Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 1Roscher, Wilhelm
History
Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 1
Roscher, Wilhelm
Economics
Payment for goods (§ 1 ff.) of any kind can be made only in other
goods.(587)(588) Hence, the greater, more varied, and the better adapted
to satisfy wants, production is, the more readily does any product find a
remunerative market; more readily in England, for instance, in spite, or
rather, because of, the great competition there, than in Greenland or
Madagascar. From this it follows that, as a rule, a person is in a better
condition to purchase more goods in proportion as he has produced more
himself. According to official accounts, the average value of a harvest of
wheat and potatoes in Prussia was formerly 332,500,000 thalers. In the
year 1850, however, it was only 262,000,000 thalers. As a matter of
course, the country people in that year could not purchase from the cities
as much as in ordinary years, by a difference of 70,000,000 thalers. This
illustrates how every class of people, who live by finding a free market
for their products, are interested in the prosperity of all other classes.
As Bastiat says: “All legitimate interests are harmonious.” The more
flourishing a city, the better off are the towns around it, which furnish
it with provisions; and the richer these towns, the more flourishing is
the industry of the city which ministers to their wants.(589) It is
important that this fact should be borne steadily in mind, especially in
times of advanced civilization, when the feeling that we all have
interests in common, is too apt to grow dormant. Nothing can better serve
to awaken it again when it has become so. A nation, says Louis Blanc, in
which one portion of the people is oppressed by another, is like a man
wounded in the leg. The healthy limb is prevented by the sick one from
performing its functions.(590)
Section XCIX.
Freedom Of Competition And International Trade.
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