, 1873-12-28
Why Interest Is Paid for tho Uso Of
Capital. c
Why It Is Perpetual.
What Would Be the Condition Of Things
Without It.
An Address to the Worlkingmens
of Paris.


i address this troatlse to tho workmon Of Paris,
more ospectnlly to those who haye enrolled
themselves under the banner OF Socialist donoc-
raoy. proceed to consider those two ques-
tions: :s
.Flrs-Is It consistent with tho nature OF
things, and with Justice, that capital should pro-
duco ir1tercet2
Second-1s it consistent with The nature OF
things, and with Justice, that tho intorost Of
capital should be perpotual7
The workingmen Of Paris will certainly nc
knowledge TINT a moro important subject could
not bo discussed.
Since the world began, 1t has boon allowed, at
least, in part, TINT capital ought to produce In
terest. But latterly 1t has been affirmed, TINT
herein lies the very social error which is tho
cause Of pauporism and inequality. It is, thoro-
fore, very essential to know now Oh what ground
we stand.
For II levying intorcst from capital Is ain, tie
workers hayo right to revolt against social or
der, aa 1t exists 1t is In win to tell them TINT
thoy ought to have recourse to legal md pacific
means, it would be q hypocritical recommends
ton. When on tho one side thoro is a strong
man, poor, and q victim OF robbery,-on tho
other, weak man, but rich, and d robber,--it is
singular enough, that wo should say to the
FORMER, with a hope Of pornuading him, ss Wait
till your oppresaor voluntarily reuouncos op-
precision, Or till it shall coase Of ITSELF" This
cannot be and those who tell us TINT capital
ig BY nature, unproductive, ought to know TINT
they hre provoking
TERRIBLE AND IMMEDIATE Brnu1GLE.
Il, on the contrary, tho interest Of capital iB
natural, lawful. consistent with tho general good
economists who deny IT, tho tribunes who traffic
In this pretended aooia1 wound, are loading tho
workmen into sonseless and unjust struggle,
Which can have no other issue than tho miBfor-
tune Of ali. In faot, they aro ar1ning labor
against capital. So much tho bettor, II these
two powers are really antagonistio; and may tho
struggle soon be ended But II they nro in
harmony, the struggle is the greatest evil which
men, that there is not moro important question
than this: Is the interest Of capital lawful or
not 2" In tho former care, you must Immediate
ly ronounce tho struggle to which you arc being
urged; in The i, seeond You must carry it on
Produotivoness Of capItal-perpetutty Of in-
terest. Theso arc difficult questions. must
elldeaVor to make myself clear. Aud for thnt
Than 70 demonstration; or rathcr, shall place
the demonstration In the example. Il begin by
acknowledging that. at first sight, it may ap-
poar strange that capital should pretend to a ro-
muneration; md, nbovo all, to
PERPETUAL REMUNERATION.
You will say, ~ Hero are two meu. Ono Of
them works from morning till night from ono
years end to another; and II ho consumes
per1or onorgy, ho remains poor. When Christ
mus comes, be is no forwardor than ho was at
s. ths beginning n Of the Syos and and has mo no
his hands or his head; or, at leaat, it ho mahes
use Of them ut ALL it is only for his own pleas
u1e 1t Ia allowable for him to do nothing, for he
has an income. He does not work, yet he lives
dishes, aumptuous furniture, elegant equipegea; ;
nay, he oven consumes, daily, things which The
workers have beon obliged to produce by The
sweat Of their brow; for these things do not
Cd, he las no hand in their production. It is the
workmen who hayo caused this corn to grow,
polished this furniture, woven these carpets; it
Is our wives and daughters who have spun, cut
work. then, for him and ourselves first for him
and then for ourselves, If there ia anything loft.
But here
IS SOMETHING MORE sTn1H1Na sTILL.
II tho former a;I Of these two men, the worker.
haye been loft him in that year, he is always at
the point from which he started, and his destiny
condemns him to moyo necessarily in per-
petual circle, and monotony Of exertion. La
other, tIo "gontleman, consumes lis yoarly
income In the year, he has, tho year after, in
those which follow, and through Ill eternity, an
income always equal, inexhaustible, perpetual.
Capital, then, is remuneratod, not only once or
twice, but IN indefinite number OF timos i So
that, at tho end OF hundred years, q family
which hos placed 10000 francs, at 8 5per cent,
will have bud 100, 900 franca; and this will not
prevent il from having 100000 francs more, IN
The following century. n other words, for
0,00o francs, which repregont its labor, it will
have levied, in two centuries,
TENFoID VALUE
on the labor Of others. In this social arrango-
mHnt. mnnHtr1nA n ha RI.
formod7 And this is not all. II 1t should
please this family to curtail its enjoymenta
little-so spend. for example, Gully 900 francs,
without any other trouble beyond that Of invest
ing 100 francs a year, increase its capital and
Its income IN such rapid progression that 1t will
soon be In position to consume as much as a
Does not oil this go to provo. TINT society itself
has In its bosom hdeouB cancer which ought
suffering 2"
TheBa are, 1t appears to mo, the ead and irri-
tnting reflections which must be excitod In your
minds by tho active and superficial crusade which
ia being carried on against capital and interest.
On tho other hand, there arc moments in which,
am convinced, doubts are awakened in your
minds, and eofupleB In your conscience. You say
to yourselves sometimes But to assert that
capital ought not to produce interest, is to aay
that he who has oroated instruments Of labor, or
materials, or provisions OF my kind, ought to
yield them up without compensation. lB that
just? And then, If it Is 30, who would lend
these Instruments, these materials, theae pro-
Visions who would take care Of them who
even would orente them3 Every ono would con-
sumo his proportion, and tho hulnnn race would
never advance o step.
CAPITAL WOULD DE- NO LONGER FORMED,
since thora would be no interest In forming It, It
will become exceeding scarce. a singular step
OF Improving tho condition Of borrowers, to
make It mposBib1e for tlem to borrow at any