Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/37

 BEECHER

��higher grades in the greater varieties and quan- tities.

The law of price is the skill ; and the amount of skill expended in the work is as much for the market as are the goods. A man comes to the market and says, ' ' I have a pair of hands ' ' ; and he obtains the lowest wages. Another man comes and says, "I have something more than a pair of hands — I have truth and fidelity"; he gets a higher price. Another man comes and says, "I have something more ; I have hands and strength, and fidelity, and skill." He gets more than either of the others. The next man comes and says, ' ' I have got hands and strength, and skill, and fidelity ; but my hands work more than that. They know how to create things for the fancy, for the afl^ections, for the moral sentiments"; and he gets more than any of the others. The last man comes and says, ' ' I have all these qual- ities, and have them so highly that it is a peculiar genius"; and genius carries the whole market and gets the highest price. [Loud applause.] So that both the workman and the merchant are profited by having purchasers that demand qual- ity, variety, and quantity.

Now, if this be so in the town or the city, it can only be so because it is a law. This is the specific development of a general or universal law, and therefore we should expect to find it as true of a nation as of a city like Liverpool. I know it is so, and you know that it is true of all the world ; and it is just as important to have 15

�� �