The absolute balance of Give and Take, the doctrine that every thing has its price—and if that price is not paid, not that thing but something else is obtained, and that it is impossible to get any thing without its price—is not less sublime in the columns of a ledger than in the budgets of states.
Emerson presents exchange as a general principle: obtaining something of value requires giving up, contributing or accepting something in return. His language of “Give and Take”, price and payment draws on economic exchange, but he applies the principle more broadly. If the appropriate cost is not paid, he argues, the result will differ from what was originally sought.
Within Compensation, this idea supports Emerson’s wider argument that gains and losses are connected by an underlying balance. The references to ledgers and state budgets show that he sees the principle operating in ordinary commerce as well as public finance. The passage is not a technical economic theory; it uses economic language to express a philosophical claim about consequences and trade-offs. Emerson’s central point is that benefits cannot be separated entirely from their costs, whether in personal choices, commercial transactions or political decisions.