If you are told that it is essential that every great country should produce iron,
Reply: "What is essential is, that every great country should have iron."
If you are told that it is indispensable that every great country should produce cloth,
Reply: "The indispensable thing is, that the citizens of every great country should have cloth."
If it be said that labour is wealth,
Reply: "This is not true."
And, by way of improvement, add: "Phlebotomy is not health, and the proof of it is that bleeding is resorted to for the purpose of restoring health."
If it is said: "To force men to cultivate rocks, and extract an ounce of iron from a hundredweight of ore, is to increase their labour and consequently their wealth,"
Reply: "To force men to dig wells by prohibiting them from taking water from the brook, is to increase their useless labour, but not their wealth."
If you are told that the sun gives you his heat and light without remuneration,