Page 1554 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Nine thousand!’ repeated Alexey Alexandrovitch, and
he frowned. The high figure of the salary made him reflect
that on that side Stepan Arkadyevitch’s proposed position
ran counter to the main tendency of his own projects of

reform, which always leaned towards economy.
‘I consider, and I have embodied my views in a note
on the subject, that in our day these immense salaries are
evidence of the unsound economic assiette of our
finances.’
‘But what’s to be done?’ said Stepan Arkadyevitch.
‘Suppose a bank director gets ten thousand—well, he’s
worth it; or an engineer gets twenty thousand—after all,
it’s a growing thing, you know!’
‘I assume that a salary is the price paid for a
commodity, and it ought to conform with the law of
supply and demand. If the salary is fixed without any
regard for that law, as, for instance, when I see two
engineers leaving college together, both equally well
trained and efficient, and one getting forty thousand while
the other is satisfied with two; or when I see lawyers and
hussars, having no special qualifications, appointed
directors of banking companies with immense salaries, I
conclude that the salary is not fixed in accordance with the
law of supply and demand, but simply through personal

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