cipal thing to ascertain is the number and the nature of the
forces that are available, the quantity and nature of the means of
production,--the factories, workshops, means of transportation and
communication, land--and also their productivity. The next thing to
ascertain is the quantity of the supplies that are on hand and the
extent to which these can satisfy the wants of society. As to-day the
State and the several municipalities yearly cast up their budgets, the
thing will then be done with an eye to all the wants of society, without
thereby excluding changes that increased or new wants may demand.
Statistics here play the chief _role_: they become the most important
subsidiary science of the new order: they furnish the measure for all
social activities.

Statistics are extensively used to-day for similar purposes. The
Imperial, State and municipal budgets are based upon a large amount of
statistical reports, made yearly by the several administrative branches.
Long experience and a certain degree of stability in the running wants
facilitate their gathering. Every operator of a large factory, every
merchant is, under normal conditions, able to determine accurately what
he will need during the next three months, and how he should regulate
his production and purchases. Unless excessive changes set in, his
calculations will be found safe.

The experience that crises are caused by blind, anarchic production, i.
e., that production is carried on without a knowledge of the volume of
supply, of sales and of demand of and for the several goods in the
world's market, has, as indicated in previous passages, caused large
manufacturers in several branches of industry to join in Trusts and
rings, partly with the view of steadying prices, partly also for the
purpose of regulating production by the light of previous experience and
of the orders received. According to the capability of each
establishment and to the probable demand, the output of each is
determined for the next few months. Infractions are punished with heavy
conventional mulcts, and even expulsion. The capitalists do not conclude
these agreements for the benefit of the public, but to its injury and to
their own profit. Their purpose is to utilize the power of combination
in order to secure the greatest advantages to themselves. This
regulation of production has for its object to enable the capitalist to
demand from the public prices that could not be got if the comp