Extract from "Castles and thatched houses" by the Countess of Hautefeuille, around 1836
.......... What is the usual use of these great fortunes, whose owner seems so happy? Suppose a gross income of 50,000F. ...
The figure of such a fortune assumes at least 10 servants, janitors, gardeners, coachman, grooms, etc., etc.; one in the other fed, paid, dressed, illuminated, heated, a servant costs 1,000F per year to his master
10,000F
In a large house it is impossible to spend less than 8,000F for the butcher, for the baker, for the grocer, for the croquetier, the latter providing CREAM, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, fruits, vegetables, first fruits of each season, all things that the rich owner believes to acquire by paying dearly for the arms that provide them, but which, in reality, it happens if he does not buy them first hand. 8,000F
For the personal expense of madam to which it will also be necessary to spend a few small memories exceeding 2,000F
For the husband 2,000F
For the food of 4 horses, the iron, flanges, saddles, blankets; for the maintenance of cars, harnesses; for the renewal of each other, good year bad year 4,000F
Because of what breaks daily in a large house, in glass, earthenware, porcelain, pottery, crystals, bottles, carafes; at the faiencier 1,000F
For the property tax 6,000F
For the furniture tax, doors and windows 1,000F
For repairs, maintenance and non-values 4,000F
For charitable acts 3,000F
For the doctor and pharmacist, both in the countryside and in the city 1,000F
For lighting and heating 2.000F
For table linen, sheets, towels, kitchen linen, laundry and worker fees 1,000F
Total 45,000F
Here we have arrived at the sum of 45,000F, without having given anything to the fantasy, without even talking about necessary changes, the replacement of furniture that breaks or wear out, the education of children, and we must also note that in the enumeration I have just made, there is no question of travel, nor parties, nor shows, nor races, nor packs, nor hunting expenses, all things that the rich do not give up and that explain the disturbance of these colossal fortunes that pass through the hands like water in the gutter that receives it.
Why this flow that is too quick, poorly directed, not often calculated?
Because the expenses are all made by foreign means, by an intermediary (I leave aside the question of loyalty) who has no interest in using them well, saving and keeping them; because our subordinates, believing us all to be inexhaustible resources, pay without haggling, without even counting, empty the bags of the alleged cresus and still say: - he has a good way to spend, should he not make the unfortunate live?
And indeed the rich make live, enrich the servant, the day laborer, the small debtor, who buy, keep and spend by themselves.
That this beautiful fortune disappears from the locality, ten servants will be unemployed; the worker, the debtor, the small supplier will lose their profits as they are; the territory divided, not allowing luxury to any of the new owners, the baker, the grocer, the croqueter will see their supplies halved; the trade, the industry of the neighboring city will lose even more; they will have to remove these sheets called memories, whose payment ensures life, well-being, often prepares the wealth.
And the poor, these first creditors of the country, who will have to go from door to door to ask the small wealth what they obtained from the great, and who will find refusals everywhere, will they have won this upheaval that mixes life like the skeins that they must break in small pieces, provided that the whole room has been scrambled? .......