time when war shall occur that the country will not be already filled
with all the iron we shall want until we can make it here. Did the
Confederates in the late war lack for iron? Why, then, shall we
manufacture our own staples and bolts because we may some day or other
have a quarrel with our ironmonger!

To sum up:

A radical antagonism exists between the vender and the buyer.

The former wishes the article offered to be _scarce_, and the supply
to be small, so that the price may be high.

The latter wishes it _abundant_ and the supply to be large, so that
the price may be low.

The laws, which should at least remain neutral, take part for the
vender against the buyer; for the producer against the consumer; for
high against low prices; for scarcity against abundance; for
protection against free trade. They act, if not intentionally, at
least logically, upon the principle that _a nation is rich in
proportion as it is in want of everything_.




CHAPTER II.

OBSTACLES TO WEALTH AND CAUSES OF WEALTH.