Page:The New Protectionism.djvu/30
some one particular sort of goods, and exchanges this surplus against an infinite number of bits of surpluses of various kinds made by other specialized producers in all parts of the world. As producer he is one; as consumer he is many. Now, as the productive side of his life absorbs the greater part of his conscious organized energy and attention, he comes to think it more important, and to regard it as severed in its nature from the consuming side. He looks more closely to the amount of money he receives, as profit or wages, than to the prices of the goods upon which he expends that money. This habitual separation of his producing from his consuming self, and the superior conscious stress upon the former, give the Protectionist his opportunity. He makes his separate appeal to the man as producer, tells him that selling is more important than buying, and that the money he receives is more important than what he can buy with it.
It is through consumption that the co-operative nature and value of commerce is