Some Voices in the Crowd: Vive, vive la Rarete!
Jacques Bonhomme: Let us bring the question to the simple test of truth. You cannot divide among the people of Paris commodities which are not in Paris. If there be less meat, less firewood, less butter, the share falling to each will be smaller. Now there must be less if we prohibit what should be allowed to enter the city. Parisians, abundance for each of you can be secured only by general abundance.
The People: Vive, vive l'Abondance!
Peter: It is in vain that this man tries to persuade you that it is your interest to be subjected to unbridled competition.
The People: A bas, à bas la Concurrence!
Jacques Bonhomme: It is in vain that this man tries to make you fall in love with restriction.
The People: A bas, à bas la Restriction!
Peter: I declare, for my own part, if you deprive the poor cowfeeders and pig-drivers of their daily bread, I can no longer be answerable for public order. Workmen, distrust that man. He is the agent of perfidious Normandy, and derives his inspiration from the provinces. He is a traitor; down with him! (The people preserve silence.)
Jacques Bonhomme: Parisians, what I have told you to-day,
I told you twenty years ago, when Peter set himself to work the octroi for his own profit and to your detriment. I am not, then, the agent of Normandy. Hang me up, if you will, but that will not make oppression anything else than oppression. Friends, it is not Jacques or Peter that you must put an end to, but liberty if you fear it, or restriction if it does you harm.