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 him; and he, in turn,
must remove some one of them for the benefit of his fellow-men. This
doing one kind of labor for another, is called the division of labor.
Considering mankind as a whole, _let us remember once more that it
would be better for society that these obstacles should be as weak and
as few as possible_.
But mark how, in viewing this simple truth from a narrow point of
view, we come to believe that obstacles, instead of being a
disadvantage, are actually a source of wealth!
If we examine closely and in detail the phenomena of society and the
private interests of men _as modified by the division of labor_, we
perceive, without difficulty, how it has happened that wants have been
confounded with riches, and the obstacle with the cause.
The separation of occupations, which results from the division of
labor, causes each man, instead of struggling against _all_
surrounding obstacles, to combat only _one_; the effort being made not
for himself alone, but for the benefit of his fellows, who, in their
turn, render a similar service to him.
It hence results that this man looks upon the obstacle which he has
made it his profession to combat for the benefit of others, as the
immediate cause of his riches. The greater, the more serious, the more
stringent, may be this obstacle, the more he is remunerated for the
conquering of it, by those who are relieved by his labors.
A physician, for instance, does not busy himself in baking his bread,
or in manufacturing his clothing and his instruments; others do it
for him, and he, in return, combats the maladies with which his
patients are afflicted. The more dangerous and frequent these maladies
are, the more others are willing, the more, even, are they forced, to
work in his service. Disease, then, which is an obstacle to the
happiness of mankind, becomes to him the source of his comforts. The
reasoning of all producers is, in what concerns themselves, the same.
As the doctor draws his profits from _disease_, so does the ship-owner
from the obstacle called _distance_; the agriculturist from that named
_hunger_; the cloth manufacturer from _cold_; the schoolmaster lives
upon _ignorance_, the jeweler upon _vanity_, the lawyer upon _cupidity
and breach of faith_. Each profession has then an immediate interest
in the continuation, even in the extension, of the particular obstacle
to which its attention has been directed.
Theorists hence go on to found a system upon these individual
interests, and say: Wants are riches: Labor is riches: The obstacle to
well-being is well-being: To multiply obstacles is to give food to
industry.
Then comes the statesman; and as the developing and propagating of
obstacles is the developing and propagating of riches, what more
natural than that he should bend his efforts to that point? He says,
for instance: If we prevent a large importation of iron, we create a
difficulty in procuring it. This obstacle severely felt, obliges
individuals to pay, in order to relieve themselves from it. A certain
number of our citizens, giving themselves up to the combating of this
obstacle, will thereby make their fortunes. In proportion, too, as the
obstacle is great, and the mineral scarce, inaccessible, and of
difficult and distant transportation, in the same proportion will be
the number of laborers maintained by the various branches of this
industry.
The same reasoning will lead to the proscription of machinery.
Here are men who are at a loss how to dispose of their petroleum. This
is an obstacle which other men set about removing for them by the
manufacture of casks. It is fortunate, say our statesmen, that this
obstacle exists, since it occupies a portion of the labor of the
nation, and enriches a certain number of our citizens. But here is
presented to us an ingenious machine, which cuts down the oak, squares
it, makes it into staves, and, gathering these together, forms them
into casks. The obstacle is thus diminished, and with it the fortunes
of the coopers. We must prevent this. Let us proscribe the machine!
To sift thoroughly this sophism, it is sufficient to remember that
human labor is not an _end_ but a _means_.
_Labor is never without employment._ If one obstacle is removed, it
seizes another, and mankind is delivered from two obstacles by the
same effort which was at first necessary for one. If the labor of
coopers could become useless, it must take another direction. To
maintain that human labor can end by wanting employment, it would be
necessary to prove that mankind will cease to encounter obstacles.