—How? What is that? I do not understand you.
—Do you not know that D—— has started a magnificent establishment very useful to the country, but which loses much money every year?
—I am very sorry. But what can I do to help him?
—The Legislature saw that if things went on thus, D—— would either have to do a better business or close his manufactory.
—But what connection is there between D——'s bad speculations and my hogshead?
—The Chamber thought that if it gave D—— a little wine from your cellar, a few bushels of grain taken from your neighbors, and a few pennies cut from the wages of the workingmen, his losses would change into profits.
—This recipe is as infallible as it is ingenious. But it is shockingly unjust. What! is D—— to cover his losses by taking my wine?
—Not exactly the wine, but the proceeds of it; That is what we call a bounty for encouragement. But you look amazed! Do not you see what a great service you render to the country?
—You mean to say to D——?
—To the country. D—— asserts that, thanks to this arrangement, his business prospers, and thus it is, says he, that the country grows rich. That is what he recently said in the Chamber of which he is a member.