but appli-
ed 10 particular class, TO this or that branch
of manufacture, il becomes extremely plat.
sible. This is easily explained. 1t is syl-
logism not false, but incomplete. Now, what
truth there is in a syllogisln is naturplly al
ways present to the mind. But the incom-
pleteness is a negative quantity, an absen,
part which is very likely, nay, even very ca
sy TO forget. q f .@--a=a si-9 I.if n"'. {
( Man produces 10 consume. He is both
producer and consumer. The reasoning
have Just given, consider him only as a pro. {
ducer. As d consumer il would have led to I
the opposite conclusion. Could ii not in fact a
be said.p bntH { 3A'.Gll4 siGa3 raig ifh a
The cheaper the consumer purchases, the r
richer he becomes; the more abundant things c
become, the cheaper he purchases them; C
thereffe abundance enriches him. And "a
this reasoning extended to all consumers, d
would lead 10 The theory of abundance! saa, d
It's he'imperfecily understood laws of ex s.
changes which produce these illusions. III
We consult our personal interest, we distincil e
II understood that il is twofold. As sellers, Il
our interest is dearness and consequently al
as purchasers, chespness, or which
is the same thing, abundance. We cannot, p
therefore agree on either Of these interests II
without having first asceftained which of the I'll
MO comedies and is Unidentified with the Of
general and permanent interes. ofthe human re
ace. sessJ-- ,salleRFg Aey lg4i 10 al5'eY OF
If man was solitary be;ng-if he labored al
for HIMSELF Aif he consumed d. pl
ectly the fruits Of his laSor--or, in word, nc
lid he not eGchdnge, the theory Of scarcity or
.onld never have introduced itself, 1t would
,e loo clearly evident that abundance would sil
,c henefcial TO him, let iticome whence il wi
night, whether from the resultofhis own in W;
ustry, fran ingenious tools, from powerful sts
which he had invented, or owing w
B the fertility ofthe soil. to the liberalty Of th