Who knows that interest will not be abolished?  Who knows but that the State will become a universal and gratuitous lender, and that it will wish to annihilate all the fruits which we might expect from our savings?” Well!  I say, that if such ideas could prevail during two single years, it would be enough to turn our beautiful France into a Turkey—­misery would become general and endemic, and, most assuredly, the poor would be the first upon whom it would fall.

Workmen! they talk to you a great deal upon the artificial organisation of labour;—­do you know why they do so?  Because they are ignorant of the laws of its natural organisation; that is, of the wonderful organisation which results from liberty.  You are told, that liberty gives rise to what is called the radical antagonism of classes; that it creates, and makes to clash, two opposite interests—­that of the capitalists and that of the “proletaires.”  But we ought to begin by proving that this antagonism exists by a law of nature; and afterwards it would remain to be shown how far the arrangements of restraint are superior to those of liberty, for between liberty and restraint I see no middle path.  Again, it would remain to be proved that restraint would always operate to your advantage, and to the prejudice of the rich.  But, no; this radical antagonism, this natural opposition of interests, does not exist.  It is only an evil dream of perverted and intoxicated imaginations.  No; a plan so defective has not proceeded from the Divine Mind.  To affirm it, we must begin by denying the existence of God.  And see how, by means of social laws, and because men exchange amongst themselves their labours and their productions, see what a harmonious tie attaches the classes one to the other!  There are the landowners; what is their interest?  That the soil be fertile, and the sun beneficent:  and what is the result?  That corn abounds, that it falls in price, and the advantage turns to the profit of those who have had no patrimony.  There are the manufacturers—­what is their constant thought?  To perfect their labour, to increase the power of their machines, to procure for themselves, upon the best terms, the raw material.  And to what does all this tend?  To the abundance and the low price of produce; that is, that all the efforts of the manufacturers, and without their suspecting it, result in a profit to the public consumer, of which each of you is one.  It is the same with every profession.  Well, the capitalists are not exempt from this law.  They are very busy making schemes, economising, and turning them to their advantage.  This is all very well; but the more they succeed, the more do they promote the abundance of capital, and, as a necessary consequence, the reduction of interest.  Now, who is it that profits by the reduction of interest?  Is it not the borrower first, and finally, the consumers of the things which the capitals contribute to produce?

It is therefore certain that the final result of the efforts of each class is the common good of all.