It  may  not  have  occurred  to  you  that
it  makes  any  difference  what  one's  cus-
tomers are,  but  it  does  in  all  regular  and
prolonged  business.  The  condition  of  the
customer  determines  how  much  he  will
buy.  Poor  and  ignorant  people  buy  little,
and  that  of  the  poorest  kind.  The  rich-
est and  the  intelligent,  having  the  more
means  to  buy,  buy  the  most  and  always
buy  the  best.  Here,  then,  are  the  three
liberties:  liberty  of  the  producer,  liberty
of  the  distributer,  and  liberty  of  the  con-
sumer. The  first  two  need  no  discussion;
they  have  been  long  thoroughly  and  brill-
iantly illustrated  by  the  political  econo-
mists of  Great  Britain  and  by  her  eminent
statesmen';  but  it  seems  to  me  that  enough


attention  has  not  been  directed  to  the
third;  and,  with  your  patience,  I  will
dwell  upon  that  for  a  moment,  before
proceeding  to  other  topics.
It  is  a  necessity  of  every  manufacturing
and  commercial  people  that  their  cus-
tomers should  be  very  wealthy  and  intelli-
gent. Let  us  put  the  subject  before  you
in  the  familiar  light  of  your  own  local
experience.  To  whom  do  the  tradesmen
of  Liverpool  sell  the  most  goods  at  the
highest  profit?  To  the  ignorant  and  poor
or  to  the  educated  and  prosperous?  (A
voice :  "  To  the  Southerners."  Laughter. )
The  poor  man  buys  simply  for  his  body;
he  buys  food,  he  buys  clothing,  he  buys
fuel,  he  buys  lodging.  .  ..
