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§ 21
Commodities are never produced unless they are needed and in demand. The needs reveal themselves; they are manifold and thus automatically bring into being occupations and products that are then sold to those who require them. If those who need to buy a commodity are prevented from doing so, it remains in the hands of its producer, becomes a burden to him, and is branded with a black stamp that reads: Wasted sweat and toil.
That deals a blow to industriousness. This is the cord that ties the worker’s hands behind his back and the potion that produces bad and somnolent citizens.
No nation can be industrious as long as that stamp remains on its products, and it can never be removed until the commodity may be produced by whomever so wishes and be sold to whomever needs it.
I will not cite as proof of this the example of other states: my own fatherland is an irrefutable witness to it, which I invoke all the more boldly as its condition is most familiar and no one is likely to be able to consider it without lamenting its misfortunes.
Swedish industriousness resembles a crop on a badly tended field. Here and there a few lush stands grow, but most of it has withered away and will barely replace the seedcorn.
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