Chapter 24 Economics - 19

The next year, I did a better job because I planted all the land required, but only one-third of an acre. From these two years of experience, I found that I did not give The tomes of agriculture, including those of Arthur Young, were intimidating.I have found that a man who wants to live simply, eats only what he has harvested, and does not cultivate more than he needs, nor barter insatiably for more luxurious and costly goods, needs only to till a few square rods. There is enough land: it is much cheaper to plow with a shovel than with an ox; it can be replaced by a new field at a time, so that the old field is not constantly fertilized, and all the necessary farm labor can be done if he does it a little at a spare time in the summer. That's enough; so that he won't be tied up with a cow, or a horse, or a cow, or a pig, as people were before.At this point, I hope he speaks disinterestedly, as someone who cares little about the success or failure of current socioeconomic measures.I am more independent than any farmer in Concord, because I am not anchored to a house or a farm, and I am free to follow my own inclinations, which vary from moment to moment.Besides, my situation is much better than theirs. If my house burns down, or my harvest fails, I can live as well as before.

I often think that it is not people who are herding the cattle, but the cattle are herding in, and it is more free for people to herd cattle.Man and ox are exchanging labour, and if we consider only necessary labour, the ox appears to be much cheaper, and their farms are much larger.It is no child's play that part of the exchange labor performed by man is to cut hay for six weeks.Naturally, no country where life is simple in every respect, that is to say, no country where philosophers are willing to make such a grave error, requires animals to work.It is true that there has never been such a philosopher's land in the world, and it is unlikely that there will be such a philosopher's land in the future. Even if there is, I dare not say that it must be perfect.Yet I would never tame a horse or an ox, tie it up, and make it do all the work it could do for me, just because I was afraid I would become a groom or a cowherd; The benefit is not shallow, so can it be sure that one person's profit is not another person's loss, can it be sure that the groom in the stable is as satisfied as his master?Even if some public work cannot be established without the help of oxen and horses, and let humans share this glory with oxen and horses; can it be reasoned that in that case, he cannot complete this kind of work in a way that is more worthy of himself? Are you working?When people, with the help of oxen and horses, start doing a lot of work that is not only unnecessary and artistic, but luxurious and useless, it is inevitable that a few will have to exchange work with oxen and horses, in other words, these Man becomes the slave of the strongest.So man not only works for the animal within him, but, as a symbol, he also works for the beast outside him.Although we have had many houses of brick or stone, the prosperity of a farmer depends on the extent to which his stables outweigh his dwellings.It is said that the city has the largest houses for the cattle, cows, and horses here; the public buildings are not far behind; but in this county, there are few halls for free speech and free belief.Countries should not use high-rise buildings to erect monuments to themselves, why not use abstract thinking to commemorate them?All the ruins of the East are by no means more admirable than a volume of "Dialogues"!Towers and monasteries are the luxury of kings.A simple and independent mind would never do drudgery at the behest of a king.Genius is by no means the squire of any king, neither gold, silver, nor marble can preserve their immortality, but only a very small part of them.Tell me, what is the purpose of hammering so many stones?When I was in Arcadia, I didn't see anyone working marble.Many nations indulge in the mad ambition of immortalizing themselves by how many carved stones they leave behind.What if they used the same labor to carve out their own manners?A rational thing is more worthy of being passed down than erecting a monument so high as to touch the moon.I prefer to leave the stones where they are.A grandeur like Thebes is vulgar.A city of Thebes with a hundred gates is far removed from the real purpose of life, and how can it be as reasonable as a square pole of stone walls surrounding the garden of honest men.Barbaric, pagan religions and cultures have built splendid temples; what may be called Christianity has not done so.Most of the stone hammered by a nation is used in its graves.It buried itself alive.Speaking of the pyramids, there is nothing surprising. What is surprising is that so many people are so humiliated that they spend their entire lives building a tomb for a blunt careerist. In fact, if he jumped into the Nile and drowned , and then feeding the body to the wild dogs is smarter and more dignified.I can't give them and him some cover-ups, but I don't have time.As for the religion of those architects and their taste for art, they are the same all over the world, whether they build Egyptian temples or the Bank of the United States of America.It always costs more than it actually does.Vanity is the source, and the assistant is the love of garlic, bread, and butter.A young hopeful architect named Mr. Balcon followed Vitrovius to draw up a drawing with a hard pencil and ruler, which he then handed over to Dobson & Sons Quarrying.As thirty centuries began to look down upon it, man gazed up at it.Your towers and monuments, there was a madman in the city who tried to dig a tunnel into China, so deep that he was said to have heard the Chinese teapots and boiling water; but I think I will Wouldn't go out of my way to praise his hole.Many people are concerned about those monuments in the East and West,--to know who built them.I would like to know who was unwilling to make these things—who could rise above so many trivialities.But let me go on and count.