[De la richesse commerciale, Sismondi, 1803, Original, 55-56]
C’est au profit que retire le capitaliste, qu’il faut attribuer la conservation de la richesse nationale; car s’il n’en trouve aucun à faire travailler des gens industrieux, il ne chercheroit [chercherait] à faire d’autres échanges, que ceux qui conviendroient [conviendraient] à sa consommation; il employeroit [emploierait] successivement à son usage tout ce qu’il posséderoit [posséderait], sans rien produire, jusqu’a ce qu’il eût tout consommé.
Le profit du capitaliste doit toujours être proportionné au capital qu’il emploie; car de même qu’il n’auroit [aurait] aucun avantage à faire travailler des ouvriers, si les marchandises que produiront ceux-ci ne valoient [valaient] pas plus que celles qu’il leur donne à consommer, il n’en auroit [aurait] aucun à mettre en œuvre un capital considérable plutôt qu’un petit, si le profit ne se proportionnoit [proportionnait] pas à la somme qu’il destine à son entreprise.
[Translation]
It is to the profit gained by the capitalist that the maintenance of the national capital must be attributed. The reason is that he would try to make no other exchange than would satisfy his consumption if he had no means to make the industrious people perform labour. He would successively put all his possessions to personal use without producing anything until he has consumed all.
The profit of the capitalist must always be proportional to the capital he employs. The reason is that, as he would not expect any advantage from employment of labourers if the commodities produced by them were of no more value than those which he provides to them for consumption, so he would not from employment of a large capital, rather than a small, if the profit were not proportional to the sum allocated for his undertaking.
