“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 interest.  And this is an abuse of great gravity in itself, and one that reacts injuriously on the government service.  I consider…”Stepan Arkadyevitch made haste to interrupt his brother-in-law.”Yes; but you must agree that it’s a new institution of undoubted utility that’s being started.  After all, you know, it’s a growing thing!  What they lay particular stress on is the thing being carried on honestly,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch with emphasis.But the Moscow significance of the word “honest” was lost on Alexey Alexandrovitch.  Karenin, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina