Value diminishes through the co-operation of natural forces, not
of its own accord, but by the pressure exerted by competition,
291, 292.
In the absence of competition, society would be constituted on
the principle of universal monopoly, ‹ib.›
Competition enables one country to participate in the natural
advantages of another, 293.
Examples of this, 294, 299.
Inventions and discoveries become, through competition, the
common and gratuitous patrimony of all, 299.
Mode in which this takes place, 300, 301.
Competition among capitalists reduces the price of commodities,
301, 302.
Progress of civilisation tends to lower the rate of interest,
and this effected by competition, 302.
If wages are sometimes reduced by competition, the labourers, as
consumers, profit by it, 303-307.
Competition tends to render services proportional to efforts,
306.
Laws of modern society too often cramp competition, 309, 310.
Competition essential to progress, and allied with human
perfectibility, 313.
It approximates ranks, fortunes, and intelligence, 316.
Advantages from inventions, or from local situation, climate,
etc., slip rapidly from hands of producers, and go to enlarge
enjoyments of consumers, 333, 334.
Same thing holds of disadvantages, 334.
‹Condillac› quoted, 114, 107.
‹Considérant, M.›, his work on Socialism quoted, 62, ‹note›.
His opinions on landed property, 257-260.
‹Consumer›, every man may in turn be both producer and consumer,
324, 325.
The wishes and desires of consumers are those which are in
harmony with the public interest, 325.
Consumers and producers should be left free to take care of
their own interests, 326.
The effect of inventions and discoveries on the interests of
consumers and producers represented by diagrams, 331, 332.
Advantages from inventions, or from local situation, climate,
etc., slip rapidly from the hands of producers, and go to
enlarge the enjoyments of consumers, 333, 334.
Same thing holds of disadvantages, 334.
All great economic effects must be regarded from the consumer’s
point of view, ‹ib.›
Subordination of producer’s interests to those of consumer
confirmed when viewed in connexion with morals, 335.
Consumer is alone responsible for morality or utility of
production, 338.