|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: persons are commonly assailed with specious generalities to the
effect that they are enemies of society. People whose only ideas
are "moral ideas" regard them as heartless sharpers who fatten
upon the misery of their fellow-creatures. And it is sometimes
hinted that such "practices" ought to be stopped by legislation.
Now, so far is this prejudice, which is a very old one, from
being justified by facts, that, instead of being an evil,
speculation in breadstuffs and other necessaries is one of the
chief agencies by which in modern times and civilized countries a
real famine is rendered almost impossible. This natural monopoly
operates in two ways. In the first place, by raising prices, it
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
