Some amongst us have
already thought of that; the right of pre-emption shall be applied to
every article; "in each department, national storehouse might be
established where farmers, land-owners and manufacturers would be
obliged to deposit at a fixed price, paid down, the surplus of their
consumption of every species of merchandise. The nation would
distribute this merchandise to wholesale dealers, reserving a profit
of six per cent. The profit of the wholesale dealer would be fixed at
eight per cent and that of the retailer at twelve per cent."[82] In
this way , farmers, manufacturers, and merchants would all become
clerks of the State, appointed on a premium or a discount; unable to
gain a great deal, they would not be tempted to gain too much; they
would cease to be greedy and soon cease to be egoists.[83] - Since,
fundamentally, egoism is the capital vice and individual
proprietorship the food that nourishes it, why not suppress individual
proprietorship altogether? Our extreme logicians, with Bab?uf at the
head of them, go as far as that, and Saint-Just seems to be of that
opinion.[84] We are not concerned with the enacting of an Agrarian;
the nation may reserve the soil to itself and divide among
individuals, not the soil, but its lease.
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