s certainly the class which borrows them directly or
indirectly; it is those men who operate upon _materials_, who gain
assistance by _instruments_, who live upon _provisions_, produced and
economized by other men.

Imagine, in a vast and fertile country, a population of a thousand
inhabitants, destitute of all capital thus defined. It will assuredly
perish by the pangs of hunger. Let us suppose a case hardly less cruel.
Let us suppose that ten of these savages are provided with instruments
and provisions sufficient to work and to live themselves until harvest
time, as well as to remunerate the services of eighty laborers. The
inevitable result will be the death of nine hundred human beings. It is
clear, then, that since nine hundred and ninety men, urged by want, will
crowd upon the supports which would only maintain a hundred, the ten
capitalists will be masters of the market. They will obtain labor on
the hardest conditions, for they will put it up to auction, or the
highest bidder. And observe this--if these capitalists entertain such
pious sentiments as would induce them to impose personal privations on
themselves, in order to diminish the sufferings of some of their
brethren, this generosity, which attaches to morality, will be as noble
in its principle as useful in its effects. But if, duped by that false
philosophy which persons wish so inconsiderately to mingle with economic
laws, they take to remunerating labor largely, far from doing good, they
will do harm. They will give double wages, it may be. But then,
forty-five men will be better provided for, whilst forty-five others
will come to augment the number of those who are sinking into the grave.
Upon this supposition, it is not the lowering of wages which is the
mischief, it is the scarcity of capital. Low wages are not the cause,
but the effect of the evil. I may add, that they are to a certain extent
the remedy. It acts in this way; it distributes the burden of suffering
as much as it can, and saves as many lives as a limited quantity of
sustenance permits.

Suppose now, that instead of ten capitalists, there should be a hundred,
two hundred, five hundred--is it not evident that the condition of the
whole population, and, above all, that of the "proletaires,"[18] will be
more and more improved? Is it not evident that, apart from every
consideration of generosity, they would obtain more work and better pay
for it?--that they themselves will be in a better