“And it is very fair he should, for reasons which you can hardly understand yet.” “Try him,” said Marguerite. “It is impossible, my dear. I refer to the charges I am at for the rent of my cellar, the wear of my casks, and the loss of interest upon the capital locked up in the wine. All this must be paid out of the improvement in the quality of the article; and all this, Julien must wait a few years to understand. “Now tell me, my boy, whether you think it a good thing or not that there should be a scarcity of wine?” “Why, papa, as we do not want to drink all you have ourselves, and as people will give you as much for it as they would for twice as much, I do not think it signifies to you; but it must be a bad thing for the people of Paris that there is so little wine to be had. At least you said so about the bread.” “But if my wine should be as dear next year, and I should have no more losses from storms, and no more expense than in common years, in growing my wine, would the high price be a good thing for me or not?” “It would be good for you, and bad for your customers; only I think they would not give you so much for your wine. They would remember that there had been no more storms, and they would find people that had cheaper wine to sell, and then they would leave off buying of you.” “And they would be very right, if there was anybody to sell cheaper; as there would be, if labourers had less wages, and so made it less expensive to grow and prepare wine. But if some way was found of making more wine than ever, in a cheaper way than ever, who would be the better for that?” “The people that buy of you, because I suppose you would let them have it cheaper.” “And papa too,” said Marguerite, “for many people would buy wine who cannot afford it now.” “Therefore,” concluded Charles, “a high exchangeable value is not at all a good thing for everybody, though it may be for a time to some few. And a low exchangeable value is a very good thing to everybody, if it arises from the only cause which can render it permanent,—a diminution of the cost of production.” “But if this happened with every article,” pursued Marguerite, “there would be an end of the cheapness, though not of the plenty. As many of one thing would exchange for a certain number of other things as before.” “True; but less labour would purchase them all; and this is the grand consideration. As less labour will now purchase a deal table than was once necessary to procure a rough hewn log in its place, less labour still may hereafter buy a mahogany one; and this is a desirable thing for the purchasers of tables, and no less for the makers, who will then sell a hundred times the number they can dispose of now.” -------------- CHAPTER VI. NEW DEVICES.