(l'int?r?t commun)
- Why should it not, in like manner, take upon itself every enterprise
for the benefit of all? Why should it hesitate in commanding the
execution of every work advantageous to the community, and why abstain
from forbidding every harmful work? Now please note that in human
society every act or omission, even the most concealed or private, is
either a loss or a gain to society. So if I neglect to take care of
my property or of my health, of my intellect or of my soul, I
undermine or weaken in my person a member of the community which can
only be rich, healthy and strong through the wealth, health and
strength of his fellow members, so that, from this point of view, my
private actions are all public benefits or public injuries. Why then,
from this point of view, should the State scruple about prescribing
some of these to me and forbidding others? Why, in order to better
exercise this right, and better fulfill this obligation, should it not
constitute itself the universal contractor for labor, and the
universal distributor of productions? Why should it not become the
sole agriculturist, manufacturer and merchant, the unique proprietor
and administrator of all France? - Precisely because this would be
opposed to the common weal (l'int?r?t de tous, the interest of
everyone)[15].
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