And if we dare not publicly express this desire, or pursue the complete realization of it with some success, we do so, at least to a certain extent, by indirect means; as for example, the exclusion of foreign goods, in order to diminish the _quantity offered_, and to produce thus by forcible means, and for our own profits, a _scarcity_ of clothing.
We might thus pass in review every business and every profession, and should always find that the producers, _in their character of producers_, have invariably anti-social interests.

"The shop-keeper (says Montaigne) succeeds in his business through the extravagance of youth; the laborer by the high price of grain; the architect by the decay of houses; officers of justice by lawsuits and quarrels.

The standing and occupation even of ministers of religion are drawn from our death and our vices.

No physician takes pleasure in the health even of his friends; no soldier in the peace of his country; and so on with all." If then the secret desires of each producer were realized, the world would rapidly retrograde towards barbarism.

The sail would proscribe steam; the oar would proscribe the sail, only in its turn to give way to wagons, the wagon to the mule, and the mule to the foot-peddler.